”…Looks like it.”

However, Paipo’s tone was very somber. It made her think that something bad had happened.

“What’s wrong?”

“…He’s back a little early. He should have been prowling the forest today… did something happen?”

After hearing Paipo’s explanation, a surge of unease rose in Enri’s heart, and she feared that some bloody disaster awaited them.

While the two of them waited in silence, the large wolf Kiumei rode on arrived in front of Enri. From its rapid breathing, she could guess how much of a hurry he had been to get back here.

“What’s the matter?”

Hearing Paipo’s question, Kiumei bowed to Enri from on top of his wolf while replying, “Something’s happened in the forest.”

“…what?”

“I’m not too sure, but I think it’s like before. A whole bunch of unknown guys are moving towards the north.”

“Are they knights?”

Enri unwittingly interrupted the two of them. Even though she was powerless to change anything, she still could not ignore the conversation. She still could not forget her fear when the village had been attacked.

The “whole lot of unknown guys heading north” they talked about was referring to the tracks they found of thousands of people on the march to the north. Although the prints were similar in size to those of humans, they were made by bare feet, so in the end they had concluded that those people were not humans.

“I don’t have any conclusive evidence, but I think it’s different from that time. If you ask me, I’d say something’s happening deep inside the forest.”

“Is that so.”

Hearing that, Enri couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

“…Then, I’d better go report to the boss.”

“All right. Thanks for your hard work.”

“It’s a pleasure to serve.”

After waving to the two of them, Kiumei spurred his wolf on and departed. Enri and Paipo watched him enter the slowly-opening village doors.

“Then, shall we go back, too?”

“Yes, let’s.”

After washing their hands beside the well, Enri and Paipo had just reached home when they heard a young girl’s voice.

“Welcome back, onee-chan.”

Along with the voice came the sound of rock grinding against rock. Following the sound to its source, Enri saw Nemu turning a millstone behind the house.

A pungent smell came from the millstone. Although it was similar to the smell that had clung to Enri’s hands just before, it was several times more intense, enough that one could smell it from some distance away.

Nemu was used to the smell, which was all well and good, but Enri’s eyes almost teared up as the odor assaulted her. Paipo, standing behind her, seemed unaffected in comparison. It remained to be seen whether that was because the smell only had an effect on certain species, or because it would be terribly rude to make a face like that to his mistress’ little sister.

“I’m home. How’s things? Did you grind it up like I told you?”

“Mm, I did. Have a look.”

Following Nemu’s line of sight, she saw that the herbs that she had piled up before she had left the house had been reduced to a small handful.

“Aren’t I great? There’s not much more left.”

Before she had left the house, Enri had asked Nemu to help her grind the herbs into a paste. That was because some herbs had to be dried to be preserved, but others needed to be shredded to be preserved.

“Uwah, Nemu’s been working really hard!”

Enri opened her arms to praise Nemu, and a smug expression blossomed on Nemu’s face. Whether she had been praised by Nfirea, or simply because she wanted to help her sister out, Nemu had diligently and quickly accomplished her tasks.

Herbs made up a major portion of Carne Village’s income. It could be said to be the one specialty export that didn’t require much manpower for a frontier village .

Given that it was a crucial method for them to obtain valuable currency, all of Carne Village’s residents knew at least a little about herbs and where they grew.

Enri silently considered for a moment. The herbs from Carne Village were incredibly profitable. However, they could only be gathered within an extremely short window of time before the flowers bloomed, and could only be treated as a temporary income at best. Although all the places they knew had been fully harvested, if they just delved a little bit into the forest, they might be able to find clumps of herbs which had not yet been touched.

Of course, those woods were where the wild things were, and they were hardly a place where people like Enri could just stroll into for a picnic. However, now they had the goblins and Nfirea's broad experience as a herbalist. If only she could get their help, they should be able to make a great deal of money.

After some hesitation, Enri spoke of her plan to Paipo.

“I want to go to a new place to pick herbs, could you come with me?”

Logically speaking, there was no need for Enri to go herself. All she needed to do was to ask the goblins, who could take care of themselves, to go into the Great Forest on her behalf. However, the goblins she had summoned had a strange weakness.

That was to say, they had no aptitude at all for herb-picking, butchering animals, and that sort of work.

Similarly to how they handled cooking, even if one handed goblins a sample of a herb, they would not be able to match it up with identical herb in front of them. The surprising thing was, it was as though they were born unable to do that sort of thing, or even learn it, as if someone had removed the capacity to do so from them.

Therefore, if they were assigned to pick herbs, the goblins needed to have someone else with them.

“It should be all right, but it might be a little difficult for Ane-san to come with us.”

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“Well, like Kiumei said, there’s some kind of change in the depths of the forest. If that’s the case, the inside of the forest would be in a state of chaos now.”

Seeing the surprised expression on Enri’s face, Paipo patiently explained himself.

“Even the cautious ones would want to expand their territory. If that’s the case, then for a while, their territory is going to overlap with the others, and that’s going to cause all sorts of havoc. Simply put, the chances of meeting a monster’s going to increase, and so will the danger. And if you’re unlucky, you might even run into something outside the forest. Ane-san’s fearless and cool, but there’s no need for you to personally walk into danger.”