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The moment the teleportation circle was booted up, my surroundings got dyed in bright light and it made me feel a bit dizzy. This was the so-called teleportation sickness, and one of the main reasons why it couldn’t be used in battles despite its extreme usefulness.

When the light died down and the dizziness went away, there were vast grasslands spread before me. This was a teleportation location just outside of the Kevin domain, and a little walk from here would take us to the town.

Still, there was no change to the fact that this was a sight you wouldn’t see in the Raum’s capital, so Letina and Matisse voiced their admiration at the abundant grasslands spread before them.

Michelle and I weren’t surprised by this level of grasslands, however. We were the genuine country bumpkins that originated from an even more rural place.

“Amazing! I’ve never seen such huge grasslands!”

Matisse shouted full of unusual liveliness. Even Letina dropped her usually indifferent attitude and was restlessly looking around.

Given the way she was acting, she’d definitely start running around if we left her be. We were well aware that Letina had a mischievous nature contrary to what her appearance suggested.

“Don’t break the line now, okay?”
“I-I know already!”

She replied to my warning in a suspicious way. Michelle starting giggling when she saw it.

“That’s right. We are walking to the Cosmos Garden. Everyone form two rows and follow me!”

Cortina shouted and started leading the way. At the end of the rows was Elliot who kept a close eye so the kids would not go astray. I also held hands with Matisse and followed the path.

“Letina, stop looking at me so greedily.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, okay?”
“I’ll switch to you later, so wait.”
“Sorry, Lady Letina.”

Seeing Letina putting up a tough front made even Matisse break into a smile. And thus, we spent the rest of the ride in such a lively manner.

Priscilla wasn’t with us now, but she should have secretly slipped in during the teleportation and followed us. I could sense her presence so she was definitely observing us from somewhere.

Although we were walking, it’s not like we were that close to our destination. It was a distance you’d usually cover with a carriage.

This time, we weren’t going to the Kevin domain’s town, but instead to study the Cosmos fields on its edge. Then we’d have lunch there and return back to this teleportation location and go back to the Academy.

It was hardly something to call an adventure, but kids like Matisse who rarely left the town thought otherwise.

“Ah, look, bees! But why are they so strangely round?”

Matisse pointed at the bugs flying around and raised a cheer.

“Those are honeybees. They have a habit of collecting the flower nectar, so they aren’t seen in towns that often.”

Letina thoroughly explained it to her. She did it while throwing out her chest, which was her habit whenever she wanted to boast.

“They are delicious if you fry them with sugar, you know?”
“Wait, they are edible?”
“Yup, they are sweet!”

Michelle said something exceedingly bumpkin-like. But as she said, honeybees that had high nutritious value were indeed precious ingredients in rural areas that had food problems. It was a little difficult to make a city dweller like Matisse nod to that.

I held back a laugh at her stiff reply at Michelle’s comment. I don’t know how it happened, but in the academy, she had a reputation of a “collected and hardworking young lady”. There was hardly a reason for me to ruin that reputation with my laughter.

“Ah, look! A cow! It’s a cow!”
“Yeah, looks tasty.”
“Huh…?”

Matisse once again shouted in excitement when she saw a cow that was grazing leisurely, but Michelle only saw it as an ingredient. In the first place, we hunted a buffalo around the capital, so it wasn’t such a rare sight. For us, that is.

Even after that, Matisse reacted a few more times whenever she saw some animal only to be replied with ‘looks tasty’ by Michelle.

“You really eat anything, huh, Michelle?”
“It’s not everything… but I suppose I eat everything that’s huntable?”
“You are pretty… wild, huh.”
“I-It’s not just me, Nicole’s the same, okay?”
“Really?”

She looked at me to pass the topic… but I wasn’t sure it would do good to my reputation to answer truthfully. After all, while I was Lyell and Maria’s child, I was also a huge bumpkin. I ate bees and hunted cows. And in some cases, I even ate lizard-like monsters called Kratos.

This was partly due to my discipline from the adventuring days, but my parents did not particularly comment on it other than saying that it was good that I wasn’t a picky eater.

Rather, when remembering my infancy days where I ate far too little, I was thankful to eat whatever food was offered to me.

“W-Well… I suppose I eat most things that can be put on the table. And there are various customs based on regions too.”
“Oh, you are quite well informed, Nicole.”
“You’re quite informed yourself, Letina, since you are explaining all that.”

I was mainly specialized in personal battles since my previous life, so my knowledge about monster ecology wasn’t that good. That kind of knowledge fell under Maxwell, Cortina and Maria’s field of expertise. I merely followed their directions and aimed for the weaknesses that they taught me.

For that reason, I barely had knowledge regarding the monsters I’ve never actually seen. It was far easier for me to challenge humans whose abilities could be guessed from their movements and posture.

“You’re amazing too, Lady Letina!”

Matisse still used ‘lady’ when referring to Letina. This was because she was still a major noble of this country. I was a commoner by standing, so she was more casual with me, but part of the reason was that I hated being called with honorifics.

Thus, while we were busy talking amongst us, our destination, the field of flowers, finally came into sight. Kevin Domain was originally in the middle of the forest, but the lord cleaned up the trees, and after searching for the local specialties that would suit the climate, he settled on the flower fields.

The various flowers distributed from their fields were tended with magic and drugs and made to be hard to wither, and then shipped to every corner of Raum. And then, they were used to decorate various ceremonies and rituals. Such vast flower fields were a rarity even in Raum.

“Okay, we’re here! Take a look, this is the Cosmos Garden!”

Cortina announced it while spreading her hands. Behind her, there was a field full of multicolored flowers blooming in profusion.