Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 6
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- Chapter 6 - Gathering Food 1
Chapter 6: Gathering Food 1
Kaito and Pola would be living with me from now on.
I learned that Kaito is 12 years old, and Pola is 6.
Kaito is about as tall as my nose. I’m 164 cm tall, so he must be around 150 cm?
His brown hair hung in his eyes, messy and unkempt.
He has beautiful blue eyes and a high-bridged nose. He is already quite handsome, as expected of someone from a noble family. He’ll probably be a heartbreaker someday.
However, he’s wearing a tattered hemp-like shirt and knee-length shorts.
His exposed skin is covered in small cuts, bruises, and scars. It’s quite painful to look at.
Pola is probably around 110 cm tall? I remembered how light she had felt when I carried her. She is very thin.
She has the same brown hair as Kaito, hers reaching her shoulders, equally messy.
She has the same delicate features as Kaito, already showing the promise of becoming a beautiful woman.
Her large, round eyes are incredibly cute.
Pola, too, bears scars and bruises all over her body.
Pola seems unaware of her noble origins and has no recollection of the maid who had fled.
As I absorbed this information about them, I decided to tell Kaito one thing.
“Hey, Kaito. Could you stop speaking so formally? It’s a bit uncomfortable. Just talk normally, okay?”
“Oh, um, alright, I, I mean, okay. I’m sorry. People in the village told me it was strange too, but I’ve been spoken to formally ever since I was little…”
“Ah, sorry. It’s not that it’s bad or anything. I’m just not used to being spoken to so formally. Take your time, it’s fine.”
“Okay!”
I wasn’t involved in any clubs or extracurricular activities, and hardly anyone spoke formally to me as a third-year high school student. If anything, I was usually the one speaking formally at my part-time job.
After addressing this small concern, I started thinking about our future.
To live here, we needed food, water, and a place to sleep.
Sleeping arrangements wouldn’t be a problem if we all stayed in this cave.
Water could be managed with magic, but food was a pressing issue.
For now, I took out the 『Amaju Fruits』 I had collected before meeting Kaito and Pola from the earthen box and held them out to them.
“Kotoha-nee-chan, what are these?”
Pola had taken to calling me “Kotoha-nee-chan.” She looked up at me with her head tilted, her curiosity absolutely endearing.
By the way, Kaito had switched from calling me “Onee-san” to “Onee-chan” to match Pola. I preferred “Onee-chan” as it sounded less formal, but he seemed a bit embarrassed calling me that. Which was cute in its own way.
“They’re 『Amaju Fruits.』 They’re delicious, try one.”
I said casually to Pola, but to my surprise,
“Amaju Fruits’?! Pola! Put them back in the box, slowly now!”
Kaito shouted in a panicked voice, looking at Pola.
Pola, startled, quickly placed the 『Amaju Fruits』 back into the box.
“Kaito, what’s wrong? It’s okay to eat them, right? I checked with Appraisal, and it said they’re edible…”
As I said this, Kaito stared at me as if I were something unbelievable.
“I’m surprised you can use Appraisal, Onee-chan, but I’m even more surprised that you ate an Amaju Fruit…
Amaju Fruits are legendary! Everyone knows of them, but no one has ever seen or eaten one! They say there was a war over these fruits a long, long time ago!”
I was stunned. I mean, the 『Amaju Fruit』 was delicious, sure.
But a war over these fruits? Legendary fruits?
There were a lot of 『Amaju』 trees growing near where I picked them, and all of them were laden with fruit. I was actually relieved thinking we wouldn’t have to worry about food for a while.
“But there are a lot of them growing nearby? I found a place where many Amaju trees grow, and they’re all full of fruit. Even if Amaju Fruits are as valuable as you say, Kaito, we don’t have anyone to sell them to right now, and we need to eat, right? Here, you both should have some.”
“…But, “I’ll have one!” Hey, Pola!”
Ignoring Kaito’s hesitation, Pola opened her mouth wide and took a bite of an 『Amaju Fruit.』
“De-li-cious!!”
Pola shouted with a huge smile, continuing to munch on the 『Amaju Fruit.』
Seeing this, Kaito also hesitantly took a bite.
“I-It is delicious…”
“Right? There are more growing nearby, so let’s go pick some more later.”
As I said that and reached for an 『Amaju Fruit』 from the box, Kaito and Pola’s bodies suddenly began to glow.
“Kaito?! Pola?!”
I cried out involuntarily and rushed to their side. However, neither of them seemed alarmed. In fact,
“Onee-chan, it’s okay! It feels like… the painful parts of my body are healing. The cuts, the bruises, everything.”
“Mine too! It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Relieved by their words, I observed them closely.
After a few minutes, the light faded from their bodies.
And indeed, as I examined them, all the small cuts, bruises, and scars that had covered their bodies had disappeared.
What in the world was going on?
…The cause was obvious: the 『Amaju Fruit.』
After eating it, their bodies glowed, and their injuries healed.
…Thinking this, I took a bite of an 『Amaju Fruit』 myself. However, nothing happened.
Maybe it only worked if you had injuries?
Come to think of it, I had that “High Automatic Recovery” skill. Maybe that’s why I was healed already?
“Well, I’m glad you’re both healed up. …Kaito, do you know anything about this?”
“Hmm… I think I learned that 『Amaju Fruits』 can be used in various medicines.”
“I see… So, if 『Amaju Fruits』 are valuable medicinal ingredients, then maybe they have some healing effects even when eaten raw.”
He “learned” it, as in, from a tutor?
He was a former noble, so he must have received a good education from a young age.
There was no point in dwelling on it any further. For now, I had confirmed that 『Amaju Fruits』 were useful both as food and medicine.
And since the three of us would be living together, I wanted to secure some more.
“It’s not dark yet, so I’m going to go pick some more Amaju Fruits. What do you two want to do?”
“I want to come toooo!”
Pola answered immediately, and Kaito also chimed in.
“We can’t let Onee-chan go alone, I mean, I, I’m coming too!”
He stood up as he spoke.
“Alright. Then let’s all go pick some together.
Ah, but if that tiger is still there, we’ll forget it, okay?”
“Uh huh!”
“Okay!”
With that, the three of us started walking towards the cave exit.