Before long, they arrived at Norfakla Lake.
The reason it's called Norfakla Lake is because the water here is very calm, like a mirror.
The wide mirror surface reflected the blue sky, presenting a dreamy blue.
And the lake shore was covered with water willows, with branches hanging down like a girl's hair. With the breeze blowing across the water, the Norfakla Lake would ripple slightly.
It's said that still waters run deep; it's the same with Norfakla Lake. The water here is very clear, with visibility reaching tens of meters. There are almost no traces of fish inside, maybe because the terrain here is higher, and the melted snow from the surrounding mountains flows into Norfakla Lake.
Therefore, fish from other rivers also rarely appear in Norfakla Lake.
Of course, another reason is that Norfakla Lake's water is very cold. It's autumn now, but the temperature of Norfakla Lake's water has already reached single digits. Whenever the temperature drops again in the early morning or evening, the lake surface will even produce a light mist, creating another dreamy scene.
No wonder Hilda said the scenery here is good. It's more than good; it's amazing for Feld!
However, as beautiful as the scenery is, it's not as beautiful as a person.
"Last time, I wanted to come here. It's just as described in the books, even more beautiful than the drawings in the books!" Hilda exclaimed excitedly as she came to the lake shore, reaching out her finger to gently touch the water.
Feld looked at her side profile. Under the sunlight, her side profile and golden hair seemed to be shrouded in a hazy golden border, making her look so holy.
And her smile made Feld couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the world.
If the world wasn't beautiful, how could it nurture such a beautiful existence?
"Alright, let's start by building a temporary camp. We'll be staying here for the next few days," Feld said with a smile.
"A temporary camp?" Hilda looked somewhat puzzled and curious.
"What, you've never built one before?" Feld asked.
"No," Hilda replied.
"Then how did you rest before?" Feld inquired.
Hilda suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and pointed to a tall tree in the distance, saying, "Find a slightly higher tree and just lie on the branches to sleep."
Feld widened his eyes as he looked at Hilda, who blushed slightly and puffed out her cheeks. "I... I used to travel alone, so it was more convenient this way, and I could react immediately if something happened."
"Well, that makes sense," Feld nodded, "But sleeping like that must be uncomfortable."
"Yeah, it's not comfortable, but this is the forest, not home, so there's no need to be picky," Hilda said, then seeing Feld furrowing his brow slightly, she couldn't help but add, "Hey, don't think of me as so delicate. I can endure hardship!"
"Really?" Feld questioned.
"Of course!" Hilda replied somewhat defiantly.
She felt that Feld was underestimating her. He must think that all nobles are pampered and sheltered, but she wasn't like that at all.
"If that's the case, try this," Feld said, tossing over a green fruit he had picked along the way.
"What's this?" Hilda asked curiously. Although she had learned many things, she had never seen this olive-sized green fruit before.
"It's a sweet fruit," Feld grinned, "Very tasty, try it."
Hilda looked suspicious, especially when she saw Feld's mischievous smile. "It must be very bad; I'm not eating it."
"If it's bad, then don't eat it? Didn't you just say you can endure hardship?" Feld retorted.
"...Fine," Hilda relented.
She had made up her mind that even if the fruit was very bad, sour, bitter, and astringent, she would endure it just to see Feld's surprised expression.
However, when she bit into the olive-like green fruit, her eyes widened.
She quickly spat it out, not because it was bad, sour, and bitter, but because as soon as her tongue touched the juice of the fruit, it went numb, as if she had been shocked.
This meant—the fruit was poisonous!
"It's numb... my tongue... can't feel anything..." Hilda frowned, trying to ease the numbness in her tongue.
But the sensation only grew stronger, making her even feel uncomfortable in her nasal cavity.
She struggled to speak clearly, "Poison... You... You made me eat this!"
She was angry.
But then she saw Feld tossing another fruit towards her.
Catching it, she recognized it, a sour persimmon, a very sour fruit that ripened at this time of year.
"What about you?" Hilda asked as she ate the second sour persimmon, feeling a bit runny in her nose.
Feld was definitely teasing her.
But Feld just smiled and said, "Try it, there's a surprise."
Hilda sniffled, feeling like she was about to have a runny nose as she looked at the sour persimmon in her hand. She hesitated for a moment before giving Feld another chance, then she opened her mouth and took a bite.
Instantly, her eyes widened.
In her memory, sour persimmons were extremely sour, similar to lemons. They were usually used as condiments, and few people ate them directly.
But at this moment, she felt an incomparable sweetness bursting in her mouth.
And the numbness in her tongue quickly disappeared, leaving only the honey-like sweetness in her mouth.
"So sweet... How can a sour persimmon be so sweet?" Hilda was amazed, taking a few more bites. Then she thought of something and looked at the green fruit she had spat out on the ground.
"Is it because of this?"
"Uh-huh," Feld nodded with a smile.
"This fruit is called a sweet fruit, I named it."
