3 bar menu

Chapter 460: Research Lover

I hopped into the free flowing bath on the tower’s rooftop, giving it a quick clean while I was at it. It wasn’t really dirty or anything, at least not on the visual level, plus I’ve asked the spirits to keep the water clean so honestly it’d be fine even if I left it alone.

Cleaning the bath is such a chore after all…

Anyway, I’ve been noticing the tower’s stonework seems to be turning into something insane. Could it be from all the spirits coming and going? Did it turn into spirit stone if not spirit ore? Nah, that’s gotta be my imagination, right?

Blue Lizard-kun has gotten pretty huge too and now he can go all over the island, crawling across the walls and stone pathways. Feels like the spirits here are growing stronger day by day….

Most of the island spirits seem to have become Blue Lizard-kun’s kin, which explains his size. The spirits in my 『House』, on the other hand, are kins of the deities and the notebooks. Note didn’t grow bigger— he went straight to humanoid form.

Now, what should I do with the dragon meat? Cooking for everyone sounds like too much work, but if I just hand the meat to them as it is, the Changelings probably won’t be able to taste it since there’s no interference from the spirits.

Ah, that’s it, should I make jerky? They keep for a long time, after all. And maybe some meat pies? I think it’d be nice to make some jerky from the dragon’s breast meat since you can easily tear the fibers apart. As for the meat pies, let’s make a huge batch but in small pieces ーyup, let’s go along with this plan.

Since jerky keeps well, I’m gonna make tons of them so that Retze and the others can bring some with them whenever they have to travel far during quests for the guild.

The island is further south than Canum, so the spring roses are already starting to bloom here. The roses on the tower’s rooftop are deep blue, a hue you’d never see in Japan. Thanks to the spirits’ influence in this world, flowers can come in all sorts of wild colors.

Gardener Charles gave me some of the deep blue roses since I was so fascinated by them. Even the roses growing along the shaded trellis by the stairs to the entrance are blue too, although they’re in a lighter, softer shade. He also threw in some few white and pale pink roses among the bunch for me.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see lots of tiny, cute flowers that looked like small peonies and pom poms. They’re beautiful, I thought they’re common roses here, only to find out that most of the normal ones only have one or two layers of petals ーno, it’s not ‘most’, it’s more like that’s all they have?

Seems like the spirits have been doing some next-level gardening based on my memories, thank you very much. The shape and form of the standard roses frequently blooming here must be insane too….

I’m starting to suspect that most of the flowers in my ‘house’ might be a bit over the top. Even the veggies are in danger of becoming weird. But I thought I’d have to crossbreed them to see changes…!

So here I am, relaxing in the bath, staring at the blue roses, stars, and sea. I had a busy time exploring the dragon continent, butchering, and partying with the earthkins, after all.

The next day, Canum greeted me with rain.

It’s perfect since I wanted to lounge all day anyway. There’s a room with a bed in the innermost corner of the card game room. The rain is gentle with no wind, so I could leave the shutters open to let the light from the outside in without the fear of getting drenched.

The thick stone walls of the house block most of the sound, but since this room is closer to the roof, you can hear the gentle pitter-patter on the roof tiles. Well, the windows are open, after all.

The coffee’s on the side table, Daifuku is curled up near the pillow, and I leisurely read a book while lying down.

Everything is calm and laid-back ー until Retze and Hauron showed up, that is.

「You… 」
An exhausted Retze greeted me as soon as I opened the door to let them in.

「What’s up? 」
What, what happened?

「I’m accompanying him this time. 」
Hauron looked normal and he even had a slight smirk.

「Dragon meat! 」
Retze burst out.

「Huh? 」
It’s rare to see Retze so worked up.

「That meat ー it gives your body a power boost, right!? 」
「… Did it? 」
【Appraisal】did show whether it has poison and how it tasted, yum or not, but nothing other than that.

「Yes, it did, you know. There’s this legend that says ‘a body bathed in dragon’s blood becomes impervious to weapons’, so it won’t be surprising if the meat had a similar effect. 」
Hauron seemed chill this time, and he seemed to be having fun.

「But we already removed most of the black spirits, so maybe it’s a characteristic of dragon meat? 」
Did the spirits’ influence remain in the meat?

「Dragons supposedly host all kinds of spirits, not only the wind ones. Given that dragon’s wingless form, I bet it had spirits of earth, stone and minerals ー ones that focus on defense ー at least before the black spirits possessed it anyway. 」
「Oh, so it was a divine beast? 」
I asked Hauron.

Monsters are possessed by black spirits, while divine beasts are possessed by normal spirits. The main difference between them is whether they attack people or not; otherwise, their abilities are similar.

「Not really, it probably didn’t develop into a divine beast with a will. I’ve seen dragon-scale armor before, and it had mineral spirits in it. I guess dragon bodies are comfortable for them to live in?」

「Oh? Then maybe their influence remained? 」
「Well, considering its size, the effect on whoever consumes only a small amount shouldn’t be too significant. I mean, I was still able to cut through it. 」
Hauron rubbed his arm.

You cut yourself!?

「I’m against unethical human experiments!! 」
「The effect on me is HUGE! 」
Retze and I yelled.