Cherry Tomato Strawberries
After the training exercise concluded with the defeat of Tentacle Lilith.
Having racked up the achievement of taking down one A-rank monster, we immediately returned to the marquisate. Why not just hunt more A-rank monsters, you ask? "We can't just mess with the ecosystem willy-nilly."
Monsters have their own ecosystem among themselves. Just like wild animals each claim their territories, monsters have their own unique domains too.
The disturbance caused by the wind wolves led by the wolf boy had already warped part of the Monster Zone's environment, and now the longtime resident overlord, Tentacle Lilith, had vanished into oblivion? Whether it collapsed from touching a man's dick and shattering its own ego or got blasted by Turbulence, the thing was utterly destroyed—even its angel core that had been gathering angel power.
In other words, Tentacle Lilith's territory was now vacant.
So how should we manage this territory going forward? If we leave it to nature, some monster will eventually wander in and quietly claim it. But that would just mean an existing Monster Zone monster expanding its turf, which runs counter to people's expectations of the Monster Zone.
Therefore, all we had to do was plant something new in that tentacle tree forest.
The angel power that formed the backbone of the tentacle trees had been completely eradicated, but Tentacle Lilith's massive body still lay beneath, right where it was. Sure, it had shriveled up, the ground had caved in and sunk around it, crushing parts of it—but its corpse still sprawled across a fairly vast swath of the Monster Zone, enough to have formed an entire forest.
In short: compost.
If we took special measures on top of Tentacle Lilith's corpse now, we could hijack roots that weren't really roots and use them as nutrients for growth. By planting something.
Not ordinary plants, but ones that increase mana when consumed.
"What kinda nonsense is that?"
"More bullshit."
I shoved aside Fenril, who was spouting weird crap next to me, and produced mana bread on the table.
Not quite mana bread. The principle was the same, but this was way too small to call bread compared to mana bread. Mana candy would fit better.
As Fenril said, these were "mana seeds."
If you're of a certain age, you might remember them as those trick candies from the stationery store. For the MZ generation, maybe the imported candies in unmanned ice cream shops, the kind with a bunch of little balls inside.
The "memory substances" I shape with mana aren't limited to bread. It's just that most flavors stored in my memories are breads or desserts, but I can easily make small snacks kids love too.
And for these snacks, I just needed to take one measure.
Knock knock.
A knock echoed. Perfect timing.
"Come in."
"Pardon the intrusion."
Unia opened the door cautiously and stepped in. In her hands was a potted plant.
A stem stretching about 30cm, laden with clusters of—
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"......Cherry tomatoes?"
Not strawberries, but cherry tomatoes.
"Cherry tomatoes?" Unia tilted her head and pointed at the plant in her pot. "You asked for strawberries, right?"
"Hold on. Did I mix up the word? Or is the term different where I come from?"
"......In Mr. Phoenix's hometown, they must call strawberries 'cherry tomatoes'?"
"......."
My head spun for a moment.
My grand plan to create massive strawberry core fields centered on the Ludbekia Marquisate hit a snag.
"Mind if I try one?"
"Sure."
Unia set the pot in front of me and plucked a cherry tomato, extending it to my mouth.
"Ahh."
I opened wide as she said, swallowing the cherry tomato. She pushed her finger in deeper than expected, so I ended up with about one knuckle in my mouth, but I pulled back by tilting my head.
"How is it?"
Unia picked another with the same hand and popped it into her own mouth.
Crunch.
"......."
The bizarre aroma and sweetness bursting in my mouth. Barely any sourness—this unique juice and sensation was—strawberry.
It looked like a cherry tomato on the outside, but the chewing texture and flavor were pure strawberry.
It produced the exact taste of strawberry in a form totally unlike the ones I knew.
Fenril. This strawberry?
Fenril was shaken. Not just my memories— this cherry tomato-looking strawberry was completely different from the ones she knew before her banishment to the demon realm.
And above all, the red things topping strawberry cakes in the Breadcademy world I knew weren't shaped like this.
