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　Morning. It’s morning. Let’s eat and go to work.

　I headed into the dining room for breakfast. It was the usual meal. I glanced around at my surroundings while I was eating, the other customers were looking at me as if they wanted to say something, and the cook was glaring at me from the kitchen, but I splendidly ignored them.

　After finishing my meal, I headed out of the inn and gave a slight wave to Lily since she was staring at me with lovestruck-like face.

　Now then, let’s go to the guild, or rather, let’s just head out of town. The receptionist lady told me yesterday that I could just go directly to gather the herbs.
　When I exited the town, some of the children gathering in the surroundings noticed me and approached me. But I didn’t really have anything to say to them.
　I walked towards the southern parts of the forest with Norn. And behind me……isn’t it more than yesterday? Hmm, about 15 people? That’s fine, just do whatever you want then. But I’m not going to help if they get attacked by monsters.

　I arrived in front of the forest. I was planning on going a bit deeper than yesterday. There wasn’t much left here because of my excessive gathering from yesterday.

　I was already used to walking around in the mountains due to living in the forest for over a year, though I still lacked stamina. As I started moving forward, the people following me began to get further and further away.

　I gave a quick glance backwards and saw the boy who spoke to me yesterday leading the group. His face turned red when he met my eyes.
　Hmm, I get the feeling he looks about 11-12 years old? And the girl behind him looks about 10.

　The boy began speaking. It would appear the girl is his friend, maybe sister? It looked like she was falling behind, so I stopped walking and waited for them to catch up. Since I felt like it. But it won’t happen again.

　The children who realized that I was waiting for them began to quicken their pace.
　After repeating this two times, I finally found a small area filled with herbs. Let’s gather here for today.

　But since it was troublesome to gather everything by myself, I used Storage to thin the area out, but to the extent where it wouldn’t be noticeable at first glance. I think I took about half of everything in the area? My stockpile has increased again. I guess I’ll slow down a bit later.

　When I crouched down and began gathering, the children following me split up and also began gathering.
　About 30 minutes later, the boy from before came near me and began to talk.

“Um, thank you for before.”
“It was just a whim.”
“Even so, I still want to say thanks……. That girl, you see, Yui, is actually my little sister, and she’s kinda slow…so she might’ve gotten lost if you didn’t wait for her.”
“I think it’s better to move your hands than your mouth.”
“Eh, ah, okay. I’ll do my best. Thank you very much.”

　Why was he thanking me? Never mind, there’s no point in overthinking it. It would be bad if my feelings changed too much. If something happens, I might consider helping. But I’m not going to help with anything troublesome.

　I kept gathering herbs until it reached noon. I’m hungry. Let’s just eat here for today since it’s too troublesome otherwise. I thought that and stood up, but there were three dead orcs on the ground. Bad Norn! There are children watching!

　I quietly stored everything. Nothing happened here. I didn’t see anything.

　Anyways, there’s still some leftover udon from yesterday. It was still edible since I had kept it inside storage the entire time. How convenient.

　As such, I was able to prepare a bowl of udon in no time. The children were confused when I suddenly started eating. But the children who were following me yesterday managed to recover immediately and also started preparing food.

　After about 30 minutes, everyone seems to have finished eating, but for some reason they were all sneaking weird glances at me. What is it?

“Um……”

　It was that boy again.

“Do you need something?”
“What are you going to do now? Are you going to another place and do what you did yesterday, or are you heading back?”
“I’m going to continue gather for today.”
“Okay……that helps a lot, thank you very much.”

　After hearing my plans, he hurried back to the other children to relay the news. Everyone looked really happy.
　It’s just because I feel like it, so don’t overthink it. I’ll abandon them if I need to.
　…….I really mean it.

　Afterwards, I continued on gathering for about another two hours before deciding to go back. I wanted to avoid the busy evening hours, so I decided to head back early. If I leave now I should reach the town by around 4.

　But some of the children looked dissatisfied. They were able to gather 5 times the usual amount, but it looked like they wanted to gather some more. Sure, just do whatever you want then. I’m not their leader or an escort.

　I ignored the boy who I was talking to earlier and began walking. The children who noticed me leaving began frantically following me.

　But I could still hear some complaining as we walked through the forest so I began to quicken my pace. I, Ren, won’t be easy on opponents even if they’re children!

　When I got back to town, I went straight to the guild to sell my materials. I received 10 small gold coins for today. And I still have a lot left in my stockpile.
　Should I head back early and make something for tonight? What should I make? But as I was thinking about dinner, the boy approached me.

