Chapter 18 – A New Life

“…Huh?”

When I woke up, Grace’s sleeping face was right beside me, and for a moment I felt my heartbeat quicken.

I quickly remembered what happened last night and understood, but having her face appear before my eyes first thing in the morning without any mental preparation was… somewhat stimulating. Grace’s features are just too perfect. While I’m used to seeing her, it’s been a while since we’ve been this close, face-to-face.

“…Mmm, good morning, Theodore-sama.”

Perhaps my stirring had woken her, as Grace opened her eyes slightly and smiled.

“…Yeah. Good morning.”

It’s not like anything happened between us… but I feel a little embarrassed.

Since we don’t even have beds yet, we just spread a blanket on the floor of the master bedroom, covered ourselves with another blanket, and slept like that.

“Theodore-sama, would you like to rest a bit longer? I’ll call you when the meal is ready.”

Saying this, Grace sat up.

Outside the window, it seemed like dawn had just begun. We might have woken up a bit too early… but I felt refreshed, probably because I slept deeply.

“I’ll help. I’ll go change and wash my face.”

Breakfast was vegetable soup made from leftover ingredients we bought during our journey, along with black bread. This seems pretty standard around here, but we should use up ingredients before they spoil. The rabbit meat we bought at the market was also in the soup, so the quality was decent.

That said, it felt a bit plain considering we’d finally arrived at Boundary City. Among the emergency rations and ingredients we bought before entering the labyrinth yesterday, there were Whisper Mushrooms, which are mushroom monsters, so I decided to make them the main dish this time.

Whisper Mushrooms can be gathered… or rather, subjugated in Dusk Forest, as usual.

The actual thing is a walking mushroom about the size of a watermelon. Its body slam attacks aren’t much to worry about, but you need to be somewhat careful since it uses sleep magic. Also, you have to watch out for poisonous subspecies… but around here, you can distinguish them relatively easily by the cap’s color and pattern, so it’s not a problem.

The ones at the market were already subjugated and sliced, but since the original is watermelon-sized, each slice is quite large. Cutting one slice appropriately for Grace and me to share should be just right.

Grace heated a frying pan over the hearth, spreading a thin layer of olive oil. When it was adequately warm, she added the mushrooms and bacon. The satisfying sound of them sizzling in the pan filled the air.

She sprinkled salt and spices, and when they were thoroughly cooked, it was done. Sautéed Whisper Mushrooms.

With the main dish on the table, we had breakfast facing each other.

“How is it?”

The taste of Whisper Mushrooms is very similar to king oyster mushrooms. The texture is pleasantly firm and flavorful, quite delicious. Grace is skilled at this, and the salt level is perfect.

“Yeah. It’s tasty.”

“Is that so? Thank you.”

When I gave my honest opinion, Grace smiled.

Hmm. Between the Savona Tree sap and the Whisper Mushrooms… I really want to reach Dusk Forest soon. There are many useful things there that I could use myself, and since there’s high demand, it could also be a stable source of income.

“Yesterday, there were so many unfamiliar ingredients, I was a bit confused.”

“That’s unique to Boundary City.”

There were Whisper Mushrooms, and even Flying Shark fins. What appears in the market changes depending on adventurers’ activities, but I’d rather avoid things like worm meat and some other items.

“What are your plans for today?”

“Probably shopping after getting information from the Guild. I want to buy furniture… but it might still be a bit early to go out. Until then, I thought I might do some light work like weeding the garden to settle my stomach.”

“Understood.”

And so, we began our post-meal light work.

I started weeding the overgrown garden from one end… but I’ll use magic instead of a sickle.

Using a staff would quickly drain its lifespan, so I’ll use magic bare-handed… but even though it’s just weeding, it’s not completely without danger.

In untouched patches of grass like this, even within the city, there can be monsters called Evil Weeds mixed in.

Their buds or flower parts are like mouths, complete with teeth. They’re not much of a threat basically, but if you reach out, they’ll bite you… a weed with self-defense capabilities.

They spread by shooting seeds from their mouths, so they’re pretty much everywhere, and because of this nature, they’re quite hated by those in professions like gardening.

