Chapter 371

Aparl Village (2)
Guided by the village chief, we approached the largest Pupura tree—the one said to have grown from the fruit given by the monster. We looked up at the towering tree from its base.

“Hmmm, I’m pretty sure this is the tree… but what exactly is the point of it?”

“It doesn’t have a scent, and the fruit isn’t edible, right? I wonder what it’s supposed to be.”

The Pupura fruit was about the size of a kiwi fruit. When cut open, it had white flesh and black seeds.

The color was different and it didn’t have many seeds, but somehow it resembled a kiwi.

“This isn’t edible, right?”

“Yes, we had it examined to see if it could be used for medicine or anything, but…”

So the results weren’t good, apparently.

A rustling sound made me look over—there was a slime eating fallen leaves.

The village chief noticed me watching it.

“This slime is very picky. It only eats Pupura leaves.”

“What does it spit out? A liquid? Compost?”

“It’s a liquid—a pale green, thick, sticky liquid.”

It could be used as fertilizer, but its effect was far inferior to that of fertilizer produced by normal slimes, so they didn’t use it.

Still, since the leaves fall in large quantities, the slime was appreciated for keeping the area clean.

“Can I take a look at that liquid?”

“We have plenty. Please feel free.”

We also received about ten Pupura fruits before heading back.

In the meeting room of the village hall, with the Pupura fruits and the slime’s leaf-digested liquid placed on the table, the three of us—Brother Chris, Floria, and I—began examining them.

When Floria used a spoon to scoop some liquid from the bottle, it stretched as though it had considerable viscosity.

“I wonder if this liquid hardens.”

“Why?”

“If it hardens, couldn’t it be used to make bags for oily foods?”

Pupura… doesn’t that sound kind of like plastic?

“Plastic?”

I explained to Brother Chris that in my previous life, plastic was made from certain raw materials and widely used for all sorts of things.

That reminded me—there should have been something in the book about Pupura fruits.

I took out the List of Inedible Plant Fruits from my Magic Bag and flipped through it.

Found it.

[Pupura Fruit] Looks similar to a fruit but is inedible.
Has no scent.
When eaten, it has an odd flavor and tastes terrible.
The taste lingers unpleasantly in the mouth for a while.
Examination of its components shows no matches to anything useful; it has no applications in medicine.

The page included drawings of the tree, its leaves, and its fruit.

Floria looked at the page and said, “Doesn’t this look a bit like petroleum?”

I held the stone tablet over the Pupura fruit, but it showed no match.

Coco fruit registered just fine, but apparently this one wasn’t listed in the library’s documents.

We should ask Maria to experiment on it.

After telling the village chief we wanted to test a few things, we received ten bottles of slime liquid and about fifty more Pupura fruits before leaving the village.

On the way back, we stayed a night in the new town.

Buildings had already begun taking shape in the new town.

The award winners from the exhibition—and their families—who wished to relocate had already started living there.

For now, they earned their living by preparing meals for construction workers and our household staff. It might not be enough for full comfort, but it was definitely better than having no income at all.

All the cooks who had been in the new town’s manor had returned to the territorial capital manor.

Some cooks would follow Brother Chris, meaning fewer staff overall, and since I often requested large batches of sweets and lots of souvenirs, everyone was very busy.

So, if the chefs who won awards at the exhibition were coming to live in the new town, we decided to have them cook for our staff until the town’s grand opening.

The family that ran Fleur Flower Shop also moved. For a while, they’d be making flower candles for souvenirs at home and growing fresh flower fields near the fortress.

After returning to the manor, I handed Maria the Pupura fruits and the slime-liquid from the slime that only eats Pupura leaves.

Maria looked excited to have a new material to test.

“What do you think you can make with this?”

I asked her to test whether applying it to Pine paper would repel oil, and whether it would transfer onto food when used with cooking.

“If this works for oily foods, it could solve a lot of problems with cooking and souvenirs in the new town.”

I also told her that we probably wouldn't be able to obtain large quantities of the liquid.

“So it’ll be something used in small amounts rather than heavily. I’ll try out all sorts of things.”