After passing through the forest safely, we walked through the grassland toward the town.
The sun began to tilt, but it seemed that we could get home by the evening.
Suddenly, Nicola grabbed my arm after we finally could see the gate.
Oops, I completely forgot that we went out by climbing the wall.
「Luck onii-chan, Nicola and I will go home by climbing the wall」Mark
「Oh, that's right. Alright. Don't get caught by the guards, okay? You can leave Brian to us」Luck
Said Luck while rubbing Jack's head.
Jack made a sullen look and didn't say anything.
He was probably tired from what happened today.
We separated with Luck and Jack, then walked toward the wall.
When I was about to make stairs, I was worried what if there was someone on the other side and they saw us.
「Don't worry onii-chan. There's no one there」Nicola
After Nicola said so, I made the stairs and we successfully returned to the town.
Today, what surprised me the most was Nicola.
I never knew she had a detecting ability.
She was able to detect the enemies in the forest like Celine was doing, but not only enemies, she detected Jack, who was hiding behind a rock, and the presence or absence of other people on the other side of the wall.
「Nicola, by the way, how did you do that? Detecting the enemies and people. Is it some kind of magic or skill?」Mark
「It's a 'gift' from my boss (God)」Nicola
「Heeー So it's a gift」Mark
Like my item box, 'gift' is a special ability that you had when you are born, and cannot be acquired by practicing.
So, perhaps Nicola's detecting ability is different from detecting ability that adventurers have.
「By the way, Celine seemed to use magical power to detect the enemies. Her detecting ability has a different method than my gift. Maybe onii-chan can also use this ability if you use magic method like Celine」Nicola
I see.
Detecting ability seems to be convenient.
Maybe I'll ask Celine to teach me next time.
「And by the way, I have another gift」Nicola
「Eh!? You have two!? What's the other one?」Mark
「That's a secret. If you started to rely on me, I wouldn't be able to leech on you. I want you to provide for me, not the opposite」Nicola
She bluntly said about leeching on me…..
I'm really curious what her second gift is, but it seems she won't tell me… so let's leave it for now.
Finally, we were home.
When we entered the house through the backdoor, we saw Mom and Dad were working in the kitchen.
「We're homeー」Mark
「Papa, Mama, we're home~」Nicola
「Ara, welcome back both of you. Nice timing! Mark, can you bring this dish to the dining hall? Ah, but wash your hands first」
「Okayー」Mark
Mom didn't say which table, so maybe there's only one customer right now.
I washed my hands with water magic and immediately carried the dish to the dining hall.
This dish was kind of heavy to eat before sunset.
Hmm. Maybe the customer wants an early dinner?
When I entered the dining hall, there was Celine.
She noticed me and waved at me.
So, she is the one waiting for this heavy dish, huh.
「Thanks for waiting. Celine, isn't it too early for dinner?」Mark
I asked her as I put the plate on the table.
「Today I worked without having time to eat lunch, so I'm really hungry now」Celine
After she answered, she immediately ate the food on the plate.
But then, she stared at me.
「Mark… did you go outside?」Celine
「Eh…?」Mark
「You smell like a forest」Celine
「E, A, Aaahh… That's….」Mark
Eh? She found out by smell?
I was panicked.
「Fuun… Well, I won't ask you any further tho. But, don't make your parents worry, okay?」
Then, she continued devouring the food in front of her.
Do adventurers have a good sense of smell…? Nah, maybe it's just her…
After that, I helped the dining hall until it got dark, so I decided to plant the herbs tomorrow.
♦♦♦
The next morning.
I woke up and went to the backyard of my house.
I thought it was necessary to observe whether the herbs would actually grow or not, so I decided to plant them here instead of in the vacant lot.
By the way, as always, Nicola was still sleeping soundly at this time.
I decided to make a little fence first.
I made a lot of mini stone pillars with a height of about 20 cm surrounding the spot where I wanted to make the flowerbed at.
When I focused on making the flowerbed, Celine called out from behind.
「Good morning, Mark. Are you planting something?」Celine
It was still early in the morning, so she hadn't yet worn the black dress that emphasized her boobs.
She wore a loose white dress now.
Is she trying to seduce me with a 'gap moe'? Fufun, but too bad, it won't work for me!
*/ gap moe is a term that refers to a contradiction in exhibited characteristics that people find cutely attractive. For example, a girl without glasses, suddenly wears glasses.
In Celine's case, she usually wears black dress, but now she wears white.
「Yup. I'm planting this」Mark
I decided to not hide it from her, so I showed her segilia grasses I picked at the forest yesterday.
「This is… the herbs that grow in the kobold territory? Ah, I see now」Celine
「Yeah, so that's why you smelled forest on me yesterday. But, I was with a guardian that time, you know? So, can you keep it a secret?」Mark
「Okay~ But, as I said yesterday, don't make your parents worry. Well then, go ahead plant that herbs. I wanna watch you plant it」Celine
I knew Celine would keep this a secret.
I planted the herbs in the flowerbed I made.
It was done quickly because I just had to bury the roots.
And then I started injecting my mana into the soil.
When I was doing that, I asked Celine.
「How do people use this herbs?」Mark
「The easiest way is to turn it into an ointment by grinding it. Other than that, you can make a potion by grinding it, mixing it with water, and injecting light attribute mana into it」Celine
Hee. Potion, huh.
For an RPG player, potions has more dreams than ointment.
If the cultivation is successful, maybe I'll try making it.
After a while, all segila grasses were planted in the flowerbed.
「With this, the planting is done. After this, I just have to observe if it will grow or not」Mark
「I see. It looks like the result won't come out soon. Well then, I'll take a bath now. Mark, can you wash my back?」Celine
「I'm sorry, dear customer. The bathhouse is self-service at our inn~」Mark
「Ara. That's too bad~ Fufu」Celine
After that, Celine walked to the bathhouse.
Then, suddenly I heard Nicola's voice in my head.
『Chicken onii-chan, why you kept refusing? "Bathing together with a nice-body woman" is a child's privilege, you know?』Nicola
I looked up and found Nicola was looking at me from the window on the second floor while grinning.
Well I'm sorry I'm a chicken!