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Taking out a sharp ceramic fruit knife, a clean wooden cutting board, a metal basin of fresh water, and a handful of bamboo skewers from the glowing, rippling space within her golden tail, Ran Yakumo also magically produced a folding picnic table and six small wooden stools.
She efficiently prepared the tropical pineapple exactly as Leo had verbally instructed her earlier, expertly peeling away the prickly skin and dicing the sweet, yellow flesh into perfect, bite-sized cubes. Then, she rummaged deep in her tail space again, producing a small paper bag of refined sea salt and a large wooden bucket of drinking water. She quickly mixed a light saltwater brine in the basin and soaked the freshly cut pineapple pieces inside to neutralize the bromelain enzymes.
"Kogasa, look at Lady Ran's amazing tail, and then look down at yours. You really need to work much harder to improve your storage."
Sitting on a stool, Kogasa Tatara looked incredibly enviously at Ran's massive, multi-functional tails. Although her own tsukumogami umbrella, One-Eyed Xiao San, could also magically store items in its mouth dimension, its overall spatial capacity was absolutely pathetic compared to that nine-tailed fox. The small, dark space in the umbrella's mouth could comfortably hold a few pieces of fruit or some small exorcising needles, but definitely not massive, bulky items like entire folding tables and six wooden chairs.
"Moo...?"
Hearing its master's disappointment, One-Eyed Xiao San whined softly. It tried incredibly hard to aggressively open its canvas mouth as wide as physically possible and stuck out its massive, wet red tongue, desperately attempting to suck one of the wooden stools in to prove its worth.
However, the solid wooden stool was simply physically much larger and wider than the folded oil-paper umbrella itself when placed on the ground, and it simply couldn't swallow the rigid geometry. After struggling and gagging awkwardly for a full minute, One-Eyed Xiao San lay completely flat and dejected in the dirt; it felt like a totally useless, failure of an umbrella that couldn't even fit a single stool.
"Alright, the fruit is ready. Come taste it and tell me how it is."
The gentle, maternal Mother Ran called out into the jungle. Chen and the four Flandres, who had been chaotically running around nearby chasing butterflies, immediately sprinted back and sat perfectly obediently on the wooden stools, waiting eagerly for their fruit snacks.
The pale yellow pineapple flesh was incredibly sweet with a refreshing, sharp hint of sourness, and soaking it briefly in the saltwater brine made the natural sweetness pop even more pronouncedly on the tongue. The texture was slightly soft on the outside and satisfyingly crisp on the inside, practically bursting with cold, tropical juice—one single bite was enough to completely flood your mouth with flavor.
Ran methodically collected the spiky green pineapple tops and the thick, peeled skins, carefully storing them in a damp burlap bag. These were the biological 'seeds' of the pineapple plant, and carefully planting these tops back in the tilled soil on the main farm would eventually yield an endless, lucrative supply of pineapples for Leo.
After absolutely everyone finished happily eating the fruit and wiping their sticky hands, the nine massive, golden tails behind Ran began to magically, terrifyingly enlarge, completely enveloping the table and all the wooden stools she had taken out. The tails slowly shrank back down, finally letting out a soft, bizarre 'hic' sound before returning to their normal, fluffy size, having seamlessly stored all the heavy furniture safely back inside the spatial dimension.
"Adventure! Adventure!"
Having successfully eaten good, sugary things, the Adventure Kitten Team grew even more hyper and excited. They scattered back into the jungle and began aggressively collecting absolutely anything that looked vaguely out of place or valuable within the surrounding greenery, throwing it into a pile for Mother Ran's tail to store, not letting a single potentially profitable item pass by them.
Anything...
"Lady Ran! I'm back! Look what cool thing I found! Quick, put it in your big tail! The annoying little bugs are chasing me!"
Flandre suddenly ran screaming out of the thick brush, happily holding a massive, golden-yellow, porous, flat honeycomb that was still dripping thick, viscous, fragrant wild honey everywhere. Following violently behind her, blocking out the sunlight, was an absolutely massive, furious swarm of giant jungle bees resembling a thick, swirling black mist. Their collective, deafening buzzing made people's hearts pound in primal terror.
"Flandre! Drop it!"
Ran let out a sharp, terrified fox roar. She violently flicked her tail, and a massive, searing ball of concentrated golden Foxfire shot forward, tightly circling the running Flandre before exploding outward with a deafening BOOM directly into the dense bee swarm pursuing her.
