For 30 + advance chapter: patreon.com/Snowing_Melody
"Good morning, Miss Imaizumi."
At exactly six-thirty in the morning, Leo greeted Kagerou Imaizumi at the farm gate with an incredibly weary, dark-circled face.
After learning yesterday that they were officially going to take a boat to explore the newly appeared, magical Spring Island today, Flandre had been so violently excited that she simply didn't sleep a wink all night. Instead of sleeping, the four Flandres had just lain completely still at the head of Leo's double bed, their eight glowing, crimson eyes unblinkingly staring directly down at the sleeping Leo for the entire night.
As for exactly how Leo knew they were staring at him... nightmares. A whole, terrifying night of vivid, suffocating nightmares.
In his restless dreams, Leo had tragically fallen deep into the dark, web-filled spider cave of the Dragon Ridge Maze Caves and was relentlessly chased all night by a terrifying, massive, eight-eyed blonde spider that giggled. Finally, his dream-self was tightly wrapped in sticky spider silk and hung upside down from the cave ceiling to be gleefully pierced and drunk like a sweet Wangzai Fruit Sucking Candy juice box by a swarm of fuzzy little spiders.
Finally, at six in the morning, Leo had violently snapped his eyes open, his pajamas completely drenched in cold, terrified sweat.
The terrifying "eight-eyed spider" was actually just the four Flandres, who hadn't slept all night and were staring at him from the pillow; the suffocating "spider silk" tightly wrapping his paralyzed body was actually just Miss Ran's massive, heavy golden tail comfortably covering him like a weighted blanket; and the painful "transformation into a Wangzai Fruit Sucking Candy" was simply the oblivious kitten, Chen, who was tossing and turning in her sleep and was currently aggressively, painfully sucking on his thumb like a pacifier!
After "sleeping" for a full eight hours but somehow feeling infinitely more physically and mentally exhausted than ever before, Leo yawned widely. He was immediately, violently pushed into the farmhouse bathroom by the energetic Flandres. Three Flandre clones cheerfully steadied the tottering, half-asleep Leo against the sink, while the remaining Main Body Flandre expertly rode on Leo's shoulders, holding his toothbrush like a dagger and aggressively poking it into his mouth to brush his teeth with superhuman speed.
"Wooo! Gargle! Slow down! Flandre, this is a human mouth, not a porcelain toilet bowl! And you're holding a plastic toothbrush, not a heavy-duty toilet brush! You're making my gums bleed!"
Leo only miraculously escaped Flandre's violent dental hygiene clutches after his invisible HP bar was brutally brushed down to half.
Out in the yard, Ran had already thoughtfully prepared a massive picnic breakfast and safely stored it inside her dimensional tail space, planning to eat a hearty meal together once they reached the Seaside. Compared to Leo's brutal morning, Chen was infinitely much more fortunate; Ran gently, lovingly wiped the dazed kitten's face with a warm, damp towel and brushed her teeth softly and patiently, forming a stark, tragic contrast with Leo's violent toilet-brushing method.
When they finally walked out of the farm gate, Flandre, impatiently thinking Leo's exhausted mortal walking speed was far too slow for an adventure, simply picked the adult man up by the belt with one hand and sprinted all the way to the Seaside at Mach speed.
"Wow~~"
Standing on the sandy beach and looking out at the massive Spring Island in the distance, Flandre opened her mouth wide and let out a genuinely cute, awestruck exclamation. Yesterday, it was simply too far away and rainy to see clearly, but now in the bright morning sun, she realized that Spring Island had a super high, majestic mountain peak in its center with a massive, roaring waterfall flowing down into the jungle. It was even more geographically spectacular than the famous waterfall on Youkai Mountain back home!
"Morning."
Aya Shameimaru suddenly dropped down from the sky. She had professionally changed into a crisp, brown khaki explorer's outfit today, wearing a cute beret on her head and a heavy, expensive camera hanging securely from a strap on her chest. She looked exactly like a professional, dedicated paparazzi journalist on safari, and was currently casually eating some glowing, Gold-star strawberries from a paper bag.
"How on earth do you still have premium strawberries?!" Leo was utterly stunned, pointing at the bag. "Just exactly how many crates did you aggressively embezzle and hide during the chaos of the harvest?!"
