Chapter 73
When we got through the maze, we emerged into a spacious area.
I looked back at the maze.
It was a remarkably half-baked maze, as if someone had made partitions in the space out of rock.
The ceiling was high, and there were no walls reaching all the way up, so anyone able to fly over it could get through without a problem.
What was the point of this maze?
Are there people here?
Or had people been here in the past?
Well, I suppose that doesn't matter now.
There was nothing in the space.
I was somehow shocked. I'd convinced myself there would be something here.
What a disappointment.
Shion scratched at the wall with a front paw.
? Everyone came closer, wondering if there was something there.
With a boom, the wall... revealed a hidden door!
My excitement came rushing back.
...Another maze. There goes my excitement.
We forged ahead, guided by the baby spiders.
Another open space. This time... there was a dog!
A dog smaller than Chai had been at first!
Both Core and Chai had grown since we found them.
Core was probably over two meters tall now, while Chai was just under two meters.
They made me feel small.
This dog, though... It was small for now. I hoped it would stay that way.
Its head should have come up to about my chest, but it was still far away, so I couldn't really tell how big it was.
But it was the smallest dog we'd found so far.
As for its face, compared to Core's family and Chai's family... Hahaha, it looked about the same.
The dogs were threatening us, but three of them seemed so weak they could barely get up.
Four dogs were threatening us in front of the three, as if protecting them.
What should I do? Keep things peaceful.
Core and Chai stepped forward and...! They got huge.
What?
Seeing this happen for the first time nearly made my legs give out... but I held myself together.
The dog we'd found had its tail between its legs, too.
Yeah, I know how you feel!
I shifted my gaze and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
They're companions, so it's okay, okay... I'm glad they're companions.
Well, the dogs were in a state of complete surrender.
Figures.
I approached to check their condition. I saw no signs of a curse's influence, but...
"Purification" "Curse Removal" "Heal" "Clean"
I cast each of the spells once, and that was that.
The weakened ones seemed to have recovered enough to lift their heads.
I was still uneasy, but they should be all right for now.
Core and Chai had returned to their original sizes, too. Thank goodness.
The cave ended where we'd found the dogs... What had the maze been for?
Well, I'm glad we were able to rescue the dogs.
...
We invited the dogs home.
Maybe Core had explained things well, because after the initial threats, we reached home without incident.
We crossed the bridge and passed through the fields... They were vast.
I still hadn't gotten used to all this space, but I supposed I'd have to.
We reached the house. There was something in the field in the clearing behind it...
The view looked different from this morning.
What was this?
I had the dogs wait while I went to check it out.
...It's far away!
Whaaat? Part of the fields has turned into a forest.
Looking up, I saw that every tree was bearing some kind of fruit.
And everything seemed to be neatly organized.
There were six kinds of trees bearing leafy vegetables—which I had decided were vegetables—with five trees of each kind.
There were nine kinds of trees bearing fruiting vegetables, five of each, and seventeen kinds of fruit trees, ten of each.
...The fields are so huge that there's still plenty of room. Amazing.
The Farming Corps has been working hard, too...
Yeah, let's face reality.
All this in a single day?
Now that I think about it, Big Boss-san, Shuri, and their families had been raring to go since morning.
Haha... This is amazing. Thank you.
What else can I say?
Being able to harvest things so close by is definitely a good thing.