「It’s been a while since we leisurely walked in the forest like that」

「Hey, we are not here to play around. You should keep looking too」

Gon, as well as Irimo, and I calmly moved through the Kurumfar forest.

Indeed, when was the last time we walked around like that? In addition, it also feels like it’s been a while since I spent some time with Gon.

Even after the harvest, we were still as busy as before. The supermarket that I left with Willis ended up being quite prosperous. At first, I thought that this sudden rush of customers should end after a week, however, even three months later there was no shortage of customers, on the contrary, their numbers kept increasing.

Every day, Willis’ trio was barely capable of withstanding the rush. Thus, Mei, Gon, Ferris, Luara, and I took care of the cash register as Willis and Shera handled the customers, while Yuriel, who was capable of calculation, joined us at the cash register too, which was finally enough to handle the customers.

Not just that, the hotel in the capital also purchased large amounts of kelps and vegetables and busied us with the transportation. Depending on the circumstances, I asked Sonya and Ange, who at that time finished with their work and the barrier stones store, to help at the cash register as I worked on the deliveries.

Of course, I paid the mother-daughter pair for their overtime work. Daquet Company is operating according to the Japanese Labor Law!

At the beginning, it was open every day but, closer to the New Year, I established a regular day-off. Willis was opposed to it as well as the customers but without it, our bodies won’t last.  Willis and the customers had no choice but to reluctantly agree. However, thanks to that some customers became aware of our troubles and became our part-time workers. That helped us greatly. Thanks to that, the supermarket is able to function even without our help.

And once the calm returned to our lives I headed towards the lake, which I used for irrigational purposes. Apparently, there are trees that smell like vanilla near the lake.

Where there is vanilla there are sweet. I can’t let go of this opportunity.

I owe that hint to the harpies. I coincidentally smelled vanilla emanating from their wings when they came to make a report. According to them, they took a break to rest near the lake. I had a faint memory of that tree. There was indeed a giant tree near the lake. Just like that, there was a notion to go looking for it and that’s how we arrived at this situation.

That big tree wasn’t that far, only 30 minutes of flying on Irimo away. However, I didn’t use this method but chose to walk instead.

One hour after we entered the forest. There were monsters in this forest but they didn’t even try to attack us. Apparently. I’m rather hated by them.

「Ah, I can see it. It’s that tree」

We’ve finally arrived near the giant tree. Indeed, there is a faint smell of vanilla. I tried appraising it but it didn’t seem to be a vanilla tree.

「Strange. This is just a normal tree. Even I have no idea why it smells like that. How about we let Mei-dono take a look at it? 」

Yes, we should, I answered as I put some branches into my infinite storage.

「Come to think of it, are you hungry?」

「Let’s see, it about time for lunch already」

「Then I’ll make one」

「Right here? With Irimo-dono’s help, it won’t be difficult to return to the mansion」

「No, eating in the middle of the forest from time to time doesn’t sound that bad, right? Nice weather, beautiful forest, and lake. Isn’t eating in such an environment quite luxurious? 」

「That makes sense. I didn’t taste Master’s personally made food for quite a while」

I immediately took out rice from the infinite storage and started cooking using the water from the lake. The water here was of a good quality and, more than anything, drinkable. For a side dish, I took out slices of mackerel and cooked them using charcoal. It produced a lot of smoke and smell in the process but, since we were outdoors, I chose not to mind. Like that, the salt-grilled mackerel was completed.

Cooked rice and salt-grilled mackerel. There was no need for anything else. Gon and I ate with great energy. [¹]

「Delicious」

「Right? Salt-grilled mackerel is all that you need. As long as you have some tasty rice you don’t need anything else」

「Gurururu」

Hearing weird sounds from behind I turned around and saw some strange creature hiding in a shade of a tree.

