Second Bath – Fruity Bath on a Secluded Island

Following our departure from Neptunopolis, we cruised close to the surface of the water, letting Yukina soak in the emerald-blue sights. We couldn’t change our speed, in any case. Pardoe was at the helm. Shakova and Mark also knew how to steer a ship, so the three of them were on rotation.

I looked up beyond the dome from the deck of the ship, where rays of light trickled down from between the waves above. The light clustered and made the scales of the surrounding fish glisten. It was almost as if we had been transported to a fairy tale world. Yukina’s mouth was agape as she stared at water above, reminding me of the times I spent reading fairy tales to her. My face broke into a smile as I remembered how her eyes were brimming with the same curiosity as back then.

“Where are you looking? That’s not the ocean.” I continued staring as Rium joined in, pressing her face against the dome next to Yukina, until Clena interjected.

“...You’re not looking at the ocean either, Clena.”

“I can use the water veil, remember? I’m pretty used to being surrounded by water.” She was referring to the spell she used to protect us against poison gas when we crossed Mt. Lemnos in Hephaestusopolis. The spell was originally supposed to be used underwater. Apparently she had used it for such cases in the past. “But this is prettier. I used it in a river before, but the water was murky.”

“Wouldn’t you have gotten swept away in a river that deep?”

“You just need to walk diagonally.”

We conversed as the Grande Nautilus continued her journey. Large marine monsters wouldn’t attack us close to shore, so for about half a day we cruised close to the surface, and no one left the ship’s deck all the meanwhile. Yukina, Rakti, and Rium had their hands and faces peeled to the dome. They looked like little kids exploring an aquarium.

“Okay, it’s about time to lower our depth.”

“Roger!”

From what I’d heard, the marine monsters that lived in the ocean’s depths hunted prey near the surface by following their shadows. Apparently fishing boats sometimes fell victim due to the shadows they cast. The gillman cleric told us that sailing close to the ocean floor would be safer since we’d be harder to see. And if monsters tried to attack prey below them, they’d risk crashing into the ocean floor, which only spelled out a lot of pain for their large bodies.

“I’m lowering the cover, meow.” Pardoe pushed a button on the rudder, which enveloped the dome in a white casing. This was to help the ship withstand the change in water pressure. Light wouldn’t reach us this far down anyway, so the cover made no difference in our visibility. From this point on, we’d rely on a radar made from crystal magic for navigation. The radar gave off magic waves, not electromagnetic waves, so it’d be completely invisible to any monsters that couldn’t use magic.

In any case, the show was over. Time to break up the party. All of us returned to the Unlimited Bath, save for Pardoe at the helm and Mark overseeing the radar. Oh yeah, I should ask Crissa to bring them some refreshments later. Though I wouldn’t mention who it’d refresh more.

“Touya, what are we gonna do now?”

“Sort our luggage.”

“...Huh?”

“Sort our luggage.”

It was important, so I said it twice. We’d put off any cleaning so that we could set sail as early as possible. Right now, the Bath was quite a mess. Most of the time until we reached the water capital would be spent on cleaning everything up. I also didn’t have a full grasp on everything Kopan had bought for us yet.

“Roni and Crissa will be in charge of sorting the food.”

“Understood!”

“Leave it to us.”

It’d be best to leave the food organization to the people who’d be cooking it later.

“Rulitora, help them out.”

“Very well.”

However, the sheer amount of food was daunting, so I had Rulitora take some hard labor off their hands.

“Shakova will be in charge of the accessories and antiques. Gather all of the cursed items together. I’ll dispel the curses later.”

“I’ll myake an inventory list, too.”

That was a great idea. His professionalism continued to impress.

“Rium, you take care of the gems.”

“...Got it.” Rium’s lips shifted ever so slightly, forming a faint smile. Crystal mages used gems often, so she was more than qualified to appraise what we had. I had told her that she could use whatever unprocessed gems she found a need for, which must have gotten her even more motivated for the job.

“Clena will be in charge of the books.”

“We have a lot more now, huh?”

“Still plenty of space left on the bookshelf, though.”

The bookshelf we took from Hadesopolis still had room. My collector’s spirit burned at the thought of eventually filling the bookshelf with all kinds of valuable books. All our new books were ones that Kopan bid on from the auction. Ancient manuscripts and scrolls made up a portion of the items Kopan bought that we could easily liquidate. They were apparently worth a hefty price because they contained hints on possibly buried treasure, and some specialist treasure hunters valued them highly. So the books themselves were valuable, but would be worth even more if you managed to find the treasure. Maybe this was another one of Kopan’s bonus services? Knowing him, he’d want to help us auction off those treasures if we ran into each other again in the future. In any case, the Goddess of Light’s blessing allowed me to read even these ancient scriptures, so I gladly welcomed them to our collection. I was tempted to organize the books as well, but we had too many other chores on the list. Clena was pretty much a historian, so she’d have no trouble sorting them on her own.

Right then, Yukina and Rakti jumped onto me, upset at the fact that I had yet to assign them anything.

“Touya, what about me? What about me?”

“I want to help too!!”

Yukina wrapped herself around my head, and Rakti around my waist. Come on, don’t cry, I didn’t forget about you two.

“You two will be with me.”

“With Touya? Yay!”

“What should we do?”

“Everything else.”

“...Huh?”

“Like I said, everything else.” Once again, this was important, so I said it twice.

We let everyone else take care of whatever they specialized in, but there were plenty of other miscellaneous chores. For example, sorting all the items we bought for our daily necessities. The Unlimited Bath had plenty of its own furnishings, but that hardly covered all the bases. Shakova had too much on his hands, so we could at least handle sorting the metal ingots. We had a giant pile of weapons and armor, too. The ketolts were fixing up anything from Hadesopolis that looked like they still had a little life in them. Everything else was scrapped and had been turned into iron and steel ingots, which were gradually forming a jumbled pile. We’d be giving it all to Pardoe to work with later, but we needed to organize the ingots or else there wouldn’t be room for anything else.

“On that note, let’s start with the money.” First on the list was something that was easy to overlook, but very important. Unlike paper money, the coins used in this world got inconceivably heavy once you had too much.

“I have a rich big brother, huh...”

“We pretty much turned the demon lord’s castle upside down.” Thanks to that adventure, we’d been able to travel a little luxuriously.

“Where should we put everything?”

“In the drawers... I guess?”

“That’ll make it look like you’re keeping a secret stash.”

Yukina looked stunned, but we shouldn’t keep money anywhere that stood out, and I couldn’t think of anything better. Well, we didn’t have to finish everything up today. The rest of the group would help us out once their tasks were done, so let’s just take it slow for now.

I laid out a bed sheet on the tatami-floored room to spread the coins on top of. Our first task was splitting the coins into gold, silver, and copper. The only reason we were doing it in this room was because it’d be a pain to carry them elsewhere after we were done. It was also a pain getting the coins here in the first place, but that was my job. Yukina and Rakti plopped themselves down on the sheet and began sorting the coins. In the meantime, I transported more chests and bags over to them. The chests were far too heavy to carry, so I split it between several tips.

“Hey, Touya...” Yukina called for me after I stepped back into the room with the last bag of coins. She was holding a dull copper coin.

“What’s up?”

“You can use orange juice to clean up coins, right?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that. Never tried it myself, though.” We almost tried once in the past, but ended up eating the oranges instead.

“Do you think we can use the orange juice from that faucet, too?”

“...I wonder?”

The science behind it was that acid could dissolve the copper oxide from the surface of the coins, leaving just the copper coating behind. The orange juice from the faucet contained the same nutrients as the real thing, so it must have been just as acidic as well. Yukina and I looked over at Rakti, but she just shook her head. She wasn’t denying the idea, but saying that she didn’t know either way.

“Why don’t we try it out?”

“Sure, we can just clean them off again if it doesn’t work... let’s get all the dirty copper coins together.”

“Only the copper coins? Understood!”

I brought two wooden buckets over to carry the coins in. In the meantime, the girls filled up the buckets while chattering things like, “Do you think these’ll get shiny again~?” Yukina’s tail waved back and forth in anticipation. I transported the remaining gold and silver coins into the chests in each drawer.

“Touya~!”

“We finished~!”

After some time, the girls brought over the buckets while grinning ear to ear, each filled about halfway with copper coins. Well then, we might as well fill them up. I grabbed a bucket with both hands and took the girls over to the Goddess of Water’s faucet room.

“Oh, what’s this?” Clena called out to us along the way, where she had been organizing the bookshelf in the central room we were using as a living room.

“We’re testing to see if orange juice can clean the rust off these copper coins.”

“...What do you mean?”

Clena started following us, as we had caught her interest, so I explained the science to her as we entered the faucet room. In this world, rust was normally cleaned off using a polishing powder. However, the powder would scrub the engravings off coins, which made them lose their value.

