"Hey, what are you doing?"

　After being hit by a nut, Anastasia approaches Ray, the criminal who did it, lifting his eyes.
　Normally, it would be nice to be pressed by a beautiful woman like Anastasia, but it's not interesting to be pressed by a woman with her eyes lifted like this.
　Ray takes a few steps back because of his extraordinary power.
　Still, he explains why he threw the nuts.

"No matter what you say you're going to do, it's only natural that you're going to stop trying to lick Whisp, right? Or what did Anastasia think of when she tried to lick Whisp?"

　Beauty like Anastasia was trying to stretch out her tongue and lick Whispers.
　The scene seemed strange to Ray's eyes.

"What are you talking about? Whispers are unusual and rare, so you need to try a lot of things, don't you?"
"...is that what you want to taste?"

　Anastasia's words seem to be somewhat...no, quite dumbfounded, and Ray's eyes are directed at Fana, who is wearing a mask.
　Even with the mask on, Fana gently looks away, perhaps because she couldn't catch Ray's gaze head on.
　Like Ray, Fana probably had doubts about Anastasia's behavior in licking Whisp.
　However, as a fan, I watched without stopping Anastasia.
　As a result, if Ray had come a little later, Anastasia's actions would have been a success.

(What else did you do before I came? I'm afraid to ask... No, that's what researcher Anastasia does. It probably doesn't make sense if I do anything about it. ... Yeah, I don't think so. ... I hope not.)

　That's how Ray thinks, but he still doesn't have the courage to ask Anastasia what she was doing when she wasn't there.
　For the time being, let's put it aside and open our mouths as if we had regained our senses.

"But it's already evening. I'm going back to the Tower of Birth, so get ready."
"Huh? Already? ... No, but I guess that's what it means when Ray comes. ... It was earlier than I thought."

　Anastasia says so regretfully.
　If possible, I would like to spend more time studying Wisps.
　It's Whisp who has the ability to summon something from another world.
　It was impossible not to attract the interest of researchers.
　However, if you concentrate too much on it, you can end up with malnutrition and dehydration.
　Also, if Whisp was right in front of you, Anastasia would concentrate completely on it, but if Whisp was right in front of you, that would be the case.
　In the absence of Whispers, they have a calm, mature and feminine attitude.
　Some of those who are actually staying at the Tower of Birth as bodyguards have fallen in love with Anastasia even though it hasn't been long since they met.
　...the adventurers who were sent to guard the Tower of Birth are the talented men trusted by the guild, but it is still a different story when it comes to relationships between men and women.

"Look, they must be hungry and waiting over there. They'll be anxious to see us coming."
"Well... I'm a little sorry, but let's stop here for today. Fana, what about the research data?"
"I'm done putting it all together.
"Well, that's fine."
"Do you want to take it?"
"Well, it's not that I don't want to look into it at night, but it's better to leave it here in case of emergency. It's hard to get into this underground space."

　Ray nods to Anastasia, who asks with a glance, "Is that all right.

(In fact, as long as the passageway is hidden, it's quite difficult to get here.)

　What's more, this is the center of the vast Trent forest.
　Now that we've come this far, it's quite difficult to find a place to hide the passageway that leads to the underground space where Ray and others are now located.

(However, that's just normal. If you connect this underground space to your laboratory from the beginning, you don't have to hide the passage.)

　Ray nodded to Anastasia's suggestion because he felt that this place could not be found by anyone else, and at the same time, he thought that the research data from Anastasia might be of some use to Grimm.
　Given Grimm's personality, it was not clear whether he would do anything like looking at data from Anastasia.

"Well, that's it. ... Shall we go? Ray, what about dinner tonight?"
"There's a lot of vegetable soup. I'm going to serve yaki-udon, too. I don't mind serving sandwiches or skewers."

　Anastasia smiles happily at those words.

"Yaki-udon, which I've tried before, was pretty good. It makes me happy to think that I can eat it again."
"I see. You were lucky."
"... Luck?"
"Ah. As you know, Gilmoo is the birthplace of udon. That's why there are many food stalls that serve udon, but that's why some restaurants serve udon that's not good enough... so to speak."

　Of course, shops and stalls that serve unsavory udon are not popular, and they will eventually collapse with fewer customers.
　Even so, eating unsavory udon can cause a commotion in its own way, and is often held back by guards and adventurers on patrol.
　That's why Ray described Anastasia's failure to eat unsavory udon as lucky.

"Do you have that bad udon?"
"Well, that's right. If it's terrible, we can't put together the flour."

　When I heard the story, I was wondering if it was okay to call it udon because it was shaped like a small lump of flour instead of a noodle.

"Other than that, even though the noodles are well-made, the soup doesn't go well with udon."
"Well... but there aren't so many terrible shops, are there?"
"Well, I won't deny it."

