âGee~ it hasnât been decided yet. Besides, both the wyvern and gryphon has not been born yet.â
(Oniichan, be more specific!)
(True. Niisama, Iâd like to hear more as well.)
Joule and Feat wanted to hear the details while Bolt, Vector, and Mile seemed curious, as they nodded to Joule and Featâs words in agreement.
âErm... a gryphon at the Cretaâs castle got fond of me and he wanted to give one of his unborn eggs to me.â
(((((Yeah, and then?)))))
I tried to explain things briefly at first, but Joule and others seemed even more interested.
âWell, I refused for fear of being targeted by carrying such a big egg in my arms around. When I spoke of my concerns, they said to come take it when itâs born.â
(((((Hooh~)))))
(Then, itâs as Allen and Elena said, and our family is going to increase in a little while! Iâd like a little brother! Oh, but I will take care even of a little sister!)
Jouleâs eyes got all sparkly after he heard my explanation. No, not only Joule, everyoneâs eyes were sparkling.
âNo, as I said, it hasnât been decided yet. Itâs still unclear whether it will become our family since I decided to leave it up the childâs will after itâs born.â
(Oh my? Niisama, you were talking only about the gryphon right now, yes? What about the wyvern?)
âThe wyvern wanted to compete with the gryphon and wanted me to take his child too...â
(Iâm looking forward to what kind of children they are!)
âAs I said... no, forget it.â
It would be boorish of me to continue saying âIt hasnât been decided yetâ, so I decided to stop.
âNow, come on, itâs about time we depart. Otherwise, it will get dark before we take even a step.â
But, I decided to stop the kids from happily talking about the family that might grow, for now. I donât want them to get too excited about it.
Besides, if I let it go on like this, I really feel like itâs going to get dark. Well, I would be lying if I said that it would be a problem if it got dark, but I do want to move to a place suitable for camping first.
(Right, you are right. And so, where are we going, Oniichan?)
âUltimately, the town of Rubia. Erm, it should be in the southeast direction.â
(Making detours is fine, right?)
âOf course.â
If Joule and Feat got serious, we would arrive in Rubia in less than a day. Therefore, detours are welcome.
Ah, but since we went to Creta, we are behind on the schedule when it comes to Rubia, so Iâd like to get there in about four to five days.
âAnyhow, why donât we go to the forest we can see over there first?â
ââLetâs goo~!ââ
(((((Agreed!)))))
After that, our actions were quick. Urged by the kids to hurry up, we entered the forest in the blink of an eye.
ââAh! Ichi!ââ
As soon as we entered the forest, Allen and Elena found Ichi fruit.
(Oh, thereâs growing a lot~)
(Oh my, there are blueberries over here too.)
(There are blackbarries mixed among them. Oh, there are redberries as well.)
(Itâs true! They look delicious! Niichan, can I eat those?)
(Geez~ You have to gather them before eating!)
We entered the forest at random, but it was full of all kinds of berries..
Iâve never seen blueberries in this world before! Moreover, there were black and red berries as well as the usual blue-purple ones. As I recall, they had a different sweetness and flavor.
âHowever, itâs rare to see so many of them ripe enough for eating. They donât seem to be damaged by worms either...â
(Now that you mention it. There donât seem to be many that have fallen to the ground naturally either, right?)
There are animals, insects, and monsters that eat berries everywhere, so itâs unusual that there is no visible damage.
âIs it a coincidence?â
(Maybe there are many carnivorous creatures who donât eat berries in this part of the forest?)
(Ohh! I will go beat them up then!)
While Feat and I were considering the reason why the berries werenât eaten or damaged, Vector ran off while wagging his tail excitedly.
(Heâs gone~)
Mile let out a sigh.
âHahaha~ Well, letâs let Vector do as he likes. Shall we pick some berries in the meantime?â
(Yeah. Mile, letâs pick the berries too.)
(Okay!)
That said, Allen and Elena were already crazily picking Ichi fruit together with Joule, and Bolt was also dexterously collecting blueberries.
ââWe got lots~ââ
(Yeah! We can make lots of Ichi jam or Ichi milk with this.)
âIce cream too!â
âPudding too!â
(I picked lots of these berries too.)
(Doesnât milk made from these blueberries sound kind of nice?)
(Sounds delish!)
Having harvested plenty of ichi, blueberries, blackberries and red berries for a while, we decided to take a break.
âWould you like to have blueberry milk that you havenât tried before then?â
ââ((((Yeah!))))ââ
I made blueberry milk for everyone and we relaxed.
âStill, just how far did Vector go?â
(Heâs not nearby, is he?)
(Who knows? I feel no monster presence, so didnât he go quite a distance to find them?)
(Shall I go look for him?)
(Even though he was scolded by Feat the last time, he doesnât learn!)
However, even after finishing the milk, Vector was nowhere to be found.
âAnyhow, this forest looks safe, so letâs camp here tonight. There wonât be a problem to let Vector free for a little longer then.â
(Then, thereâs still a bit more time until it gets dark, can we also go exploring for a bit?)
âYeah. This forest is abundant with berries, so letâs look around for a little longer.â
ââLetâs look~ââ
That being the case, as we explored the forest a little more, we found many more berries.
ââSo many~ââ
âIt really is a berry-rich forest, isnât it?â
In addition to the ichi fruit and blueberries, we found yellowberries and loveberries. And you wonât believe this, we even found Meteoberries!
ââStarberries!ââ
The moment Allen and Elena found the Meteoberries, their eyes were shining.
Of course, I was able to harvest them properly.
(Niichan! Problem! Big problem!)
When we finished picking the berries and were about to return to the campsite, Vector rushed over in a panic.