I filled the buckets with orange juice as Yukina and Rakti watched, eyes sparkling. The changes wouldn’t happen so quickly though; we’d need to leave this be for a while.

“Hey, while you have some time, would you mind taking a look at this?”

“Oh?”

Clena handed me a book, which I flipped through and determined was a very ancient diary.

“This was from the auction, too? I wonder how...”

“It must have been someone famous. This diary is from a wealthy merchant who made his fortune from trading.”

“Interesting...” It was like an autobiography, but not quite. The important part was that the diary must have contained valuable tips for merchants.

Clena drew herself closer to me and started flipping through the pages. “There’s something I want you to see, though. Right here, and right here...” She stopped at a particular page and pointed to the third paragraph.

“Hades... Ares... Neptune?” Three city names appeared on the page: Hades, the former capital of the demon lord’s army. Ares, who was once Hades’ ally. And Neptune, where we had just come from. I read the surrounding text to find out what was going on, and learned that this merchant had attained his wealth by trading between Hades and Ares. “...Wait a minute, doesn’t this say that he used Neptune as a waypoint?”

“The closest port between Hades and Ares is Neptune, after all.”

“How far back was this? When was he able to go in and out of Hades with all those goods?”

“Hades was just a normal nation 500 years ago, so this must be from when the demon lord reigned, or some time before that.”

In other words, this was a diary from before the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord. If we researched this book in more detail, we could learn some facts about the world back then.

“Let’s read it over after we finish cleaning everything.”

“Yeah, so let’s get back to working.”

One more item on the to-do list.

We still had more buckets, so we gradually filled them up while getting other work done along the way.

“Yukina, Rakti, let’s start heading back.” I called out to the two girls to return to the tatami room and continue our tasks.

After soaking in the orange juice for half a day, the copper coins were cleared of all their rust and brought back to a shine that even Clena hadn’t seen before. Yukina and Rakti were especially excited, but Rium glared at me as if asking why she wasn’t invited. Cleaning the coins up didn’t raise their value one bit, but I felt immensely satisfied looking at the pile of copper coins that were now just as shiny as their gold counterparts.

We concentrated on organizing our luggage until we finally finished during the morning of the fourth day. The Grande Nautilus was currently running along the continent heading west, close to the ocean floor so that we’d avoid marine monsters. After about another day, we’d change course going south. We’d finalized this route after discussing it with the gillmen and fishermen in Neptune. Apparently there was a large uninhabited island to the south. The island was slightly west of the center of the bay and was a prime spot for replenishing food and water, but sailors also used it as a vital landmark along their voyages. The water capital was even farther west of that island, so we made it our first destination.

In the meantime, I focused on practicing magic and reading over the old books. Especially the old books, since we rarely had the free time to do so. First of all though, I needed to write down all the information about spells the goddesses told me in my dream the previous night. This had become my morning routine.

“Touyaaa? What are you doing so early?”

Yukina started poking at me, but I needed to write everything down before I forgot it, so I ignored her. Everything the goddesses taught me wasn’t recorded in our current magic textbooks. If I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t have anything to practice later.

“Is this... Japanese?”

“Yeah, these spells aren’t exactly something I should make public.”

I also used Japanese in my exchanges with Haruno. The people of this world couldn’t read it, so it was perfect for confidential documents. Come to think of it, I had sent another letter to Haruno yesterday and had yet to receive a reply. Apparently they were safe in the water capital, but they must be stuck in a situation where they couldn’t reply, or couldn’t read the letters in the first place. I was worried about them, but the Grande Nautilus was moving as fast as she could. Right now, I could only make good use of my time. I calmed myself down and returned my focus to recording my dream.

The goddesses only taught me the general gist of these spells, huh? If I hadn’t learned my foundations through those textbooks, I wouldn’t have been able to make heads or tails of what they were saying. It felt wrong to say this myself, but these were legendary-class spells I was writing down. This was just a bundle of parchment paper right now, but I’d like to compile these into a book in the future. I set that little ambition aside for now, waited for the ink on the parchment to dry, then filed the papers back on the magic bookshelf.

I went out the front door with Yukina glued to my back and saw that breakfast had already been served. The others had laid out a blanket on the garden outside, creating something like a picnic. The table was just high enough for the ketolts to reach, so everyone else sat themselves on the blanket.

“Looks like another tasty breakfast today...”

The fragrance of freshly baked bread wafted from the basket on the table to my nose, and Yukina’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at it over my shoulder. Everyone already knew about my morning routine, so they had started eating before me. I approached the table, but Rakti and Rium stood up and dashed over to me before I got very far. They squeezed themselves around me on either side. Roni was reaching her arm out, looking like she wanted to say something. I took a hint and looked down to see that both of their mouths were covered in jam, and now so was my shirt. Apparently they couldn’t stay put after seeing Yukina clinging onto me. Rium was normally a well-behaved girl thanks to how her master Nartha had raised her... which went to show how jealous she was of Yukina. Well, I’d happily accept her affection if that was all there was to it. Same with Rakti, too. Their innocent smiles were so cute it was unbearable, but I needed to set some ground rules here. I was the party leader here—the guardian of these girls. I took a deep breath, pushed the two off me, and made sure I sounded stern but not too loud.

“Watch your manners, you two.”

They were taken aback for a moment, but eventually noticed the jam stains on my shirt and regretfully hung their heads. I bent down to match their eye level and waited until they said “sorry” in soft voices.

“Now, what have you learned from this?”

“I won’t run around when I’m eating.”

“I’ll wipe my mouth... if it’s dirty...”

“Good girls.” They knew what they did wrong and were reflecting on it.

Roni handed me a towel while grinning, so I wiped their mouths and turned their frowns back into smiles. Yeah, I liked them a lot better when they were smiling.

“Sir Touya, your shirt has gotten dirty, so please change out of it.”

“Well, it would have gotten dirty eventually anyway. I’ll put it over there.”

“I-I can do the laundry!”

“I’ll help, too...”

“Oh my... in that case, why don’t the two of you help me after breakfast?”

Rakti volunteered herself and Rium quickly followed, even though she normally didn’t handle the chores. Roni smiled broadly in response to the girls’ offers.

Oh no, I’m about to break into just as wide of a grin. I should hurry up and change so that they don’t notice.

I finally changed and sat down at an empty space. Clena sat to my right, and Rulitora to my left. I wondered where Yukina went, but saw her sitting next to Rakti and the other girls. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she was getting along with them just fine.

Rulitora addressed me while I grinned at the girls. “Good job.”

“Wouldn’t that have been your job, since you’re the oldest one here?”

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t have known my limits...”

“...I see.”

The Torano’o tribe wore nothing but loincloths, be it men or women. They also had different etiquette when it came to eating, so he must not have been totally clear on our customs. He may have acted as the father of our party, but not when it came to disciplining the younger ones.

“...Oh?” I suddenly noticed something and turned to Clena. Her elegant profile was tinted in pink. Her pale, almost translucent beauty was a sight for sore eyes, but that wasn’t the point right now. “Clena... you’re normally the type to speak up abut manners in those situations, aren’t you?”

“Y-you think? Well, you got to it faster than I did, Touya.”

That might have been true, but something still bugged me. I stared and observed her growing even more red.

“...I bet you’ve experienced something similar, haven’t you?”

Her shoulders twitched. I didn’t look away, and she continued to avoid my gaze. I tried poking her bright red cheek.

“...I did the same to my mom’s dress when I was little.” Clena finally sighed and told me the truth after some poking. I knew it. “The way you scolded the girls earlier kind of reminded me of my mom...”

I wasn’t sure how to react to that. If I complimented her mom right now, that’d be like complimenting myself as well.

“I’m sure you’d make a good father.”

“Th-thanks.”

Clena gave me a gentle smile as I tried to stammer out a response. I couldn’t help but get embarrassed if she admitted that to me so bluntly. Now I was the one averting my gaze.

My eyes darted around me, only to find that not only Rulitora, but everyone at the table was staring at me with a grin. Yukina was looking kind of proud of herself. Well, I was fine with this as long as it made Yukina happy. I got the idea to stuff my face with bread to change the mood, but Clena grabbed a piece before I could, spread jam onto it, and handed it to me.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“...Thanks.”

Clena really let herself be bold in these situations. I felt like I had lost as I sat there eating silently, though.

“I’m sure you’d make a good mother too, Clena.” Thus, I offered a counterattack.

“Oh, in that case, I’m sure we’d make a good married couple.” But Clena parried it with a teasing grin, unfazed. She didn’t look my way; her cheeks flushed red instead. But either way, this had gotten serious now.

