When I thought about it, I'd considered it a pretty good idea at the time.
But no matter how dog-like I am, throwing a frisbee for a duke's daughter—wasn't that pretty outrageous, in terms of the image and everything?
Juicy, with the Pseudo-Divine Relic [Fenrir].
Her form was just the wolf ears, hair, and tail growing a bit longer and becoming pure white.
In other words, Juicy didn't transform into some kind of beast or anything like that.
I'd been having a girl hold a frisbee in her mouth and bring it to me.
When I realized what I'd been doing and told Narcissus, she opened her mouth and spoke without batting an eye.
"Calming a puppy in that state without a single scratch was quite the feat. And you pulled it off with that method of yours. If anything, you should be proud. This is me, praising you!"
"Th-thanks."
When she woke up, I'd apologize to Juicy.
And then Juicy woke up. We were inside a temporary base in the deepest part.
I'd thought it wouldn't be right to leave her like that, so I'd carried her to a nearby area that had beds.
In one corner of the deepest level, the metal cottages provided by Riv now stood three in a row.
01 was the storage room. 02 was the break room. 03 was Narcissus's private room.
I immediately bowed to Juicy, but she just looked at me with a blank expression.
Apparently, she had no memory of becoming [Fenrir].
Instead, she sensed she'd been a burden and bowed to me.
Narcissus smiled and told me not to worry about it.
"Um, um um, woof. Woof woof."
"Why did you just bark two times in a row?"
"Wof?"
Same as us—...
Juicy was staring at me.
"What's wrong?"
When I asked, Juicy came closer. What was this about?
"Um, um um, Lord Wof!"
With a bold *slurp*, Juicy licked my cheek.
"J-Juicy!?"
"Um, heheh... woof. That was so much fun!"
Juicy's face was bright red. She stuck her tongue out with a little flick and gave me her beaming smile.
"That was fun" — could she be—? No, let's not go there.
After that, I reported to the witch, and the strengthening of Banish was tentatively counted as a success.
Three days later.
The witch's house. The living room.
The usual elegant table. The usual high-end red and black sofas.
The witch sitting on the red one and me on the black — that was the familiar arrangement.
And placed before me was a charming teacup.
"…………"
The contents of the cup were a pale blue color. Wait, was this ice?
On that pale blue surface, a girl in a silver, slender dress was ice-skating.
She glided with elegance, made bold and stunning jumps, and executed a turn.
A quadruple Salchow! Huh, a phantom quintuple-and-a-half!?
Amazing. I wanted to clap without thinking, but was this really ice?
"My, my. At long, long last, it looks like work has settled down a bit."
"Good work."
The witch let out a sweet sigh, and I raised my head to acknowledge her.
"With this, with this, I'm free for a little while now, right?"
The witch said, her expression softening into a smile.
One of her three tails swayed gently, and her large, silver fox ears moved as if opening to the sides.
Her ears moving apart like that was a small gesture the witch made when she was feeling relieved.
Especially when a big job was successfully completed.
This time, there wasn't a single big job, though—just a sheer, relentless number of commissions.
Well, but this was partly the witch's own fault.
It was the mountain of work she had stockpiled because she kept thinking she still had room.
The deadlines for that mountain of work had all converged to the last minute, which was the root of this recent hell.
She'd even had to get extensions on a few of them.
Still, managing to finish 80% on time was impressive.
The remaining 20% she'd gotten extensions for were also done by yesterday.
As expected of the witch.
But if you'd done it properly from the start, wouldn't you have had more freedom?
"Haha, haha, when there's plenty of room to work with, I end up taking it easy — that's my bad habit, eh."
"You know that already."
"That's just it — even though I know, I can't stop, eh."
"That's Agaro's verbal tic right there."
The witch gave a wry smile.
Well, nothing could be done about that, then.
"Well then, since that's the case, how about we go clean up that Phantom Unit like I promised, eh?"
"Really?"
"Of course, of course. Keeping promises to my disciple — that's the very first thing I want to do right after work, eh."
The witch gave a sly, sultry grin, her eyes softening.
This was her reaction and expression when she was in a good mood.
"Ah, thank you so much!"
"And besides, it's not good to leave that thing sitting there forever, eh."
"Well, I have the Forbidden Land sealed off for the time being."
Physically sealed it off so nobody could get in. There was no way anyone could enter by normal means.
He'd learned that moving the former deepest level — the Forbidden Land — into the dungeon was fraught with difficulties.
