V1C2 Part3

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If we found that we were clearly in distress, we had ways to deal with the situation in that case, so we didn’t take it all that seriously and were captivated by the scenery that was a bit different than what we saw previously.

The trees around here were from an older time, so they were incredibly tall with thick trunks. They had strange scratches, like metal threads were wrapped around them or something like that…

“Hey, look, red anemones.”

“Amazing… They are blooming all over. So much that it is a little bit scary.”

Certainly...precisely because this was a white forest, the red color looked even brighter, and this scenery seemed strange.

This sweeping red reminded me of something…

“Would you like to go and pick a few?”

“I...suppose so. Let’s give them to Grandmother as a present.”

I stepped into the flower field of bright red anemones and carefully picked one.

The center of anemone flowers was pure black, just like some sort of eye.

Come to think of it, I thought anemone flowers were the symbol of the “Scarlet Witch.” What were they in the language of flowers again?

“Wah!”

Suddenly, something jumped out from the root of the flower.

They were crimson, ball-sized frogs, charging repeatedly at my cheeks and feet.

They were Ribito frogs, a native species of the Salt Forest. One of the ingredients for the “Ribito Salve” was the saliva of these frogs. One wasn’t a big deal, but having several of them was troublesome, and no matter how many times I shook them off, they kept headbutting me for some reason.

“Milady!”

Thor pulled out his short sword and swung it, cutting off several of them.

However, just as he was having a hard time because there were too many of them, the shrill sound of a whistle came from somewhere, and the frogs, hating that sound, hopped away.

“Makia, are you there?”

Hearing that very familiar voice, I looked up.

A witch, holding a staff from which a magical lantern hung, was standing on the other side of the flower field with a dove. The small and thin whistle hanging from her neck was made from the tears of the Salt Forest.

“Grandmother!”

I ran up to her and hugged her. This fashionable witch with short, flaxen hair and dove feather hair ornaments still looked young, even though I call her Grandmother.

“Just when I thought you would never come, I see you loitering in a place like this? The headbutts from Ribito frogs are quite painful. They are creatures of the attribute【Fire】, so they have the tendency to go towards warmer things. They must have been attracted to your high body temperature, Makia.”

“Grandmother, you knew that I am here!”

“The Salt Forest is my garden. My faithful dove told me where you two were.”

Doves gathered around Grandmother with the flapping of wings. Those were doves that patrolled the Salt Forest.

“I have been waiting for you with plenty of freshly baked cookies. Now, come with me. The young lad over there as well.”

We cut through the anemone flower field and followed Grandmother’s guidance. After going through the depths of the forest where the trees were tall and the sun didn’t shine through, we reached an old brick hut.

The name of my grandmother, who lived in this hut instead of the O’Drielle family mansion, was Camellia.

She was a witch who married the previous head of the family. Apparently, she met my now-deceased grandfather when they were in magic school, and after she worked as a royal tutor, she married into the O’Drielle family.

By the way, she was the one who named me. When she gave me the name “Makia,” my parents trembled with joy as one and exclaimed, “How wonderful!”, and I loved that name as well. So I loved Grandmother as well.

The outside was chilly, but the hut was warm and filled with the sweet and savory scent of cookies.

“Did you enjoy your walk through the forest?”

“Of course! We must exercise the O’Drielle’s family’s special privilege to get valuable magical resources for free. Oh, here’s a present from the royal capital from Father. And seasonings and a letter from Mother.”

“My, I’m delighted. Here is the book I’ve been waiting for. And the seasonings I’ve said I wanted.”

Grandmother lived in this remote place, so sometimes she used a carrier dove to tell Father and Mother what she needed that she couldn’t get. Father would buy them when he went on business trips to the capital, Mother would put them all together, and I would bring them here.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you as well, lad. Have you already gotten used to the O’Drielle mansion?”

“Yes, Madam,” Thor stood up straight and bowed.

“When we met last, you looked like a burdock, but now you’re starting to look a bit like a boy. Now, I shall make some milk coffee. Makia, your favorite cookies are on the table.”

“Yay!” I said, taking my place at the table and reaching for a cookie.

I loved Grandmother’s homemade cookies. Thick, swirled cookies of cocoa and plain flavor, with plenty of brown sugar stuck to the sides. Grandmother’s cookies especially were exquisitely baked, and the crunchiness of the brown sugar was irresistible.

“Fufu, you truly do love sweets, Makia. You were like this ever since you were little.”

“Because I’m a witch.”

“That’s true. All the famous magicians in history had a sweet tooth. The reason for this is because intaking sugar is the most effective for recovering after using magic.”

I took a sip of the milk coffee with plenty of honey and sighed deeply.

As expected, it was the nature of magicians to feel happy when ingesting sweets.

“But Thor doesn’t have such a sweet tooth, does he?”