This called for skin-on-skin contact. That was the best move for whenever she got a little haughty like this. I couldn’t make my move now, but I saved my plans for after breakfast. You’re not getting the last laugh, Clena. I looked back and saw that she was now red to her ears and kept glancing my way, waiting for a reaction.

After breakfast, I made Clena lie down on my lap as a pillow.

“If you’re tired, just tell me.”

“I do love how you can tell without me saying so, though.♥”

In short, she was holding back some exhaustion after all the luggage sorting. She normally wouldn’t do this where other people could see, but she had an excuse this time. Though I’d happily lend my lap anytime if she just gave the word. Maybe she even planned this so that I’d initiate physical contact afterward. If so, she had me in the palm of her hand, but I didn’t feel an ounce of frustration since she’d opened herself up to me so much. I stroked her hair as she squirmed, feeling slightly ticklish.

In another room, Roni and Crissa were teaching Rakti, Rium, and Yukina how to wash stains off a shirt by hand. Yukina had sensed some sort of impending danger after realizing she was the only one among all the girls who couldn’t do any chores. Even Rium knew how to clean up after herself after she finished her work. In any case, I was glad Yukina pushed herself into the group of her own accord.

We were just a few days away from reaching the island. Until then, I’d make sure everyone had their time to relax. I kept an eye on my little sister trying her best, while fiddling with Clena’s hair and enjoying this moment of peace. However, that peace abruptly ended not long after the girls finished the laundry and jumped onto me.

The following five days were spent reading old books, practicing spells, and taking a quality breather. I sent a letter to Haruno every evening, but never received a reply. If she really was safe at the water capital, she should be able to afford some time to send a response. There must have been something preventing her from doing so. I saw the goddesses in my dreams every night, but the Goddess of Water never showed herself again, and I was unable to confirm anything more. The other goddesses didn’t know any details either, and they could only shake their heads at me. I was curious about what was going on, but we couldn’t force the Grande Nautilus to go any faster. The most I could do right now was ensure that we wouldn’t arrive any later. I quelled my impatience by swinging my gravesword and fishing in the pond with Yukina and the others.

Another four days passed and we finally were nearing the island. We raised the ship closer to the water’s surface, then I peered through a telescope above. I saw an island slightly bigger than I’d imagined, almost completely covered by trees.

“So that’s the island we heard about... the Resupply Island?”

“Everyone drops by here to resupply, so that’s what it ended up being called.”

If the island was that important, then why didn’t they build a port city here and give it a proper name? Or maybe I just thought that because I didn’t know any better. In any case, the island was less than half a day away now.

“Pardoe, there should be a cove where we can dock the ship, so head toward that.”

“Roger that!”

Our first goal was to find the cove that other ships used. Next, we had two main things in mind. One was to give the ketolts who had been steering the ship a break. We’d be heading straight for the water capital after this, so this was their only chance to rest. I wanted to make sure they were as refreshed as possible.

The second was to replenish our food supply. Most of the preserved foods you could bring on a voyage were dried foods, so this was a great chance for sailors to obtain fresh fruit. This was important for staving off illnesses during the journey. The Unlimited Bath had plenty of convenient features right now, but it still didn’t have a refrigerator. We still mainly relied on dried foods, but had the orange juice faucet as well. Getting fruit wasn’t as vital for us, but we might as well indulge in some while giving Pardoe and the others a break.

“Looks like there are no other ships right now.”

“Perfect for a little break.”

We entered the cove surrounded by a small hill and spotted no other ships. There was a spacious beach with white sand, so we docked the Grande Nautilus there without trouble. I set foot on the sandy beach, had Rulitora set up a tarp to shield us against the sun, and began preparations for some foraging.

“I’ll be so bored without the fire altar here, meow!”

“No, just rest.”

“Purr, I can do plenty of handiwork without an altar.”

“Don’t try, Shakova.”

“Like I said, just rest!”

In the end, Pardoe took out some armor to polish. Well, these were the ketolts who forced their own throne onto a human because they wanted to focus on blacksmithing... I shouldn’t bother them if this was what they wanted. A change of pace counted as a break, too.

Mark put on a full suit of armor to keep watch just in case, but he’d give up on that soon enough because Crissa wanted to play. On that note, Crissa was in charge of watching the Grande Nautilus and the other ketolts while the rest of us headed to the forest to forage for fruit. As for Mark? He couldn’t be trusted to keep watch because he’d keep staring at Crissa in a swimsuit. Just in case, I walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder.

“Mark, my boy. You might think you’re catching some sneaky glances, but it’s actually really obvious.”

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about, meow?!”

I might as well give him some advice as his elder. “I’ve already given up on trying to be sneaky. I let them know I’m watching, plain as day.”

“And how does that work out...?”

I didn’t tell him that Clena and Roni also tried to sneak glances in the bath. I could tell just as easily, you know? Though maybe the two of them were just too obvious. Anyway, we started our trek into the forest. Roni led the group, followed by Clena, Rakti, and I. Yukina and Rium followed me on either side. Rulitora protected our rear. I carried two baskets, and Clena one.

“The trees here are different from the ones in Neptune.”

The forest was humid, swarming with mossy trees covered in thick vines. The grass was a different variety from the grass in Neptune, too. This felt more like a jungle than a forest. I started getting excited at the prospect of southern fruit.

“Aren’t there monsters here, Touya?”

“Yeah, so we can expect to take back some meat, too.” I wasn’t one to speak, but the sailors in this world sure were hardy.

“But apparently there are some dangerous ones farther in.”

“...Dangerous ones?”

“The sailors don’t go near the area, so no one knows the details.”

I listened to Clena and Rium’s conversation until we encountered soft, sweet scents and a colorful array of fruits around us. We hadn’t walked far at all, yet there was already so much. The sailors had plenty of reasons to stay safe on the outskirts of the island rather than venturing farther in.

“I’ve never seen some of these fruits before. Are you sure they’re safe?”

“Apparently they’ve all been wiped out already. On the outer parts of the island, at least.”

“Everything dangerous is deeper inside, huh?”

“I’m sure they altered the island like that on purpose.”

“Why not build a whole city if they went that far?” Yukina laughed, which prompted Rium to return to our right.

“...It’s inconvenient to live here,” she murmured. So that was all it amounted to.

This island was abundant with food sources, but on the flip side, it had nothing else. If you were to ask me if I’d want to live here, I’d definitely say no.

“Well, we’ll be fine as long as we don’t stray too far. Roni, are there any monsters around?”

“I can’t smell any monsters... but I do smell a bunch of sweet fragrances that way.”

“Alright, let’s head there.”

Roni led the way, and then I heard the sound of wings flapping above me. I looked up, but didn’t see anything. I’d felt the presence of some sort of monster since we got here, but hadn’t been able to spot anything yet. The monsters might be wary of humans, since other sailors invaded their territory every once in a while.

We continued on our way, the sound of flapping wings or a rustle in the bush appearing every once in a while, but we encountered no actual monsters. We arrived at a small clearing with several varieties of fruit surrounding us.

“Alright, let’s harvest a bunch here.”

“Then I shall be in charge of keeping watch. Sir Touya, please gather the fruit with everyone else.”

“Good plan. I’ll leave it to you, Rulitora. We can finish it faster this way.”

“Understood!”

Just in case a monster attacked, we split up into two groups between Clena, Roni, and Rakti, and Yukina, Rium, and I. I looked over at Clena’s group, who were picking fruit from shorter trees. Yukina and Rium in my group could fly, so they picked fruit from the taller trees and I stood prepared to catch them from below. After we filled one basket, Yukina flew down and hugged me from behind, tired.

“Touya, let me ride on your shoulders~♥”

“You can fly... I have to use MP.”

“No, I use MP to fly too.”

I figured her wings looked a little too small to carry an entire human. So she really did use magic.

“Alright, alright. Let’s aim for that tree next.”

We might as well aim for shorter trees if she was getting tired. The one I pointed to was easy enough to reach if she sat on my shoulders. I couldn’t carry both of them at once, so I let Yukina up first while Rium took a breather.

“...I know I was the one who asked, but are you okay? I’m not a kid anymore...”

“You’re even lighter than I thought.” I had grown even stronger, too.

Happy with the answer, Yukina started shouting out commands like “Right! Right! Oh, left!” I had to twist my body every time, forcing me to make a silly face as her thighs pushed against me, and we continued picking fruit. After the basket was about half filled, it became Rium’s turn. She was much more quiet, but tried to reach for fruit even if it was a little too far, so I had to be careful to keep our balance.

“Ah, oomph...”

“......”

“Say something when you lean forward, I’m losing balance...!”

But Rium was lost in her own world as she silently picked more and more fruit. I glanced at her from underneath and noticed her serious expression. I couldn’t distract her now, so I made sure to keep note of her center of gravity so that we wouldn’t fall over.

