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Chapter 7: Eating the Fruit of Knowledge (Skill Gacha)

 

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Today I woke up at noon as well.

It might be because of all the traps I set up yesterday, but last night I fell fast asleep.

Thanks to all that I’m hungry, Sakura made me a midday meal but, I couldn’t endure and I went out to get an apple to eat. However,

「……..huh, what’s with this apple?」

There was a tree with a golden apple in the middle of the orchard.
Though…I don’t remember doing any selective breeding….
Is it some kind of spontaneous mutation?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating…so I took a bite.

「Hmmmm…somehow it’s kind of crunchy inside my mouth.」

It’s sweet and delicious, but somehow strange.
It’s got a flavor that kind of sticks to your throat, the apple juice is a little too thick or rich somehow.

In some ways it might be just right for my stomach right now so I keep eating. Then,

「Master! Lunch is ready!」

It seems that lunch has just been prepared.
Sakura trotted over to me.

「Ok, thanks, I’m coming now—–」

And as I turned to walk back towards her,

『Oi, you bein’ serious?』
I heard a quiet voice say. It was a man’s voice.

「Ummmm……that wasn’t Sakura right? The one who just spoke?」
「Eh? I only said that lunch was ready though?」

『Seriously…. 』

I heard it again. The voice was coming from above me.

『According to our country, this is a place we must not approach. It’s a place where we could be eaten. 』
『Huh? We could get eaten? That’s ridiculous』

And when I looked up there were two dragons.

『I think if you look at the magic power of the guy below us you’ll understand!』
『Eh?……wait what the hell is that!? Doesn’t he have as much or even more magic power than Dragon King-sama?!』
『Yeah, right now it seems we are being overlooked. He seems to be letting us live on a whim』

No, I clearly heard the dragons’ conversation though….
It’s not like I’m overlooking them. It’s just that I don’t have any problem with food for right now.

『Why is there such a guy here……Isn’t he throwing off the balance of the Dark (Evil) Forest?』
『For this reason, once Dragon king sensed it he sent out a personal decree. It made that one-track minded battle maniac King properly consider things right?』
『Uhuh…..this ain’t good. Before we get killed let’s get out of here. Then we should properly report this back.』

After saying all that, the dragons left.
What’s all this?
Were those dragons purposefully speaking in a way that I can understand?

「Hey Sakura, did you understand what those dragons were saying?」
「U, Ummmmm……they were crying out Gya and growling Grrr and roaring Rawr, I think」

She cutely mimics the dragon cries….I see.
I understand.
I was the only one who could understand them.

「Sakura, it seems like I can understand what dragons say.」
「Ehhhh!? Master you understand dragon speech? I know you’re well read, but to be able to understand their ancient language is…..」

Wait wait wait, I just started to understand it a little while ago.
And what are you talking about ancient language? It’s just crying out like gya gya.

Wait, I just thought of what might be related to this,

「This magic apple maybe. Once I ate it my ears became strange and I started to be able to understand the meaning of what the dragons were saying.」
「I see……wait, could you please let me see it?」
「Yeah」

I handed Sakura the core of the golden apple, and she brought it to her nose and sniffed.
Then,

「This smells of dragon magic……where did this grow?」
「Hm? It just grew right over there on that tree.」

In the middle of the orchard, a normal tree.
Wait, it actually seems thicker and larger than the other trees around it.

「…..if that’s the case, over there is where we buried the dragon’s remains.」
「Ahh, we might have disposed of the remains of that small dragon around there I guess…」

Maybe because the tree absorbed the dragon’s essence I became able to understand dragon speech?

「In addition to that, it absorbed energy from the dragon vein we are on top of, the dragon blood seems to be filled with magic and it may have mixed with the dragon vein and produced a unique effect…」

I never thought there would be a side effect. Apples are amazing.
As expected of the fruit of knowledge.

「It’s just that, when people with magic power like me and master eat it, it acts like a restorative medicine. If someone normal would just eat it, then it’d act almost like a deadly poison because of how powerful an ingredient it is. It’s excellent that we were able to raise such a thing.」

Huh, it tasted pretty much like a normal apple though.

This might be the reason why wild animals and parasitic worms aren’t coming for them…

「Yes, this is most likely an effect from Master enhancing them. It’s amazing!—-well, if possible, could you please allow me to synchronize with you Master?」
「Synchronize?」
「Yes…..I’d like to be able to hear what Master hears please…」

Sakura’s cheeks were dyed red and she seemed shy.
You don’t have to hold back so much you know?

「Ok, I got it. After we eat, let’s synchronize while we make more traps.」
「Th-thank you very much Master!」

And that’s how, I ended up being able to understand dragon speech.
But,
「—-is it possible that if I use the essence from different creatures to feed the apple trees, I could obtain a number of different skills?」

Next time when I get hungry, I’ll use some of my free time to try it out.

I started thinking about such things as I looked out at my magnificent apple trees.

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