The Glavenus's retreat allowed everyone to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
The two groups finally completed their rendezvous.
"Professor!" Erik ran over happily, eager to report their recent findings to the Professor.
Though, in truth, they hadn't found much of anything.
However, the Professor had no interest in a warm embrace with his disciple. One look at their disheveled state told him his guess had been right; these young hoodlums had indeed run into trouble.
They had even crashed the Airship; that strange-looking cart was obviously cobbled together from the timber of the Airship's gondola.
He leaped down from Hibiki's back and delivered a sharp smack to Erik's forehead, followed by a long-winded scolding.
Isis ran up to Altaïr with a joyful expression.
She noticed the bandages on Altaïr's leg but didn't give it much thought. Seeing as he had been running quite nimbly just a moment ago, she assumed it was merely a superficial wound.
Altaïr was equally relieved to see Isis and Nymera arrive.
As the only Hunter in the party, the pressure had been immense.
Just now, for instance, had Lady Shalan not successfully forced that Glavenus back, a fight would have been inevitable. The wound on his leg had mostly healed, but he was far from peak condition. To be honest, he wasn't confident in facing a Glavenus alone.
But it was different now that Isis and the others were here. Even if that Glavenus doubled back, they would be able to make a clean escape.
"Ugh, it stinks!" Isis had barely gotten a word out before she instinctively pinched her nose.
Altaïr's face twitched.
The potency of that "extra large Dung Bomb" Lady Shalan used at the end was truly staggering. The erupting stench had caught even her in the blast, and Erik and himself had nearly been caught in it as well.
A heavy, foul odor lingered in the forest. He felt as though his nose was about to stop functioning; even the slightest breath made him want to gag.
Isis's gaze fell upon Shalan, and she gave a muffled greeting through her pinched nose. "Auntie Shalan! Long time no see! Huh? Why have you turned yellow?"
Shalan: "..."
If anyone else had said that, she would have clawed them by now.
Altaïr glanced at Shalan, who looked utterly burnt out.
Having spent some time with her, he had come to understand her personality well.
She was proud, vain, and obsessed with cleanliness. At a time like this, if he told her she was covered in... filth and needed to wash it off before it set, she would fly into a rage.
Instead, he took a different approach. "Anyway, let's find a water source and wash up. Some of it got on my armor too. If we don't wash it off quickly, the smell will soak in, and that'll be a real problem."
"Meow–!" Haunted by certain unpleasant memories triggered by Altaïr's words, Shalan jumped up.
Her eyes darted around until they landed on the Palamute, Hibiki. Although she didn't know this Palamute, she knew they had keen noses for finding water and were fast runners.
"Where is there water? Take me there now, meow!" She bolted toward Hibiki like a flash of lightning. Just as she was about to climb onto his back, Hibiki leaped backward to avoid her. He didn't want to get any on him!
One cat and one dog began chasing each other in circles.
The Professor watched, nursing a headache; Shalan was the only one among them he truly couldn't control, and that was even before she had lost her mind.
He gave Nymera a meaningful look, and catching on immediately, Nymera quickly said, "According to the Cohoot, there is a waterfall and a pool less than a kilometer to the east."
Hearing this, Shalan stopped circling with Hibiki and bolted off in the direction Nymera was pointing.
By the edge of the pool, the reunited group took a moment to rest and recover.
Although he hadn't actually been hit, Altaïr took off his armor and scrubbed it thoroughly with fresh water anyway, just to appease Lady Shalan's feelings.
He figured he could count it as routine maintenance.
Shalan, meanwhile, was submerged entirely in the water, floating limply like a washed-up corpse.
"I brought the stuff back!" Isis called out, emerging from the bushes and returning to the pool's edge with a large bundle on her shoulder.
Altaïr, who was currently drying his armor, gave Isis a gesture of thanks.
Earlier, in order to gain speed and escape the Glavenus's pursuit, they had abandoned the large bundle filled with Seregios materials halfway.
Fortunately, it hadn't been dropped too far away. Once the Cohoot confirmed the Glavenus wasn't in the vicinity, Isis had gone back to retrieve it.
The Professor was currently holding a small, portable mortar and pestle, finely grinding something.
He dipped a fingertip into the blue slurry inside the mortar, rubbed it together, and nodded with satisfaction. "Come here. It's ready."