In the meantime, something had caught Yukina’s eye and she’d floated off somewhere to follow it, and just now returned with her catch.

“Touya, look at this! We match!” With a gleaming smile, Yukina held up a giant bat with a wingspan I’d estimate to be around one stuto. It was struggling as she held it up by its wings.

By “match,” I assumed she was talking about its wings. Their shapes really were similar. I was startled for a moment, my eyes wide, but then Rium mumbled from above me.

“...A tropical bat.”

“Oh, that’s what this is...?”

The name reminded me of a conversation I’d had with the fishermen in Neptune. This was a bat monster with black wings and golden fur covering its body. It had the face of a dog with large round eyes. They mainly subsisted on fruit and were docile creatures who didn’t attack humans of their own accord. They must have been what I’d been hearing since stepping foot on this island.

“They’re the source of meat... that the sailors resupply on...”

“Meat?!” Yukina exclaimed in surprise.

That was fact. These bats had delicious meat since all they ate was fruit. They weren’t easily spotted though, so if a sailor managed to catch one, it was considered an omen of good luck.

“Touya...” Yukina looked at me with tears in her eyes. I wouldn’t have been mad at her if she let the bat go, but it looks like she hadn’t thought that far yet. The tropical bat was still struggling between her hands.

“...Well, we’re not starving for meat, and we have a source of fish too. We can’t get much meat off just one, anyway.”

“Really?!” Yukina’s eyes sparkled again as she released the bat, which immediately flew away. She was startled for a moment, but then waved her hands as it flew off.

“Rium, I’ll help too~”

“Okay...”

Her spirits lifted, Yukina flew up and gathered more fruit. The basket was almost full now, so we’d be able to finish in a flash. I checked Clena’s group, but they already had their basket on the ground, and she was snickering in my direction. Once we finished up here, we’d be able to head back to the beach.

However, Rulitora put a stop to our merrymaking.

“Sir Touya, be careful. Something is approaching us.”

“What?” We paused our fruit picking and I let Rium back down to the ground. Clena’s group ran toward us, basket in hand. A nearby bush rustled as I picked up the Crescent Moon and pointed it toward the sound.

“Oh, just humans...” A wound-covered gillman shouldering a bundle of spears emerged from the greenery. “Hold on, I’m not your enemy.” He raised both his fins upward after noticing that we were armed. The gillman’s body was a light shade of pink, and judging from the voice, I presumed he was male. His body was on the larger end, and he was carrying a basket full of short spears. He had been holding some, but stuck them into the ground. “I’m looking for a certain fruit. Let me look at what you have picked.”

I didn’t see a problem with his request. I looked over at Clena, who apparently came to the same conclusion and nodded back. My group only picked a few varieties of fruit from nearby, so the search didn’t take too long. However, Clena’s group had looked for multiple varieties, so they took a while to finish.

“Have you seen a fruit about this big?” The gillman had picked out a few to inspect, but they weren’t what he was looking for. He used his fins to indicate about how big the fruit was, which seemed about watermelon size.

“We haven’t come across anything that big,” Clena said.

“In fact, I don’t think this area would have any fruit that comes close,” I followed.

The gillman took a glance at his surroundings and sighed, “I see... Then have you seen anything similar in size elsewhere?”

“No... we wouldn’t have let something that big slip by. Can you tell us something else about how it looks, like color or a pattern?”

The gillman didn’t respond, only crossed his fins and groaned. Huh, I didn’t know that those fins could cross like human arms.

“I don’t know the details either... I’ve only heard that eating it will cure any illness.”

“...It cures any illness? Is someone you know sick?” Yukina reacted quickly to his comment. She must have taken the comment personally, since she had died of an illness and was transported to this world.

“My younger sister... she doesn’t have much longer. My only hope is that fruit.”

And with that, I couldn’t let this go either. We’d planned to take the day off on this island to let the ketolts rest, anyway. There’d be no issue with helping him in the meantime. We could get our rest after the ship set sail again.

“Is that so? I’ll lend you my help.”

“...Are you sure?”

“My little sister has also been very sick in the past. I have free time today, so don’t worry about it.”

“I see, thank you for the offer.”

I left out the part where she actually died and was transported to this world, but the gillman found common ground between us and agreed. “My name is Veil, and yours?”

“I’m Touya, and this is my little sister, Yukina...” I introduced everyone in my party. The pink gillman cocked his head after I introduced the girl with wings and a tail as my little sister, but he made no comment.

Now then—I’d offered my help, but this island was too big to search in a day. We needed to narrow down the possibilities and focus. “Do you have any other information on this fruit?”

“I’ve heard that obtaining it involves putting yourself in danger. Your group looks strong, so I appreciate your help.”

“In danger?” Does it grow off the side of a cliff?

I’d heard that plants growing in those areas can store their nutrients and are therefore more flavorful, but this island didn’t have any cliffs.

“Apparently the fruit only grows on some sort of monster.”

“That kind of danger?!” The first thing that came to mind was the dragon we had fought in Hephaestus. In this world, “dragon” was a term for powerful monsters that could alter their surroundings at will to make their habitat easier to live in. The one we had fought was a plant-type dragon that scattered poisonous spores around it.

“Plant-type monsters tend to be bigger and more numerous in the south,” Rium explained.

I see. So it wouldn’t be that strange for a plant-type monster to live here.

“Fruit from a monster would be... a delicacy,” she continued, with a faint smile and eyes sparkling. Ooh, this was the face she made whenever she got curious and worked up about something.

I got a little queasy thinking about how the other animals it preyed on became the nutrients for its fruit, but that would indeed make it tastier. Just how much nutrition did it contain, if it could cure any disease? That wasn’t my main concern right now, though. I had an idea of where we might be able to find that fruit.

“Hey, Rulitora. Back in Neptune, we were told to not go too deep into the island, right?”

“Yes, they told us that a dangerous monster lived there.”

“...You think that’s it?”

“There is a good chance.”

When we chatted with the sailors back during our stay in Neptune, they warned us not to stray deep into the island. I hadn’t paid the warning much mind since the Unlimited Bath allowed us to stock up on enough food anyway, but they must have been referring to the plant monster on this island. Plant monsters were more active during their breeding season, so we must be in that season right now.

“So if we kill the monster deep inside this island, then we can obtain the fruit that will save my sister?”

“We don’t have any proof, but... the likelihood is high. This island isn’t very big, so it wouldn’t have many options for storing nutrients in large quantities.”

“I see, that makes sense...”

“As long as the stories about the fruit being on this island and being able to cure any illness are true, that is.” It’d be a different story if the fruit could only cure certain diseases—in that case, we’d search for medicinal plants. But if it could really cure any disease, then I couldn’t imagine anything other than a fruit that was produced from vitality itself. And if it was on this island, then the monster must be using its environment to gather and store those nutrients.

“I’m certain that it’s on this island. A warrior once told me that he obtained the fruit on this island long ago... in exchange for one of his eyes.”

“...Was that warrior a gillman?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“No, it’s nothing.” I shook my head as I recalled the one-eyed gillman I met on the other island. In any case, the first thing we should do was head deeper inside the island. The sailors hadn’t warned us of any other dangerous location. If this plant monster really existed, it’d be there. We placed the fruit baskets inside the Unlimited Bath, then Rulitora and I fully equipped ourselves.

“Should I put on some armor, too?”

“If you want to, I think the armor you wore at the beach will work since it’s so hot here.” I was referring to her top half armor, bottom half swimsuit outfit.

“You look much hotter than I do in that thing.”

“I have to be ready, in case it’s really a dragon...”

“Do you really think something that strong lives here?”

“I’m sure you’re much more knowledgeable about this than I am, Clena, but would a fruit that cures any illness be that easy to get?”

“...Yeah, that’s not something you see every day.”

In other words, a dragon was most likely the monster producing such a fruit. But even if that was the case, the silver lining was that it won’t be scattering poisonous spores like the dragon back in Hephaestus. We continued chatting about what kind of monster it could possibly be, and then Yukina suddenly hugged me from behind.

“Touya... thank you.”

“Hm? What for?”

“For helping that gillman. His little sister must be so worried about him right now...”

I could hear her choking up behind her words. She must have seen herself in his little sister the way I saw myself in Veil.

“It gets really lonely when you’re waiting, you know? So let’s find that fruit as soon as we can. That way, Veil can go back to his little sister more quickly, too.”

“...You’re right.” If it really was a dragon, then Veil wouldn’t be able to fight it himself. I started shivering when I thought about what might happen to his sister if Veil couldn’t make it back. Fortunately, this island wasn’t too big, so we should be able to depart again right on schedule. Let’s find that fruit within the day so that Veil could return to his little sister’s side.

