I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

Gilluo watched Riko run away and whispered:

"Take care on your journey, Rico..."

After saying that, Captain Gilluo watched the flustered Riko leave his sight and then left on his own.

...Riko is on the run...

"Huhuhu..."

Rico looked strangely at the direction behind her and whispered:

"What was that just now...?"

Although she was still a little bothered by what had just happened, Riko focused her attention on the way to meet up with Yuhaka and the others.

Soon, Rico arrived at a small grove of trees. After looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she began to imitate bird calls, which are used as a communication signal.

"Coo coo coo~!"

"Rico~!"

Then a figure popped down from the tree in front of Riko, startling her so much that she was about to scream. But before she could make a sound, a cold, metallic hand covered her mouth.

"Rico! Calm down! It's us!"

Riko calmed down upon hearing Reig's voice. Then, Yuhaka jumped down from the tree to join Reig and Riko. Riko patted her flat chest and looked at Yuhaka, saying:

"Don't scare me, Youyou."

"Hmm? OwO? Riko, there's something behind you."

Upon hearing Yuhaka's words, Reg, who was behind Riko, instinctively looked at the large backpack on Riko's back and exclaimed in surprise:

"Ah, really!"

Upon hearing something on the back of her backpack, Riko quickly asked Regu to take it off. Riko took the item from Regu's hand and discovered it was a letter.

"Huh? A letter?"

Rico was quite surprised when she opened the letter and took out its contents.

Chapter 49 [Rico and Regu: Karma...]

"This is... Mom's letter!?"

Wearing a stone lantern hat, Riko looked at the letters in her hand with a surprised expression. Without a doubt, the letters in her hand contained the information she had received from her mother at the Cave Raiders' Headquarters in Os Town.

"Wait a minute!? This is a copy of the letter!"

Regu, standing nearby, looked at the letters in Riko's hand with some curiosity, but when Regu noticed a red sheet of paper among them, she said:

"Rico, this one is completely different."

When Riko saw the red paper, she instinctively pulled it out, and then she saw what was written on it:

[The pursuers will be out to catch you as soon as it gets light tomorrow morning. If you get to the surveillance base before they catch you, then you will have failed this test.]

The second test is to deliver my letter to Lady "Ossen," the Immovable Lord of the White Flute, in the surveillance base. Lady Immovable Lord will then give you a test. If you pass the test, you can continue on your way.

——————【Gilju】

P.S.: The letter also included information about vaccinations, which can prevent most acute febrile illnesses.

After reading the letter, Riko fell silent. Yuhaka and Regu, who were standing nearby, looked at Riko and said:

“Riko…”

Riko turned around, looked at Regu and Yuhaka, and said with a smile:

"Shall we go? Yuu, Regu, it seems we can't go directly to Nanachi's place."

Regu looked at Riko with a puzzled expression and said:

"Rico? Do you believe in that guy named Giruo?"

Rico nodded, a slight smile playing on her lips, and said:

"Well, if Captain Gilluo wanted to arrest me, I would have been taken to a nude stunt by now."

Then, with Regu looking completely bewildered, Riko put the letter Captain Gilluo had given her into her backpack and said to Eohaka and the others:

"Let's set off!"

……………The little girl is moving forward……………

"Chirp chirp chirp!! Chirp chirp chirp!!"

A cry for help came from the misty forest near the habitat of the Corpse-Weeping Bird.

"Chirp—!"

A giant bird, larger than an adult human, fell from the sky. This white-feathered bird, with eyes resembling those of a flounder, looked around for the cries for help from its young.

This large bird, known as the Corpse-Weeping Bird, is a large, gregarious, carnivorous bird, somewhat like the Rainbow Bird in Monster Hunter. It learns the calls of other animals to attract them to its habitat.

At that time, the corpse birds will swarm and attack the creatures that are attracted to their habitat for hunting activities.

"Chirp chirp chirp—!!"

Upon hearing the cries for help from its young, the Corpse Bird hopped quickly to the location where the cries had come from. Then, a small figure emerged from the ground, followed by a sharp bone spear that pierced through the Corpse Bird's skull and destroyed its brain.

Boom.

As the Crying Corpse Bird fell, Yuhaka, who had been clapping his hands nearby, looked behind him and said:

"Rico, Regu, you can cook now."

...Yohaka is cooking...

Riko and Regu looked at the Crying Corpse Bird, which had been turned into fried Crying Corpse Bird steaks by Eohaka, and showed somewhat subtle expressions.

