"Looks like a ghost town,"
"Yeah,"
We arrived at an uninhibited village not that far from Sedum City. The buildings are rundown and overtaken with wildlife, and the well in the village centre has been reduced to a pile of rocks. Satou had noticed a broken barrier post from the road, so we had stopped by to check if something had happened.
Satou took the younger group with me to search the town and left the older group near the horse-drawn carriage to keep watch and start preparing lunch. I helped by cutting vegetables at first, but I left the rest of the cooking to the others.
Well, I am waiting for lunch. I finally get to work on making a puppet for Nana. At first, I was tempted to make a small animal for her, but in the end, I went with a young child design. My first attempt wasn't pretty. The hair was too messy, and the eyes looked evil. I succeeded if I was trying to make a movie prop for a horror film.
I tried again, this time getting the hair right, but the face is still not quite right. The eyes looked like they were glaring at me, so I had to redo them. Finally, I got something I am happy with on my third attempt. The doll looks just like a cute child, and I know Nana will love it. I still had some material left, so I made a red dress for the doll and put a matching bow in her black hair. I test the doll out by making the mouth open and close and moving the hands. I don't see any tears or loose seams, so I will give the doll to Nana after lunch.
"Hero Kura!"
Well, that was the plan until Nana came running over to me. She stared at the doll and hugged it to her chest when I let her hold it. Satou and the others are just returning when this happens, and I swear Satou looks jealous when he sees the doll pressed into Nana's chest.
"Hero Kura. Please may I care for this larval, I request,"
"Sure," I smile, seeing Nana's face light up slightly. "I made it for you anyway."
"Another puppet," Arisa says, looking closer at it. "It's cute."
After those interested in the puppet had a look, we all sat down for lunch. Today we are eating wolf meat again. The steaks were big, taking up most of the plates, but they tasted too good for me to complain. If anything, I would want a larger slice. Mia was eating stir-fried vegetables, and Nana ate only a small portion of meat with her usually porridge. She is still only eating small pieces of solid food, but we have given her a slightly bigger slice of meat this time.
Unfortunately, most people were too full to move right away after we finished lunch, so we had to take a slightly longer break. Satou passed the time with more alchemy while Mia and I looked for more barriers and fruits as the others recovered. I was surprised that Pearl overate. I thought she was the type of person who had more self-control, but she ate three wolf steaks at lunch. It looks like good food can corrupt even people like her.
"Here,"
With Mia's help, we found more Klite Berry, some strawberries and even some herbs called Regal Angelica. I didn't read about it in my alchemy book, but Mia says they can be used in potions and medicines. I will ask Satou about it later.
"There,"
Then after a few minutes, we find a small clearing filled with flowers. A few small animals run into the trees when we approach. Mia walks around for a bit and starts picking up some weeds before handing them to me.
"Russet Wort,"
Mia tells me. This is a herb I know of. It was written about in my alchemy book, and this is an ingredient used in MP potions. Mia and I pick up as much as we can. Satou said he found some earlier in a village, but we could always use more of this stuff. We ended up with a lot of the herb, but we barely touched this area. I'll tell Satou about it and see if he wants to come back later and collect some more.
