CH 17

Towards A New Life

“…ah”

Grace’s sleeping face was next to me when I woke up, and for a moment, I felt my heartbeat quicken.

Although I soon recalled last night’s events, Grace had captivated my attention while I was still half-asleep and given me quite the stir…I think that Grace’s face is too attractive.

Even though I’ve gotten used to looking at it, I haven’t been this close and face-to-face with her for a while.

“Mmm, good morning, Theodore-sama.”

As if I had woken her up by nudging her, Grace opened her eyes a crack and smiled at me.

“…Yeah, morning.”

Though I didn’t really mind it…I was slightly embarrassed.

We had yet to put in a bed, so the two of us had slept by placing a suitable blanket on the floor of the master bedroom and had placed another blanket on top of it.

“Do you want to rest some more, Theodore-sama? I’ll call for you once our meal is ready.”

Grace got up as she said that.

I saw that the day had just broken through the window. It seemed that we woke up a bit too early…I felt refreshed from having slept so well though.

“I’ll help you. I’ll go change my clothes and wash my face first.”

///

The remainder of the foodstuffs we had bought during our journey was vegetable soup and rye bread, which we ate for breakfast. Although it was said that having around this much was standard, we should use up all of our foodstuffs before they go bad. The soup’s quality had increased by adding in the Rabbit Meat we had bought at the market.

However, eating just this, even though we had taken great pains to arrive at Boundary City, had become dull. We decided to use a Demon Mushroom from the emergency provisions and foodstuffs we had bought before diving down into the Labyrinth yesterday, the Wisparmush, as our main dish this time.

The Wisparmush was usually picked in the Twilight Forest…rather, it was a Demon that could be subjugated.

The real thing was a walking mushroom the size of a watermelon. Although its hurling attack wasn’t anything special, one needed to be a bit careful, since it used Sleep Magic. There was also a need to be careful because it belonged to a poisonous subspecies…though that wasn’t much of an issue, since it was relatively easy to tell the difference between them due to its color and umbrella-like shape.

Although they had already been subjugated, sliced, and lined up at the market, just one, with it’s watermelon size, was big enough already. It would probably be nice if Grace and I cut one up and ate it.

Grace warmed up the frying pan on the stove and spread some olive oil on it. Just as it was about to get hot enough, she added mushrooms and bacon. A delightful crispy sound resounded from the frying pan.

She then shook some salt and seasoning onto it, and it was finished after cooking for long enough. It was a Wisparmush Sauté.

The main dish was placed on the dining table and it became our breakfast as we sat facing each other.

“How is it?”

The Wisparmush tasted similar to an eryngii mushroom. It had a crunchy texture and it was quite delicious. The seasoning Grace added, which I had gotten used to, was also superb.

(ED: Eryngii – Thick, white mushroom, sweet, buttery taste. TL hates it apparently.)

“Yeah, it’s delicious.”

“Is that so? Thank you very much.”

Along with her straightforward impression, Grace gave me a smile.

Fumu. Speaking of the Sabona Tree Sap and the Wisparmush…I wanted to go to the Twilight Forest soon. There were various useful items that even I could use, and it would provide a stable income since a lot of the items were in demand.

“There were various ingredients I wasn’t familiar with yesterday, so I was a bit lost.”

“These are unique to Boundary City.”

There were products like this Wisparmush and the Flying Shark Fillet. Although the items that appeared at the market depended on the trends of the Adventurers, which often changed, there were people who wanted to pardon some of them, like Worm Meat.

“What plans do you have for today?”

“I’ll probably go shopping after I receive information at the Guild. I still wonder whether we should go and purchase some furniture…and it’s still too early to head out. I think we should go weed the garden for a bit, since it will help us digest the meal.”

“Understood.”

With this, we decided to do some exercise after the meal.

Which meant we would pull out every last weed in the overgrown garden…and we would pull them out using Magic, instead of using something like a sickle.

I decided to use Magic without a tool since I would exhaust my Staff’s durability if I used it…We would just be weeding at most, so there wasn’t any danger to us.

Having said that, there was a Demon, the Evil Weed, that would slip into untouched bushes within the city.

A part of the buds, flowers, and the like, turned into a mouth, and the mouth grew until it had teeth. Although, fundamentally, it didn’t pose a threat, it was a weed that had a means of self-defence…that is, it bit at you if you laid a hand on it.

Those who were employed as Gardeners were rather hateful towards, them since they multiplied their seeds in their mouths and shot them anywhere.

