Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life.

Chapter 43 – The Red Berry Incident

When I woke up, it was morning. It was a relief that nothing had happened during the night.

“Phew. And I had a good sleep.”
“…Wuff.”
To my side, Shiro was sleeping while pressed against me.

“Awuff…”
And Fio was sleeping while holding onto Shiro’s tail.

“Kyuo…oo…kyuo…”

Hippolius’s mouth was opened wide as they slept comfortably on their back.
The blanket that I had given to Fio and Shiro was now on top of Hippolius.

“This…”

Judging from the situation, I guess as to what had happened.
Probably, in the middle of the night, Fio and Shiro moved to sleep between me and Hippolius.
And then they felt bad when they saw Hippolius sleeping on their back with their stomach out.
And so they covered it with a blanket.

“I’m scared that Hippolius might crush someone…”

I would have to think of a way to prevent that.

And then I woke them up one by one.
First, there was Shiro, who slept with his chin on my stomach.

“Shiro. It’s morning.”
“…Wuff.”

I petted Shiro until he woke up.
As he had just taken a bath, his fur smelled very nice.
The silvery coat looked beautiful and was very soft.

“Hmm… I see…”

I petted the sleeping Shiro’s back and observed.
It was silver from root to tip. Even the under hair was silver.

And his legs were thick and heavy in comparison to the rest of the body.
Shiro really was still a wolf cub.

“And yet he had faced so much hardship…”

It had only been a little over a day since they joined us.
Shiro had eaten a lot of food, rested, and taken a bath.
And that alone made him so much more energetic compared to before.

“…His magic energy has also gone up.”

Yes, he really was no ordinary demon wolf. The magic energy was too high.
And he was still a wolf cub, so I was scared to think of what his future looked like.
Kelly speculated that he was not really a subspecies of demon white wolf, and she was probably right.
He seemed to be fundamentally different from the demon wolves that I knew of.

“Wuff? Wuff… Wuff.”

As I continued to pet him, Shiro woke up.
Shiro got up and yawned, and then stretched his front legs.

“So you finally got up. Now I’ll wake up Fio and Hippolius.”
“Wuff.”

Shiro started to lick my face. After that, Shiro licked Fio.
In the meantime, I petted Hippolius.

“It’s morning, Hippolius.”
“Kyuo?”
“Hippolius. You can sleep for a little longer if you want to?”
‘I’ll get up. Kyuo?’

Hippolius was about to get up, but then noticed the blanket.

“I think that Fio and Shiro put that on you.”
“Kyuo!”
“Your tummy, cold.”

Fio said as she got up.
So Fio had thought that Hippolius’s stomach would get cold.

‘Very warm. Thank you.’
“Wuff.”
“Oww.”

Hippolius thanked Fio and Shiro and then licked them.
I would have to prepare a blanket just for Hippolius soon.

Now that everyone was awake, we went outside in order to eat breakfast.
And then, we noticed that something was different compared to yesterday morning.
Kelly was giving orders as they made some kind of soup.

“Soup, huh? That’s good…but are they tired of cooked meat already?”
“Kyuo?”
“Ah, you’re awake, Theo.”
“What is it? What happened?”
“Mmm. Some people have become sick.”
“What?”

Victor and the geologists. As well as five Adventurers.
In other words, the people who had gone out to investigate the farmlands. They suffered from symptoms like fevers, loose bowels and vomiting. And so they could not move.

“Is it food poisoning? What did Victor and the others eat?”
“About that…”

They had eaten the same thing as us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
If there was anything different, it was the fruits they had gathered and eaten while resting.
But these were ordinary fruits that could be seen on any human continent.
At least, the shape and taste had been the same.

“…Hmm. Do you have any of these fruits with you?”
“Aye. I took one as a sample, just in case.”

So saying, Kelly took out a cloth and unwrapped it to reveal a red fruit.
Indeed, it looked like an ordinary red berry. A delicious berry that had just the right amount of sweetness and sourness.

“According to my own knowledge, it is a normal red berry.”

Kelly was a scholar of magic beasts and creatures, but she also knew more about plants than the average Adventurer.
After all, plants were what many magic beasts and creatures ate.
And so she studied about plants as part of the biology of beasts and creatures.

And both Kelly and a veteran Adventurer, Victor, had judged them to be red berries.
In that case, it must be so.

“Let me look at that.”

I used my appraisal skill on the red berry.
I had to find out the reason for the food poisoning.

There were three main reasons for why someone got sick from food poisoning.
The first was when the food was contaminated. For instance, food that had gone bad or was cooked in an unhygienic place.
The second was natural poison. Pufferfish, shellfish, and poison mushrooms were the most common.
The third was parasites. This happened mostly with meat and seafood that is eaten raw.

In order to figure out the reason, I checked the red berry with my appraisal skill.

“This…is poisonous. It’s natural poison.”
“Poison!?”
“How much did Victor and the others eat?”
“Each person ate between three and ten.”
“In that case, it is very unlikely that they will die.”

I said, and Kelly looked relieved.

“However, it might take up to ten days for the symptoms to go away.”

I told them that it was important to stay hydrated in the meantime.

“It was a good thing I installed a water system yesterday.”
“It really is.”
“I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you this, Kelly, but it can be dangerous if their fevers rise too much.”
“Mmm. I know. Besides, the priest seems to know something about treating illnesses.”

She was talking about the Adventurer healer. This priest was an expert when it came to wounds and disease.
It was a good thing we had a priest with us.

Just then, I saw Victor walking out of his house.