I thought I was raising vegetables, but I was raising monsters. I don't know what to say because I don't understand it either.
「Hey you, what were you thinking when you decided to cultivate monsters!? 」
Well, I didn't. I don't know.
This girl was repeating those words excessively while she grabbed me by my neck. Heroines who used violence were unpopular in series. And yet, one of them appeared right in front of me.
「Don't you know it's rude to look at a girl with those eyes? 」
This girl was staring at me with distrustful eyes.
「No, no, it's not like that. I can't take my eyes of you because you are a cute girl.」
After I said that, this girl muttered 「Wha…What!? 」 in a very awkward way. Her voice trembled and her face became red. Huh? Is she the type that gets vulnerable with this sort of talk?
「Just…Just answer my question. Why did you raise monsters? 」
She continued the previous conversation in order to avoid the current topic.
「I grew some seeds. I didn't think they would be monsters. I'm sorry for that. That's all. 」
「What? 」
This girl said 「What? 」 with a very suspicious expression on her face. I felt wronged as I turned my eyes away.
「How dare you say you didn't know about it? Raising seeds is the same thing as cultivating monsters. 」
「As I said, I didn't even know that it was a monster seed. I thought that it was some kind of vegetable. 」
After I said that, the girl asked an absurd question.
「What is a vegetable? Is that some kind of monster? 」
「What? 」
It was my turn to look suspicious as I said 「What? 」. But, vegetables are vegetables. What is this girl talking about? I thought carefully about it and I came to one big conclusion. However, no way. There's no way what I'm thinking about is really true. I'll ask her to confirm if my suspicions are correct.
「Excuse me, but do you have only monster seeds in this world? 」
「Of course. What else would exist besides that? 」
As I thought. That's explains why I didn't see any vegetable shop around here. But that's really troublesome. With this, I'll go to ground zero once again.
Then, that means that in this world it is common to grow monsters, hunt them and, eventually, eat them? That's unbelievable. This is a very dangerous world.
I remembered something.
「Ah! All of my efforts have gone to waste!! 」
The girl in front of me slaughtered my plant. It was a plant that had grown out of my hard work. It's withering. Why? My plant was fresh and fruity not too long ago!!
「When the monsters die, the leaves and fruits also die along with it. It's common sense. 」
That's the common sense of this world? I've never heard of this before.
「Are you serious? Okay, then, how do I grow it properly? 」
All the plants in the world are monsters. Once it becomes edible to eat, the plant will turn into a monster and attack. Still, if you defeat the monster, you won't be able to take the fruit because it will wither immediately. This is more difficult than I anticipated, isn't it? How difficult it is to harvest monster vegetables and fruits in this world?
「Hey you. That's why I'm telling you to stop growing monsters. 」
This girl looked at me with piercing eyes. Well, speaking of which, how did this girl ended up showing up here?
「By the way, I want to ask you something. Why are you here? Did you happen to be nearby? Or maybe did you hear me scream? 」
「What? Of course not. There was a complaint. People told me there was a suspicious person stealing water from the fountain and growing weird things in the hills. 」
Ah, so it was because people complained.
「My older brother asked me to investigate. That's why I found you here. 」
「Ah? Older brother? 」
What? Her older brother? Have I meet someone like that in this world? Ever since I came here, I had very little contact with people, and I don't remember making connections with anyone lately. Ah!? Don't tell that her brother is one of the staff from the restaurant!?
「The soldier guarding the fountain park is my older brother. 」
「Ah, I see. 」
That made sense. Well, he was quite angry with me, since I went there quite repeatedly to get water.
「Anyways, you will have to get out of this town. I can't leave a dangerous guy who can raise monsters roam around freely in a town full of people. I won't allow it no matter what. 」
Certainly, this girl was very pushy. But if I leave, I will surely die in the wildness. I want to avoid it somehow.
「Excuse me, how people in this world harvest vegetables…well, no…harvest monsters? 」
It was simple question.
「Well, they request adventurers to harvest the monsters. If they kill them, their fruits will become useless and die as well, so they have to take the monsters without killing them. That's why they're valuable. 」
Is that so? Basically, harvesting monsters was a difficult task. Wait a moment. I heard that it was "valuable".
「Valuable you say? 」
「Yes, that's why not many people are qualified to harvest monsters. Especially because the number of plant monsters are decreasing recently. Therefore, the number of items is decreasing even in restaurants. I don't eat fruits of monsters because they're rare. 」
That's it.
I may have found a way to live through this ordeal.
「Excuse me, Miss Knight. 」
「I'm Lily. What is it? 」
「Excuse me, Lily. Do you want to eat monster fruits? 」
「Eh? 」
Lily was thinking about my answer carefully. Afterwards, she murmured 「Maybe. I haven't eaten any monster fruit in a while… 」. I asked her the following.
「Then why don't we grow monsters together? 」
「What? 」
She looked at me wondering if I was joking. In fact, I was speaking very seriously.
「Think about it. I'll grow monsters. You'll take the fruit from those monsters. This means that no one will be able to make profit with monster fruits except for us in this town. 」
「You have a point. But that's a big risk to take. 」
「It will be okay! Let's think properly about it! I will try to do something so that it will be easier for you to take those monsters! We're going to reduce the amount of dangerous plants at first! Please, accept! I need your help! Half! You'll take half of the harvesting profit! 」
Maybe suggesting "half" was a bit reckless from my part. I'm sure I will regret it later. However, for now it's better to divide the profit by half than get kicked out of this area.
Lily has not eaten monster fruits for a long while. Therefore, she was wavering a little bit.
「…Well, I just came here because my brother told me to warn you. Besides, the request to drive you out of town isn't official yet. Maybe I should let you go. 」
「Really? 」
「However! 」
Lily's thin finger touched the tip of my nose.
「You have to promise me that I'll be the only one to harvest the monsters you'll cultivate. 」
We've made an alliance.
With this, I will start the challenge of cultivating monsters with a girl named Lily. Okay, let's hope I'll be able to have a proper harvest next time.