So this was a stopgap measure.
"I see, I see. But still, you never know what might be in there, eh."
"That's true..."
It's something I already know all too well — it seeps right into your bones.
"All right, all right. Then let's head out right away, shall we?"
The witch stood up.
"Right now?"
"Mhm. I want to check out the dungeon too. I want to have a meal at the Berk dining hall. There are a few others I'd like to show my face to. Besides, we can get there in no time."
"Hahahaha, then shall we go?"
After leaving the witch's house, we boarded the Étrange and teleported to Heißen.
"Wait, you met Hiyan?"
"Yeah. I met the rabbit."
Nekia, sitting in the pilot's seat on the bridge, said to me in a light tone.
"My, my, that was quicker than expected."
"You found out... Did Hiyan say anything?"
"She said I look like Megadira."
"Who?"
"The rabbit's twin sister."
"That one. She had a sister?"
And twins at that.
Since it has "Mega" in the name, she's probably an ancestor of Ms. Megadia.
I think the family name was Megalopolis. That's why it has "Mega" in it.
Megadira. Hiyan.
Huh. That's a weird name for twins, isn't it?
Maybe Hiyan is a fake name.
The real one definitely has "Mega" in it, right?
"Well, well, it's a good thing it didn't turn into a hassle."
"...You're right."
He probably doesn't even recognize his old body. Not that he ever thought of it as his own, anyway.
"The rabbits are interesting. They promised to make a tribute for me, the queen."
"A tribute?"
"Oh-ho. That's interesting. What are they making?"
"I asked them to. A box that keeps food warm."
"A box that..."
An insulated... lunch box.
Yeah, I guess there wasn't one like that here.
"Hmm, hmm. There are similar legendary items, you know."
"There are?"
"There are?"
"Right, right. But what Com knows about are pots or bags, not boxes."
Insulated pots or bags.
Those would be useful in cold regions.
"That would make it hard to eat the food, though."
Nekia smiled innocently.
"Actually, actually, Kon's house has a few of them too."
"There are!?"
"So cool!"
"Mm-hm. They're perfect for growing herbs and mushrooms. Almost the entire cultivation room is that legendary, you see."
I see. So that's another way to use them, huh?
Hmm?
"A cultivation room. You have one?"
"Ah, ah, young Wof has never been inside, has he?"
"First I've heard of it. Where is it?"
"Mm, mm. You know the barn behind Kon's house, right?"
"Yes. It looks like it's barely used. Don't tell me it's in there?"
"Well, well. It's underground beneath that."
"Underground, huh..."
"Witch. I like mushrooms."
Riv said flatly.
"Oh my, is that so?"
"Mm. I like thick mushrooms."
"..."
"Well then, shall I let you eat Kon's special thick mushrooms?"
"The extra-thick mushrooms!"
"My my, thick, firm, and long mushrooms at that."
For some reason, the witch licked her lips with a moist, sultry smile on her face.
"Thick, firm, and long mushrooms!"
Setting aside what she was actually saying, Nekia wore a smile like a little kid's.
She must really love them. She'd been eating them since she was a spider, probably.
Come to think of it.
"There were mushrooms in your cooking once in a while."
"Mhm mhm. Most of the mushrooms I use in cooking are farmed ones."
"Is that so... I always assumed they were foraged from the forest."
"Well, foraged ones do go in now and then, so you're not entirely wrong."
"Not all of them, though."
"Mhm mhm. That's right. Not everything can be farmed, you see. I'd love to farm it all, but that's not how it works. Farming and cultivation — it's a surprisingly deep field."
"I see..."
I had memories of this from my past life. The method of cultivating shiitake mushrooms.
Before proper farming techniques were established, it was quite the gamble.
You'd set out pine logs in the forest, and if the mycelium took hold, success. If it didn't, total failure. That was the whole deal.
It was pure zero-or-a-hundred luck.
Success meant you'd be rich.
Failure meant you'd be ruined.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my. Young Wof. You've got your eye on Kon's mushrooms, haven't you?"
"Well, if you're asking whether I'm interested, I suppose you could say that."
The witch fixed her gaze on me with a sly shimmer in her eyes.
"Fufufu, fufufu, well then you should be pleased. After all, Kon's mushrooms are thick, hard, and long — truly splendid specimens."
"Me? Thick, hard, long, splendid mushrooms? I love them!"
"……"
The phrasing — seriously, the phrasing!!