Chapter 191: Rough Morning

The next morning arrived without incident.

Igor, who was checking the area around the Slime Barrier, suddenly murmured, "Hmm," and looked around.

"?" Qiu Nuoya asked. "Igor, what’s wrong?"

"There is still a faint scent of someone around here. I think someone was wandering around this area last night, but I find it strange that there are no footprints at all."

"Eh..."

"Qiu Nuoya, can you ask Mochi if it noticed anything?"

Qiu Nuoya felt a little bad about disturbing Mochi, who had finished its nighttime watch and was now enjoying its nap, but he gently shook it awake.

Apparently, Mochi, being a composite Slime, did not actually need to sleep. Still, it did need some rest.

"Mochi, was there perhaps someone nearby last night?"

[ Hmm... Yeah, there was. They squished me a little, then went home. ]

So, apparently, whoever it was had not meant them any harm.

When Qiu Nuoya relayed Mochi’s words exactly as it had said them, Igor folded his arms and once again murmured, "Hmm," looking thoughtful. Eventually, however, he smiled and shrugged.

"Even if it was some petty crook, it doesn’t seem like the kind of person who could get through the Slime Barrier. We can probably just leave them alone."

Mochi’s Slime Barrier was incredibly powerful. Even when a monster capable of causing a huge commotion outside the barrier appeared, no one inside had ever been harmed. In fact, the barrier’s soundproofing was so effective that they had never even realized anything was happening outside.

Every now and then, Mochi would happily say something like, [That was delicious~] around dawn, but the Slime Barrier was such an impenetrable defense that they had no idea what had happened outside. Igor had probably decided that, unless something truly serious occurred, they could safely leave things alone.

"Did something happen?"

"No, there’s no problem. More importantly, aren’t we heading to the city today? What about the kid from yesterday? And I don’t see Warren anywhere either."

Among their party members, Igor was the last one to wake up, while Warren was by far the best at getting up early.

Warren liked having a hearty breakfast, so as soon as he woke up, he had said, "I’ll go hunt around here for a bit. It’ll count as training too," and headed off.

They had used up almost all of their ingredients the previous night, so there had not been much left to eat this morning. Qiu Nuoya felt a little guilty about that.

Qiu Nuoya had added some rice to the leftover soup from last night and was making a simple rice porridge, while Viktor was, as usual, leisurely enjoying his tea.

"Warren went hunting for breakfast, and Xiao Tao went to make things convenient for a moment."

"To make things convenient for a moment" was, of course, a euphemism. To put it bluntly, it meant bathroom time. There was obviously no bathroom out here, so people generally just dug a hole somewhere and took care of business. It was probably good manners to use Purification Magic afterward. Apparently, doing so helped microorganisms break everything down more quickly.

Wait, can Xiao Tao even use Purification Magic?

He had said that he had been living on his own this entire time without even knowing the basic concepts of magic. There was no way he would know something like that. Qiu Nuoya would have to make sure to teach him properly later.

As Qiu Nuoya thought about it while stirring the pot of porridge simmering over the fire, Warren returned with Xiao Tao, pulling him along by the arm.

Warren had two Horn Rabbits in one hand, while his other hand was holding onto Xiao Tao.

For some reason, Xiao Tao looked as though he was about to cry as he was dragged back by Warren.

"Eh? Wait, what happened? Warren, did something happen? Xiao Tao, are you all right?"

"I’m fine. There was no particular problem. I’ll go prepare these, so I’ll leave the rest to you."

Warren held up the Horn Rabbits as he said that, then placed Xiao Tao in front of Qiu Nuoya and quickly turned around.

He almost looked like he was in a hurry to get away, making Qiu Nuoya tilt his head in confusion.

"Uuuu... Nuoya, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live a normal life in this world."

"Eh? What? What happened? What is going on??"

Qiu Nuoya could not understand how simply going to relieve himself had somehow turned into such a tragic event, and he could not hide his confusion.

He sat the completely dejected Xiao Tao down and listened to his story.

Apparently, while Xiao Tao had been taking care of business, a Horn Rabbit had suddenly appeared right in front of him.

Horn Rabbits looked like cute little rabbits, but they were actually carnivorous and surprisingly ferocious. They generally would not attack unless someone provoked them, but Xiao Tao had not known they were carnivores. Thinking it was just a cute rabbit, he had instinctively reached out to touch it.

The Horn Rabbit bared its fangs at him, causing Xiao Tao to fall backward.

And unfortunately, he had fallen directly onto his own excrement.

That alone would have been miserable enough, but things somehow managed to get even worse.

Warren had heard Xiao Tao’s scream while he was still in the middle of relieving himself and had rushed over. Having his embarrassing and humiliating situation witnessed by Warren had apparently been a devastating blow to Xiao Tao, leaving him completely crushed.

Warren had already used Purification Magic to clean everything up, so Xiao Tao was not dirty and did not appear to have suffered even a single injury. Even so, he had curled up with his knees against his chest and muttered, "It’s over. There’s no point in someone like me even being alive anymore..."

Qiu Nuoya had no idea what he could possibly say to him.

"Xiao Tao, everyone makes mistakes. I made plenty of embarrassing mistakes myself when I first came to this world. So don’t let it get you down. Come on, let’s eat, okay?"