Chapter 5

After leaving the town and walking for a few hours, I entered the forest.

On the way, I veered off the road and crossed the plains, but there was no encounter with the goblins I had been expecting.

The footing became poor, so I had to be careful not to trip as I ventured deeper.

I walked for about half an hour, but...

"The herbs are nowhere to be found."

After a few hours of walking to the forest and a few dozen minutes of searching, I was getting anxious as the herbs were nowhere to be found.

(Now that I think about it, of course. If they were easy to get, the reward wouldn't be so high...)

As the receptionist woman had said, other adventurers knew the locations where the herbs grew naturally and came to collect them regularly.

In other words, if you didn't know such places, you couldn't find them easily.

In that case, there was no choice but to be patient.

I would have to walk around the forest and take notes of the locations where I found herbs. That way, I could gradually become more efficient in collecting herbs by visiting these spots regularly over time.

"I can't show any weakness for Seria's sake."

My parents, who had given me expensive medicine to save my life, and Seria, who had given up studying abroad to pay off the debt. I couldn't let my family suffer because of me.

I steeled myself and continued searching for herbs.

"Finally, I found them..."

After walking around for about an hour, I finally discovered herbs growing in front of me.

"With this, I've secured today's earnings."

Finding even one herb would ensure earnings equivalent to a day's work.

Although it was a lot of effort to come to a place far from town, it was a matter of luck, so there was nothing I could do about it.

As I reached out to pick the herb,

"......"

"Whoa!"

I was startled when something moved on the ground, and I saw a caterpillar about the size of my palm. This purple-spotted caterpillar is called a Magic Worm, a monster that stores magic power in its body.

It's not particularly strong, but the silk it spits out is imbued with magic, making it useful for high-end clothing.

It's apparently possible to capture and raise them to harvest the silk, but they are quite delicate and tend to die from stress when their living environment changes.

While I was thinking about the Magic Worm, it continued to eat.

It moved slowly and was eating leaves. Upon closer inspection, it was eating herbs, and the Magic Worm was heading towards the herb I was about to pick.

"Not a chance!"

If it ate the herbs here, I would lose today's earnings.

I swung my sword, felt a hard sensation in my hand, and the Magic Worm flew away.

"That was close..."

I had never known that the Magic Worm's main food was herbs.

Could it be that the reason I couldn't find herbs in the forest was because of these creatures?

"Ugh... it's laying eggs..."

Purple eggs, about the size of a grain of wheat, were attached to the herbs. I wiped them off and crushed them. If these eggs hatched and the Magic Worms ate the herbs, I would have nothing left to collect in the future.

Nature's competition is cruel.

"Well, at least I managed to get something today, so I'll head back..."

I sighed and looked up at the sky, facing a difficult situation.

"Brother, welcome back."

After exchanging the herbs for money at the adventurer's guild, getting eggs from the chicken farm, and taking off my equipment in the shed, I returned home, and Seria came running to me.

"Hmm? Don't you smell less sweaty than usual?"

Seria moved her nose and came close to my face.

"Today, I worked a bit harder, so can I take a bath first?"

"Yes, I've already drawn the bath for you with magic. Please take your time to relax and ease your fatigue."

Not every household has a bath. It's a waste to use a magic device to fill a bathtub with enough water to soak in.

Our house decided to build a bathroom when Seria learned the four elemental magics. Compared to wiping your body with a cloth, soaking in a warm bath helps to relax and ease fatigue.

"Would you like me to... wash your back?"

Seria sent a playful glance.

"Are you kidding? I can't take a bath with my sister. Seria, don't make such jokes."

"Okay."

When I scolded her, she went back into the house with a good mood.

I soaked in the bath Seria had prepared and then had dinner and chatted with my parents and sister.

"Well, are everyone asleep?"

In the middle of the night, I got out of bed and turned on the light from the magic device. I dimmed the light to a minimum so as not to wake my family and took an egg from the drawer.

"Using this will definitely be tiring, but..."

It's a skill given to me by the goddess Muse. It would be a waste not to use it.

I used the 'Hatching' skill on the egg and felt a sudden surge of fatigue.

"Huff, huff, that's good... for now."

"Peep, peep."

A yellow fluff ball looked up at me and chirped. I quickly covered its beak, but the chick started to struggle, so I held it in my hand.

The chick pressed its head against my finger, curled up, and fell asleep. Its warm body and fluffy feathers were comforting.

As I watched the chick,

"Brother, are you still awake?"

There was a knock on the door, and Seria called out.

I quickly pulled up the sheets.

"Brother?"

The door opened, and Seria came in. She was wearing a frilly pajama.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I just felt a magical wave coming from your room and got curious."

She must have sensed it from the magic device. She looked around the room curiously and tilted her head.

"I just couldn't sleep, but I'll go to bed soon."

"Is that so? Then, it's fine."

When Seria left, I let out a sigh of relief. The chick crawled out from under the sheets and chirped, but thanks to the sheets, the sound didn't escape.

"For now, I'll put this one in the chicken coop in the morning..."

Recently, I've been buying eggs from the market, but we used to raise chickens.

Since they all died from a disease, we stopped raising them, but if I can hatch them with this skill, I might start raising them again.

"If they grow well, maybe I won't have to buy eggs anymore."

That would help the household budget. I believe that steady efforts lead to steady results.

"For now, I'm tired... I'll go to bed..."

"Peep."

I moved the chick to the pillow and stroked it, and the chick chirped in response.