Great Root Herb - 1
To obtain the Great Root Herb, you needed the urine of a virgin whose body, mind, and spirit were all perfect—but it wouldn’t do to simply bring any old sample.
It had to be fresh. Warm, just out of the body.
To satisfy the exquisitely perverse tastes of that unicorn barrier, a virgin of flawless body, mind, and spirit had to relieve herself right in front of it.
Fucking unicorn.
The problem was that Isabel, that perfect virgin in body, mind, and spirit, could barely walk because of Rose's Punishment.
Which meant that if I wanted the Great Root Herb, I’d have to carry Isabel around on my back.
Should I sell a ladder to a blacksmith?
Fortunately, the only monsters dwelling near the Great Root Herb were goblins, the lowest of the low among trash mobs.
With my current stats, I could handle them easily enough.
If I’d been possessing Sumire instead, this would’ve been dangerous.
Goblins were the stock-in-trade monster of fantasy worlds—trash among trash—but in an eroge, they could be considered invincible.
That was only true, however, when it came to the heroine.
For Ian, the male lead and a hunter, the goblins’ vaunted menace meant nothing.
There was something more important to deal with first.
“A picnic?”
“Yes. I was hoping to take Isabel to the fields. Would that be all right?”
“Well…”
At my question, Adelia looked troubled.
So I recited the line I’d prepared for persuading her.
“If she stays cooped up at home all the time, it’ll wear her down mentally. I want to help her clear her head by letting her see wide-open fields and beautiful flowers.”
“I think that’s a lovely idea. We used to go on picnics often, even when my husband was still alive. But are you sure? You’ll have to carry Isabel on your own…”
“It’s fine. I may not look it, but I’m quite strong.”
My current Strength stat was 12.
It wasn’t absurdly high, but it was a little above average.
Carrying a skinny little girl like Isabel was no problem at all.
“All right. I’ll trust you and leave it to you, Ian. But you must come back safely, understand?”
“Leave it to me. I’ll cherish Isabel more than my own life.”
“I wasn’t asking you to go that far…”
Adelia packed all sorts of things for the picnic.
She gave me snacks, of course, and even a carrying frame so I could haul Isabel on my back.
“It was my husband’s in the past, so I’m not sure if it’ll fit you.”
“It fits perfectly. I’ll make good use of it.”
Once everything was ready, I headed straight for Isabel.
She was staring blankly out the window as usual, but when I arrived she immediately turned her gaze toward me.
I lowered myself to her eye level and asked, “Isabel, if you’re free today, would you give me the chance to take you on a date?”
“A date?”
“Yes. We’ll go flower-watching in the fields and have a fun little adventure in the forest together. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”
“I…”
At my proposal, Isabel hesitated for a moment.
Was her affection still too low for a date?
If she didn’t want to, I was ready to find another chance later.
There would be plenty of opportunities either way.
“I-I’d like that.”
Unlike what I’d expected, Isabel readily agreed.
“Then today, I’ll be your escort.”
“I’ll… be in your care.”
Carefully, I lifted Isabel into my arms.
And I was startled by how unbelievably light she was.
I knew she barely ate anything, but this is ridiculous. She’s all skin and bones.
No matter how much of it was due to her illness, this was too much.
“A-Am I heavy?”
“No. You’re so light you’re practically a feather. That’s what surprised me.”
I set Isabel onto the carrying frame and fastened the rope securely like a safety harness, just in case she slipped.
“It might feel a little cramped, but please bear with it.”
“Ah, yes…”
With that, I hoisted Isabel onto my back and headed for the forest where the Great Root Herb grew.
“Isabel, how does it feel?”
“It’s been so long since I’ve been outside that I’m not really sure.”
On the way to the forest, I kept talking so she wouldn’t get bored.
“How were the picnics you used to go on with your family?”
“Not very good. Father had a hard time because of me.”
“....”
Isabel slipped into her melancholy, self-loathing mode at the slightest provocation, and keeping the conversation on track was always a pain.
Still, I understood it.
If you lived your whole life in pain, you’d become brittle like glass.
Honestly, it was impressive she hadn’t gone mad already.
“I doubt your father had a hard time because of Isabel.”
“...Why do you think that?”
“Because there’s no way he could have struggled with such a feather-light daughter.”
“Th-that’s…”
“Isabel, look at this.”
She seemed ready to argue, but I changed the subject quickly.
Giving a gloomy girl too much time to think was something only amateurs did.
To drive the depression away, you had to keep her so occupied she couldn’t spare a single thought for it.
“This blue flower is a carnivorous plant. It smells nice, but if you get close, it’ll bite.”
“See that weird-looking mushroom? It’s a hallucinogenic mushroom, so if you eat it, you’ll start seeing things. Be careful.”