Its color was light blue and its body resembled that of a small dragon. It had beautiful butterfly-like wings on its back and it observed from the shade of the big tree

「Is it……..fairy dragon? 」

「Fairy dragon?」

「It’s a subspecies of dragons, it’s not that strong. Although it’s strong, it doesn’t have a breath attack, if I’m to list its strengths that would only be its flight speed. It’s famous for eating flowers」

「Mm, is it dangerous?」

「It’s cowardly in general, there are no cases of them attacking humans」

「Gururururu」

It kept watching us with fascinated eyes. It seemed to be hungry.

「Could it be, are you hungry? You can have this mackerel if you don’t mind」

I threw a piece of salt-grilled mackerel its way. The fairy dragon stared at it for a while before eventually taking it inside its mouth,

「Akya, kiyua, kiyua!」

「Did you like it? Don’t hold back, eat as much as you like」

I baked more mackerel as I made some onigiri and threw them. The fairy dragon seemed to like it.

「Here, ohagi as a dessert, you can eat while you’re at it」

「Kiyua! Kiyua! 」

It seemed pretty happy. If it’s that happy, it was worth making it. However, looking closely, there was only one wing on the back of the fairy dragon.

「Huh? There is only one wing on its back」

「It won’t be able to fly this way. How unusual」

「I see, let’s heal it then」

I put a barrier on the fairy dragon and moved it in my direction. As expected, the fairy dragon tried to escape but was ultimately hindered by my barrier and couldn’t move.

「Akya, kiyuaaaa…….」

I didn’t mind its fear as I cast Extra Heal. Then, the lost wing was restored, together with two horns on its head, which it apparently lost before.

「I suffered a lot. With this, it should be alright…….Come to think of it, this guy is ridiculously cute」

Looking closely, it had very beautiful eyes and charming face.

「Here we go. It’s about time we go back, be careful out there」

I dispelled the barrier. Since the fairy dragon was making a bewildered face, I pinched its restored wing. The dragon trembled as it subconsciously turned its head back. And, once it confirmed the existence of its wing, its eyes turned round.

When it cautiously flapped its wings, its body took off the ground. It looked around in a fluster trying to confirm that it was indeed flying. Then, with a bewildered face, it confirmed the existence of horns on its head.

「Kiyuwaaan. Kiyuwaaan」

It shed tears. I guess it was just that happy. However, since the beginning, this dragon didn’t speak at all. Is it supposed to talk in the first place?

「It’s considered a norm for the dragons to be able to use telepathy. Kukulkans, like Ferris-dono, and other highly intelligent subspecies are capable of speech but, apparently, this dragon didn’t achieve that yet」

「I see. Well, we are going back so you should return to your flock. Don’t get into trouble this time」

Having said that, we went back to our mansion.

「What’s wrong, Rinos?」

「Un, how should I explain?」

When we came back to the Kurumfar mansion Rico, who went outside to greet us, was greatly surprised. That wasn’t surprising. After all, there was a small dragon with beautiful wings hanging on my chest.

Soon after we separated, I felt myself getting heavier. Looking down I saw the fairy dragon hanging on my chest. It appeared after completely bypassing my presence detection. Very frightening, from a certain perspective.

I could have confined it in a barrier but, anyway, this fairy dragon is cute. We looked into each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes, each other’s eyes……..and that’s how we arrived at this point.

With it being a dragon, it clung to with tremendous power and refused to separate. I could have separated it by sacrificing my clothes but, by doing that, I would have enraged Rico, which brings us to this conversation.

The dragon clung to me with a pleasant expression, as it lightly flapped its wings. However, when she saw this scene

「Gyauaaa! Kiyuaaaaaaa! 」

Itora, the Mansion’s Princess, became angry. She flapped her wings as she flew around me trying to intimidate the dragon. I won’t lose, agya! Agya! She screamed aggressively. Apparently, they argued due to the rights to be in my embrace.

「Yes yes yes, stop it, you two」

Rico came close as clapped her hands. Then, she embraced the fairy dragon from behind separated it from me and put it on the table.

「Since that’s the case, let me tell you this」

Rico stood next to me and linked hands.

「Rinos belongs to me only」

「Kiyuaaa…….」

「Ayaa………」

The three’s eyes produced sparks. Hey~, everyone, can you stop please? I’m scared.