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Moria grass.

It was a rare plant that propagated underwater, and it didn’t even have roots either.

They drifted with the flowing water and grew while feeding on the accumulated nourishment within it.

Moreover, since they would run out of nourishment if they stayed in one place, they took on the ball shapes and rolled along with the flowing water, avoiding the nourishment crisis.

At my feet, nearly perfect spheres of Moria grass, true to their name, were scattered all around.

This place was close to the underground spring, so the water flowed constantly here despite it being a lake. As such, it was an ideal environment for these guys(?) to multiply.

“I see. It’s much easier for them to settle here rather than the shores where water hardly flows.”

I took one of them in hand and inspected it.

It was about as large as my head. As for the weight, it was actually quite light. It was quite soft too, to the point it might have served as quite a pleasant pillow.

“Moreover, since they are so full of underwater nourishment, they are quite healthy and would serve as great potion ingredients.”

While I was having fun squeezing the Moria grass, I felt a double tug on the rope at my waist. It must have been Finia trying to confirm my safety since I hadn’t been responsive.

“Right, gotta signal back.”

I tugged on it twice to convey that everything was fine. It seemed to have reached her since the rope was no longer taught.

I could just bring them back, but they were the size of my head so I couldn’t carry too many of them.

The footing was quite dangerous too so I could only carry two at most.”

“Then again, they haven’t been told how many to bring so two should be enough.”

I picked up two green spheres with both hands and turned around. But then, I noticed how the two bulges held at my chest looked and focused on their shape.

“Hmm, is this how it feels to have big boobs?”

It looked just like Maria’s chest.

I suddenly felt the urge to put them inside my swimsuit, but realized that it would be in vain and reconsidered.

I mean, I didn’t have some big reason that told me I had to hold back, but I felt like I would lose something important if I did it.

As I slowly headed up the slope and returned to Finia, she was delighted to see what I was holding.

“Ah, Lady Nicole! Are those round things… Moria grass?”
“Yeah, it must be.”
“They are bigger than I expected. I was imagining them to be the size of mandarins.”
“Ahaha, it would’ve been easier to carry them if they were.”

I passed one of them to Finia. I could carry one of them with one hand.

Both of us had weapons we had to hold with one hand, so this way we would be able to maintain our combat power.

According to what I heard before, there were no dangerous organisms in this lake, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

There was always the time factor in play in what you heard and how it really was.

Even if the lake was harmless like we heard, there was always a possibility that something had settled in afterward.

It had passed around an hour since we dived down, so I had Finia recast the Breathing spell and we headed towards the surface.

As we separated from the bottom, the floating dust also cleared up and the water above us turned transparent.

I also saw some black dots there. It was most likely the raft that Mark and others had built.

While holding the Moria grass I forcefully pushed my head up the water’s surface. Finia also followed suit.

“Pwah! Michelle, we fo—hyaah!?”
“Kyaa!”

I raised the Moria grass above my head to show it clearly, but the moment I lifted it above water, an arrow pierced right through the center of it.

Looking closer, the one Finia held was in the same state with an arrow pierced through it.

The arrow hit two targets almost at the same time. There was only one person who could accomplish such a divine feat.

“…Michelle?”
“S-Sorry. I thought it was a monster! I mean, a green ball suddenly shot up.”
“I get you doing it the first time, but why did you shoot Finia’s one too?”
“I shot the second arrow before the first one hit its target.”
“Uhh, Michelle, you’re saying something incredible like it’s nothing…”
“Give up, Finia. That’s just how she is.”

The moment she confirmed the number of enemies, she pulled an equal number of arrows and shot them in succession.

Though she could only hold a limited number of arrows in hand, so two successive shots was her limit. Even so, it was an incredible speed.

“Umm, they have arrows in them, but do you think they will work?”
“S-Sure… I heard they are gonna be ground anyway.”
“Then it should be fine. That aside, get us up the raft already. It’s cold after all.”
“R-Right.”

The raft was barely stitched together with logs and ropes, so it was quite unstable. If we forcefully climbed, it would sway around too much and make it hard to get on.

So we needed someone to pull us up.

Tony reached out to me first, but Michelle cut in and pulled me up instead. It turned out that she was obediently following my previous request to “protect us from the guys.”

Finia who had a more developed body was lifted up by Cloud since he had more strength. I didn’t miss the fact that he bent forward after the fact though.

He needed some punishment later.