“Let’s do it, Yukina.”

“Sure thing!” she replied happily, flapping her wings.

Clena then turned to Yukina and held out her hand. “I’m just as worried about those siblings as you are. Let’s do our best, Yukina.”

“......” Yukina stared at Clena’s hand with hesitation for a short while. She looked like she wanted to say something, but eventually pulled out her own for a handshake. “Got it, let’s save Veil’s little sister!”

“Yes!”

They were really starting to get along. I was absolutely elated as I nodded at their exchange.

“Well, this will be a piece of cake if my big brother and I work together~♥”

“Oh? Touya and I have actually defeated a dragon before. You should leave this one to the people with more experience.♪”

Unfortunately, my elation got slammed to the ground in the next moment.

“But we’re rescuing siblings here! You shouldn’t butt in.”

“I’m not butting in. You’re like my little sister now, and that makes me happy!”

“...Pfft! You just mean ‘in-law’! I bet you only think of me as a sister-in-law!”

“Huh? Er, I wasn’t implying that much...” Clena was taken aback by the unexpected retort. Her face was bright red.

Yukina continued her chiding, knowing she had the upper hand now, while Clena just waved her hands in denial. Yukina started grinning like she was starting to have fun, and Clena looked embarrassed, but not upset at her situation. They really were getting along.

“...I can’t have either of them getting hurt, though.” I wanted to help Veil, but I wasn’t going to sacrifice anyone in the process. I’ll crush any monster, no matter what was waiting for us. As I continued to watch the two girls, my gauntlet-covered hand formed a tight fist.

“Touya! Stop staring and help me out!”

“Touyaaa, do you prefer big boobs?! Do you really?!”

The girls glared at me. They really did look like a pair of quarreling siblings. But in that case, it was the job of the older brother to put an end to their argument. I called out to the two of them.

It wasn’t too tough of an argument to settle. They stopped as soon as I mentioned Veil’s little sister, who was still waiting for him.

“I got off track there... we need to hurry and find that cure-all fruit.”

“Yeah, let’s send him and the fruit back as soon as we can!”

And thus, they made up. Well, they weren’t actually arguing in the first place, so I wasn’t sure if they “made up” in that regard.

Anyway, our party made its way toward the island depths. The area wasn’t home to any strong monsters, so we progressed without trouble.

This was such a pleasant island, come to think of it. Sunlight filtered down through the treetops and a refreshing breeze kept us cool. The weather might be getting less harsh the farther we progressed inward. We would have stayed here for a few days if we weren’t in a rush to find Haruno. But right now, our goal was to find the panacea for Veil’s sick sister. We walked for a while until Roni, who led the group, turned back and spoke to us.

“Um, aren’t there a lot of fallen trees around here?”

“...There sure are.” An eerie amount. I inspected one that was close to us, and it didn’t look like it had fallen because it withered, but rather because something knocked it down.

“So something around here can knock down these trees...” Veil also peered at the broken part of the tree with a complex expression. The trunk was pretty thick. Anything that could fell it must have enormous strength.

“...It really is a dragon,” Rakti said as she pressed her hand against the ground.

“You can tell?”

“If they’re as strong as a dragon, yes.”

I see. The goddess sisters each governed a part of nature. They must be able to detect a dragon’s presence, since it could affect its own natural habitat.

“So it’s really a dragon? Though it seems easier to deal with than the one back in Hephaestus.”

“...No poison gas.”

Rulitora, then Rium, who was perched on his shoulder commented as they gazed at our surroundings. They had a point—it’d be much easier for us to fight since we didn’t need the water veil this time.

“So is this island the result of the dragon altering its environment?”

“What a nice dragon,” Roni giggled at Clena’s question. But if that was the case, then how should we proceed? The optimal scenario would be retrieving that fruit without killing the monster.

I glanced at Veil, who had a resolute look in his eyes. I couldn’t discern the expressions of a gillman that well, but maybe I could tell because his circumstances resembled mine in the past. What would I have done if I had learned there was a panacea that could save Yukina? I thought as we made our way deeper inside the island. Before long, we heard heavy crackling sounds in the distance. We approached the direction the sound came from, only to be met with a bizarre sight.

“What in the world...?” The first thing I saw was a giant bulb about the size of an elephant. It was a deep green color and smelled grassy, like the rabbit pen we’d kept back in my elementary school. I couldn’t tell if they were roots or vines, but several of them were writhing about from underneath the bulb. No, it wasn’t just the vines. The bulb itself moved, too. It looked like several smaller protrusions grew from the ends of the vines, which allowed the monster to move. It progressed slowly until it reached a tree, coiled two of its vines around the trunk, and then... crushed the trunk to pieces a second later.

“What...?” I was so shocked that I didn’t register what just happened for a few seconds.

“Wh-wh-wh-what was that?!”

“I-I don’t know! It broke the tree down because it was in its way...?”

“Those vines aren’t that thick! Rakti could crush them in a bear hug!”

“No I couldn’t!” Rakti yelled back at my weird example, but honestly, those vines were no thicker than Rakti’s arm. Even so, they snapped the tree in two. That was a display of just how powerful this thing was.

This was a dragon we were dealing with. It didn’t have scales or a single other characteristic a dragon would have besides its sheer strength.

“Touya, hey Touya. Look, its stomach is bulging!” Yukina pointed to the bulb, which had expanded a considerable amount. Maybe it was setting up an attack. I immediately stepped in front of everyone and situated my shield.

“Fall back, everyone!” I shouted, but surprisingly, the bulb dragon’s next move was not an attack.

Its green exterior quickly opened up, revealing a blooming red flower. In the same moment, it shot something all around us.

“Oh, they’ve reached the ground.” However, whatever it shot wasn’t enough to do us any harm. One of them fell on my helmet, so Clena grabbed it off me.

“What’s that?”

“It’s... a seed. Did the dragon make these?”

“It didn’t look like a balsam flower...”

So that giant green bulb was actually the bud of a flower. I should change the name from bulb dragon to flower dragon from now on.

“Touya... look at this.” Rium picked up two seeds and showed them to me. They were clearly different varieties. The one that had fallen on my helmet didn’t match either. The flower dragon was now slowly closing its petals. Its vines picked the fruit off the fallen tree, then dropped them inside from the tip of the bud.

“...I see, so it eats fruit that way, then stores the seeds inside itself.”

“What is that dragon trying to accomplish?” Veil cocked his head, puzzled.

I, on the other hand, was starting to understand this flower dragon’s purpose. “...It’s maintaining the forest, isn’t it?”

“Maintaining? What do you mean, Sir Touya?”

“I think it’s called thinning? If a forest is too crowded with trees, it has a harder time growing because they’re blocking out too much sun.”

“Oh, I think I’ve heard of that before...?”

You have, we watched a program about it on TV before. The program phrased it something like “the dying forest,” which made Yukina cry since she was watching so intently.

“...So it fell a tree just now to make room for the other trees around it?”

“That’s the idea. It was also scattering the seeds of the fruit it ate. That’s how it’s regulating the environment on this island.”

Indeed, this Resupply Island was maintained by the flower dragon so that it would always have a fresh harvest of fruit. Or rather, the dragon was only building its own feeding grounds, and the sailors just helped themselves to the leftovers once in a while.

“...Yeah, that does line up with what dragons do.”

“It’s a very peaceful one compared to the one in Hephaestus, though.”

Everyone else agreed with my explanation. This also explained why the sailors didn’t want us approaching the center of the island. They didn’t want me killing the dragon, even if we got ourselves in danger. They hadn’t told us the full story, most likely because I had a Dragon Slayer medal. The medal made me pretty famous for having slayed a dragon in Hephaestus, so they probably thought I’d set out to defeat another dragon once I learned of its existence. But well, I didn’t think I had to say this, but I wasn’t the type to pick fights with dragons for fun.

“...Anyway, we can’t kill that dragon. Who knows what would happen to this island then?”

“So are you telling us to let it go? To give up on saving my sister?” Veil tightened his grip on his spear when he heard my conclusion. His anger was clearly oozing from the tone of his voice, but he was jumping to conclusions.

“That’s not it. We just need to find a way to retrieve the fruit without killing it. Would you cut down an entire tree just to pick one fruit?”

“Well... no, I wouldn’t.”

“You see? Now the main question is where that fruit is hiding on its body. Or maybe it’s not carrying any fruit at all.”

Veil quieted down, though still disgruntled, and I looked back at the flower dragon. It was about the size of an elephant, but its body only consisted of a bud and vines. It was definitely a plant, but I couldn’t imagine where its fruit might grow. Just as I was considering the possibility that we were barking up the wrong tree, Rulitora spoke up from beside me.