　In fact, there aren't many terrible shops and stalls like that, but most of them taste a little bad, or they boil udon too much and become too soft...
　Such udon is not something that can be highly praised for being delicious, but it's not that it tastes so bad that you can't eat it.
　However, it is hard for a shop that sells udon to bear the fact that such udon is sold in Gilmoo, the birthplace of udon.

(Udon, udon? Come to think of it, Inaniwa udon was dried noodles. How do you make those dried noodles? Just dry them? If dried noodles were made, it would be a major revolution in food.)

　If dried udon noodles are made, adventurers can carry them with them as preserved food, and even boil them in soup.
　Of course, some people think it's troublesome to cook in the middle of work, so some people may say that they don't cook even if dried udon noodles are served.

(Oh, but when it comes to dried udon noodles, do they break in the battle?)

　Dry noodles are advantageous for preservation, but they break very easily.
　It's not surprising that if you're going to fight... or if you're going to do a lot of exercise, you can break it.
　I think many adventurers don't care about broken udon."Anyway, you just have to remember that udon is basically delicious. ...but you're all set, aren't you? We're leaving."

　Rey, who has half-forced the conversation, nods that there is no problem with Anastasia and Fana, respectively.
　Then the three of us leave the underground space... Before that, Ray lets Anastasia and Fana go up first, leaving him alone.

"Grimm, you can look at the research materials."

　As soon as I tried to follow them, thinking that I wish I could hear them, a bone arm that seemed to be Grimm's arm grew out of the space beyond Ray's gaze.

"Ugh!"

　Ray was surprised by such an arm, but it didn't seem to care about Ray's condition, and disappeared when he waved his hand lightly.

"...what a surprise!"

　Ray mutters, looking at where his bone arm had been growing until a few seconds ago.
　I knew Grimm was good at spatial magic, and I actually got help from the magic of transition.
　However, I didn't even think that Ray would be able to stretch a part of his arm forward.

(Spatial magic......it's convenient, isn't it?)

　Especially from Ray's point of view, I envy you that you can instantly transfer to any place you like.
　Ray can say that thanks to Seto's presence, moving speed is second to none, but it still takes time to move.
　Compared to that, it can move in an instant if it metastasizes.
　It was only natural that transition magic was faster.

"Well, for the time being, do your best. I would appreciate it if we could get as much information as possible about Whisp."

　I don't know if it still sounds Grimm, but Ray briefly says so and follows Anastasia and Fana.
　Walk a little early and catch up with the two before going to the ground.

"Oh, it's a bit late, isn't it? What happened?"

　Maybe there's something wrong with Whisp.
　Anastasia asks with that in mind, but Ray shakes his head at it.

"No, I wish something had happened, but unfortunately there wasn't."
"...yes, that's too bad."

　Anastasia mutters with a look of real regret.
　However, Fana decides that she cannot leave Anastasia as it is for a long time, so she pulls on Anastasia's clothes.

"Let's get out soon. Otherwise, it will be troublesome."
"... is it troublesome?"

　Anastasia looked a little strange at what Fana said, but she decided that there was nothing she could do about it, so she started going down the underground passage again.
　As soon as you go out, Seto approaches Ray.
　His happy throat meant that he was so lonely, even though it was only for a short time to act apart.

"Seto really likes Ray, too."
"Guru!"

　At Anastasia's words, Seto screams, "Of course!"
　For Seto, that's enough to make him happy.
　That's why Seto liked his current life.
　As a bodyguard for the Tower of Birth, you can be right next to Ray resting in a magic tent.
　Or, at Marina's house, you can sleep in a garden near Ray's sleeping room.
　In comparison, you can't be by Ray's side at the Wheattei at dusk.
　It's great for Seto because there's a big stable compared to the other inns, but it's definitely very disappointing for Seto that he can't stay by Ray's side.

"Well, well, I can't stay here forever, so shall we go back?"

　It's already quite dark around.
　The setting sun is setting, let alone in the forest of Trent.
　It is always easier to get dark than outside the forest.

"Guru!"

　"Leave it to me!" Seth bends lightly.
　With the back of Seto like that, the three Rays get on... Seto, who stands up, starts running.
　At first, make sure that the three people on your back are all right.
　However, the speed is gradually increasing
　That's the speed that monsters and animals around there can't catch up with.
　Running at that speed through a wooded forest is essentially equivalent to suicide.
　However, Seto kept running as if it had nothing to do with it...

(Oh, there was a goblin.)

　A few goblins in the woods, the night-blind Ray found, but the goblins didn't seem to notice at all that Seto had run nearby.
　Ray was going out with Seto, who was going to run as fast as he could, hoping to tell the Woodcutters and the adventurers of his bodyguard about the goblins.