Shalan, who had been floating motionless on the water a second ago, immediately began paddling her limbs, swimming vigorously to shore and sprinting to the Professor's side.
Looking at the suspicious blue liquid mixed with unidentified fragments, Shalan's ears flattened. "That looks gross, meow! What is it, meow?!"
The Professor glanced at her. "It is a slurry made from ground Bitterbugs. It has excellent deodorizing properties. Refined Bitterbug slurry combined with Smokenuts can be used for Crafting Deodorants.
Since we aren't in the middle of combat, there's no need for such complexity. The deodorizing effect is the same; in fact, applying it as a paste like this is more convenient and will be even more effective."
Altaïr looked at the Professor with some surprise. In his experience, the Professor was a rational man who prioritized efficiency; he hadn't expected him to go to such lengths for Lady Shalan.
Noticing his gaze, the Professor gave a soft huff. "The extra large Dung Bomb isn't made from ordinary excrement. It's true that it can drive Monsters away.
However, running around the Jungle reeking of that scent makes it very easy to be mistaken for an invading Monster, which would invite attacks from the local apex.
If we want to move safely, removing that odor is a necessity."
"I see," Altaïr said, realization dawning on him.
After hearing the Professor's explanation, the once-skeptical Shalan immediately began scooping up the sticky sludge with her paws and smeared it all over herself.
"I can't reach my back, meow!" she cried out while scrubbing. "Clawdia, where's your initiative, meow?! Get over here and help, meow!"
Clawdia shuffled over reluctantly. Under Shalan's urging, she helped rub the paste thoroughly from head to tail, not even missing the fuzz inside the ears.
The entire cat soon became a vibrant shade of blue.
"Now I just wash it off, meow?" "It is best to let it sit for a while before washing; it helps completely eliminate the odors that have seeped into the skin and fur." The Professor came to the edge of the pool to clean his mortar.
After a moment's thought, he added, "But don't leave it for too long, or it might be a bit troublesome to wash off."
Noticing that the mortar came clean without a trace after the Professor scrubbed it for a bit, Shalan felt at ease.
Five minutes passed, then ten... She just sat there by the edge of the pool.
Imagining the odor molecules within her fur breaking down and vanishing bit by bit under the effect of the Bitterbug juice, she felt quite happy.
It was just a pity she hadn't known this method in the past; otherwise, there would have been no need to shave her fur back then, meow.
"You can wash now," said the Professor, who was nearby reading a book.
Shalan lowered her head and sniffed; she could no longer smell any foul odor. There was even a refreshing medicinal scent with a hint of bitterness.
She actually quite liked this smell.
"I'll leave it a bit longer, meow! Let the smell be removed even more thoroughly, meow!"
"It's going to be hard to wash off," Erik warned from the side.
"I'll just scrub harder, meow!"
Fifteen minutes, half an hour... it wasn't until the slurry had nearly dried that Shalan finally hopped into the pool.
Altaïr, whose armor was now mostly dry, was finishing re-equipping his gear when he heard a scream erupt from the water.
"Meow–!!! Why won't it come off, meow!"
She ducked her head into the water and began scrubbing frantically.
Several tufts of her soft, shiny cat hair were rubbed away by her efforts, yet she still glowed with a faint, shimmering blue.
She poked her head above the surface and glared fiercely at the Professor.
The Professor sighed and put down his book. "Didn't I tell you earlier? Don't leave it too long, or it will be difficult to wash."
"But your mortar came perfectly clean, meow?!"
The Professor fell silent, seemingly unwilling to answer such a foolish question.
Beside them, Isis whispered, "The mortar is made of stone. Isn't that probably a bit different from fur?"
"MEOW–!!!" Shalan let out a scream of despair.
Worrying that the noise might attract a Monster, Altaïr and Sajji exchanged a look.
The man and the Felyne walked over to Shalan's side.
"A touch of pale blue amidst that silvery sheen... it actually looks quite nice."
"It's like the color of the sky, meow!"
"As expected of Lady Shalan from Val Habar, to be able to use Bitterbugs as a dye to achieve such a dreamlike hue."
"It's much prettier than anything the grooming salons in Val Habar could do, meow!"
"It's a pity we don't have a proper Catalyst. At this rate, it won't be long before it fades back to its original color."
"Truly a waste, meow!"
Shalan's screaming stopped.
"...Really, meow? Bring me a mirror and let me see, meow."
(Translated by yourtl.app)