A strange silence fell. There is a lot of air left out. Is this the situation where the eyes become a point?

A voice was heard from Allaune that was not a fearful scream as expected, but rather a nuisance that could not be felt at all motivated, and Shiori took away her fearful hand from her blocked ears and became a subtle expression.

With Louis pulling out, the Araune once again shouted "ahh..." while swaying. Now that she said, "Did you pull it out?", Louis trembled with dissatisfaction like, "Isn't it you who said you pulled it out?"

"Yeah..."

After a period of silence, Theori finally spoke and moved in Alec's arms, holding herself in her arms. Returning to me, he loosened his arms.

"... what the hell is going on here?"

"Because I want to get out of the dirt, I guess Lori pulled it out..."

"You can come out yourself. I can walk."

Linus was right to point out, but Arlaune, who was thrown down on the ground by Louis, shook the leaves with dissatisfaction. It doesn't just stand up, it just rolls on the ground.

"It kind of smells like trouble..."

"Do you have trouble with plants or something like that..."

"Well... it's a beast."

Shiori, who was finished in a word because she was a beast, held back with an unspeakable expression. Because I came to the fact that I embraced the slime of the gelatinous body in one of the big nuclei with little doubt.

Allaune is still rolling to the ground, slowly shaking her body to the left and right. Turning his face toward us in a meaningful way, he said "wake me up" from time to time.

"No, get up yourself."

"Ah...."

Allaune moaned at Linus' penetration.

Nils finally laughed as he watched the situation with his eyes wide open.

"Haha, I don't know what it is, but you're funny. I wonder if there's anything we can do for you."

Allaune shook his body when he told me that he had listened well. But he still rolled on the ground. Dazed and sighing, Alec grabbed Allaune's white body and lifted it with an eagle. Then Arlaune, stretching her roots like tentacles, touched Nils' waist pouch.

"Yeah? Is this it?

In that pouch, which seems to be specially made for drug bottles, a variety of chemicals such as scratches and antidotes were neatly labeled and stored. Araune stuck one of them a little.

"... magic healing medicine?"

Wait, wait, wait.

Alec rushed to stop Nils, who tried to give Araune the lid of the bottle that he had removed without a doubt.

"Is it okay to give it to me? I can't believe they're attacking me as soon as I'm drunk."

Apparently Allaune is not willing to harm us, but as the leader of the party, he must have asked. Even so, Nils laughed at Alec whispering, hiding his voice from Araune.

"I think it's okay... This is a harmless beast."

(... ah)

Siori, who felt previously-visualized, stared at Nils and Allaune. I remember this feeling. This is similar to what I felt when I first met Lori.

No matter how big you are, you should have a certain vigilance over being a magical beast who lives out of human reason, but I remember why I didn't feel hostile to this, and I thought it was okay.

Po Yong and Lori trembled. I wonder if Louis also remembered that time. Luli, who crawled up to the cedar, was sweetly entangled at her feet.

(This feeling... maybe with Nils)

Allaune, who was gladly sucking his roots into the bottle of the magic healing medicine given to him, eventually stuck to Nils' arm shaking his leaves with satisfaction. Looks like you liked him.

"You're so friendly. You look cute when you look at it. I wonder if these things are creepy and cute."

Nils knelt on the spot and said, "Is it cute?" Alec and Linus, who were tilting their necks, stood face to face with Araune down to the ground.

"Would you like to come with me?

Um...

Araune's answer to the question is probably yes. "Ahh" is muttering at the stretched root towards an empty bottle of magic healing medicine.

"... I see."

Did you catch what the Beast said? Nils smiled bitterly.

"You mean you'll follow me on exchange terms?"

"Ah"

He asked for magic medicine instead of a daily meal, but apparently a deal was reached.

"I think it's okay, but I'll make a deal just in case. If you think it's medicinal herb, it's hard for you to take it."

Nils took out a small knife, sanitized it with chemicals and scratched his fingertips. Apply the plump red polka dot to Araune, saying, "Is this good?" Allaune sucked the polka dot with a stretched root.

A ritual of a magic contract that grants a body fluid with its own magic and is completed by the Beast ingesting it. The giving and receiving of bodily fluids can also be described as a kind of marriage ritual. Besides that, the Beast is a creature that values the "turn". It seems that the beast is tied up by a pseudo-marital relationship - a convenient expression that has nothing to do with the male or female.