Rico, with a subtle expression, looked at the weeping corpse bird that had turned into fried meat patties and said to Regu:

"Well, you could call this karma, right? He always relied on imitating the cries of other creatures to harm them, and then he was lured away by Youyou imitating the cry of the corpse bird and ended up getting killed. It feels kind of strange..."

Regu scratched her head, a little embarrassed, and said:

"Well... I don't really care, but I feel more relieved than anything else..."

Regu and Yuhaka had encountered a Corpse Bird when they were hunting together before. At that time, Regu and Yuhaka were searching for prey in a Corpse Bird habitat on the first level when Regu was attracted by the Corpse Bird's mimicking of human cries for help.

Then, when Regu rushed over to save the people, she was snatched away by a Corpsebird. Of course, because Regu's defenses were very strong, neither the baby Corpsebird nor the adult Corpsebird could do anything to her.

Meanwhile, Regu licked the entire area of ​​the Corpsebird chicks with their tentacle-like, thin tongues. Finally, Regu subconsciously used the Cremation Cannon (named by Riko) on her arm to blow the Corpsebird habitat to smithereens.

Then, Regu, covered in the saliva of the Corpse Bird, collapsed to the ground unconscious. Ehaka, alerted by Regu's Cremation Cannon, rushed over and took her back to Nanachi, where she was finally safe.

However, now whenever Regu sees the Corpse Bird, she recalls the time she was captured by it. After recalling certain events, a blush rises to Regu's face, her whole body trembles, and she even has the urge to fire her cremation cannon.

"Special dish: Crying Corpse Bird, fried pork chop, all ready."

Wearing a small apron, Yuhaka approached Riko and Reig with a plate containing [Special Crying Corpse Bird Fried Pork Cutlet]. Riko and Reig immediately took a deep breath upon smelling the aroma of Yuhaka's Special Crying Corpse Bird Fried Pork Cutlet.

"Wow, Corpse Bird meat! Speaking of which, I remember the Pokédex says that Corpse Bird meat has a foul smell, so why can't I smell it now?"

Regu, who was standing nearby, paused for a moment after hearing Riko's words and said:

"Huh? Does it smell bad? I didn't smell anything when I had the Corpse Bird Grilled Meat Ribs last time."

"Really?!"

Riko was surprised to hear Regu's words, and then asked the person cutting the fried meat patty:

"Hey! Youyou, what did you use to get rid of the stench on the corpse bird meat?"

Upon hearing Riko's words, Yuhaka pulled out a bottle of local specialty wine from his dimensional portal and showed it to Riko. After seeing the wine in Yuhaka's hand, Riko understood why the corpse bird meat didn't smell bad.

That wine is made from a special plant found only in the abyss, and many housewives and chefs use it to remove the odor from animal meat.

Moreover, these wines can be used as condiments or drunk directly, and it's perfectly fine for even children to drink a little of them.

Rico clapped her hands and said:

"I see, that's how you get rid of the stench on the corpse bird meat."

After Yuhaka cut up the special weeping corpse bird fried pork cutlet, he placed it in front of Riko and Reg, and then everyone started eating.

After finishing their Yuhaka-made Crying Corpse Bird Fried Meat, Riko and Regu set off again on their route to monitor the base, which was located at the bottom of the Temptation Forest, the second level of the Abyss.

This is the place known as the "Forest of Reversal".

Chapter 50 [The Surveillance Base and the White Whistle]

In the lowest level of the second layer of the Abyss, the Forest of Temptation, Riko, Ehaka, and Reg arrived at the Forest of Reversal.

"It's true... The waterfalls here all flow towards the sky."

Riko looked at the waterfall drifting upwards and said:

"No wonder this place is called 'Heavenly Waterfall'..."

Regu, who was standing nearby, launched her mechanical arm in an attempt to grab the tree opposite her, but due to the interference of the strong wind, her mechanical arm failed to reach the tree trunk.

Regu retracted her mechanical arm and said:

"The wind is blowing too wildly; we can't take shortcuts like we usually do..."

Rei was halfway through her sentence when she noticed Riko, who was trembling, looking somewhat puzzled, and said:

"Rico, what's wrong?"

Rico hugged her arms and trembled as she said:

"Is it getting colder...?"

"Hmm, it seems to be because the light is dim and the wind is strong here. I should take out my winter gear from my backpack first."

As she spoke, Regu tried to take out some winter gear from her backpack for Rico, but Rico stopped her.

"There's no way to open all the luggage here, later..."

Before Riko could finish speaking, Yuhaka draped his animal skin cloak over her and said, "..."

"Rico, use this for now."

Riko looked at her animal skin cloak and said to Yuhaka:

"Hey? Isn't Youyou cold?"