Chapter 281: Chapter 265: Underwater Gathering

When I was done teasing Vector, I called out to Bolt and Mile as well. I don’t want them to be sulking like Feat.

However, Bolt and Mile seemed to realize that their fur/feathers were not of the same genre as the fluffy ones and didn’t seem to mind. Well, I gave them a good headpatting for being so understanding.

We spent the night on the beach and welcomed the morning.

“So, what do we do today?”

After eating a good breakfast, it was time to decide on today’s schedule.

“”N~?””

(Play! Even though I say that, I have no idea what to play~)

(Let’s search for sea ingredients?)

(We caught lots of fish and seaweed yesterday, though~)

(It’s good to have a big stock! Let’s catch more.)

(Then, how about we go for the fish that are deeper in the sea instead?)

The kids shared their opinions.

“”Fish!””

(Yep, yep. It’s better to have more, right~)

(We could look for shellfish, too.)

(Why don’t we search for medicinal plants too then?)

(Get everything!)

(It’s decided then!)

It looks like we’re going to be doing some kind of fishing today again.

Well, in this world, there are only so many things to do to play, so in the end, we will just end up collecting things.

N~ the ingredients in my Infinite Storage are quickly hoarding. I don’t have to sell much of it because it never goes bad, but it would be better to sell some of it, right?

“”… Can’t?””

“N? I’m fine with it.”

(Oniichan, you were making a difficult expression, though?)

Apparently, my thinking face needlessly worried the kids.

“Sorry about that~ I’m happy to find new ingredients, but our harvest has been recently far exceeding the amount of ingredients we consume, so I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to sell some of it.”

(You can’t~! I will eat it so you can’t sell it!)

The first one to react to my words was Vector.

(Indeed~ I have no problems with you using the necessary amount to complete a request, or giving some to your acquaintances, but I would prefer if you didn’t sell the rest~)

(That’s true. They won’t rot in your Infinite Storage, and they won’t become a burden, so I would rather not sell, Aniue.)

(Takumi Nii, I want you to collect lots of food!)

Feat, Bolt, and Mile were also against selling.

(Oniichan, let’s amass lots of food to seclude ourselves on a mountain or something!)

“”Ohh~ sounds amusing!””

(Indeed, that sounds fun.)

I see, so living in a place where there are no people like Oswald-san is also a possibility? Well, in that case, I think it will be only for a short period of time, though.

If that happens, I wouldn’t be able to buy things easily, so we would have to save up a lot of stuff. And I don’t want an inconvenient life!

“Okay, I got it. I will not sell even if we amass a ton of food. A secluded mountain life also sounds good to me.”

“”(((((Yay~)))))””

“However! Taking every root and branch is out of the question. It would be a problem if we damaged the ecosystem or if the people in need wouldn’t be able to get what they need.”

“”(((((Okay~)))))””

If my children get serious, I feel they would pick off the entire region, so I could only caution them beforehand.

“Let’s put the mermaid bracelets to use then.”

Vector was still wearing his, so I put bracelets on the other four.

“Allen, Elena, are you wearing yours?”

“”Is fine! I put it on~!””

Allen and Elena took the bracelets out from their pouches and put them on.

“Alright, let’s swim further into the open sea first then!”

“”(((((Ohh~!)))))””

We entered the sea and aimed for the deep sea.

“This will be the first time you guys enter the sea entirely, right? Will you be all right~?”

They played in the shallows, swam in a lake, and submerged themselves in hot spring, but this will be their first time diving, right?

(Yeah, I’m fine~ It sounds fun~)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

(Niisama, I have no problems either.)

(I’m sorry, Aniue. I’m not quite used to swimming itself, so it would be a bit impossible for me to fight.)

(Mumumu~ It’s hard to go into the direction I want to go.)

(I’m good! But I can’t match everyone’s speed~)

Well, there seemed to be no problems in general.

“Bolt, just leave the fighting to me, and get used to swimming slowly.”

“Allen will fight~”

“Leave it to Elena~”

… Ah~ I don’t feel like it’s going to be my turn anytime soon again~

“Vector, calm down first. You don’t have to flap your limbs so much, just move them slowly.”

(Like this? Ah, like this, I see! Yeah, seems somewhat okay!)

“Mile, why don’t you hold onto someone.”

(Got it! I will hold onto you, Feat!)

(Sure~)

Things should be fine like this.

“”Ah!””

Allen and Elena seemed to have found something, and they swam to the bottom of the sea speedily.

(Mu, I can’t keep up with Allen and Elena’s speed in the water.)

(Truly. My, oh my, they are both so lively today~)

With a little more experience, I’m sure Joule and others will be able to swim as well as Allen and Elena.

I’m just getting used to swimming myself, so I have a feeling that Joule and others will be better at it than me in no time.

“Onii~chan, look, look~”

“It’s a pretty flower.”

“Yes, yes, I’m coming over now~”

Allen and Elena called me to the bottom of the sea, where there was a slowly swaying yellow flower.

“Oh~ it’s a yellow butterfly flower.”

“”Yellow butterfly?””

“Allen doesn’t know.”

“Elena too. Is this medicine?”

Allen and Elena have read a lot of encyclopedias and complete botanical books on medicinal herbs, so they are quite familiar with them. But they don’t know what’s not in the books.

“Erm… yellow butterfly flower can be, more or less, called a medicinal plant, I guess? It’s a flower that is mainly used in beauty products.”

“”Beauty products?””

“They are items used by women. This certainly isn’t described in the books we have. We have not bought any recently, so let’s buy some books when we get at the town.”

“”Yeah! Let’s buy lots!””

We decided to visit a bookstore when we get to Rubia.

(Hmm, are we taking it?)

“We should, this is something the women of nobility seek, so it might make a good souvenir for Rebecca-san.”

“”Will make Obaasama happy?””

“Probably.”

“”Let’s pick lots!””

Hearing that it might make their Obaasama——Rebecca-san happy, Allen and Elena got fired up.

“Just don’t pick too many~”

“”I know!””

… Although I cautioned them, it goes without saying that they collected every root and branch.