Although it is a very quiet ritual that is not as flashy as imagined, Theori herself has not signed a contract because she is resistant to binding her friends with a blood covenant. But watch it interestingly with your friends.

Um...

After all, Allaune, who sounded so careless, urged Nils to lift his body and slightly climbed on his shoulder.

"... weird again... no, you've changed more"

You can say something strange and say it again, but it doesn't change a lot. Louis wraps up a gentle air in Alec's words. "I'm sorry," he whispered with a strange bitter smile.

"But do you contract almost instantly? That's another amazing story."

It's like falling in love at first sight and getting married on the spot.

"I felt it was natural to do so. Somehow."

"Ah, so am I."

Shiori also agreed with Nils who said that she applied a sticky bandage to the cut fingertip.

"When I saw you two (...) earlier, I remembered, but I felt similar when I was with Louis. I wonder why there's no hostility in seeing you for the first time...."

It was just on the way to being "thrown away" by the previous party, and it was a bad time. So I can only remember the details, but I remember very naturally accepting the slime that approached innocently. There was no hostility - rather, I felt that this was a companion -

"Some people say souls connect."

Ellen accompanied me.

"It seems to be a certain percentage of the wizards. When I first met her, she came close as if she had been a friend for a long time."

When the opponent approaches the habitat, the beast approaches from his side as if he were greeting his close compatriots.

"There are human beings too. Ah, maybe he'll be friends for the rest of his life."

Linus said it was stinging.

Beasts are far more perceptive creatures than humans. That's why you might feel a visit from a "friend of the Fae" with such a six-sense sense.

Theoli looked down at Ruli. When she realized it, Louis trembled.

The encounter with this friend in the pale forest may have been inevitable, not coincidental. The inevitability brought about by an unmatched Louis.

But if you don't go to the pale forest - if you don't come from different worlds, you'll never meet. The inevitable encounter ahead of the coincidence.

(--Even Alec was.)

I was a strong attractor from the beginning.

However, I do not want to clear up the hearts of those who love someone with the word fate, all the roads that I desperately chose in the days after this world.

(But if it's a miracle... maybe it is.)

If I hadn't crossed the world, I would never have met him.

And Alec and I must have walked the road more than once with turning points. The probability of their lives meeting on the road chosen by each of them, both born and of their identities, would have been infinitely low.

If we met in that way, people might call it a miracle.

Siori smiled at Louis, who trembled at her feet, stealing the eyes of her friends and gently leaning against Alec. The carelessly stretched martial arts hand is tangled with Shiori's fingertips.

--While silently biting the "miracle", Nils' Mandrake gathering seemed to have ended successfully with the help of the wizard.

"Thank you. It's over. Thanks to everyone, I got a good Mandrake."

"... but is that okay?"

Ellen tended to hesitate to question Nils, who stroked the collection bag satisfactorily.

"You're with that kid, right? Even if I pick it up... are you okay?

"... if you don't pick all of them, you'll be fine. Or rather...."

Pointing to Mandrake, which had only one bright red fruit on it, Araune swayed the leaves.

"I want you to sow this somewhere far away and grow your friends."

--Plants don't just breed on the spot. They are flown by the wind or attached to other animals to carry seeds far away, and then rooted in dropped lands to increase their offspring.

Do you want to add more compatriots to the foreign lands? I wonder if this is also an exchange condition for Araune.

If you're done, you can go home.

Linus and Ellen seem to have collected everything they wanted.

Call water by magic, purify your dirty hands with dirt, pack your bags, and return home.

Allaune, who was still on Nils' shoulders, rocked the leaves. Responding to that, the surrounding bushes shake when touched. Insects and small beast-type demons who came out of the shadow of the rock also watched quietly as they walked away.

"... you seem to be dropping me off."

Ah.

Alec laughed.

"The number of drop-offs and his strange majesty... may have been the master of this cave."

Allaune's body length is usually two times larger than that of the species Mandrake. It's a testament to a long life. I may have watched this cave quietly for years.

Whether or not you affirmed his words, "Ah!" Allaune shouted shortly.

Everyone giggles when they see it.

― ― So the short, turbulent and surprising gathering trip ended. After leaving the Holtensia cave where the mysterious creatures lived, Theoli set foot in the city where many friends and companions waited.