As their name “weed” suggests, they’re basically weak… but being bitten hurts a bit. Well, maybe “annoying” is a better word. They’re the kind of monster where a child unknowingly reaches out, gets bitten, bleeds from the tooth marks, and goes home crying… About the same level of caution as not cutting your hand on miscanthus leaves or getting pricked by thorns.

In early autumn, they gain seed-shooting as an additional attack method besides biting, but this isn’t very dangerous either. It would be bad if it got in your eyes, but they seem reluctant to use their precious seeds for attacks and rarely do it.

By the way, you can’t expect much from looting Evil Weeds. Around autumn, you can extract some magic stone components from the seeds… but right now, even if you use extraction magic, it’s a pittance. Really, they’re just weeds.

“Well then, let’s begin.”

“Yes. Please be careful not to hurt yourself.”

“You too, Grace. I think there are Weeds here.”

“Yes.”

Grace has also shifted to her Released Form from her Cursed Tool and is in perfect combat readiness. Since Grace’s regeneration ability decreases in sunlight, injuries won’t heal immediately, so it’s best to avoid getting hurt.

Alright then. Let’s start from one end. The magic I’ll use is Water Magic third rank – Water Cutter. With water blades wrapped around my palms, I effortlessly uproot and cut down the weeds.

As for Grace, she’s at a sufficient distance from me, swinging her axe and clearing the grass spectacularly.

I think it would be nice to have a proper sickle… but when she’s in Released Form, tools without durability get broken immediately. In Sealed State, Grace is at the same level as a normal person, so it ends up being more efficient for her to swing her axe in Released Form.

A scythe with a metal handle would be purely for combat, and it feels somewhat wasteful to purchase something like that just for weeding.

“Found one.”

“Gyeep!”

As expected, Evil Weeds had mixed in, and one was screaming as Grace grabbed it by the scruff and mercilessly cut it down at the root with her axe.

Even as I say this, I find a Weed on my side too. I carefully cut it down with Water Cutter, then use Wind Magic second rank – Cyclone to sweep it up with the other weeds, piling them up in a sunny spot.

Hmm. Maybe because it’s not Life Magic, using elementary attack magic in situations like this is troublesome as I have to constantly adjust the power. Perhaps because I’m putting considerable effort into control, I feel like I’m using extra magical power.

In the end, it makes my shoulders stiff. I’d like to learn Life Magic soon.

“Excuse me, is this Theodore-san’s residence?”

After weeding the garden like that for a while, a voice called from near the entrance to the garden.

Walking to the gate, I found yesterday’s Guild receptionist there. Her name was… Heather, I believe. And behind her were Forestbird and the others.

“Yes. This is the right place. Um, Heather-san, was it?”

“Yes. Sorry to bother you while you’re busy.”

“No, it’s just weeding.”

After this exchange with Heather, I shifted my gaze to Forestbird.

“Good morning, Theo-kun.”

“Good morning, Theo-kun.”

“Yeah. Good morning.”

I decided to open the gate and let them into the garden.

“We haven’t bought furniture yet, so the house is quite empty and not presentable, but I can at least serve tea?”

“No, no, don’t trouble yourself.”

Heather smiled wryly.

“Things got messy yesterday, and I forgot what I was asked to do. I make it a habit to take walks on my days off, so I thought I might as well. Here, the letter of introduction and address.”

“Ah, thank you for your trouble.”

I accepted the note with the address and the letter. So Heather stopped by Forestbird’s place during her walk to deliver the message? And Forestbird and the others came along with her, I suppose.

They might be early risers for Forestbird when they’re not on requests. Fitz looks somewhat sleepy.

“That was quite a disaster yesterday, you two.”

“Really. We were shocked to hear you were targeted.”

“Ah. So you came because of that?”

“Well… that’s about it. We’re relieved to see you both don’t seem injured.”

Monica said this while scratching her cheek somewhat sheepishly.

“We’d only get injured in extreme circumstances, so of course not. We crushed the ambush with a counter-ambush, right?”

“This will probably be the talk among adventurers for a while.”

They were getting excited while saying these things.

Well… I knew Forestbird were good people. The fact that they came to check on us so soon after yesterday shows they’re quite dutiful.

I’m just glad they weren’t the ones targeted.