\nI'm back! And today's chapter is ~400 words longer than usual.
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The squirrels took me down an unmarked path into the forest.
What would other people think if they saw the situation now?\nA young girl walking through the forest with a large number of squirrel-shaped monsters in tow...... Un, yabai.
I'm not sure if I should be happy about this but there are no signs of people around. On the other hand, I'm receiving signs of a swarm of monsters in the vicinity. That's a lot, isn't it? Is this what the forest is supposed to be like?
I don't know why, but the monsters I detected didn't want to come near me. They're pretty far away and every time I approach them, they'll move away. That means they're running away, or rather, they're avoiding me, right? But why?
<Perhaps that is because they sensed Marina-sama's mana and recognized you as a higher rank>
H- higher rank? Huh, then what about these squirrels?
<Monsters that could sense magic can use magic and monsters who can't sense magic can't use magic. Therefore, these creatures can approach you without concern>
Hmm, so you're saying these guys can't use magic?
<Precisely>
I understand, but it seems that most of the monsters in this forest can use magic.
<Exactly, that is the reason why they are avoiding you>
...... Wait, that means the strongest existence here is also avoiding me.
<It's something to be proud of, isn't it?>
No, I don't think it's something to be especially proud of ?!
<But you will have to encounter this situation many times in the future>
That's true... haaa. It's a bit complicated. I want to get closer to the monsters but they kept on avoiding me like I'm not even human.
<But you are indeed not a human>
Shut up! I haven't fully accepted this yet!!
<...... I see>
Ah! Are you annoyed?!
<......>
Please don't stay silent! ! That's scary! Wait, how did you even express silence?!
<That is how it is>
You're starting to become more human.
<Thank you>
No, I didn't mean it as a compliment.......
"Kiki~"
It seems that while I was talking to Haku, I arrived at my destination.\nWe arrived at ...... still just a normal forest?
"Is this it?"
"Kiki!"
It nodded and squealed when I asked, so I guess this is it. But all I could see were trees.
"Where is it?"
I asked again, then the orange squirrel suddenly ran and climbed the tree in front of me.\nEh, what does this mean?
While I was busy trying to understand what was going on, the orange squirrel began to gnaw on the bark of the tree.
"Eeh? What are you doing?"
No matter how omnivorous they are, they can't possibly eat tree bark, can they?\nI thought so, but apparently that was not what it was doing. The pieces of tree bark fell down, so rather than gnawing on it... it's scraping it off?
After doing that for a while, a little bit of liquid started to ooze out from the damaged area. It's color was...... pitch black.
"Eh? Do you mean this?!"
"Kiki!!"
It squealed back at me as if to say "Yes, of course!" ... but is this tree sap?\n...... No, this is a fantasy world. Even consommé is made from the fruits of trees, so maybe this liquid is soy sauce... right?
I decided to lick some with my finger.
"Oooohhh! It's soy sauce~~~~!"
It's definitely soy sauce! I'm sorry I doubted you! Fantasy is amazing!
"Who would've thought soy sauce was tree sap? I'd definitely wouldn't have noticed this."
You have to scratch the surface of the tree to find soy sauce and I wouldn't have thought of that in the first place. Luckily, I asked!
Now, let's collect some right away.
"Hmm... it's kind of like those rubber trees, right?"
I made a hole in it, like when you take sap from a rubber tree. It looked like an arrow pointing at the ground and I put a pot at the end of it first, of course. But I don't have a container for the soy sauce.
"Uuum... Is it possible to make a bottle from the soil here?"
<Yes, it's possible but the result wouldn't be clear like glass>
It doesn't have to be transparent, so that's fine.\nI put my hands on the ground and solidified the image in my mind.\nThe size of the glass is... not that big, about the size of those milk bottles that come in packs of 5. Around 10 of those bottles is good enough.
"There! It's done!"
The finished bottles looked like frosted glass, but I'm worried about their sturdiness.
<If that's the case, why don't you cast some reinforcement spells>
Reinforcement spells? But doesn't it have a time limit?
<Applying reinforcement magic to a non living thing is different. In short, it's like giving the object an attribute>
Ooh, I see.\nI applied magic immediately, imagining the bottles to strengthen to the point where they wouldn't break even if I dropped them.
The bottle glowed for a moment and changed its appearance. That was fine since it works.
"Woah, it's already full."
The pot was filled with soy sauce. I quickly switched to another pot and started filling the bottles first.
"Ah, I need more."
There was more than I'd expected, so I made more bottles as I went along and filled them up. I left some for some other uses too.
When the pot was full again, I replaced it with a new one and filled the bottles. After doing this for a while, I had a lot of sap. Isn't this too much?! It's still coming out, too.
I thought the tree was pitiful like that with a gash, so I decided to apply some healing magic. The wound closed up immediately. There, it's fine now.
"Kiki?"
The first white squirrel tilted her head as if to say "Are you done yet?"
"Yup, that's enough! And it's starting to get dark."
When I told her that, she had a sad look on her face. At least, it looked sad.
"I- I'll come back again, okay?"
Hearing my words, she seemed to have started some kind of discussion with the rest. Why?\n
After watching them for a while, they seemed to have finished and turned back to me.
"What's wrong?"
The white squirrel who had first approached me came out, ran to my feet, climbed up my legs and onto my shoulders. Eh, what does this mean?
"Could it be... you're telling me to take you along?"
I asked the white girl on my shoulder. She hummed and nodded her head, so is this what the discussion was about?
"But are you sure?"
If we were to leave now, it'd be a long time until we can come back here.\nI had asked with that in mind and she snorted in response. Oh, I see. ....... then it's already decided......
"Then, we'll be off. Bye!"
""""Kiki! """"
As I waved goodbye, and they all gave me a little wave in response to send me on my way.\nOh no, I want to take a picture. I'll have to make a camera too.
I left the forest thinking about such silly things.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
......... with a squirrel on my shoulder. Ah, I also asked Haku and found out she's a girl.\n ......... What should I do with her, this girl?
————-\nDo you want to know the title of the next chapter? It's:\n*\n*\n*\nIt's... Not a Monster\n[Coming soon on Tuesday]\n*\n*\n*\nI just skimmed through it and you will not expect what just happened 😳\nFantasy is indeed 凄い