I call the healer woman and tell her that I've freed Sophie from the demon and asked her to take a look at her condition.

'I can't say for sure until I come out of my coma but I can say that my condition is better than it was earlier. Now that the demon seed has been removed, my self-healing facilitating skills are also responding.
'Good I'll take the seeds I took out and take them home with me. Or do you want to use them for some research?
''No, no.......I'm sorry to tell you this, but this facility doesn't have any facilities for studying demons. If you can bring it to Atobe-sama, that would be the safest thing for us to do.

　If I bring it to the Demon Farm and make a contract with it, it will start to listen to me. In that case, the 'Puppet Master of Vine Grass' might not appear anew - there's a possibility that another individual might appear, but you should consider it as the time to do so.

''You can rest assured that we won't misuse these seeds,''
'Yes, sir. Thank you for your time. Mr. Georg is asleep now, would you like to see him?
No, just give him my regards when he wakes up.

　She was distraught earlier, but I wouldn't force her to wake up if she said she was at rest. Although I would like to tell her about Sophie as soon as possible and reassure her.

''Hmm........''
''Huh........So, Sophie, did you notice that?　How do you feel?
'Sorry, I guess I was too noisy. Well, Sophie, take care of yourself....
"...wait...

　As I'm about to leave with Theresa, Sophie stops me. She's lying there, only her face turned towards us.

　It's not hard to see that Georg and the other one are fighting for her - a face that makes me imagine that she was once a vivacious woman. But now, as soon as she looks at me, her eyes moisten and she says in a thin voice

''I was dreaming ... sorry, I was dreaming ... tied to the grass ... but you ... .....

　Despite being bound in the spirit world, she still had a small amount of consciousness left in her. So I guess she understands that she was saved by me and Theresa.

'Well I hope you feel better soon. Everything, first things first.
"Yes thank you. May I ask your name...?
'I'm Aricht-Atobe. Her name is Theresa.

　Sophie is more than a little surprised to see Theresia wearing a lizard mask. Because in the spirit world, Theresia was not wearing a mask.

''........the sub-human, the curse......without it you would be so.......''

　Before she could finish saying all that, Sophie had fallen asleep again. She was still debilitated, and it seemed that she was only temporarily conscious now.

　The healer woman, who was wiping the tears from her cheeks, checks on Sophie. I ask her again to take care of the rest and leave the hospital room.

　As I walked down the corridor of the medical center, I looked over at Theresa's profile.

　I wondered what Sophie was going to say. If it was as I imagined - I think Sophie was trying to say what she felt when she saw Theresa's true face without the mask.

''...........''
Oh, yeah, yeah. You came to my rescue earlier. I was wondering why you weren't wearing a mask.
"...and...?

　Did you realize now - so much so that you were focused on defeating the vine grass puppet master?

''..........''
'Sophie seemed to be able to see, and I was behind her, so I felt like I'd missed out. No, I don't think Theresa would be bothered if she wanted to see my true face but I don't blame her if she thinks I'm half curious.

　Theresia shakes her head. If she was willing to be seen, there was nothing wrong with taking an interest.

　But with her with the mask off, it would be bad if she took a bath with him, no matter how much she wanted to do so.

''.........''
'Oh my God Te, Theresa, I'm fine. I don't have a fever or anything.

　I have to be careful, because I seem to have a tendency to show my thoughts on my face, too. A worried Theresa touched my forehead and took my heat.

'............'

　It's hot compared to me, Theresa insists. It's probably hot compared to the cold lizard mask - but I couldn't help but laugh at her for being so worried.

　And, I realized too late, Theresa has an injury on the back of her hand. It's probably from stabbing the vine grass into her own hand to save me.

'Theresa, can you walk forward for a moment?'
..........

　Theresia follows my instructions. After a while, 'Support Recovery' is activated and Theresia's wounds are healed - when I let her check, the wounds are completely gone.

'Good, you're clean now. If it leaves a mark...''
..........

　Theresa shakes her head in silence. Seeing that, I think about what she's trying to tell me - and.

''I was under the mistaken impression that I could protect everything by myself. It's only when someone else is in front of me that I can do something about the position.
..........

　Next, I shake my head and Theresa stops in mid-sentence. Then she walked ahead of me again, turned around and bent one arm.

'You think having me behind you makes you stronger?'
..........

　A chuckle and a nod is returned. Then he showed me his clean hands again.

　Even now, I'm grateful to Theresa enough to repeat the scene in my head when she came to help me. I can't really say that I was able to see her brave enough to kick out naked, though.

　　　◆ ◆ ◆

　I walked into the simple workshop in the courtyard of Mrs. Orelus' mansion and saw Melissa wearing a tuna.