Although it was weak precisely because it was a weed…it would still hurt slightly if they bit you. Rather than getting hurt, you would end up getting depressed? This Demon was enough to make…children return home crying, with blood flowing from the tooth marks from being bitten, without knowing they had touched one. Well, in the words of Suzuki, one should be careful enough not to cut their hand and run a thorn through it.

Although their seed shooting, as well as their biting, attacks increased during early autumn, they weren’t very dangerous. It wasn’t even dangerous if you caught sight of them, and they rarely used their seed shooting attack, as they seemed unwilling to use it. By the way, you couldn’t hope to strip materials off the Evil Weed. Although you could probably extract magic stone essence from the seeds during autumn…right now, they would be the size of a sparrow’s tear, even if I casted extraction magic. They truly were weeds.

“Then, shall we begin?”

“Yes. Please be careful to not hurt yourself.”

“Grace as well. I think there are some Weeds here.”

“Yes.”

Grace was in a Released State from her Cursed Artifact and was combat ready. Her regenerative power decreased when she was in sunlight, and it would be impossible for her to heal instantly if she was injured, so it was best to avoid any injuries.

Well then, let’s go pull out every last one of them! I would be using the Rank 3 Water Spell, Water Cutter magic. I started to cut down and root out the weeds easily after forming a water blade in my palm.

Grace was been swinging her axe at the weeds to her heart’s content a slight distance away from me.

I thought it would be fine if we had a sickle…though when in her Released State, the tools she used had to be able to endure it, or else they would end up breaking at the beginning.

Since Grace in her Sealed State was on the same level as an ordinary person, the way she swung her axe in her Released State would end up being more efficient.

I realized that buying something like a Metal Scythe just to cut weeds would be too much, since those were used for combat.

“I’ve discovered one.”

“Gipii!”

Sure enough, it seemed that an Evil Weed had slipped in, and it shrieked as it’s neck was grasped by Grace and mercilessly removed with her axe.

As Grace, who was beside me, said that, I also discovered some Weeds. I reaped them using Water Cutter, and after that, I cast the Rank 2 Wind Spell, Cyclone to lift all them together and neatly stacked them into a pile in front of me.

Hmm. Maybe it was because I didn’t have Life Magic (TN: magic used in daily life, not healing magic), but it was annoying to individually adjust the power of beginner attack spells in a place like this. Perhaps it was due to me concentrating on my control, but I felt that an excess amount of Mana was depleted.

After all, my shoulders were stiff. I wanted to learn Life Magic quickly.

///

“Excuse me, is this the residence of Theodore-san?”

A while after we began weeding the garden, a voice resounded from the entranceway to the garden area.

The person standing at the gate to the house was the guild receptionist lady from yesterday.

Her name was certainly…Heather. Behind her was Forest Bird.

“Yeah, this is it. Um, Heather-san, was it?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for catching you at a busy time.”

“It’s fine, they are just normal weeds.”

After Heather replied, I shifted my gaze towards Forest Bird.

“Good morning, Theo-kun.”

“Morning, Theo-kun.”

“Yeah, morning.”

For now, I decided to open the gate and let them into the garden.

“Although the inside of the house is dull and unsightly, since we have yet to add furniture, shall I bring you guys some tea?”

“No, please don’t let us disturb you.”

Heather gave us a small smile.

“We ended up having some trouble yesterday, so we had forgotten about the things you had requested. I think you may want to take routine walks on your days off. Here is the letter of introduction and their address.”

“Aah, that’s very thoughtful of you.”

I received the letter with the address written on it. Perhaps Heather had dropped by where Forest Bird were and passed them a message to come with her? I felt that Forest Bird’s group was accompanying her because of this.

Considering Forest Bird hadn’t received any requests, they might have gotten up early. Some of them, like Fitz, were rather sleepyheaded.

“Yesterday was quite the misfortune, you two.”

“Seriously, I was surprised to hear that you were being targeted.”

“Aaa. Did you guys come here because of that?”

“Well…It could be that. I’m relieved to see that you two aren’t injured.”

Monica said while scratching her cheek in an embarrassed manner.

“It’s enough that the two of you don’t have any injuries. You were the one that ambushed and crushed them, right?”

“You’ve been the talk of the town amongst fellow Adventurers for a while, you know.”

These guys were elated as they said such things.

Well…I understood the bubbly feelings Forest Bird had.

They had come here because they were worried about what had happened yesterday. These guys possessed a strong sense of duty.

As for me, I thought it was great that these guys hadn’t been targeted.