Brain bloom

"Princess! Is all this true...? This world actually has this kind of energy? Where did it come from? It's unbelievable..."

"Ancestor, I'm angry with you!"

Sen looked up and stared at the dandelion with Fufu, wondering why they suddenly said that.

Then, the dandelion took off its cap, revealing the dandelion—for some reason, it no longer looked soft, and every hair was sharp… The dandelion reached up to touch its head, as if trying to pluck the dandelion.

Upon seeing her actions, for some reason, Mori instinctively felt a sense of crisis—an unprecedentedly intense sense of crisis. Even when she saw the news of the approaching meteorite on television, she had never felt such a chilling fear.

In a moment of urgency, Mori immediately reached out his hand—

"Thunderbolt... no, wind blade... uh—healing spell!"

A gentle glow instantly enveloped the dandelion, bathing it in a comfortable sensation, as if its body and mind had received a massage.

Seeing her expression gradually soften, Mori Toki breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Highness, Princess Dandelion, why are you angry?"

"You're ignoring me," she pouted.

"Then don't hurt yourself."

Although Mori didn't know what she had just done, he was still shaken.

Thankfully, Dandelion's emotions were finally calmed down. No matter how much Moritoshi cared about what he had just read in the book, he could only obediently listen to her. It seemed... he had ignored her a few times earlier? No wonder she was angry. Moritoshi quietly noted this down; this might be Dandelion's Achilles' heel.

"Mori, do you have the magic to control people's hearts?" Dandelion was quite happy to ask the question, because she was finally able to say it without being interrupted.

"No, what's wrong?"

"Hmm, I heard some people talking about something interesting outside the door, and I'd like to know more..." Dandelion briefly explained, "So, do you have a way?"

Sen Shi shrugged and turned to ask the other little guy, "Fu Fu, can you transform into someone else? Why don't you just transform into a guard and ask?"

"No... but I know, I know what happened." Fu Fu casually adjusted her skirt, seemingly still a little uncomfortable because it had been stretched out by someone—"When I was playing at the beach, I heard Uncle Shark who was passing by talk about it. It's very famous, and it's even spread to other species."

The two immediately became interested, and were pleasantly surprised.

As Fu Fu tidied her clothes, she told the two of them what she knew—

It is said that the black wildcat family had two kittens in this generation, which is considered low for cats, so the old wildcat cherished them very much. Leaving aside the young master, the young lady inherited her mother's white fur and has a very beautiful appearance.

If she were alive today, she would probably be the most beautiful sight in Frozen Bear Town—but the burden this young lady carried caused her to die young, preventing her from becoming the cat of every man's fantasy in Frozen Bear Town.

Because her eyesight is excellent, not just good.

At first, she could see dust in the air, but all cats do that, so no one paid attention. As she grew older, her eyesight continued to improve. By the time she was ten, it had reached an astonishing level; she could see the mouse nests that were causing trouble in the house, and she could see the underground water veins buried beneath the garden—and even deeper.

She has a very quiet personality, and everyone says she is a beautiful woman who likes to hang her head and ponder.

But no one knew why she looked so terrified when she looked down.

Her eyesight improved—she could see deeper, and nothing, neither stone nor mud, could obstruct her gaze. The old wildcat family thought this ability to see through things was a good thing, but it couldn't be revealed, otherwise various religions would take her away as a prodigy, so they kept it a secret.

She did indeed eliminate the rats in her house with her eyesight and even found a small silver vein, accumulating considerable wealth for her family—but she remained unmoved by everyone's affection, her face always shrouded in gloom.

She would often hide in her father's arms, crying and saying things she couldn't understand. The old wildcat thought she had seen something unclean, perhaps the lair of an ancient monster underground, or the stronghold of some cult, but none of that was true.

She couldn't describe it, words couldn't depict what she had witnessed, and she began to weep day and night, burying her face in her hands.

"I...I only saw the surface...I don't want to see any deeper!"

They've tried everything except blinding her. Even if they blindfolded her, what good would a mere piece of cloth do? Even if she lay in bed and never bowed her head, she couldn't live with her head held high forever.

Before long, she was able to see even deeper. Then she went insane and died in unbearable pain.

She died standing, still looking down at the ground—but everyone except her thought it was just an ordinary floor.

……

(Two more updates tonight, to make up for yesterday's missed ones...)

Hahaha, it's still more fun to write about setting up plot holes...

May all high school students taking the college entrance examination concentrate fully when they look down at their exam papers, remain undisturbed by any external factors, and achieve excellent results.

Volume 1 #033: Methods of Salt Production

After she finished speaking, Fu Fu stopped adjusting her clothes and just stared blankly at the two of them.

In Dandelion's view, this was definitely not a topic suitable for gossip—she originally thought it would be an ordinary love-hate relationship, and no matter how exaggerated it was, it would only be a little bit of conspiracy and trickery added, but she never expected it to feel like this... No wonder even the loyal servant had the idea of ​​running away.

Both she and Mori looked down at their feet, wondering what lay beneath the mottled wooden floor.

"Is this... really true?"

“That’s what I heard,” Fufu said.

Dandelion thought about it again and suddenly realized that what she heard might not be true.