'....Welcome back.
Yeah, I'm home. I've arranged for the material to be transported, so can you process it for me?
It's already here. I've brought an axe and a saw to dismantle "Fiery Trent". I can take "Dirty Mash" apart with just a machete.

　Does Melissa's occupation 'Demolition Shop' mean that she can equip any weapon that can be used for demolition?

　But as always, the sight of a girl with bisque doll-like good looks smiling with a blade in her hand is indescribably powerful.

What can you make out of this fiery torrent?
''I can make a whole range of wooden equipment, and since it can be made into wood, it can be sold as is for a reasonable price. If you use it to modify the sling, you can even make it sound with a 'Terror Voice' effect.
Well, that's a spooky one that's certainly a strong one.
''The other thing is that if you make it into headgear material, you can give it a 'soundproof 1' effect. Because demons that attack you with sound also have sound resistance.
Headgear. Can you give me one of those?

　As for the rest of the materials, they said they could make a couple of equipment, so I'll show my companions a list of equipment that can be made later and ask them what they want.

　As we were talking, Madoka, who was at the back of the workshop, came out this way. I had asked her to look into one thing, and it seems that she got the result.

''Thank you for your hard work, Arihito brother. I heard that you had a very difficult time this time, too.''
'I'm not saying they're unscathed, but all the members of the 'North Pole Star' are safe. I'm glad we managed to get them out.
You guys always help so many people. You have no idea how many people have been inspired by them and I have been inspired by them, too. I have to work hard.
I'm embarrassed to say that but we're only able to fight because of Madoka. I'm sorry to leave you to work in my absence today.
'Well, that's not... please don't hesitate to tell me anything you want, I always want to be able to help you and your brothers in any way I can.
Thanks, keep up the good work. So, how did you find out?

　What I had asked Madoka to do--that was to investigate the Breaker Crystal, which I had obtained when I defeated the Juggernaut, but I still hadn't figured out its use.

　A translucent crystal that glows dully in silver. Inside, there is some kind of pattern floating around - if you just look at it, it resembles a rune, but it's not similar.

''This is a material that has never been discovered before in the Eighth Ward. Something similar has been found in the higher wards, but they are not the same.''
What is so valuable what the hell is it for?
It's ... 'Unregistered'. There is no record of it being processed at all. The Merchant's Guild doesn't even know that the party in possession has used it for anything.

　However, it's not the same as saying there is no information, because the license showed that they acquired the "Breaker Crystal".

(The license may display more information than the guild knows.

　A question crossed my mind. The guide who gave me the license when I reincarnated said that I usually live in a labyrinth country - if that's true, I'd like to ask him who made the license when I meet him. It doesn't sound like they'll be able to tell me easily.

'Anyway, he said he found out that he only knows the name. I guess that's all the harvest I can take away.
'I'm sorry, I didn't meet your expectations. I'm still not up to snuff....
'No, that's a big help. Maybe there's more we can do as we move up a level, but it's nice enough at this point.
Mr. Aricht.

　As Madoka pondered, he placed his hand on top of the merchant's turban she was wearing and patted it with a plop. She was startled, but then she shyly huffed and held the turban down.

'....Is Atobe that good at stroking?
No, no, I think that's normal.
'Yes. Watching Madoka, I wondered if she was good at it.

　Melissa only replied briefly and really seemed to have just asked. Madoka turned red to her ears and looked speechless.

''So... what can you process 'Dirty Mash' into?'''
'The white shaft is edible. If you break the umbrella part, sometimes there is a magic stone inside... You can't use the limbs, and if you eat it, you will cause poisoning, so cut it off. Also, some individuals have patterns on the core, and those parts can be used to make medicine.

　Each of the six Dirty Mushrooms weighs about ten kilos. Since the shaft is edible, it can be sold for a certain amount of money. Five kilos of edible parts is enough for six bodies, but the price is not that high, and at least 30 kilos would only amount to 15 gold coins.

　However, when I asked Melissa to rustle up a dirty mash with an unbroken umbrella, I found a magic stone in the fourth body.

''A ... confusion stone. It's also on that sling, but if you collect ten of them and compress them, they will become runes.''
'We have a long way to go ... well, we'll get together sometime. So, what's the use of the pattern on the core for medicine?

　When I asked, Melissa glanced at Madoka. Then she put her hands to her ears.

'Eh, eh ... why won't you let me listen?'

　Covering Madoka's puzzled ears tightly, Melissa looked at me - with just a slight blush on her cheeks, and said in a voice that I could barely hear.

''... a tonic. My dad says they sell well to men.
Nah, I see...

　So it's not something that's good for you or for nutritional uses, but for adult uses. I'd like to keep it if it's something I can get my hands on, because even that kind of stuff might be useful for unexpected uses.

　I prayed that Melissa wouldn't misunderstand me and asked her to check the core of each piece of dirty mash to see if there was a pattern on it.