CH 135

“…I forgot something important.”

I was sitting on a chair on the first floor of Borok-san’s house, listening to the sound of him cooking Fungus, when suddenly a question popped into my head.

“What does Shion eat…”

When I put it into words, a sudden sense of urgency welled up from the back of my mind.

What do young animals eat? Mother’s milk? Insects? Grass? Isn’t it possible that I’m screwed? There are no milk-producing animals in this cave, no grass, and I haven’t seen any insects. And we won’t be able to leave the cave for another 20 days.

I thrust my hand inside the hood of my robe, grabbed Shion, and held him out in front of me.

“Kyu.” (Shion)

I opened his mouth to check the inside, not caring that Sion looked a little unhappy to be woken from his sleep.

“Do you have teeth…? …Then you can eat solids—you have! Oh, sorry! Sorry!”

“Kyukyu!” (Shion)

“What the hell are you doing?” (Borok)

As I was putting Shion, who is biting my hand, on the table, Borok-san came out from the back with a pot.

“No, I mean, what will Shion eat…”

“Did you not think about that?” (Borok)

“Well… yeah.”

“Hmm, I see… Why don’t you give him a few things to try?” (Borok)

With that said, Borok-san served a Fungus steak served on a plate from the back room. It’s completely white and rectangular, and at first, it looked like tofu steak at first glance.

“Let’s start with Fungus.”

I cut it into small pieces with my knife, let it cool down a little, and presented it to Shion’s mouth.

“Kyu?” (Shion)

Shion took it in his mouth and gobbled it up, holding it in his small hands.

“I’m glad he’s good with those.”

“Looks like it.” (Borok)

Seeing Shion eating, I feel relieved. I’m so happy… he has something to eat. I wondered what I would do if there was nothing he could eat… I’ll have to keep trying to give him different things little by little and see what he can eat. It’s not just my food, I have to think about his food as well.

There might not be anything for Shion to eat in some areas, so I’ll have to plan ahead and stock up on supplies.

Thinking about this, I cut the Fungus into bite-sized pieces and put them in my mouth.

Moderate texture. Mushroom flavor with no peculiarity that spreads in the mouth and lightly salted taste. This may be close to King Trumpet mushrooms.

“…Hmm, it has a light flavor.”

“That’s right. It’s the staple food of this village.” (Borok)

Delicious! It’s not that good, but it’s not peculiar, so I think I can eat a lot of it… When I thought about it, I thought I had some resistance to eating Fungus, but I was so relieved that I ate it… Well, I’ll be okay, probably.

I finished off the grilled Fungus and Fungus soup, and while patting Shion, who was sleeping curled up on the table, I asked Borok-san what was bothering him.

“Um, after all the help you’ve given me up to this point… if there’s anything I can do, I’d like to help.”

I’ve been taken care of in many ways, and I’ll be taken care of for the next 20 days. I want to do something to help.

“Hmm, well you see…” (Borok)

While talking, Borok-san stood up, took out a familiar black crystal from a bag on his shelf, and said, “So, do you have one this?”

It was a little different from the one I had collected in the Death Cave; it was smaller, about five centimeters in size, with streaks in the crystal and inconsistent color.

“Yes, I have.”

I put my hand behind my back and was about to pull out a large black crystal from my magic bag when I suddenly realized what I was doing and put it back in my bag.

Dangerous, very dangerous, a big crystal is something that will expose the existence of my Magic Bag. I’ll just be cautious and take out a small crystal. With that in mind, I placed a crystal of about 20 cm on the table.

“Oh! This is it! It’s exactly what I hope for.” (Borok)

With that said, Borok-san picked up the black crystal I took out and looked at it from various angles.

“Yes! It’s a Dark Crystal with the perfect color, size, and quality.” (Borok)

“Dark Crystal?”