480 – A Short Rest

I place Aro and the others on my back and, with the black lizard by my side, we take to the skies, clearing the cliff wall and leaving the mandragora grove. The hades mandragora is fastened to my back with the nightmare’s silk.

【[Hades Mandragora]: Value B+】
【It emits a peculiar yet appetite-inducing aroma.】
【Due to its scarcity and the uniqueness of its flavour, it is treated as an unparalleled treasure that cannot be substituted for by lesser ingredients.】
【However, as it is a monster that humans cannot hope to touch that only lives in far-off regions, it is unlikely for even the most foolhardy to attempt to hunt it. 】
【Incidentally, a prince once ordered a hunt for a [Hades Mandragora], resulting in the deaths of a hundred soldiers.】

…Indeed, it seems that we’ve landed an extraordinarily valuable ingredient. Since it’s a rare opportunity, we decided to bring it back with us.

So as to avoid getting lost in the mist, we’ll continue the rest of the way on foot. After passing over the cliff, I touch down and then lower myself to the ground to allow everyone to disembark.

First Aro descends, and then Volk, the nightmare, and finally a metre-tall winged thing in the shape of an egg.

『Fuu, master-dono, I thank you. It was a nice ride.』

『Y- Yea…』

Yes, this is treant-san’s [Tree Spiritisation] form. Its body is glowing green, and it has an appearance similar to that of a raran. It has wings, but no arms, and its legs are long and thin, so it looks somewhat like a chick. In place of a face is a long-nosed wooden mask.

Somehow, it seems treant-san’s [Tree Spiritisation] doesn’t continuously consume MP. It ate up quite a bit when activated, albeit not enough to be life-threatening… Even though treant-san has [Flight], it’s not at the level where it could cross the cliff, so I let it hitch a ride on my back. However, its normal [Tyrant Guardian] form could not possibly fit, so it used [Tree Spiritisation].

However… Its physical stats are halved in this form, so it’s unlikely to be useful in battle. Though it could be useful for getting through somewhere narrow.

Aro wraps her arms around the treant from below and lifts it up.

“It’s a little cute…”

『Please refrain, Aro-dono』

The treant’s legs flap uselessly. I-is that so? That’s cute to you? It leans a bit more towards the uncanny for me.

For the time being, we’ll return to the waterfall cavern by foot. Volk, the nightmare, and the black lizard are already almost out of MP. Aro and the treant can recover theirs, but it seems they’ve got a considerable amount of mental stress built up. So, I’ll mark out the rest of the day for everyone to have a chance to rest.

Aro uses [Clay] to mold a ceramic pot and oven, and I fire them with [Scorching Breath] until they quickly whiten into porcelain… In truth, I wanted to utilise [Alchimia’s Magic Earth], but this seems strong in itself, too. If I consider how it’s the magic earth made by an upper-class B+ rank lich and fired by the flames of an L rank dragon, I suppose that’s to be expected.

I do plan to steal some [Alchimia’s Magic Earth] from the [Clay Guardians] later, but their tendency to explode without leaving a trace presents a challenge.

『…Aro, are you really okay? You’ve been using magic constantly, haven’t you?』

“I’m alright! This isn’t combat, so I don’t have to be on-edge, and besides, I’m not tired yet.”

Well, that’s true. Even against lower rank monsters, it’s still a fight to survive. It follows that mental fatigue would accumulate much faster than physical exhaustion.

However, Aro is also extremely skilled. It’s regrettable, but it’s far faster for her to create things with [Clay] than it is for me to knead them with my hands. On top of that, as she accumulates experience, I can see her start to obsess over the details of the shapes. However Aro, a work of art is like this! I won’t recognize anything that isn’t handmade, you know!

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…As I think that, I recite the word [Clay] in my mind while focusing on the ground. However, there’s no response at all. Muu… When I learnt [Rest] this way, I could feel it working. I guess this just means I’m not suited for it…

“Dragon-god-sama, this too, please!”

Aro happily points towards an oneiros made out of earth. Oh, ohh, this is splendid…! It’s at the level where even the scales are reproduced. No way, [Clay] is able to be this elaborate?

『Master-dono, I have also attempted making one! Please burn it!』

In front of the treant is a lump of earth vaguely resembling an overturned bucket. Y-yeah, you tried, yup. No problem, leave it to me.

After that, we head to the sea to acquire some salt. I originally intend to go alone, but then Aro seems to want to come along as well. I check with Volk, but get his approval as he says “Our combat strength now is sufficient to repel roughly three fenrirs even without Aro”, and so take her with me downstream towards the sea.

At the coast, we extract salt from seawater with [Scorching Breath] and gather it into the porcelain pot.

The fenrir meat has started to go bad… Or rather, it’s about to actually start rotting. I probably should have preserved it with salt right away to make dried meat. The silver lining is that we’ve now got the hades mandragora in place of herbs.

After returning to the waterfall cavern, we cut up the fenrir meat that’s been drained of blood, and place it into pots together with salt and slices of hades mandragora. Umu, I’ll hang it up again tomorrow after letting it sit overnight.

“Irushia, would you mind roasting some more meat? I would like salt if you could, too.”

Volk’s voice pipes up.

『Sure. The mandragora slices are in that pot, so feel free to use them.』

Aro, who’d been listening in, carries the cut fenrir meat and salt towards the oven.

“Sorry about that, Aro.”

Volk calls out. Well then, I should head over to the oven too.

『Master-dono, please let me handle it!』

The treant shambles over to the furnace, swinging its giant body.

“…Left to the treant, quite a few will be undercooked. Well, that is fine for me.”

Volk murmurs as he watches the treant move over. T- treant-san…

“Then again, this way of living isn’t bad at all.”

Volk gives a toothy grin.

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