Chapter 75: Lyra

Everyone was completely immersed in the deliciousness of the fried chicken nuggets, no one spoke, after all, a delicacy like fried chicken was best enjoyed while it was hot to truly be satisfying.

The two chickens were quickly devoured, and Pearl contentedly licked its paws, it was only then that it remembered to ask the little Fox Beastman her name. "What is your name, meow?"

"My name is Lyra!" The little Fox Beastman puffed out her chest and announced proudly, she still looked a bit nervous, but the oil stains and chicken crumbs at the corners of her mouth completely betrayed her inner joy.

Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her, only then did Lyra realize how disheveled she looked, and she hurriedly wiped her face.

Walter took a sip of his Moonlight Tomato juice and asked, "This shouldn’t be the Fox Beastmen’s territory yet, what are you doing out here?"

Walter’s question was sharp, Lyra froze, offered an awkward smile, and didn’t dare meet Walter’s eyes, however, Walter’s gaze remained firmly fixed on her.

Lyra could only stammer in reply. "I—I was out looking for medicinal strawberries."

"Medicinal strawberries?" Hearing the name, Ethan curiously tilted his head.

As usual, Pearl patiently explained it to him. "Medicinal strawberries are a special kind of strawberry that grows in the Northern Region. Eating them can treat illnesses and injuries, meow~"

"Are they a type of medicine?" Ethan asked.

"You could say that, meow. The effects can’t compare to real medicine, but they work on all kinds of injuries. If you don’t have a doctor, eating a medicinal strawberry is better than anything else, meow!" Pearl added.

"I see." Ethan developed a strong interest in these magical strawberries.

Lyra hesitated, looked cautiously at Ethan, and said, "The medicinal strawberries near the Fox Beastmen’s territory have all been picked clean... I thought there might still be some over here."

"Meow? Aren’t there a lot of medicinal strawberries? How could they all be picked clean, meow?" Pearl asked.

"Lately, there have been more and more monsters in the Northern Region, and a lot of the adults got hurt, so we had no choice but to use all the medicinal strawberries!!" Sorrow crept into Lyra’s voice.

Hearing that monsters in the Northern Region were increasing, Ethan was reminded of what had happened in the southern region, back then, because the elves were angered and the witch’s magic failed, the monsters had multiplied, perhaps the increase of monsters in the Northern Region was for the same reason?

He looked at Pearl. "Has the weather in the Northern Region turned cold yet?"

"No, but..." Pearl trailed off.

Lyra seemed to be hiding something, she hesitated, then secretly glanced at Ethan.

"What’s wrong?" Ethan keenly noticed her strange behavior.

"I heard the adults say they discovered a huge human ruin. Ever since that ruin collapsed, the monsters started increasing," Lyra said.

"Human ruins?" Ethan looked at Walter, Walter had lived a very long time and might know something, but judging by his expression, he was just as clueless.

’If Zharok were here, he’d probably explode with frustration,’ Ethan thought.

Zharok loved searching for human ruins so much that hearing about one collapsing would surely make him furious.

In any case, the increase in monsters had to be related to that ruin, perhaps he could find some clues.

"Do you know what kind of ruin it was?"

"I don’t know, I’m sorry..." Lyra shook her head.

"It’s fine, thank you for telling me." Ethan patted her head, Lyra lowered her ears, enjoyed the petting, and happily wagged her tail.

"Right — I’d like to see these medicinal strawberries too, can I go with you?" Ethan asked.

"Yay! Okay!!" Lyra agreed happily.

She said she knew the scent of the medicinal strawberries and took the lead, Walter stayed behind to guard the handcart while Ethan and Pearl followed Lyra.

After walking for a long time and passing through a patch of bushes, Lyra shouted, "Here!"

Ethan followed her to a plant and saw red strawberries growing on it.

He had originally thought that strawberries growing on a mountain would look similar to raspberries, but in reality, they looked very much like ordinary strawberries — except they were huge, about the size of an infant’s fist.

"They’re ripe medicinal strawberries, meow~" Pearl confirmed.

Pearl was right; the berries gave off an alluring fragrance, Ethan examined one carefully and nodded, Lyra picked one and handed it to him.

"Don’t you need the medicinal strawberries?" Ethan asked.

"Hehe, because I already ate something delicious!!" Lyra said happily.

Lyra had originally wanted to find medicinal strawberries, but upon hearing that Ethan needed them, she willingly gave them to him and then sniffed the air again, hoping to find more, however, there seemed to be only this single plant nearby, Lyra looked disappointed, but she didn’t ask Ethan to return the strawberry.

A few hours later, they finally managed to find another medicinal strawberry plant.

"Wow~! Found it!!" Lyra shouted.

"Great."

"Let’s head back, meow~" Pearl said.

"We’re heading to the Fox Beastmen’s village, are you coming with us?" Ethan asked.

"Meow-meow, let’s go together, meow, wandering around out here by yourself is too dangerous, meow~" Pearl said.

Lyra hesitated for a moment, then nodded, it seemed she was a bit scared too, even though she hadn’t managed to find many medicinal strawberries, she knew that safety was the most important thing.

"Then let’s head back," Ethan said.

Ethan brought Lyra, who was carefully cradling the medicinal strawberries, back to the handcart, he lifted Lyra onto the cart and then sat down himself.

Seeing the red medicinal strawberry in Ethan’s hand, Walter smiled. "You want to grow these too?"

"Yeah, I want to cultivate them to keep as backup medicine, by the way, how do you plant medicinal strawberries..." Ethan asked.

"It’s cold in the Northern Region, meow, they probably need a cold environment, meow," Pearl said.

"Hmm, so I don’t necessarily have to plant them in a greenhouse?"

"You definitely couldn’t grow them in spring and summer... but you can use magic stones to regulate the temperature," Pearl said.

"Looks like I’ll have to go look for some more empty magic stones, what a busy life." Ethan knew special crops were hard to grow, but he hadn’t expected it to be this troublesome, he wryly smiled as he used an obsidian knife to extract the seeds from the medicinal strawberry.

While he worked, Lyra watched with curiosity. "What are you doing?"

"Collecting seeds, I need to farm later, so I need seeds."

"Farm??" Lyra didn’t seem to understand the word.

Ethan explained, Lyra listened with rapt attention, eyes shining.

"Does that mean you can grow a lot of medicinal strawberries?!"