Chapter 44
The search for seasonings is still ongoing.
I haven't made much progress on that front.
Today, I'm out exploring in a head-to-toe outfit made by the three-eyed ones.
At long last, they finished the full outfit.
And it wasn't all white, either: the pants were black, and the T-shirt was pale green.
The underwear is white.
I was surprised to find balls of colored yarn when I went to check on them.
Apparently, the giant insect can produce colored thread depending on what it eats.
The baby spiders were gathering flowers and leaves at the three-eyed ones' instruction...?
Do the three-eyed ones actually have quite a bit of strength...?
The three-eyed ones brought me what they deemed satisfactory first thing in the morning.
It was also far more comfortable than anything I'd worn before.
The texture was so smooth and silky that I wanted to describe it that way. It felt wonderful.
But as pants, it felt a little too flimsy.
I asked them to make the thread thicker for the next pair of pants.
Partway through, I remembered and gave them several needles made from silver ore.
The three-eyed ones were delighted and put the needles to use right away.
A new set of underwear was finished too, which made me happiest of all.
I did feel embarrassed when the three-eyed ones inspected the underwear.
I couldn't bear it.
Unfortunately, there was no elastic.
So I use strings to secure both my underwear and pants at the waist.
It couldn't be helped.
Even so, I explored the forest to refresh my mood.
A few minutes' walk from the area I'd cleared, I discovered a rocky mountain with a gaping hole in it.
Inside, a path sloped gently downward and continued deeper in.
"A cave?"
Even peering in from the entrance, all I could see was a path continuing onward.
I had no idea how deep it went.
The place was a little way from the rocky mountain that served as our home.
It wasn't too far, but it wasn't close, either.
Still, it was close enough that anything happening there could affect us.
I figured I should check what was inside.
I used magic to create a ball of light, then proceeded inside, illuminating my surroundings.
The descending path continued on and on.
I'd been walking for quite a while, but there was no sign of any change.
What caught my attention was the width of the path.
The entrance had been fairly large, but the path continued at that same width the entire way.
I didn't know how far I'd walked, but eventually I came out into a large chamber.
So there you are...
Seeing how wide the path was, I'd wondered if that might be the case, and it seemed I'd been right.
Right in front of me was an abnormally huge ant, threatening me with the fangs in its mouth.
It was about twice the size of a Core, I think.
The giant ant had a bright red body covered all over in strange black patterns.
Those black patterns were emitting an eerie light.
That gave me the same impression as the shadow.
It was different from the shadow, but was it cursed too?
In any case, since it gave me the same impression as the shadow, I used "Purification."
The ant's entire body lit up, but did the black patterns cancel out the light?
It wasn't purified.