“Sir Touya, when the flower bloomed earlier, I saw some things that looked like orbs inside...”

“Orbs?”

A flower was still a flower no matter the size, so it should also have a stamen or pistil. And of course, that would grow into a fruit.

“I wonder if it’ll open up again?”

“We don’t know when it’ll bloom. Maybe when it’s done digesting the fruit it just ate...”

“If it digests fast... then this island would have become barren a long time ago,” Rium bluntly interjected in Rulitora and my conversation. Her statement made everyone fall silent.

“A-anyway, let’s continue following and observing it. If we know when it blooms, we can just pick the fruit then.”

“...What if it never opens no matter how long we wait?”

“Then I’ll force myself in there.” I was the one who offered to help, so I should at least do that much. It would likely try to fight back, but I’d be fine as long as I had the Magic Eater equipped. That method would also incur less damage on the flower dragon than if we blindly attack it.

“...This feels weird.”

“What’s wrong, Touya?”

“No, it’s nothing.” It felt a little bizarre trying to prioritize a monster’s safety, but I didn’t want the demon Yukina, who was currently looking at me worriedly, to hear that. This monster was indirectly helping humans, so we should be fine if we just avoided fighting it.

“Oh, it’s moving!” The flower dragon started moving again while we were deliberating.

“Go ahead and follow it. I’m going to make some preparations.” I wasted no time and opened the door to the Unlimited Bath, rushing inside. We’d be able to deal with the dragon more easily if we used that. I picked up my secret weapon, which I decided on from analyzing all the information we knew so far.

“Kyaaah!!”

And then I heard a scream. I noticed it was Clena’s voice, so I darted out from the Bath with an axe in my right hand and my secret weapon in the left. But by the time I exited the bath, everyone else was already out of my sight. They had already chased the dragon a distance away. I noticed a trail that implied something heavy being dragged along the ground. I closed the door and ran, following the trail. Fortunately, they hadn’t gone too far and I caught up to them in a flash.

“...Um, what are you doing?” I asked after seeing what was going on.

The flower dragon was using its vines in an attempt to part everyone from their armor. Rulitora and Veil were using all their strength to keep their weapons from being snatched away. Clena and Roni were trying to not have their upper armor stripped off of them.

“Can’t you tell?! We could use some help here!” Clena was in tears, her bra about to be torn off along with the rest of her armor, and vital parts of her body about to be exposed. She was using both hands to try and get the vines off her.

Rium was nimbly dodging the attacks on her flying disc, but Yukina and Rakti were hanging off the vines from their swimsuit bottoms. They looked like they might get swallowed any moment now. I should prioritize those two.

“Wait a bit, Clena!” I pierced the Crescent Moon into the ground and summoned earth spirits to hold it in place. I rushed toward Yukina and Rakti, then grabbed my secret weapon—a jar containing white granules—and threw a fistful of the granules onto the vines. Not a moment later, the vines that made contact with the granules flinched back and weakened their grip on the girls.

Just as I thought. I quickly turned around and did the same for Clena and the others. Lastly, I threw another fistful at the bud itself, which made the dragon start to scurry away and released Rium from her predicament as well.

“Are you all okay?”

“Somehow...”

“It took two spears and broke one... damn it!”

Rulitora was fine, but one of Veil’s spears had snapped and two others were missing from his basket. The stolen spears had been swallowed up inside the bud. So the top of the bud was its mouth? There were no other casualties, so I checked on the girls next.

“Thanks for saving us... but what did you throw at it?”

“Salt.”

Clena and Roni were readjusting their armor, but they stopped in their tracks after my answer. Clena, I have a full view of your cleavage if you stop there.

“Vegetables soften if you soak them in salt... is that the idea?” Rakti asked as she squirmed around. She was holding down her panties so that they wouldn’t fall. Apparently they had gotten stretched by the vines. Yukina was in the same predicament, but she was using her tail as a clever bolster.

Rium had managed to dodge all the vines, so her swimsuit was unharmed. However, since she had been flying back and forth the whole time, her ever-emotionless face was flushed red and covered in sweat. Thank goodness—if she had been caught, she would have had no chance of fighting back with her small body.

She flew down beside me, then looked up and asked, “...How did you know?”

I used a towel to wipe the sweat off her face, then spoke up so that everyone could hear my reasoning. “The sailors warned us to not venture too deep inside the island, right?”

“That was because of the dragon...”

“But they didn’t tell us to avoid setting foot on the island in the first place, right?”

“That’s true...” Roni murmured. She had made friends with the fishermen’s wives and learned a few seafood recipes from them. She must have been scanning through whatever gossip she remembered hearing from them.

“That dragon probably can’t go to the outer edges of the island. So this is a safe place for the sailors to dock as long as they don’t stray too deep.”

“And the dragon can’t wander out because of the salt?”

“More specifically, because of the ocean. Just like Rakti said, the salt dries out the plants.”

“I see... Even if it’s a dragon, it’s still a plant.”

“Yep. Though my idea was way more effective than I thought it’d be.”

The dragon couldn’t approach the water, so I figured the salt would have some effect, but I wasn’t expecting it to outright run away. Either way, it left a trail behind when it ran, so tracking it down again wouldn’t be hard.

“Rulitora, Rium, and Veil—you three follow the dragon. I’ll wait for the others to change.”

“Understood.”

“Hold on to this, Rium.” I handed her the jar of salt, which made her look as happy as a puppy that had just been given a treat. If the dragon tried to attack them again, she could shower salt onto it from above. “Alright then, the rest of you should hurry and change.”

“I just need to retie my swimsuit. Roni, take the others inside and assist them.”

“Understood, we’ll be right back! Oh, and I’ll bring a spare jar of salt!” Roni said, then led Yukina and Rakti into the Unlimited Bath.

It was my job to retie Clena’s swimsuit.

“I guess you have no other choice since we’re in a hurry.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for me!” Clena reprimanded me, her cheeks bright red. She must have been embarrassed, but held it in because she had no one else to ask. It showed how reliable she was, in a way. I felt like she might punch me if I pointed that out to her though, so I kept it to myself.

“...Are you thinking anything weird?”

“No, nothing weird. Okay, it’s done.”

“Oh... thank you.”

We waited for the rest of the girls to come out, a bit of an awkward air between us.

“Hmm, you two seem suspicious!”

“Nothing happened! Come on, let’s get going!”

Yukina prodded us, sharp as ever, but I quickly closed the door so that we could set off. Yukina had changed into her sailor uniform, and Rakti into her maid uniform. Roni was wearing her usual armor, but was fully equipped now. She had a jar of salt under her arm.

“I helped!”

“Good job, Rakti!” I briefly patted Rakti on her head as she puffed out her chest, and then we started chasing the trail again.

After some time, I spotted Rulitora’s large figure up ahead. Judging from the time we spent changing and how far they’d gone, the flower dragon had really picked up its speed.

“Rulitora, how are things?”

“It has been advancing without even giving us a glance, Sir Touya.”

“That salt really did a number on it!” Veil followed in an irritated tone. This wasn’t good—he looked like he was itching to throw the spear he was holding.

Killing the dragon would affect the ecosystem of the island itself, so I wanted to avoid it if at all possible. Now that we knew its weak point, we should be able to get its fruit without harming it. Still, its body was only a bud and some vines. How would it grow its own fruit? Apparently something was inside the bud, so I wanted to confirm that one more time somehow. As I racked my brain, the flower dragon suddenly slowed down.

“What’s happening?”

“There is a pond nearby.” Rulitora pointed toward a small pond, which the dragon was now heading toward.

“It looks pretty dirty...” I could tell just by looking. The water was brownish and very murky.

“That’s a collection of rainwater. I’ve heard that it rains heavily once every few days on this island. It rained yesterday, too. The pond must have formed from that rainwater.”

“Yesterday?” We were sailing toward this island yesterday, but I didn’t remember it raining on us at all.

“Can the dragon make it rain, too? I mean, Goldfish had the ability to do the opposite. He prevented rain from falling near the oasis.”

“Oh yeah...” Clena reminded me of Goldfish’s abilities. So the dragon could do the same thing... or rather, the opposite of it. I had an idea of what the dragon’s immediate goal was.

“Is it rehydrating itself?” Yukina noticed, too. She had come to the same conclusion I did.

I had no idea how it was able to make it rain, but it must have been making use of that spot as a temporary water reserve. Or maybe that hole in the ground had actually been dug up by the dragon itself.

“Now we have even more reasons why we can’t kill it...”

“Huh? And why’s that?” Veil whined in response to Roni’s comment.

Hey, don’t you go threatening Roni. I immediately stepped between them and shielded her.

