「Yooo～ Let’s find ‘em all! ― So, what are we looking for, exactly?”
Immediately after leaving the base.
Shobe tilted his head quizzically, radiating enthusiasm.
“Fukaho put together some files, so I’ll pass them out.”
I handed Shobe, Roa, and Mugenkyo copies of the materials I’d prepared, one for each of us.
These were prints of the notes Fukaho had written out by hand.
We’d put the printer we’d scavenged from the bonus area to good use.
“Huh? Did senior write this? Your drawing is super impressive.”
“Right?”
For instance, accompanying the description, “Marigolds contain yellow, orange, and red pigments,” was a large, detailed illustration of a marigold flower.
Remarkably well-drawn, considering he only had access to ink.
“Your artistic skill is truly exquisite… It might be lovely to hang some of Master Fukaho’s artwork on the wall.”
“…Isn’t Shijo going to feel shy about that?”
Mugenkyo commented with a faint, ambiguous expression as Roa spoke earnestly.
Indeed, it is possible to decorate a house with paintings.
Back when I was in Japan, I might have put up posters or displayed photographs, but on this desert island, that sort of decoration is far from feasible.
In such circumstances, however, hanging someone’s painting is an option.
Though, of course, it all depends on the painter.
“Let’s discuss that later. For now, let’s look for what we need.”
“Right! To start with, we need to find something just like the Chief’s picture.”
Even in areas I had already explored, I did not have a detailed grasp of exactly what was there.
I had tried the method of putting things into my [Inventory] and judging what they were later, but doing that every time was impractical given how vast the desert island was.
So, I headed toward an area where I knew there were no water sources nearby, but where I had not yet harvested everything in its immediate vicinity—a balanced approach to my search.
Upon arriving, we spread out slightly while checking in with each other frequently enough to prevent anyone from straying too far, and began our exploration.
“Hey, hey! I found it! Yellow!”
Hearing Shōbu’s voice, I approached to find her waiting, clutching a yellow fruit in each hand.
“Oh, lemons.”
“As expected from Miss Umiha.”
“Right? It’s even in the boss’s data. How do you like it for yellow?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Yay! And with lemons, we can probably use them in all sorts of other things, too!”
Lemons could indeed be used in a wide variety of dishes.
“Well, Shion might be happy about it, I guess.”
Mugakagura seemed to be thinking the same thing.
So, we spent a while harvesting lemons.
Sure enough, Roa’s hands were abnormally fast.
In the time it took us to pick one each, she’d already tossed about five into the backpack basket we’d handed her.
“With Roa around, we’ve got a hundred people’s worth of power.”
“Thank you. But precisely, I’d say she’s worth about three to five people, if anything.”
“Aha, yeah. You’re right. Honestly, she’s been that much of a help.”
The four of us gathered enough to fill two baskets, added the lemon info to the map, and started moving again. ”……Hey, Tano. What is that?”
After walking for a while, Mugakagura seemed to notice something.
In the direction she pointed, vegetation was growing thickly……but amidst the green, there was a reddish hue visible.
“Let’s go check it out.”
As we all moved in for a closer look, the true nature of the red object revealed itself to be a small fruit.
“Whoa, weird shape!”
Sho, who had been leaning in, stepped back with a start.
The red fruit was marked by green veins that bulged from the surface like blood vessels, and several indeterminate spikes or tentacles extended from its tip.
”……It was noted in the records. It resembles the fruit of the gardenia plant.”
“Oh, really? So, um, you can make yellow and blue, and then use those to make green? That’s the strongest combo! Nice haul, Serina~” “Yup, yup.”
It stated that producing blue would require a bit more effort, but it also noted that my ‘Crafting’ ability should handle it without any issues.
And so, we all went ahead and harvested this one too.
“Hey hey, aren’t we doing pretty well?”
“Yeah, we are. There are some useful items among what we already have, and I think we’ve got most of the necessary colors covered.”
“You mentioned that having safflower means you can produce red,” Roa said.
I nodded in response to his words.
“If there’s anything else needed… what about white?”
Yumukage muttered.
“I want purple too!”
“Hmm… We seem to be able to extract purple from the blueberries we already have, but… as of right now, it doesn’t look like we can get white.”
”……Yeah, it’s not in the materials either.”
Depending on the object, it might even be possible to generate it using a 『Craft Ability』.
I should check with Fukuhō about that for a bit.
“We should head back after exploring just a little longer.”
“Takano, are you worried about the other team?”
Shibou said with a sly grin.
”…Yeah, I guess so.”
“Since she’s with everyone over there…”
”…That’s right.”
Chia, Shion, and Yobuko were all acting on their own now.
And Fukuhō too, even though I hadn’t conveyed my feelings to him yet.
“Any plans to make one of the girls on our team your partner?”
Shibou asked with a mischievous smile.
Yume-kyo let out a sigh, but Roa’s “My, my” suggested she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea.
“For something like that, it’s important for both parties to share the same feelings, isn’t it?”
“True. But Kunio has already gotten three girlfriends in less than ten days, hasn’t he? Can you honestly say that won’t happen again?”
“If you find anything… call out to us.”
Realizing I was on the losing end of this conversation, I chose to make my escape.
“Hahaha, got it~”
Shoube didn’t press the issue and went back to searching.
“My lord…”
Before long, Roa seemed to have found something as well.
It must be because they use the raw materials for their own cosmetics that the women are so focused.
So far during the afternoon search, all I’ve been good for is harvesting and storing items in my [Inventory].
With that thought in mind, I headed toward where Roa had called out.
“Nyaa.”
“Hm?”
It didn’t seem like someone was just suddenly mimicking a cat’s meow…
“My lord, we’ve found a kitty…”
When I caught up with Roa, she had a cat with pristine white fur cradled in her arms.
“So it’s a kitty.”
It was a cute cat. I’d never owned one, but I used to find comfort watching the endless stream of pet cat videos online every day.
But something felt off.
This island is supposed to be populated only by beasts suitable for meat,
and the monster Arkvank.
There shouldn’t be any cats here.
So what exactly is this cat?
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