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The lake was small. Really, it was tiny.
[Calling this a lake is weird.]
When I looked down at the lake and muttered, Dole titled his head and asked why.
[Well, we call this a lake. Look, a waterfowl’s even floating around.] (TN: I thought this was MC’s line but it looks like it’s Dole’s.)
Upon looking ve~ery closely, a white bird as big as an ant was floating there.
[When mentioning a lake, I imagine something bigger. A giant pool of water without any waves is called a lake, and a slightly smaller one is a spring. That’s what I have in mind.]
This lake is just about as big as my palm. Even if it’s called a lake, I think I would have passed by without noticing it.
[Hmm~……When we say lake in the forest, we mean the one where this guy floats around in. The one where waterfowls float in is a lake, if it has fish then it’s a fountain*, and monsters roam around the spring water**, right?] (TN at the end because it’s a bit long.)
While I was tilting my head thinking that it’s such a weird way of defining them, Olphynn plucked off a yellow flower. It’s so tiny…… the flower was like a grain of sand.
[Next is the armored bug.]
Upon saying so, Saine stands in front of a black rock.
[Can you do it?]
There were crack on the rock. He inserted his finger in there and turned to Olphynn. Olphynn nodded and together with Saine, he also inserted his finger in the crack and then yanked it with all his strength.
[What are you doing?]
[? We’re getting the armored bug, aren’t we?]
When I looked at the front where Dole pointed at with his chin, I saw two feelers flouncing out from the top of what looked like an ordinary black rock.
[Gehh!? By bug, you meant that!?]
[That’s right~]
How can he say that so casually? Look at that. As I hid behind Dole and peeked at the situation, the giant bug intently watched as its own scale was being peeled off.
However, it doesn’t show any sign of attacking.
[It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s a good-natured guy. Maybe because it’s always being used as a material for priests’ ordeals, it won’t make a fuss when one or two scales get taken from it. It gives those generously.] (TN: I feel kind of sorry for it.)
Doesn’t it hurt? Green juice oozed from the area where the scale was taken off. It looked kind of painful so I smeared a bit of dour grass that Saine had me bring. I’m not sure if it’s blood or body fluid, but it immediately stopped. As expected of the dour grass. It’s omnipotent.
[Thank you.]
I pat the armored bug and run towards Saine. It was a bug that looked like a rock but the slippery sensation felt good.
[What’s next?]
[Next is……Is the stone faster?]
[Let’s go with fire. We can also get the red flower while we’re at it.]
[You’re right. Then we’ll be done for the day. That area over there also looks relatively safe.]
In the forest where trees and rocks can move by themselves, what do they use as landmarks as they walk? Saine and Dole move forward without getting lost.
Fire was being produced inside a rock. It spouts out from atop a round rock that looks like an egg. Olphynn locks up some of that fire.
[So a priest’s spell doesn’t only summon people.]
[That’s just like a byproduct. Our powers originally lie in healing and attacking.]
[Healing?]
[It’s the case with the dour grass. The priest applies his ability and tempers it. Consequently, it works in all kinds of injuries. If nothing is done to it, it’s just a simple herb. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t have an immediate effect either.]
[Priests also have offensive powers but it’s not that strong. They can exterminate weak monsters that manage to slip inside the town, but it’s just like a person stepping on a bug. Even if you can stomp a bug to death, you can’t kill a cattle the same way, right? The monsters deep in the forest are, in other words, cattle that are completely different to the bugs in town.]
[I also know that the priest’s offensive powers are useless. In the first place, if we have such strength, a profession called guard wouldn’t have thrived. Because the priests can just go to the forest and eliminate all monsters at once.]
As he said that uncaringly, Olphynn plucked a red leaf right next to him.
[Originally, the priest is supposed to do all these ordeals alone. Push through the forest or mountain alone and defend himself with his own hands. If you don’t have that much power, you’re not in a good position. But if they take out their money, they can just leave it to other people. This is the result of that. Regardless of the past, the priests now don’t have much strength and the best we can do are healing and performing the Ceremony. But even that Ceremony is now……]
He suddenly shut his mouth. The only ones who are here are the byproduct of a failed Ceremony, who is me, Saine, the victim, and Dole who is on the queue. I don’t know what he wanted to say but Olphynn suddenly grew quiet.
We moved a bit farther away from the place where the fire was burning and took a rest. The forest kept raining as always. As the sun set and the forest began to darken, it felt eerie, and I leaned over to Saine sitting next to me.
We light a fire and the four of us surround it. Olphynn chants a spell and casts a barrier around us. It’s not perfect but he’ll know when something gets inside.
Olphynn said that he’s a Priestling*, but I think that he’s quite strong for someone who hasn’t completed the ordeal. Dole and Saine also acknowledged him, and I didn’t think that Priests could do a lot of things. (TN: Formerly “a chick”.)
Even the scale of that giant armored bug shrank after Olphynn muttered a spell. Water, fire, scale, and flower, these materials that have different sizes and forms were transformed by Olphynn with spells* and stored them in small bottles.
We roasted the giant nuts that Dole took after climbing a tree and ate it. We cooked it with its hard shell still attached and once the shell turned pitch black, that’s the time to eat it. After breaking the shell with a rock, the white fruit showed up. When I took it out with my fingers, the white fruit jiggled. It was sweet when I ate it and I felt like I’m welling up with strength.
[You see, this fruit can give even a dying man enough strength to run.]
It certainly feels that way. Even though I was very sleepy from the continuous walking and constant tension, I suddenly felt like running after eating it. And, it’s delicious. I think this is the first time I ate something sweet ever since I came here. Putting aside the fact that this world only has men, there’s a lot of alcohol, food that goes with alcohol, and lots of meat dishes. Sweets are totally nonexistent.
When I stretched out a hand to try and eat another one, Saine stopped me.
[I suggest that you stop.]
[Why?]
It was the first time he stopped me form eating. Saine is someone who eats a lot but, when I get excited and cry out that it’s delicious, he always gives me his own food. That Saine stopped me from eating more.
[I also think it’s best for you to stop at one. It’s probably dangerous for a body like your to eat two.]
[Really? Will I die?]
Hearing that from Dole, I quickly got away from the fruit. What did they feed me?
[You won’t die but it might have been serious. Well, I don’t mind, though.]
He told me while grinning. There was only half of the fruit left. Olphynn ate another one in deep thought.
[Hmm…… I see.]
His blue eyes squinted and said in a dull tone.
[This is an aphrodisiac, isn’t it?]
[What?]
[Correct. It’s a vitality medicine. It’s excellent for recovering energy but if overeaten, it will throb~. Well, it will be dangerous in a lot of ways.]
My face lights up as the implication registers in my head. I blushed and fell backwards.
[Oh boy, was it too late?]
[Don’t worry. A male Reincarnator doesn’t get hard as long as a man from this world doesn’t have s*x* with him.]
I slipped out of consciousness and fell asleep while listening to Olphynn’s calm voice.
(TN: 泉(*) and 湧き水(**) mean spring/fountain* and spring water** respectively and tbh, I don’t know the difference and my google abilities seem to be lacking. Feel free to correct me if there are better words to translate them into.)