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The God of Destruction raised a finger and made a suggestion. The way she was looking at me after coming inside and standing before me with a cocked head made her look like a teacher addressing the pupil.

“Replacement materials?”
“To start with, there is a problem with giving a Divine-class item physically. Let’s butter them up with a familiar everyday article. You already have the nourishment-rich nectar of a Queen Blossom, right?”
“I can prepare that. However, that was supposed to be my gift for them.”
“Just so you know, Queen Blossom’s nectar is dangerous for an infant, so you should give it to the mother instead. It would improve their recovery after childbirth.”
“Why is it dangerous to an infant?”
“The nectar enhances the power of output. If a baby were to receive it, it could lead to them wasting their magic power away. As such, it could lead to them being constantly in the magically dried-up, or simply put, fatigued state.”
“Now that you mentioned it, we did use it for Nicole’s recovery.”

It was the ingredient to resolve my lack of magic output. It was also the Treant nourishment containing high magic power. And that was apparently bad for an infant.

It was a rare ingredient, so no one had tried giving it to a baby. Maxwell was about to do it while unaware of that fact, though. That was a close call.

“As such, I have thought of a different gift. As you know, a baby’s skin is very delicate. Caring for it requires a lot of effort too.”
“Okay, I understand the part about the nectar. But don’t call it buttering up. Call it expressing love towards my family.”
“Reid, do you not think you resemble Lyell somehow?”
“Stop it.”

As I ignored Maxwell’s retort, God of Destruction started walking back and forth while starting her lecture. What she was saying was on point… But I had one question.

“Hmm? Wait. I don’t remember anyone ever caring about me that way?”
“In your case, you had other problems to care for so no one had time to care for your skin.”

Now that she mentioned it, I was on a hunger strike back then, so I guess she is right. Maria, Lyell, and even Finia were panicking so much that I felt bad for them.

“I feel really bad about that…”

I instinctively faced Cortina’s house where my family was sleeping and apologized. It was my own fixation, but I was conscious of the fact that it caused them a lot of worries.

“Besides, you have strongly inherited my blood. I have a lot of abilities related to charming others, so you should have inherited them too. That’s why your hair is so silky and your skin so smooth and squishy, dammit!”
“Why are you so frustrated about that?”
“Ah, no, I was just speaking as a proxy for everyone who would be vexed to see you maintain your beauty without any effort.”
“What the heck!”

I mean, I could clearly imagine someone like Cortina vexed about it.

“At any rate, the next child will not inherit my blood as much as you did. So you have to make sure to care about their skin. Ah, incidentally, it would be a girl.”
“Why the heck did you have to spoil that you moron!?”

Aaah… My feelings of excitement about their gender from earlier are totally gone now.

I see, so it’s going to be a girl, huh? I would’ve been able to have fun with them if it was a boy. Then again, I guess I can with a girl too?

“Wait… If I lose to my little sister in girliness, that would be a huge crisis for me as a big sister, wouldn’t it?”
“You do not have to worry about that. You even managed to make Elliot fall.”
“Don’t remind me. That’s a stain in my life.”
“What life, you have barely lived a decade and some.”
“Add my previous life to that too!”

Maxwell was about to start quarreling back, but the God of Destruction clapped her hands to get us back on track, stopping him.

If that continued, we would surely go on with our meaningless quarrel until the morning. This old man had enough skill with his words to drag it on so meaninglessly.

“Alright, leave it at that. So with that in mind, I think clean hygiene would be the best measure for keeping illnesses away. How about you give her something like shampoo and soap which doesn’t frustrate the skin?”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Since it was a girl, caring for her skin and hair would be very important. Besides, even Maria, Finia and I could use them too when needed.

However, this gramps aside, even I didn’t know where to get ingredients for that.

“That’s good and all, but where can I get the ingredients for it?”
“Why of course—the sea!”
“Seaaa!?”

This Raum, as the name Forest Kingdom suggested, was a kingdom surrounded by forest. Of course, the forest didn’t stretch to infinity, as there was even a port city at the western edge of it.

But getting to that place would take a lot of time. It wasn’t a place you could easily get to.

“It would be quite hard to get there timewise.”
“No, Reid. Think carefully. You have a long vacation coming up, right?”
“Oh, yeah, I guess there’s only a month left, huh. But I’m not sure it would be long enough to make round trips to the western port.”
“Oh, I own an islet in the western town. We can open a training camp there. For you and the rest.”
“Me and the rest?”
“I mean you, Michelle, Letina. Also Cloud and Finia.”
“I get the four of us, but Finia too?”

Finia was training in the sword, but she was not that all-out about it. It’s been just over six months since she started training with Lyell. I wasn’t very confident about throwing her into practical combat just yet.

Wouldn’t it be hard for her to keep up with us in the training camp? I had such apprehensions, but Maxwell seemed to disagree.

“She is also trying her best. She is receiving training the same as Cloud, so she should be able to keep up with you at least. Besides, with us alone…”
“What?”
“Who would take care of our meals?”
“R-Right…”

I have memories from my previous life so I could cook to an extent… But putting it frankly, I was very crude at it. And I could easily guess the cooking ability of this old man.

If we leave it to Letina, it would only lead to charcoal. Michelle should be able to roast meat at least, but anything else should be beyond her. She should give it a break with her carnivorous nature already.

As for Cloud… Alas, he was being ostracised even when they were preparing meals at his home, so he shouldn’t be able to cook properly.

“Oh, a training camp sounds nice. I’d like to join too…”
“Don’t.”

Michelle was looking up to her, but introducing an almost Evil God to them was better to be avoided. My rejection made her look pitiably sad. Seeing her expression made me feel bad to dismiss her just like that, so I quickly followed up on my words.

“I mean, I’m grateful for your cooperation, but you shouldn’t show up before people, right?”
“Well, that is true.”
“We’ll take care of gathering the materials, so you just support us with information.”
“Ugh, I suppose I have to compromise on that.”

With those words, her expression changed and she quickly recovered. Wait, was she faking it?

Afterward, she requested a paper from Maxwell and listed down all the necessary materials. As expected of a Goddess, her handwriting was so pretty it left me in awe.

In addition, the Goddess of Destruction took responsibility and healed the petrified Mateus who had been left forgotten… Until the next day.

Author’s note: actual honey is also poisonous to infants. But this seems to be due to the Clostridium botulinum that it contains, so the ones without that bacteria shouldn’t be poisonous. This has been pointed out to me on Kakuyomu, so I made this reasoning up. I mean, I guess it’s better to be ready just in case.