“Do you see that butterfly over there? It isn’t an ordinary butterfly—it’s a spirit butterfly. Even hunters can go their whole lives without seeing one, and now you get to see it because of you.”
I ended up doing most of the talking, but Isabel listened quietly and absorbed every word.
For a girl who had spent her life staring out a window, every little thing out here must have seemed wondrous.
Finally, we’re here.
I at last found the cave where the Great Root Herb grew.
“Please excuse me for a moment, Isabel.”
I set her down and drew my bow and arrows.
Then I activated the hunter’s detection skill.
“Looks like there are guests inside.”
[Goblin]
[Goblin]
.
.
.
[Hobgoblin]
Sure enough, a pack of goblins was hiding inside the cave.
Seven of them. Not much different from the game.
I prepared a simple trap and loosed an arrow at the hobgoblin.
Whoosh!
“Keh?!”
Along with the sound of the arrow cutting through the air came a goblin’s scream.
“What was that?”
“Goblins. Nothing to worry about, so please keep your eyes closed and wait a moment.”
Before the goblins could get close, I fired several more arrows.
That let me take down two more.
Four left now?
As the goblins came into view at close range, I drew my worn sword.
“Kikik, a human male!”
“Kill the man!”
“There’s a human female over there.”
“We’ll take the woman!”
The goblins rushed in stupidly.
They didn’t see the rope strung along the ground until it was too late, and one after another they tripped and went sprawling.
“Kik?!”
The goblin at the back scrambled to get up, but my blade had already pierced the nape of its neck.
“One down.”
It was the first time I’d killed a monster that resembled a human, but I didn’t feel disgusted.
If anything, I felt relieved.
So this is what it’s like inside Ian’s body. Even my first real fight feels natural.
The moment I pulled my sword free from the goblin’s neck, I dodged the others’ counterattacks.
My body moved on its own before I even had time to think.
That made it easy to clear out the rest of them quickly.
“You’re the last one.”
“Khek!”
After finishing off the final goblin, I returned to Isabel.
She seemed pretty tense from the sudden fight, and had obediently kept her eyes closed just as I’d told her to.
“Pfft.”
She looked so cute like that I couldn’t help smiling.
“I-Is it over?”
“Yes, it’s over. But please don’t open your eyes yet.”
“W-why not?”
“There’s something I want to show you separately.”
Once again I lifted Isabel onto my back and headed deeper into the cave.
There were hobgoblin corpses inside, but I’d roughly hidden them under some brush.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“U-um…”
Isabel hesitated before opening her eyes slowly.
Then she let out a breathless sound at the sight before her.
“Waaah…”
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The inside of the cave was carpeted with pink flowers, and the soft sunlight filtering in from outside made the whole place look ethereal.
If she knew what those flowers really were, she’d probably find it creepy instead.
I set Isabel down where the pollen couldn’t reach her, then took out the snacks Adelia had packed.
Strictly speaking, the “snacks” were nothing more than dried raspberries and hard rye bread.
“Let’s eat here.”
“Here?”
“Yes. A mountain is best enjoyed after a meal, as they say. If your stomach’s full, enjoyment doubles.”
“What mountain is that?”
“It’s the name of a beautiful mountain in a small country in the East.”
While chatting with Isabel, I fed her a raspberry.
“How is it? Isn’t it more enjoyable when you’re eating while you look at it?”
“Yes… it is.”
Isabel answered with a shy smile.
At that, I smiled back and prepared the tea.
Needless to say, the ingredient was the Golden Flower.
.
.
.
Isabel had never once felt truly happy in her life.
For a girl who could not move her body, there had been nothing granted to her except the life of staring blankly out a window.
Then came the forest she had never seen before, and the sudden appearance of goblins.
Everything was unfamiliar, and because of that, her once-quiet heart began pounding violently in her chest.
At first it had been frightening, but before long she found herself feeling something else entirely.
She felt happy.
It was as if she were truly alive, moving through the world.
And the one who had made her feel all of it was Ian.
Why does this man love me?
As she looked at Ian smiling at her, Isabel’s emotions grew tangled and complicated.
The more she felt his love, the stronger those feelings became.
I can’t do anything for him.
She couldn’t please him as a woman, couldn’t support him as a wife, and couldn’t even bear him children.
She was nothing more than a parasite, lying uselessly in bed and devouring the household’s food.
If someone had asked for the most worthless being in the world, she was certain it would be her.
And yet he loved her, and Isabel simply couldn’t understand why.
Why?
She wanted to ask him why he loved her, but she didn’t have the courage to ask.
If she couldn’t give him what he wanted, his love might disappear.
In the end, Isabel hid her feelings once again today.
That was when it happened.
“Eek?!”
As a tingling sensation rose from her lower belly, Isabel felt a chill run down her spine.
I-I need to pee.
And that was the very moment her husband desired most.