Chapter 68
Chapter 68
“What are you talking about?! Do I look like some loser who gets beat up wherever he goes?! I only act meek in front of you, Dylan?! Seriously!!”
“Seriously!”
Hael, standing next to him, agreed with Mitzu.
“Then I guess you’ll be fine without me. What’s the problem?”
“Now that I think about it, is that how it works?!”
“Yeah. It’s a simple matter.”
At Dylan’s calm reply, Mitzu and Hael tilted their heads side to side before nodding, seemingly accepting the superior’s logic.
“Right. It does seem like a simple issue.”
“Indeed.”
Mitzu’s blazing eyes finally calmed. Dylan had only said not to get beaten up somewhere, yes, it was a simple matter.
“Then we’ll go on the inspection now.”
“Good. While you’re at it, check out the surrounding territories too.”
“Yes, sir!”
Dylan subtly passed off the annoying task to them.
Having grown up believing that survival is the only thing that matters, Mitzu and Hael readily accepted Dylan’s extra orders without a second thought.
Erina and Meian, who had been watching all this unfold, began to frown.
“Those two dragons… They better be careful not to get scammed somewhere.”
“Seriously. One day they might come back with a rock claiming it’s good for their health.”
“Totally possible. How can dragons be so simple-minded?”
Even the kids who were listening shook their heads. How did Mitzu and Hael end up with muscles for brains?
Even though they weren’t even a year old yet, the kids could tell Dylan was just dumping work on them with some fancy-sounding logic. It was a wonder the two dragons didn’t realize it themselves.
Maybe it was all part of Dylan’s master plan, raising Mitzu and Hael’s brains into muscle to use them forever.
***
Erina’s confidence, especially in how she stood up to dragons without flinching, was something Meian admired. And now, learning she even sparkled like a fantasy?
Erina was becoming more and more perfect in Meian’s eyes.
Though Erina currently kept her hair brown with magic, whenever the sunlight hit it just right, the gleam reminded Meian of her golden hair from the day before.
Blushing slightly, Meian stared at Erina’s back. Today was their big gathering day, so Erina had neatly braided her long hair to keep it out of the way.
Lia had braided hers too, and the short-haired Resen and Poi had insisted on braiding a few strands at the front as accents.
Wanting to follow Erina’s every move, the kids had even matched their outfits to hers.
Meian wanted to dress and style her hair the same way, but since she was already at the camp, she didn’t have the chance to prepare.
Still, she promised herself that if they went camping again, she’d be ready next time.
But she couldn’t just sit there sulking in envy. Meian asked a casual question to draw Erina’s attention.
“Erina, what are you focusing on gathering today?”
“Oh, Meian. I’m going to collect herbs!” Erina waited until Meian came to her side before answering. She was holding the field guide Meian had written.
“That’s the book I wrote.”
“Yep! Thanks to your book, it was super helpful when collecting herbs yesterday!”
“Ah, I’m embarrassed now!”
Meian, who used to be full of pride in her knowledge, was now acting like a bashful girl. Dylan, watching from behind, raised an eyebrow.
So what if she was half-dragon? Acting all coy in front of someone pretty was irritating. If he could, Dylan would’ve tossed Meian away right then and there.
But since it was clear that Erina trusted that dragon a lot, he was forced to leave her alone—for now.
“I’ll count on you today too!”
“Yes, absolutely! I’ll give it my all!!”
Meian clenched her fists with determination. Erina gave an awkward smile at her overly intense energy, and even the kids tilted their heads.
She wasn’t usually like this.
“Erina, Mama! Can we dig over there?”
Erina and Meian had been deep in conversation about herbs when Poi, who had been sticking close to Erina, suddenly tugged on her sleeve, pointing to a spot.
Erina stopped walking.
“What’s up, Poi? Do you think there’s something there?”
“Uh-huh!”
It was the base of a large tree, and nothing special could be seen on the surface.
Erina held Poi’s hand and walked over carefully. Suddenly, Poi let go and crouched down.
“It’s here!”
Poi grabbed a sturdy stick and began poking the ground.
Seeing this, Resen and Lia also picked up sticks and began enthusiastically poking the dirt. Erina, Meian, and Dylan simply shrugged and waited for the children to finish their little game.
Since nothing was getting caught on the sticks, it seemed like they were just playing in the dirt.
“Mama!”
At that moment, Poi lifted the stick with all his strength. At the end was a round clump of dirt.
“What, what is that?!”
“Erina! It smells like mushrooms!”
Resen and Lia, who ran over to sniff the clump, wiggled their butts excitedly, declaring they’d found a mushroom.
Erina and Meian rushed over. Meian examined the dirt clump stuck to Poi’s stick and flipped through Erina’s field guide.
“I-It matches! It’s a mushroom used for medicine! I’ve never seen one myself—it only grows at tree roots, so it’s super hard to find!”
“Poi found it!”
Blushing with pride, Poi looked up at Erina, clearly hoping for praise. And Erina was generous with compliments.
She gently patted Poi’s head and praised him warmly. Poi, pleased, gave the mushroom to Erina.
Since she was collecting herbs, he thought it would be good for her to have it.
“Thank you, Poi! You’re so good at finding hidden things!”
Both the truffle from before and now this mushroom, Poi had found them all.
Perhaps it was the same talent that made him unusually good at hide-and-seek compared to his siblings.
Grinning proudly, Poi basked in the praise.
“I can find them too! I found some yesterday too!!”
“Me too! Erina! Wait for me!!”
“Erina, are we looking for herbs or what?”
The peaceful atmosphere vanished, and once again the kids began competing to collect things.
This time, even Dylan joined in. That was the only difference from yesterday.
Before Erina could stop them, the dragons dashed off energetically. Left behind were Erina and Meian, who decided to sort the herbs they’d collected so far.
“But Erina, is there a reason you’re only collecting herbs? From the other books you bought, it seemed like you were interested in all sorts of plants and small animals too.”
“Ah, well… I wanted to take my time focusing on one thing at a time. And the first one is herbs!”
Unable to mention that the herbs were for the princess, Erina looked slightly guilty.
Fortunately, Meian seemed too focused on trimming the herbs to notice her unease.
“I see. Well, herbs alone have so much to learn—processing, extracting… It’d be overwhelming to gather other things too.”
“R-Right? That’s what I thought too. By the way, Meian, are any of these herbs good for detoxifying?”
“Detox? Hmm, let’s see. Here, dandelion root is great. So is hovenia bark. You already know about lemon balm and milk thistle, right? Oh! And houttuynia works too!”
At Meian’s explanation, Erina set aside the detoxifying herbs in a separate section of her bag.
After they finished trimming, Meian watched Erina and began to get a vague idea of what she might be looking for. She opened her field guide and pointed to a particular illustration.