After Megumu Iizunamaru had violently swept through the farm yesterday, a massive batch of the stolen fruit was supposedly taken out of hiding and eaten during the farm's reconstruction and the sashimi feast, so how were there still pristine strawberries left in her possession?! He, the actual World Lord and farmer who grew them, didn't even have a single one left to eat now!
"Mind your own human business," Aya scoffed, tossing another berry into her mouth. "I have premium strawberries securely buried in quite a few highly classified locations around this valley. This specific bag was cleverly hidden deep in the Mines behind a rock before the meteor shower. Haven't you ever heard the old, wise survival story that a smart Tengu always has three hidden burrows?"
After having a quick, filling seafood breakfast at Kagerou and Waka's Seaside hut, everyone seamlessly used their magic to fly straight across the sparkling blue sea to the sandy shores of Spring Island. Of course, since Leo couldn't fly, he was comfortably, albeit embarrassingly, carried over the ocean waves by Ran Yakumo in a secure bridal carry.
This was the legendary Spring Island, where the localized, magical climate was locked in a constant, vibrant state of spring. The massive island theoretically had various valuable crops that naturally matured between January and March, but since they were all currently wild and uncultivated, most were deeply hidden in various overgrown corners of the dense jungle, requiring Leo to physically hike and search for them bit by bit.
"This pristine place is actually pretty nice," Aya noted, hovering in the air. "The ambient temperature is perfectly right, the humidity is good for my feathers, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. If this massive landmass weren't so geographically conspicuous to the mainland, I'd genuinely want to illegally build a house and live here."
Aya found a perfect aerial angle and CLICK, took a stunning landscape photo of the massive waterfall in the center of the island. She was still secretly, illegally living in that gloomy, dusty Pelican Town Community Center; this vibrant, mountainous place was very similar to her natural habitat on Youkai Mountain, and she truly liked it.
"Alright, team, let's set off! Treasure hunting time!"
Leo took the lead on the main road, a winding dirt path that cut through the jungle and sloped upward toward the mountain peak. Kagerou Imaizumi walked loyally beside him, currently carrying Wakasagihime piggyback style on her shoulders.
The self-proclaimed Adventure Kitten Team, composed of Kogasa Tatara, the four Flandres, and Chen—six chaotic people in total—completely ignored the safe dirt path and plunged directly, enthusiastically into the dense, untamed forest underbrush. Ran Yakumo sighed and immediately followed closely behind them specifically to prevent Flandre from getting too excited and accidentally blowing up the entire new island with her sword.
"Lord Leo, how about you carry Waka for a bit, and I'll take the front to quickly clear the path with my claws?"
It was officially called a "main road" by the system, but in reality, it was just a narrow, muddy animal path with a slightly wider view of the canopy. Along the way, it was heavily overgrown with thick, chest-high weeds and thorny vines, which seriously hindered their walking progress. Leo had been exhaustingly forced to use his heavy Iridium Scythe to manually chop and clear the thick vegetation blocking the path ahead.
Hearing Kagerou's helpful, innocent words, Leo paused mid-swing, wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked back at Wakasagihime on the wolf's back.
His tired eyes swept critically over Waka's massive, thick fish tail that was brightly reflecting the morning sunlight. His rich, extensive physical experience as a Level 10 Stardew angler allowed him to quickly, accurately estimate the sheer, dead weight of this massive, dense fish-woman. He immediately, violently shook his head in refusal.
"Forget it," Leo grunted, turning back to the weeds. "I'm just a normal human. I physically cannot carry a dense, solid muscle fish weighing well over a hundred pounds on my back and effortlessly walk up this steep, muddy mountain terrain like it's level ground."
"How on earth am I over a hundred pounds?!" Waka gasped, utterly offended. "I've been aggressively swimming and exercising in the ocean lately, and 99 pounds is still technically a delicate, two-digit number, okay?!"
Wakasagihime was incredibly unhappy as soon as she heard his cruel estimation. She had been exercising lately and had lost a lot of water weight; she was absolutely nowhere near the massive, hundred-plus pounds Leo arrogantly claimed!
