Bright and Lively

"Good morning."

Orleans was the first to wake.

The others remained deep in slumber even after the sun rose.

"Perhaps everyone is exhausted? They did push themselves so hard in the rain. Maybe we should let them sleep a bit longer."

"Good idea."

Orleans had gotten herself ready, and partly because of what she'd said, I decided to let the others sleep until they woke naturally.

"There, there. Eat up."

Together with Orleans, I fed the mules.

Despite the storm, both animals seemed perfectly fine.

No signs of illness; they finished their food with gusto.

They looked ready to leave at a moment's notice.

When Orleans patted one on the head, it apparently took a liking to her and immediately licked her hand all over, leaving it covered in drool.

"I used to help care for horses at the farm. They'd help us plow the fields."

"So that's why you seem so used to it."

When we returned to the makeshift shelter, Elza was just waking up.

She stretched, and her ample figure came into full view.

… It seemed Alexia had stolen her blanket again.

She picked up the change of clothes I'd set at her feet and began to dress.

"Master, thank you for laying out the change of clothes. That was very helpful."

"Can't have young women staying naked forever. The spare clothes have been washed, but… you'll probably want to buy new ones."

"They did get absolutely filthy. I'll chalk it up as a necessary expense."

"I know. If you all hadn't stopped them, Orleans and I would've been in danger."

Alexia woke next.

Elza complained about the blanket, but Alexia dismissed it with a single "I don't remember that."

"We slept huddled together to keep warm, so a little blanket imbalance should be fine."

"That's so mean, Alexia-chan…"

Elza put on a weepy act, but it had no effect on Alexia.

Once Alexia was up, she used water magic to replenish our supply.

"Ahh, that's refreshing. Thanks, as always."

"Yes, yes. I'm just the convenient girl, aren't I."

"Oh, don't be shy."

Elza poked Alexia's cheek. Alexia let it slide.

Azu and Finn would probably wake up soon, so I cleaned the pot and started boiling dried noodles along with chopped smoked meat.

I added salt and spices, then diced a few aromatics and tossed them in to simmer.

"These are edible."

Elza and Orleans gathered edible nuts and plants from the surrounding forest. After washing them thoroughly, I added those too, and it was shaping up nicely.

As the noodles softened, the broth began to thicken.

When most of the liquid had reduced, I pulled out a block of cheese, shaved it with a knife until the surface was covered, and called it done.

"Smells wonderful."

"Absolutely mouthwatering… Your cooking skills are as impressive as ever."

The two of them looked ready to dig in any moment.

Orleans went to check on Azu and the others.

Before long, Azu woke up.

Finn had woken too, but she looked listless.

"My throat hurts… It's all scratchy."

"Are you okay, Finn-san?"

"I'm not so fragile that you need to worry about me."

"Here, drink this first."

I handed her a cup with a small amount of salt and sugar, plus honey and apple cider vinegar, diluted with water.

Salt worked wonders when you were worn out.

Finn took one sip, then drained the rest in one go.

"You were a little under the weather while you slept, but you seem fine now."

"That explains the weird dream. Me asking you for help… Forget it. Never mind."

She bit off her words partway through and threw back her blanket.

But underneath, she was wearing nothing at all.

"Don't look!"

Her open hand clamped down hard on my face.

Finn was the one who'd shown me, though…

Beside us, Azu was getting dressed with a wry smile on her face.

The potful of food vanished in no time.

We were still hungry, so I tore hard bread into the leftover broth and turned it into bread porridge.

A hearty appetite was a sign of good health.

With that in mind, we stepped outside the shelter.

We decided to leave the shelter standing.

It was makeshift, but it could shield someone from a bit of rain and wind. Might come in handy for somebody else.

Before leaving the forest, we decided to check the site where they'd fought the Chimera.

Just to be safe. And maybe we could salvage some materials.

"Watch out for the poison puddles."

"Us, we'd probably be fine, but Master, the poison would take you down in no time. If you do get poisoned, I'll heal you right up."

"After hearing that, I really don't want to get poisoned. I'll be careful."

Sure enough, several patches of discolored ground dotted the area.

Sickly colors. The ground was still dissolving; bubbles rose now and then.

The young Chimeras, about the size of wolves.

And the massive adult Chimera's carcass.

Torn to pieces, but even the fragments hinted at the creature's original size.

There were signs that other monsters had fed on it.

Ordinary beasts only watched from a distance, refusing to approach.

Chimera blood was toxic, so only monsters could stomach it.

"I believe we should just take the fangs. There's no room to load anything else."

"Right. If we cram things in carelessly and something happens to the Duchess's delivery, we'd be in real trouble."

We gave up on the meat and hide, settling for the fangs that had been blasted into a tree trunk by the explosion.

I pushed with all my might, but they wouldn't budge, so I had Azu pull them out.

"Just the fangs are almost as big as your waist."

"Quite the tough enemy."

"If we'd been at full strength, we wouldn't have had nearly so much trouble. Proper gear is part of your strength too."

Lingering too long risked another night in the forest.

There might be more than one Chimera around.

Once we'd collected the fangs and loaded them onto the carriage, we left the forest behind.

Checking the map, we'd veered far off our original route after all.

Orleans said she wasn't familiar with this area either, so we used a compass to confirm our heading and aimed for our original course.

We managed to reach the city of Aquarius while daylight remained.

Originally, we'd planned to bypass it and head straight for Ateil, where the Duke's estate was, but we wanted a change of clothes, and it doubled as a pretext for resupply.

Really, though, we stopped because we wanted to sleep in proper beds.