Everyone in the demon realm knew: strawberries had those seed-like things on the outside, mostly triangular in shape. Not wrapped in a thin skin like grapes.
But it tastes like strawberry.
I plucked another strawberry—no, cherry tomato—and chewed it.
Where'd the fruit go?
A lot of people think the dots on strawberries are seeds. But they're actually the fruits. Each little dot is a fruit, and we chew and swallow the flesh studded with dozens of them.
Not quite a fruit itself. That's strawberry.
Even biting halfway to check inside, this mystery thing that looked just like a cherry tomato wasn't it.
"......."
I reached for the cherry tomato's leaves.
"Oh, massaging the plant too?"
Like the mana massages I gave Unia and the others, I fiddled with the leaves, channeling mana inside.
I'm no strawberry farmer, and I don't know the molecular structure, but I know demon realm strawberries cold. As someone who slaved away making strawberry desserts daily for ten years under one hell duke, I know the difference between strawberries and cherry tomatoes better than anyone.
So I realized. This... is strawberry.
Looks like each one got persecuted individually.
Seems like it.
Strawberries weren't strawberries anymore. Even in the original Breadcademy world, strawberries existed—but now the species had changed entirely.
Cherry tomatoes had morphed into their shape and taken their place where true strawberries should be.
"...Damn it."
"Mr. Phoenix?"
"This isn't the time to ponder what fruit to plant for mana-rich growth."
I popped another cherry tomato into my mouth. Yup, strawberry.
Looks like a cherry tomato, but it's strawberry through and through.
In other words, appearances weren't the truth I recognized.
My player senses, demon realm knowledge— the info I thought I knew could only be confirmed by direct experience—
"No."
Hold on.
"Miss Unia. When we ate at the terminal or lived at the academy."
"Yes."
"......No strawberries back then?"
"......Huh? No?"
Unia tilted her head as she answered.
"We had strawberry lattes, tons of strawberry desserts. The ones that came out then... Huh?"
"Wait."
Before Unia could frown, I grabbed her.
"????"
Unia looked confused. Not because I hugged her tight to my chest, but because of the "confusion" I was experiencing—she was rolling her eyes side to side in bewilderment.
"Wh-what...?"
"Calm down."
Don't think of an elephant, and you'll think of one.
"Look at me."
And shift her thoughts elsewhere.
"During this training, anything you wanna do?"
"During training...."
Unia's eyes flickered briefly, but she closed them, opened them, and stared up at me intently.
"......I want to know this 'confusion' for sure."
Unia answered with a composed face.
"Where the shift happened, what this phenomenon is. Which is real, which is fake."
* * *
[Meanwhile, at Esdinas Academy.]
"Hmph, hum-hm, hum-hm~"
Somewhere in the academy during peak training week, a female student strolled the inner garden, humming a tune.
Black hair down to her waist, golden eyes. The standout feature: her mana pouch, bulging hugely under her freshman uniform.
A beauty who drew second glances from passersby. The black-haired girl scanned them before dashing forward.
"Sis!"
"Kyaa?!"
The black-haired freshman lunged at her upperclassman, hugging from behind—
"Hee-hee."
"You, seriously, again...!"
—and started groping her mana pouch. The upperclassman sighed deeply, shaking her head.
"I shouldn't say this. If you do it to others, you're in big trouble. Got it?"
"That's why I only do it to you, sis."
"Ha... Lillie."
"Yeah, what?"
"You... not wearing any?"
"...Hee-hee."
The black-haired girl, Lillie, whispered in her senior's ear.
"Wanna check yourself, sis?"
"Later. More importantly, what about your training?"
"Felt sick, so I swapped for a report."
"Oh? I figured you'd want the Old School Building."
"Me? Nah, why would I go there?"
Lillie shot back like it was obvious.
"It's co-ed dorms. I want the girls' dorm."
"......Don't blame me if you get kicked out later?"
"It's fine, it's fine."
Lillie flashed a sly smile.
"I'm no bad freshman breaking school rules!"