Instantly, the smell of ozone filled the air. Countless giant bees, scorched black and entirely wingless, rained down heavily onto the jungle floor like hail, and the humid air was suddenly filled with the bizarre, savory aroma of roasted protein.
"Wow, so fragrant! Are you guys actually this delicious?!"
Flandre skidded to a halt and suddenly turned her blonde head, sniffing the air. When she was violently ripping the honeycomb from the tree earlier, she only found these giant, stinging bugs incredibly annoying. Who knew her little insect brothers smelled so tasty when roasted!
With absolutely nothing more to say, Flandre dropped the dripping honeycomb onto the Main Body clone—which was currently being used as a sticky, groaning physical shield—and charged forward with a manic grin. She drew the flaming Lævateinn from thin air while loudly, happily singing a bizarre, off-key Sword-Drawing Divine Comedy anime theme song.
The massive, flaming greatsword was swung wildly a few times, sending arcs of pure fire into the canopy, instantly roasting most of the remaining, furious swarm mid-air. The pursuing black mist of bees was quickly reduced to a thin, pathetic layer of survivors, which dispersed in absolute terror and dared not chase the crazy vampire further, flying frantically back the way they came to protect their ruined home. Losing a few thousand workers was fine; as long as the Queen Bee remained alive, the hive could recover!
"Mmm-hmm, surprisingly crispy, and a little sweet! I should definitely bring some of these back for my older sister Remilia to try!"
With her sharp claws completely covered in sticky, dripping golden honey, Flandre happily picked up a massive, roasted giant bee that had fallen to the ground and threw it directly into her mouth, crunching loudly.
"Flandre! Stop eating bugs off the floor!"
Ran teleported forward, pinched Flandre's soft cheek tightly, and pulled it reprimandingly. Thick, sticky honey was currently dripping all over Flandre's clothes and hair, and thick jungle dust, dirt, and dead fallen leaves clung heavily to the sticky mess. She was so incredibly, disgustingly dirty that if Sakuya Izayoi saw her right now, the neat-freak maid would want to violently stab Hong Meiling ten times with silver knives just for failing to supervise her.
Flandre's Main Body clone, which had been ruthlessly used as a sticky physical shield during the escape, was even worse off. There were dozens of dead, roasted small bees permanently stuck onto every exposed part of her face and hands by their barbed stingers, though the worst of it was luckily covered by her ruined clothes. Fortunately, although Flandre usually seemed incredibly unreliable, fragile, and childish, she was a genuine, terrifying Great Youkai, and such minor, venomous sting injuries didn't even register as physical pain to her vampiric biology. The Main Body was still grinning widely, licking honey off its own nose.
"Sigh, I really, truly don't know how Hong Meiling manages to physically control you on a normal day. Stay completely still! I'll wipe you down before you attract ants!"
Ran sighed exhaustedly. She took out a warm, wet magical towel from her tail and began aggressively wiping the thick, sticky honey and dirt from Flandre's hands and face. Behind her back, Ran's nine large tails danced wildly and defensively, expertly blocking Flandre, who kept trying to mischievously reach out with her sticky little hands to grab and ruin the pristine, fluffy fur. Any small hand that reached out was immediately, sharply swatted hard on the back of the hand by a golden tail.
This chaotic grooming was only physically manageable because it was Ran Yakumo; with the autonomous, defensive help of her nine tails, absolutely anyone else would have been unable to retreat from the sticky vampire unscathed.
"Lady Ran, we're back too!"
Chen and Kogasa Tatara also emerged from the bushes, groaning as they struggled to carry the incredibly bloated, heavy One-Eyed Xiao San between them.
As soon as they set the groaning umbrella down heavily on the dirt, the large, wet tongue that had been awkwardly tied in a tight knot blocking its mouth shot out with a wet THWAP, violently spitting out countless small, bright red, wild cherry-like fruits all over the ground. He/She, the proud One-Eyed Xiao San, absolutely wanted to prove a point to the nine-tailed fox!
It could hold a lot of loot too! See?!
Shaking her head with a smile, Ran took out two large, clean wooden basins from her tail—one to hold the sticky, crushed honeycomb Flandre had violently brought back, and the other for the massive pile of wild cherries and sweet Lychees Chen and the umbrella had gathered. Ran then took out her smartphone, snapped a quick photo of the strange, tropical fruits, and sent it to Leo to ask the World Lord exactly how to safely prepare and eat these two new types of fruit without poisoning the kids.
