“Hmm, 『Staff of Divine Guidance』, is it really that dangerous?”

Melissa-chan, who heard the story, tilted her head in confusion.

“Believe it or not, one woman was able to brainwash many important people of a country. This time it was Amy, so it was manageable, but if someone more ambitious had gotten their hands on that power, it could have been the end of the world.”
“Is that so? Hmm. But if the wind god said so, then maybe that’s how it is?”

Melissa-chan doesn’t seem to get it, but she forced herself to accept it because of what the Wind God said.

“So we thought that maybe Melissa-chan and Co., who had travelled the world, might have an idea of what the Wind God was talking about when he said, ‘A place where the wind always blows and there is always ice’.”
“I see. Maybe the temple here won’t work, right?”
“There’s no ice, so maybe that’s why.”
“Yes…… So, I guess it would have to be someplace cold in the north?　But we didn’t like cold places too much, so we haven’t been north much.”
“I see…….”

It doesn’t seem to be that easy.

“Then, have you seen any strange places?　Melissa.”
“Oh my, Anna-chan. You’ve grown quite ladylike in your speech.”
“Yes. Now that I’m Allen’s wife, I want to be a proper lady.”
“Oh, my. That’s nice. I wish our Jerry were a little firmer.”

Melissa-chan glanced over at Jerome, who was playing with Ciel at a distance.

As usual, he is still getting bitten here and there while playing. It’s quite violent. It is so fierce that if a human were to be hit like that, they would be seriously injured, but as expected of a sky dragon, he seems to be unscathed.

“So then, a strange place was it? Let’s see……”

Melissa-chan tilted her head and pondered for a while.

“Ah, yes. I remember there was a place in the forest somewhere where the magic power was strangely strong. I wonder where it was…..”

Melissa-chan once again thought deeply as she said this, then turned towards Jerome again.

“Hey, Jerry.”
“Wh-What is it? Whoa, whoa. Hey, wait, mommy’s talking to me right now.”
“Ciel!”

At Melissa-chan’s word, Ciel-chan stopped playing with Jerome-kun, but then looked at us with a look that seemed to want attention.

“Kyuu?”
“It can’t be helped.”

Anna quickly stood up and went over to Ciel-chan and gently patted her head.

“Kyuu~”

Ciel-chan happily rubs her head against Anna’s hand in a cuddly manner.

“Oh, th-thank you”
“It’s okay”
“W-Well, Melissa-chan, what is it?”
“You see. When we were on vacation, we found a forest with a strangely strong magic power. Where was it?”
“Ah, let’s see, I-I think it’s in the west of the Royal Capital.”
“Oh, yes. That’s right. Yeah. I remember now. Shall I show you around?”
“That would help.”

Thus, we decided to head for the mysterious forest that Melissa-chan and Jerome-kun had found.

◆◇◆

We spent the night at the Wind Temple and were about to fly away from there……

Ciel-chan is attached to Anna and won’t leave her.

“Come on, Ciel. I’ll come again another time.”
“Kyuuuuuuu”

Anna said so, as she gently stroked her head, but she showed no signs of leaving.

“Ciel! That’s not nice! You shouldn’t cause trouble for Anna-chan!”
“Kyuuuuuuu”

She let out a cry-like voice and clung desperately to her, refusing to let go.
“Haa. This is not going to work anymore. Should we have Anna-chan stay here and go alone, Allen-san?”
“Hmm……”
“No. That’s not possible. I was also asked by the Goddess to do the same.”
“That’s true too, Ciel!”
“Kyuuuuuuu!”

After about an hour of this exchange, Ciel-chan seemed to get tired and began to doze off while still clinging to Anna.

“Jerry”
“Y-Yes”

Jerome used his tail skilfully to pick Ciel off of Anna.

“L-l-leave the house-sitting to me”
“I’m counting on you.”
“See you later, Jerome-kun.”
“Y-Yes”

Thus, after saying goodbye to Jerome-kun, we soared into the sky.

◆◇◆

After flying for a few hours, we came over a vast forest area quite a bit west of the royal city of Centraren, and while we didn’t have a GPS, so we didn’t know exactly where we were, but we were definitely flying north of the road heading to Westerdale.

There is no such concept as airspace, so it is unlikely to be a problem, but there should be no doubt that this is the airspace over the Centraren Kingdom.

“I think it was somewhere around here.”

Melissa-chan is sniffing while checking out the state of the forest.

When I was still an adventurer, I had heard that the monsters in the west were strong. Considering that Otome game, the westward journey would have happened after the fall of the royal capital. In other words, if you think about it based on the game, it would be easy to justify the fact that the monsters that appear are strong because it’s the end game.

But we are talking about reality here. If so, it is reasonable to assume that there’s a reason why they’re strong.

Melissa-chan said that the forest is strangely thick with magic, but does that have anything to do with the fact that the monsters are so strong?

“Ah, over there. Follow me.”

It seems she has found the place we are looking for. Following Melissa-chan’s guidance, we flew to an open area in the forest.

It appears there is a small pond there. Or perhaps a spring would be a more accurate description. The edge of the pond is an open grassy area, so it seems possible to land vertically.

“We’re landing.”
“Woh”

Thus, we followed Melissa-chan’s lead and landed by the spring.

“Fuh”

After landing, we unbuckled our seatbelts and stepped onto the ground.

“Allen. Good job.”
“Nope. No big deal. Thanks.”
“No, not at all.”
“Yes, yes. I know you’re close, so can you do that later?”
“Ah”
“Sorry”

Things were starting to get good between Anna and me, but Melissa-chan’s words brought us back to reality.

Oh well. I agree with what Melissa-chan said.

I reconsidered this and checked out the area. It looks like an ordinary forest, but there is an unfamiliar grass growing near the spring.

“What is that plant? I wonder if rare plants grow in such a deep forest.”
“Oh my, you’re right. But it looks really delicious.”

I don’t really understand, but it seems that Melissa-chan, the sky dragon, also eats grass.

“Oh?　But why does a grass look so delicious?”

That said, Melissa-chan also tilted her head.

“I feel like I’ve heard about that plant somewhere before…..”

Anna seems to have an idea, but can’t seem to recall it.

It seems that there is no danger. Thinking so, I approached and tried using 【Appraisal】.

────

Name: Lunar Magic Grass

Effect: A special magic herb that grows only in places rich in mana. It only produces seeds on nights of the new moon.

Grade: Epic

Price: ???

────

“Lunar Magic Grass? Seems like it might be valuable…..”

“Who are you?”

Just as I muttered that, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice. Soon after that, a woman appeared, pushing aside the nearby bushes.

“I am the forest witch. This forest is my garden. Leave now.”