“Ah, um, sorry about what happened on the way back.”
“It’s not like it’s your fault, right?”
“No, I was the one who brought them along……”

　I listened to his story for a bit. The boy’s name was Shin. And he was 12 years old. Apparently, he had been following me since my second day. On the second day, he was surprised when he ended up earning almost twice as much as usual. Furthermore, yesterday he also ended up earning double the amount he had earned when gathering in the morning. So today he had brought along a few friends and his sister.

　His sister was unfamiliar with the process, so he was worried since we had headed deeper into the forest today, and one of his friends was the one complaining on the way back…….so in other words, he had come to apologize in place of his friend, who had misunderstood his position as someone who was just picking up another person’s leftovers.

“That’s why, um……”
“I don’t really care if you bring them along tomorrow or even after. They’re even free to say whatever they want like today too. Rather, isn’t it fine if you all just continue gathering without me? It doesn’t have anything to do with me anyways.”
“That’s……um, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, you’re free to do whatever you want. Don’t mind me.”
“I won’t bring him along tomorrow.”
“…….Do whatever you want.”

　Afterwards, I left and went straight back to the inn.

　The two of them were most likely orphans. But unlike me who lived in an orphanage, those two were likely street orphans.

　They probably had to struggle to survive. I was also the same before, even now I’m still doing my all. As such, I was being lenient on them. But it would be annoying if they were to start demanding things out of me.

　I might have been a bit harsh, but it was necessary, to begin with, I’m not even their friend or anything. It would be bad if they misunderstood.

　…….It’s annoying to get too involved.

　If it becomes too troublesome, I might have to switch to a different gathering spot. If I recall, there should be a river towards the northeast……so maybe somewhere over there……?

　I arrived back at the inn.

　Let’s make something delicious to calm my anxious heart. Today, Norn brought me an orc, so I guess I’ll cook it with ginger? I went to ask Lily for permission to use the kitchen, but the cook interrupted me.

“Hey, you. It’s annoying that you keep using my kitchen so often. But I’m not saying you can’t use it. If you pay the appropriate price I wouldn’t mind letting you continue to use it. So starting from today, you are to give me your cooking recipes instead of money.”
“Please excuse me then, I didn’t know I was being such a bother. I won’t ask again in that case. I apologize.”

　Alright, I won’t ask you to lend me anything then. I don’t want to get involved in an argument. Eh? Price? I think he said something, but I guess I must’ve misheard.

“Hey, wait, that’s not it. Instead just–”
“No, since it’s troubling you, there’s no need to force yourself. Please excuse me.”

　I headed straight up to my room. Lily looked stunned. I’m sorry, I won’t be able to cook for you anymore……

　Afterwards, I immersed myself in thought while taking a bath.

　From now on, I guess if I want to make something to eat, I would need to borrow a kitchen somewhere else, or think of something else.

　Hmm, but the reason I’m borrowing the kitchen in the first place is because of the fire? So in other words, I need a stove. In that case, I need something in substitution for a stove. If I had a portable gas stove, I could even make things when I’m outside gathering. It would be nice if I could find some sort of magic tool like that, but if I were to make it……I would need magic stones to make such a magic tool. I didn’t know how to make one, but I’ll just have to push forth using [Creation Magic]. I have magic stones, but would they be enough?

　…….Magic stones were special stones that contained magic powers and were found within the bodies of monsters or demons. These stones were also the reason why monsters were monsters, plus they’re also the weak points of monsters. But there were also various ways to use them. As such, in monster subjugation, people usually wouldn’t aim for the magic stone just because it was a weak point, unless the monster was too strong.

　So to make something like a gas stove, I would need a fire attribute magic stone, right? It would be expensive to obtain one, but having one would be handy. But I only had ones from the goblins or orcs I defeated. The low-level monster magic stones were not very high quality and were also quite small, so to be frank, I had mixed feelings about having them in hand……

　But in the end, I decided to just make one myself after dinner since I didn’t want to go around looking for one. I think the results weren’t too bad. I didn’t go through too many magic stones.
Since I had the skill [Magic Conferment]¹, assigning attributes to magic stones was quite easy. However, the process itself took some trials, so I ended up falling asleep after using too much mana.

1. Silva: When did she learn this skill?
   Robinxen: No clue but it wasn’t on the bloody tables I can tell you that much.