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Chapter 236: Inhale.

I poked the rabbit holes and Khan picked the rabbits as we made our way back to Canum. I set aside two pears for each person; they can eat it as is. I also add peaches for Shiva and Butler since they might want to process them.

Pears don’t ripen on trees. They keep for about 10 days after harvesting and must be kept at 4 degrees Celsius, which is then increased to 20 degrees so that they’ll ripen. That’s what 【Appraisal】 says. I already have the chiller box that I made before, so let’s try that. It’s said that they’ll turn juicy, sweet and will have that melt-in-the-mouth texture when ripened with that method, you know? I’m excited about that.

I also picked a variety of pears that aren’t edible raw. I’ll make wine from them later. Yeast is already present naturally on the skin of this pear variety so alcohol fermentation will happen as a matter of course when you extract the juice. This wine is actually common here.

As for the peaches, I’m making jam and compote from them. I slice them in halves and pick the seeds. There’s the sheer amount of fruits I need to do this, so this part is the most tedious in this work. Cleaning up afterwards is a breeze thanks to 【Storage】after all.

The syrup is made by adding water, white wine, sugar and lemon to the peaches; it’ll naturally turn pink because of the flesh of the fruit.

I choose the red peaches for making pink syrup and simmer them carefully with the skin still there over low heat. For the clear syrup, I pick the pale ones and peel them in hot water first, much like how we do with tomatoes, before stewing them. Actually, both syrups taste the same, but I still make it like this because I’ll bake a two-toned peach pie later.

「What a nice fragrance we have here. 」
「Halalfa. 」
Just as I thought the room seemed to be suddenly brighter, Halalfa stands beside me and peers at what I’m doing.

「You’re inhaling it? 」
Halalfa, the goddess of light, love and beauty, inhales aroma as her way of eating. Ack, the image of Halalfa sniffing a cat’s tummy flashed through my mind.

「Mm, I can enjoy the aroma wafting here just by standing. What are you making? 」
「Peaches compote. 」
「I prefer the scent of flowers, but it’s not bad to enjoy this occasionally. 」

Halalfa crosses her legs and floats in the air as she watches over me, chatting while I do my work. — Is this also considered sitting on air? And I think she might get exposed if I stood underneath her, so is she wearing underwear properly?

「I’m currently doing a huge remodeling of the island, but the heroes might come… 」
「Oh dear, didn’t you 【Cut Ties】 already with the heroes? 」
「Yeah I did, but I’m making a place that the heroes will probably love, so I feel a bit uneasy. 」
「Didn’t you 【Cut Ties 】 with three people — no, four including Namina, right? The heroes only have Namina as their protector, and that protection is divided into three people, even. The heroes cannot go beyond Namina’s power, and you don’t have to worry about Namina becoming more powerful than she currently is, so you don’t have anything to fret about. 」

She’s talking about this Namina person but her name doesn’t ring a bell — oh right, she’s referring to Lightball, the one who summoned me here.

I received protection from the spirits in the island where I was first blasted away to. I traded my lifespan in my other world for abilities, and I already established myself using them.

I don’t really get how the system works, but the spirits become stronger the more I use the abilities they bestow on me. Imagine it like this — I use the ability by consuming the spirit’s power, and they become stronger when they recover what I used. Like a deity becoming more powerful the stronger the faith in them kind of thing?

Lightball’s protection — actually I also got power from her. I don’t like getting involved directly with her, so with Halalfa and Mischt, who are also light attribute spirits, as intermediaries, I poured Lightball’s power into【Cut Ties】.

The ability received won’t work against the spirit who bestowed it, but in my case, Lightball isn’t the only one I got the ability from so I didn’t hesitate to 【Cut Ties】 with her.

Halalfa mentioned that I ‘don’t have to worry about Namina becoming more powerful than she currently is’, probably because the stronger she gets, the stronger the effect of 【Cut Ties】.

If the target of 【Cut Ties】increases, there will be more people involved and the effect will weaken as a result. That’s because both the target and the people around them will be subjected to a state of induced consciousness, like forgetting anything related to me or unconsciously changing the topic of conversation to something else when I’m mentioned.

I only 【Cut Ties】 with Lightball and the heroes. Lightball, who is the guardian of the heroes, also got the wrong idea herself, so that might be one of the reasons why【Cut Ties】is extremely effective, apparently.

Lightball is a spirit born in the battlefield, so she’s the type to push her ideals onto others in the name of justice. She’s really suited to be with Sis in this aspect. She governs Swordsmanship and Offensive Magic, and although she’s a light attribut spirit, she’s not good at healing.

「As of the moment, they unconsciously avoid you and the things that you make. Well, it’s a different story for your crafts that have been acquired and passed around by others, and also have attracted the attention and obsession of other people. 」
Halalfa giggled, seemingly recalling something.

Is she referring to the things I made and sold, those that are no longer in my possession, or imitations of my creations, or maybe it’s fine as long as there’s a middleman?

「I’ll also visit your island once the flowers bloom. 」
Halalfa disappears after gobbling the peach compote that I just made.

…So she can also eat instead of inhaling, huh. Oh right, I remember now, she also drank the morning dew on flowers before.

Alright, let’s make a lot of immovable things on the island. They might attract people other than the heroes, but let’s just leave everything about them to Soleil. Yup, let’s do that.

But what to do with these compotes and fruits now? I got a feeling that they have Halalfa’s influence now.

…Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped; besides, the folks receiving them are already decided after all.