"This fruit grows in grasslands, and its plant and fruit are similar to ordinary sweet grass, so it's often mistaken for sweet fruit. There's hardly any record of it in books, at least I haven't seen one yet."
"I discovered this fruit because I used to pick sweet grass to eat as a child, but I ended up eating this."
"The amazing thing about it is that it's poisonous, but only mildly so, at most it just numbs the tongue."
"But precisely because of this poison, it changes a person's taste buds, making the taste of other things different after eating it."
"After eating this, for the next few hours, anything sour or bitter you eat will taste sweet."
"And the more sour or bitter it is, the sweeter it will be."
"Even the saliva you swallow will have a sweet taste."
"So I call it a sweet fruit."
"How amazing..." Hilda exclaimed, then looked at Feld with shining eyes, "Is there anything else interesting?"
"There's plenty, but for now, we need to build a temporary camp. Otherwise, we'll have to sleep in the open field at night."
"Chichi, go gather some dry firewood."
"Okay, meow!" Chichi immediately ran off to gather firewood.
"What about me?" Hilda asked, eating her second sour persimmon.
It seemed like Hilda was getting addicted to them. Although sour, the taste was good, like eating a peach. She liked it a lot.
"This is the water source. Our camp shouldn't be too close, or we might encounter monsters. Go around and find a suitable camping spot."
"Don't stray too far from here, just find a flat area with a wide field of view."
"Got it!" Hilda nodded and then transformed into golden light, shooting into the forest with great enthusiasm.
As for Feld... he went to play with the water, after all, there were so many flat pebbles by the lake, and many of them were flat pebbles. It would be a waste not to skip them.
As for the temporary camp, he would start working on it later, after Hilda found a suitable camping spot and Chichi gathered enough firewood.
Soon, Chichi brought a large pile of dry firewood, which Feld then stored inside his ring. Then Feld and Chichi played skipping stones together, having a great time.
"Seven skips, Big Guy, am I amazing, meow?" Chichi asked.
"You're good, but not as good as me. Watch this!" Feld replied.
"Swoosh..."
"Thirty-one... thirty-two... thirty-three skips! That's amazing, meow!"
"Teach me, teach me!" Chichi pleaded.
"Alright, look, you need to use this technique to throw with force. You can use it for throwing knives too..." Feld explained.
And so, Feld taught Chichi how to skip stones until Chichi mastered the technique and achieved over twenty skips—while Hilda still hadn't returned.
"Is that girl lost again?" Feld raised an eyebrow.
Normally, with Hilda's speed, a quick stroll around would take no more than fifteen or twenty minutes. But it had been almost forty minutes now, and she still hadn't returned.
Feld grew concerned, so he called for Chichi, and they followed Hilda's footprints to search for her.
Half an hour later, Feld and Chichi were lying on a cliff, watching Hilda below.
"It should be... this way..." Hilda held a map, somewhat uncertainly pointing in a direction, muttering to herself.
Feld couldn't help but shout, "It should be the other way."
"Oh, the other way?" Hilda looked up suddenly and saw Feld and Chichi's smiling faces on the cliff dozens of meters above.
Instantly, Hilda's face turned red.
Indeed, as Feld had guessed, she had gotten lost.
After circling around and finally finding what seemed like a good camping spot, she was ready to go back to find Feld. But then she realized she seemed to have gone the wrong way.
Then she hurried back, only to find that she couldn't even find the camping spot she had just found.
Jumping up to the cliff and arriving next to Feld, Hilda looked at Feld and Chichi with a flushed face, puffing out her cheeks. "Go ahead, laugh if you want..."
"Hahaha!" Feld burst into laughter along with Chichi, the laughter echoing through the forest below, showing how much he had suffered from holding it in.
Hilda looked embarrassed, it was just her natural tendency. No wonder she felt something was wrong earlier—there wasn't a cliff when she came, so how could there be one on the way back? She should have gone the other way!
After laughing for a while, seeing Hilda stomping her foot, Feld finally stopped laughing and said, "Girl, you can get lost even in a dozen miles?"
"Didn't you learn anything from what I just taught you?"
"I... I did, but... it didn't work..." Hilda's cheeks turned slightly red, feeling a bit unable to hold back, then said somewhat stubbornly, "I'm sure you didn't teach me well enough!"
"Then let me teach you another method," Feld said with a smile. "If you want to avoid getting lost, it's simple."
"How?" Hilda perked up.
Then she saw Feld reaching out his hand. "Hold my hand, and you won't get lost."
Hilda was stunned, looking up to see Feld's mischievous smile. She immediately realized that he was teasing her again!
"Ignore you!" Hilda lightly kicked Feld and walked away, pretending to be angry.
But three seconds later, she came back. "You walk in front!"
"Hahaha!"
"No laughing, you already laughed at me earlier!"
"Okay, okay... Hahaha!"
"..."
"Hey, pulling out the sword is going too far."
Watching Feld fleeing, Hilda sheathed her slender sword and, somehow, found it funny too. Her lips curved into a slight smile.