Kagerou Imaizumi blinked. She suddenly adjusted Wakasagihime from her piggyback position into a front-facing bridal carry and experimentally hefted the mermaid up and down twice, her wolf ears twitching as her expression turned incredibly serious and analytical.
"Waka, I love you, but you are a bit heavy," Kagerou stated with brutal, oblivious honesty. "Based on the exact muscle strain in my arms, I'd scientifically say you're currently about 105 pounds. Back when I worked part-time as a butcher in The Human Village, I was the famous, undisputed 'One-Cut'; if I visually estimated a slab of meat weighed a certain exact amount, it mathematically did. Absolutely do not doubt my professional weight-guessing skills."
A young girl's exact body weight is always a highly classified, state secret. And now that it was casually, brutally exposed to the world by her own dense partner, Sayaka, Wakasagihime was completely stiff with sheer, unadulterated rage and embarrassment.
She violently crossed her arms over her chest, her entire long body going perfectly, rigidly straight in a stubborn stance of non-violent, absolute non-cooperation. She looked exactly like a frozen, stiff Salted Fish Greatsword—she would rather physically break than bend her pride right now!
"Uh... Waka? Are you okay?"
Kagerou Imaizumi, completely oblivious to the emotional damage she had just inflicted, tried to awkwardly put Wakasagihime back onto her back for easier carrying. But the mermaid was exactly like an ancient, stiff salted fish that had been deep-frozen in a freezer for years. Waka fully, impressively demonstrated her insane aquatic core strength; even when awkwardly balanced horizontally on Kagerou's shoulder like a log, her entire body remained perfectly, rigidly straight as an arrow.
Helpless and confused by the sudden stiffness, Kagerou had absolutely no choice but to awkwardly continue the uphill mountain journey carrying Wakasagihime horizontally under her arm exactly like a rigid surfboard. She couldn't just leave her here in the jungle; Waka's actual physical movement speed on dry land was roughly equal to a struggling caterpillar's, and she relied entirely on being carried to explore.
Heh, lovey-dovey Dog-Wolf-Fish, Leo thought sourly.
Leo looked jealously at Kagerou, who was currently constantly, desperately coaxing and apologizing to the stiff Wakasagihime as they walked. He felt incredibly, deeply envious of their physical closeness. Having the energetic Flandre, Chen, and Kogasa living at home in the cabin was certainly lively and warm during the day, but because of them, he absolutely had zero alone time or romantic intimacy with Ran at night! As soon as it was time to go to sleep, the little brats all aggressively piled onto the double bed, physically wedging themselves between him and the Great Fox, giving him absolutely no chance for romance at all.
It was definitely time to finally find a strict, authoritative way to drive these clingy little fellows upstairs to sleep in their own beds! If this miserable, celibate sleeping arrangement continued much longer, the townspeople would genuinely start calling him a eunuch!
With his mind heavily occupied by domestic frustrations, Leo swung his Iridium Scythe mechanically, clearing the vines, and soon, the small group finally broke through the tree line and reached the large, crystal-clear pool at the rocky foot of the central mountain.
After being violently buffered and broken up by jagged mountain rocks along the way down, the sheer, crushing impact of the several-hundred-meter waterfall had weakened significantly by the time the water reached the bottom pool, but the sight was still breathtakingly spectacular.
Standing at the edge of the deep, blue pool, one could physically feel the cool, refreshing mist thick in the air. The wide, flat shore was naturally paved with smooth, round river pebbles, making it an absolutely perfect, picturesque spot for an outdoor BBQ party later.
While Leo and the adults finally reached the beautiful waterfall at the foot of the mountain via the path, deep on the other side of the dense jungle, the chaotic Adventure Kitten Team had successfully found the patch of wild pineapples that Aya Shameimaru had photographed earlier from the air.
"Sniff, sniff... Wow, such an incredibly sweet, strong smell! Lady Ran, how do we actually eat this spiky thing?"
The bizarre, yellow pineapple plant growing from the ground looked incredibly pointy, armored, and hostilely prickly, so Chen didn't dare aggressively grab it with her bare paws. She just leaned in closely to sniff the sweet aroma wafting from the skin, and then looked back hopefully at Ran Yakumo, who was patiently following behind them to ensure safety.