"How much has this been embellished? With all the back-and-forth transmission, it's bound to be completely wrong. I'd forgotten how easily rumors can be twisted like this. I wonder which imaginative person changed it into this."

This is Dandelion's idea, which makes perfect sense.

"That's probably it. That young lady used to be a skilled mouser, but later she contracted some kind of illness, her health deteriorated, and she eventually died suddenly while standing. As for these embellished details..."

Mori nodded silently, leaning towards agreeing with this explanation. She didn't know what existed underground; at least, there was no such concept in the game era… let's just assume that's how it is.

Just then—someone knocked on the door.

They were both startled. Dandelion quickly put her hat back on, then asked casually, "What are you doing?"

"Everything's been bought." It was the old stray cat's voice. "So, can you save my mother now?"

"it is good."

"We'll be right out."

"Thank you both for your help."

Sen Shi calmed her anxiety and, together with Fu Fu, put all the books back in their place. Before leaving, she couldn't help but flip through one of them again, just to make sure she didn't forget a certain word written on the page—"Rose Stone".

……

The man sent by the old wildcat was quick and nimble. He sat down at the door, panting, carrying a rather large bag. The old wildcat was talking to him.

"How much did it cost? Where did you buy it?"

"A dozen or so silver coins...the free market, they're trading fruits and vegetables, otherwise I could have come back much faster."

"Doing things discreetly? I don't want to be misunderstood."

"...Ah, it's not that I was in a hurry to use it, so I didn't pay attention to this. It was quite noisy..." The man touched his hair, seemingly a little remorseful.

After thinking it over carefully, the old stray cat waved his hand to indicate that it didn't matter, and now was not the time to worry about that. Mori Toki also pushed open the door and came out, as efficient as ever. He took the bag, opened it, nodded, and then went back into the library.

She left only one sentence: "Wait for me for ten minutes."

Dandelion originally wanted to follow, but Sen Shi walked too fast and closed the door before she could go in... Dandelion was angry, so she had no choice but to sit at the door with Fu Fu and pretend to guard the door.

The old wildcat unexpectedly walked over and spoke to Dandelion: "Um... if the Rain Wizard is the devil's messenger, what should I do?"

"How do you do it?"

"How... how can I protect this family?"

"I don't know. When facing the devil, one can only pray to those ethereal gods. You seem to believe in coffin bearers? Give it a try." Her tone wasn't very kind, and there was a hint of resentment in her voice.

“The devil…sigh, I have to talk to the lord about this, if it’s true…”

To find out what happened during the handover of goods, and what kind of person the Rain Wizard was, everyone could only wait for the old wildcat's mother to wake up. Everyone knew this, and there was nothing else they could do but wait quietly.

But one unexpected little guy spoke up—

"Uncle Cat, about my daughter..."

"..." The old stray cat visibly trembled.

Dandelion covered Fufu's mouth with one hand and said embarrassedly, "It's still young and shouldn't say such things."

The old stray cat hunched over and shook its head to indicate, "...It's alright, everyone will ask me anyway if it's true—and I'll tell everyone it's true."

"it is true?"

"Yes, but nobody knows what she saw."

"Please accept my condolences." Since the topic had been brought up, Dandelion decided to ask more detailed and direct questions, "If it's really as rumored, your daughter's eyes... were because she made a deal with the devil? I'm sorry, considering the current situation, that's the only way I can think of it."

“No, my family believes in coffin carriers, so of course we wouldn’t have anything to do with the devil…” He didn’t want to talk about this anymore and took the initiative to change the subject, “But you two, may I ask which country you are important figures from?”

"It's just a country that no longer exists; there's nothing worth mentioning."

But she added one sentence—

"But if all goes well, after some time we will be able to tell you openly that we come from a great land."

……

Mori opened the door, beads of sweat on her face, her cheeks flushed from exhaustion. She didn't bring good news yet, but simply smiled at Dandelion and called Fufu into the room.

Fu Fu discovered that there was a pile of materials in the room, a small knife standing next to it, and a strange stench.

"...What...what do you want from me?"

"Don't be afraid to ask me for some salt."

"Oh, where?"

Mori stretched out her hand and opened her palm. Since girls' hands are small, she indicated to Fufu that she should just pile a thin layer of salt in her palm.

To awaken a patient from their "sanctuary" state, many exorcising substances are needed, and salt is one of them. Thanks to all sorts of demons and monsters, salt's presence in this world is almost as significant as that of food, naturally increasing its value.

Mori was curious about how the little girl produced salt, and then he saw her grab Mori's hand and stick out her tongue.

"...What...what are you going to do?"

"Here's some salt for you, don't worry, I'm just licking it."

"...Why are you licking it!?" Mori Toki withdrew his hand like a startled bird, looking at the salt sprite with great fear.

Fu Fu didn't understand why she looked scared and huddled in the corner, but she patiently explained, "It's because the way I store salt is by turning it into water. Otherwise, it's not transparent at all, it's just a salt container, ugly."

"……so?"

"I can only get the salt water out with my mouth." Her small mouth was still open, and strands of salt water disguised as saliva clung to her tongue.

"...Would it be alright if you transformed into a salt sprite?"