I was of the same mindset as Roni. The dragon didn’t just thin the trees, spread seeds, and maintain the forest—it even created rain to help the habitat flourish. The small pond might even be a vital source of water for other monsters living here. No, not just monsters... The sailors who visited this island also used the rain as a precious source of fresh water during their voyages. For a giant green bulb, this dragon sure was a saint. An absolute angel. We absolutely had to avoid killing it now. In fact, killing it would only spell trouble. I couldn’t imagine the scale of devastation to established sea routes if this dragon were no longer here. The dragon guarded the very ecosystem of this island. Not only that, it was a key player in supporting the sailors in the surrounding waters. How should we settle this as peacefully as possible? I never expected to find myself worrying about something like this when our opponent was a monster.

“Oh, it stopped, Touya.” The flower dragon stopped while thoughts were still racing through my head. “But wait, isn’t it still pretty far from the pond?” However, she noted that it didn’t quite make sense for the dragon to stop there. We knew it was a bud, but I figured from the shape that it would go into the pond and suck up the water there. I tilted my head in confusion, but the dragon’s next move was completely out of left field.

“Seriously?!” The bud sharply leaned over until its head collided with the water... Well, I had no idea if that was its head or not. The ground nearby rumbled loudly. Was it sucking up the water now?

“Let’s get closer!” I darted ahead without waiting for anyone to respond. “Let’s use this chance to find the fruit! Yukina and Rium, you two search from above! Clena, keep an eye on the water and let us know when it’s about to run out!”

I quickly shouted my orders as I ran toward the flower dragon. A glance behind me showed that the others were following just a step behind. I finally drew close to it, but it was so focused on drinking up the water that it didn’t bat an eye in my direction. Well, it didn’t have eyes in the first place.

It was using the bud like a pump to suck in all the water. At this rate, it’d be done in no time. We needed to find what we could quickly. I tried looking under it for the first time, but all I saw were smaller vines squirming around. I wanted to check inside the bud too, but we were in no position to do so.

“Touya, the pond is almost empty!”

“That was fast! Stand back, everyone!”

“B-but...!”

“We still have plenty of salt to use! Now hurry!” Veil hesitated, but my one command sent him running as well.

As soon as we got out of the way, the dragon stood its bud upright and began walking again. We approached the pond at a safe distance and saw that there was no water left—it was just a crater now.

“It wasn’t that huge of a pond, but that thing sure dried it up at an unbelievable speed...”

“It didn’t slow down afterward, though.”

“Yeah, it’s probably still thirsty. Let’s keep following it.”

There were likely several ponds scattered around the island. In fact, maybe it had prepared all these reserves in case something like this ever happened.

“Did any of you find anything?” I asked the group, but no one responded. No surprise, since we barely had time to search. We had no choice but to keep following its tracks. If it came down to it, I could always throw another bunch of salt to force it to drink more water. Next time, we’d be more prepared.

“Oh, hold on a second!” Right as we were about to get going again, Roni jumped into the empty crater. She returned with a familiar-looking object.

“My spears!” Yes, they were Veil’s two spears that the dragon had swallowed. They must have fallen out when the bud tilted itself.

“...Wait!” And then it hit me. Since those things it used to walk were vines and not roots, it had to stick its bud into the pond to consume water. In that case, what if the water was coming from another direction? “Hey, how do you think that dragon would absorb water if it was raining...?”

“How? I mean... still from the top of its bud, right?”

Right, it would point itself to the sky. That wouldn’t be very efficient, though. The opening at the tip of the bud was relatively tiny.

“It’d make more sense if it could spread itself out, right?”

“Spread itself out? How?” Clena asked. I pointed to the dragon’s bud.

“That big thing. The giant bud.” It acted like a pump just now. Judging from how it had eaten fruit and spit out the seeds, the inside of the bud could store water and other items. That was also why Veil’s spears fell back out while it was slanted over. We already knew the bud could move pretty freely, so how would it efficiently gather water when it rained?

The answer was simple—it just needed a larger surface area. The giant bud just needed to bloom into a flower, a receptacle for the water.

“I didn’t think of that...” Yukina mumbled as she flapped her wings. Rium vigorously nodded next to her, noting that she agreed. Well, they wouldn’t have noticed it because the bud was underwater the whole time. Though I had taken that as a hint.

“This means that whatever is inside is really important.”

“You mean...?!” Veil gasped, then turned toward the dragon. Everyone else’s gazes followed. If the fruit wasn’t outside, then it had to be inside. The logic was self-evident. Not to mention the inside of it must have been hollow—a perfect storage spot. A spot that the bud and vines were protecting with all its might. Come to think of it, the ovary inside a flower ripened into a fruit. It was only natural that we’d find fruit inside.

“So the orbs Rulitora saw earlier...”

“Those must have been it.”

“Damn it! So we have to wait until the next time it rains?! It just rained yesterday! I’m nearly running out of time!” Veil yelled in anger as he struck his fins against the ground. However, he had no idea. He had yet to learn just what kind of a hero he was working with.

The events that followed went without a hitch. I pulled out the hose for the first time in a while. My Unlimited Bath had grown much larger since the first time I used it, so it was just barely long enough to reach the door. As long as it did reach the door though, we were all set.

I sprayed water from the air like a shower, which made the dragon stop in its tracks, and its bud slowly opened. Underneath its hard outer shell were large, pink, and wavy flower petals that almost looked like silk. The petals gradually revealed themselves, layer by layer, until a giant flower blossomed like a dazzling dress. So this was the true form of the flower dragon. I was captivated by the sight for a moment. A sweet smell wafted through the air, a sharp contrast to the grassy smell the green bud gave off.

“Wow...”

“It’s beautiful...” Clena and Roni were just as entranced. I had almost dropped the hose because it looked so mystical. Stems that looked like a bunch of pillars grew from the center of the flower, and many golden orbs were attached to their ends.

“That’s it! That’s the fruit that can cure any illness...!” Veil pointed to the orbs and yelled.

Jackpot. So the fruit really was inside the bud.

“Clena, Roni, hold the hose.”

“...Er, oh, got it.”

“Rulitora, Veil—the three of us will fight off the vines. We should be strong enough to match it.”

“Understood!”

“Y-yes! I’ll use all my spears on it!”

Please don’t, you’ll need those to make it back home. “Yukina, you pick the fruit. Rium, if any of the vines go for Yukina, throw salt at them.”

“Leave it to me, Touya!”

“I don’t think they will... but okay.”

Just as Rium surmised, the vines had been dangling listlessly since the flower bloomed. They would probably remain that way even after we invaded its space, but we still needed some safeguards.

Yukina approached the flower from the sky. The vines remained still. It gave its full attention to resupplying itself with water, just like back at the pond. Yukina slowly reached out her arms. I held my breath, watching her cautiously and silently pick a single fruit, then drift her way back toward us.

“I did it!”

“Alright, we’re escaping! All of you go ahead of me! It won’t move as long as it’s still drinking water!”

“I shall stay behind!”

“...Thank you.”

The others escaped first, leaving only Rulitora and I behind. I finally shut off the water flow when everyone had retreated a safe distance away, threw the hose back inside the Unlimited Bath, jumped onto Rulitora’s back, and ran away as fast as we could. I glanced behind me and saw that the dragon was slowly closing its petals again. It most likely wouldn’t start moving again until after the bud had completely returned to form. We retrieved the fruit without killing the dragon, and thus our goal was safely met.

After that ordeal, we retreated safely back to the beach, then reconvened with Pardoe and the other ketolts. It had gotten later than I had realized. The sun was just about to set beyond the horizon. Crissa had already started preparing dinner. We invited Veil over for a meal before he left, but he turned us down, saying he needed to bring the fruit to his sister as soon as possible. He said he would catch fish to eat along his way back.

“Thank you, I couldn’t have gotten this fruit without all your help.” Veil hung his head down, acting much more modest than he’d ever been.

“Don’t worry about it, I just couldn’t treat your situation as someone else’s business,” I replied, hugging Yukina’s shoulder close to me.

“Could you hold onto this for a moment?”

“Huh? But you need this...”

Veil handed the fruit over to me. I took it before understanding what he was trying to do and immediately tried giving it back, but before I could, he dived into the ocean. I stared blankly for a while, fruit in hand, and then he returned with a barrel tied to a string.

“Take this as my thanks.” He opened the barrel and revealed a bunch of sparkling coral, among other items. It was a valuable haul, just judging from the sheer quantity. Veil lifted the barrel, then took out the items and lined them up on the sand. “I’ve heard that these items are valuable among humans. I brought them with me just in case.”

“Oh, so you were prepared to barter the fruit from humans, too... In that case, we’ll gladly take this.”

“Please do. I need to exchange the things in here with the fruit.”

Had he managed to get the fruit on his own, he would have thrown the items out anyway. He really was determined.