Meanwhile, at the mountain pool.
Kagerou Imaizumi gently, apologetically placed the perfectly rigid, angry Wakasagihime into the cool, clear water of the pool to thaw out her mood.
As soon as she hit the familiar, comforting water, Wakasagihime's eyes flashed. She violently slapped her large, powerful tail against the surface, splashing Kagerou directly in the face, and dove deep into the pool. She absolutely didn't want to look at the insensitive wolf who had brutally hurt her delicate feelings about her weight.
Today, she had simply eaten far too much heavy seafood in the morning, worn too many thick, water-logged clothes, and carried too many heavy items in her pockets, making her mathematically weigh 5 pounds more on Kagerou's shoulders—it was absolutely, 100% not because she had actually gained permanent fat!
"How about you stay here at the base of the waterfall and keep your angry girlfriend company? I'll head up the mountain path first."
Leo asked Kagerou, wiping mist from his face. Seeing the soaked wolf nod helplessly and sit sadly by the water's edge, he smiled in sympathy.
This was the absolute, universal downside of having a girlfriend; you exhaustingly had to coax and apologize to her when she was irrationally angry. Unlike him... Sob sob... He really, desperately wanted a chance to coax Miss Ran too! Damn that little Flandre brat and the others for completely ruining his romantic, alone time with the Great Fox again!
While angrily brainstorming ways to trick Flandre into going back home to the Scarlet Devil Mansion for a few days, Leo and Aya Shameimaru set off up the steep trail.
The central mountain, only a few hundred meters high in total elevation, looked relatively low and easy from the beach, but actually physically climbing its steep, muddy, root-choked paths was truly deadly for a normal human. Unable to simply use magic to fly straight up and down the cliff face like the energetic Tengu Aya, Leo could only slowly, agonizingly ascend along the gentle, winding switchback path, leaning heavily on his Gold Pickaxe like a cane. By the time his burning legs finally reached the midway point of the mountainside, it was already noon, and the tropical sun was blazing.
There was another, smaller waterfall here too. The waterfalls on this specific mountain were naturally tiered into steps. If the several hundred meters of total elevation dropped straight down in one massive fall, the water would completely atomize and turn into mist halfway down, making it impossible to form a proper, beautiful waterfall at the bottom.
"I... pant... I absolutely can't go on. I'm legally stopping right here. Let me... just let me rest and die for a while!"
Leo's mortal cardiopulmonary function was about to violently explode from his chest. He collapsed heavily onto the smooth cobblestones by the midway pool, utterly refusing to take another single, agonizing step upward.
Ever since high school, when he was forcefully made to run physical endurance drills every morning at 5:20 AM, he hadn't experienced this horrific level of sustained, physical exertion. Half a day's worth of mountain climbing today equaled his entire previous month's worth of casual farm work combined!
His hands trembling violently from muscle fatigue, he took out his phone and checked the notification message from the Blue-Haired Girl (Ran). Leo roughly, exhaustingly typed a reply with one thumb, stating that he absolutely wouldn't move another inch once they eventually reached his current map location.
Walking and running in the original PC game magically consumed absolutely zero stamina, unlike swinging an axe or farming where he could easily use a visible green stamina bar to substitute his own physical energy. But during this entire, grueling mountain journey, he had been brutally forced to use his own, actual human stamina and muscles to climb. He was completely spent.
(Off-topic Author's Note: A full month has passed since I started writing this. Now even the daily comments are getting much fewer. Dear readers, where are you hiding? Even just cursing me as 'handsome' in the comments once a day would suffice to boost the algorithm; I can handle the flattery!
I honestly don't know if this month's stats are enough to get the full attendance bonus from the platform. It looks like I definitely won't get it next month at this rate. Ten yuan a day is barely enough for me to buy a cheap box of Ba Qu.
By the way, please just click and look at the embedded ads! The 500 yuan required for the full attendance bonus doesn't count direct fan donations; it's purely, strictly based on active readership metrics and ad views. So, you absolutely don't need to spend your real, hard-earned money on donations for me. If you have absolutely nothing better to do, please just look at the ads for a few seconds and leave a quick book review. It helps immensely!)