Veil took the fruit back from me, put it inside the barrel, then waved his fin and dived back into the sea. We waved back as his figure slowly grew distant, swimming toward the setting sun.

“I kind of regret not getting one of those fruits for ourselves, though. I’d like to try a taste, if it really is that amazing,” I mumbled idly, which made the rest of the group turn to me. “Wh-what’s up?”

“...You didn’t notice?”

“Notice what?” I asked, and then everyone’s eyes landed on Yukina. I looked at her in turn, and then caught sight of a certain something. “...Yukina, what’s that you’ve got your tail wrapped around?”

“Teehee♪” Her tail was holding something I’d seen very recently. Something that was in my very own hands just a moment ago—that golden fruit. Apparently Yukina had used both her hands and her tail to pick two fruits before she ran off.

“Honestly, I can’t believe you...”

“I’ve gotten so much more dependable, right?” Yukina hugged me, as if prodding me to praise her. Well, I guess it didn’t matter if we managed to run off with an extra one. I patted her head while grumbling, “Say something next time, or else you’ll have me worried.”

“Alright, let’s have that for dessert tonight.”

“...Agreed.”

Rakti picked up the fruit and Rium’s eyes followed, sparkling with intrigue. Crissa’s dinner, however, was a full-out seafood barbecue. I was looking forward to dessert, but this wasn’t something I could skip either.

“Okay then, let’s get going.”

“Yeah!”

The sun set and the beach gradually grew darker. I took Yukina’s hand and led her to the campfires.

“Touya, I finished grilling one!” Rakti waved and called for me, now wearing an apron over her swimsuit. She handed me a skewer stuffed with slices of fish. “It’s good!” she grinned.

Crissa’s barbecue was focused mainly on ingredients sourced from the sea. My skewer consisted of slices of white fish, shellfish, and something that looked like an octopus tentacle. The fishing pond in the Unlimited Bath allowed you to actually catch sea creatures aside from just fish. Even now, Crissa and Mark were fishing up new catches to add to the ingredient supply. I wanted Mark to get some rest, but maybe that’d be mean to ask of him. I might as well let him help Crissa to his heart’s content right now. That would make him happiest.

“Can’t let him have all the fun, though...” In that case, I should liven things up here as well. I looked at Rium, who was sitting on the beach and staring tirelessly at the bunch of coral Veil had left for us. I bet she wouldn’t remember to eat if I let her be, so I called out to her.

“And why aren’t you calling for me, huuuh?”

“Because you’re sneaking up on me anyway?”

Yukina latched onto me from behind, though she didn’t manage to catch me off guard. She must have flown over in lieu of me picking up on her footsteps, but in this noisy atmosphere, the breeze her wings created stood out more. I supported Yukina’s weight with my back, and then Rium finally stood up.

“How is it? Found anything interesting?”

“...It’s all interesting. There’s nothing like it in Athena.” She shook her head.

If I remembered correctly, Athena was entirely landlocked. Unfortunately, Rium wouldn’t have much knowledge on the items here. We checked with Shakova, who said that while none of the items were especially rare, they could be used to create accessories or decorations. I asked if they could be turned into weapons, but he said that hitting something with a stick would be more effective than using coral. If that was the case, then I might as well leave everything in Shakova’s hands.

Now that we had the gift matters settled, it was time to eat. Rulitora and Pardoe were already drinking from wooden beer mugs. Shakova went back to his group and started drinking as well. Rulitora had three skewers in one hand, then scarfed them all up in one bite. He may have had a bigger mouth than all of us combined, but even for him that was pretty extravagant. So that’s why Crissa was so busy. Their drinking party wouldn’t be ending anytime soon. I’ll offer to switch jobs with Crissa when I’m done eating.

“Hey everyone, dessert’s ready~!”

I had cleaned off a few skewers and was chomping down on a grilled fish when Roni and Clena brought out a plate of sliced dragon’s fruit. It looked pretty close to sliced cantaloupe, only the skin was a bright and lustrous blue, while the inside looked moist and honey-colored. We only got one slice each, but that couldn’t be helped since we were splitting between ten people.

“Alright, our leader Touya should take the first bite.”

“Me? Okay then...” At Clena’s suggestion, I transported a slice from the plate to my mouth. I chewed on it for a few seconds, then slowly said, “...It’s sweet. It really does feel like it’d cure any illness.”

“Ooh, me next... Wow, it’s so sweet! This is crazy!” Yukina yelped in surprise as she took the second bite.

That prompted everyone else to take their own slice, put their hand over their mouth, and faint shortly after. Yeah, this was sweet. Too sweet. If a fruit contained enough nutrients to cure any disease, then its flavor would be just as dense.

The taste wasn’t bad, though. I mean, it was kind of disgusting at this point, but it was also delicious. I wanted to throw it up, but that’d be a giant waste. So instead, I bore with the torrent of flavor that enveloped my insides like a maelstrom. This was the first time I experienced a food that was so flavorful it tired me out.

“...It’s good if you think of it like a medicine,” Yukina mumbled from beside me. Her voice sounded much more earnest than it usually did.

Well, out of all the impressions rushing through me, “delicious” still stood out the most, so Veil’s sister should be fine. I hoped.

“Do you really think it tastes that weird? I think it’s fine...” And then there was Rakti, the only one out of all of us munching on the fruit unaffectedly. I kept forgetting recently, but you’d expect as much from a goddess... I suppose?

In any case, Rakti confirmed that this was indeed healthy for us, so we had Rulitora and the rest try it out too. They also fainted, but the fruit was sure to snatch their weariness away. The remaining two slices were for Mark and Crissa. Pardoe and Shakova should be able to convince them to eat it. And thus, Yukina, Rakti, Rium, and I went over to trade places with Crissa. Clena and Roni had gone back to finishing up their barbecue dinner. I guess it acted as a palate cleanser. Even I was chewing on some salty meat jerky right now.

I believed everyone should try that fruit at least once, so while we were trading places, I told Crissa to make sure she got a bite of it herself. Shortly after, I heard a “Gyaaah!!” in Mark’s voice, but I pretended I didn’t hear it. This was payback for helping Crissa even though I told him to rest. With that he should get his energy back.

“Geez, what an ordeal... well, I suppose it wasn’t that bad,” Clena grumbled from her post-dinner bath, face half submerged.

“All the soreness from my legs just vanished. How does it feel for you?”

“...Same for me, actually,” Clena sighed, exasperated since the fruit really did have an effect despite all the trouble.

I knew how she felt—it was hard to accept, like the results were disappointing yet exactly what they promised. I had wanted to make Mark eat the fruit since he’d been helping Crissa without so much as stopping to breathe. That was just out of the kindness of my heart. Yeah.

“On that note, are you okay where the vines grabbed you? I can help heal any injuries.”

“Oh, I was a little red, but I’m fine now. See?” Clena showed me her wrist. Indeed, her skin was spotless.

“How about you, Roni?”

“I’m fine as well.”

“Didn’t your armor suffer the most damage since it was pulled around so much?”

“Yes, all the clasps are broken now...”

“That’s not something I can fix with magic...” I’ll ask the ketolts to help later. They’d have time to mend it in between steering breaks. We couldn’t afford to enter the water capital in broken armor, so if it came down to it, we could take over the steering as well.

I asked Yukina and Rakti the same question next. “How about you two?”

“Look, look~!”

“D-do you see any marks...?”

The girls turned their behinds toward me, then flipped up the hems of their yuamigi. I hurried to cover my eyes. Oh yeah, the vines had grabbed them from the bottom...

“U-um, you two look fine.”

“Have some shame, you girls!”

Roni checked the girls instead and confirmed that they had nothing to worry about. Immediately after, Clena leaped out of the bath and slapped both of their butts.

“Show some modesty! This isn’t even about being around other boys or girls!” She then made the two girls kneel inside the tub as she towered over them, hands on her hips. Both Yukina and Rakti had tears in their eyes, maybe because they had gotten slapped especially hard. Well, I couldn’t say I condemned their actions just now, but they were indeed immodest. I decided to not butt into Clena’s tirade—the girls needed it.

“It’s big... but not as big as Sera’s.”

“Shh!” I put my hand over Rium’s mouth as she scooted over next to me. And it’s not like I wasn’t stopping Clena because her wet yuamigi perfectly outlined her shapely round butt or anything. Really, I wasn’t.

She was raised in a noble family, so she was much better suited for these lectures on etiquette than I. That being said, we couldn’t have the girls get overheated in the bath, so I should stop them soon.

“Uh-huh... so showing them off in plain view isn’t necessarily sexy...”

“...Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Oh yeah, sister Earth is like that. Touya can never keep his eyes off her.”

“Rakti, tell me more.”

...At least, I think it was okay to leave this in Clena’s hands.