“Well then, should we all just head out together? Koko can sit on Zeke’s lap and…”

As I was saying that, Koko clucked with a “Kokek!” and wandered off somewhere.

Did I just hear “Kokek”? It wasn’t “Kek,” was it?

“Koko’s staying behind. Let’s buy her something tasty on the way back.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

It seems like she doesn’t want to come, so there’s no need to force her.

Alright then, let’s head to town! Let’s go!

As we were about to board the carriage, Zeke asked who would be driving.

Oh, right, a carriage usually needs a coachman, doesn’t it?

“Even without a coachman, as long as you tell Pegasus the destination, he’ll take us there.”

Whoa~. What a dependable Pegasus.

As I took my seat, it was soft and comfortable to sit on.

“Whoa, what is this? It’s not hard at all!”

As soon as he sat down, Alex exclaimed in surprise.

“It certainly is… Could this be from the labyrinth?”

It’s not from the labyrinth. It’s from Ermine.

…It’s a bit hard to say that though.

“No, it’s not. So, does all sorts of stuff come out of the labyrinth?”

Zeke said their bags were from the labyrinth too, but what kind of things come out of there?

“Very rarely, you’ll find things that can’t be made by human hands. This bag is one such item. Sometimes, an all-purpose elixir will appear too.”

Oh. With a name like “all-purpose elixir,” it sounds like it has incredible effects. If I knew the ingredients, I might be able to make it, but I wonder if there’s a recipe for it in any of the alchemy books.

Sometimes, just knowing the name will make the recipe appear. I’m excited to check!

I haven’t had a chance to look through the book yet, but after defeating that King Snake, I might have gotten a new recipe for premium eel rice. I’ll have to read through it carefully!

“There’s also something like a pot that never burns anything.”

Alex said, laughing as he told me.

“Something like that comes out too?”

“Yeah. A guy whose wife always burns the food bought it right away, delighted.”

I can see why he’d be thrilled.

“I’ve heard that even carriages like this one appear sometimes. They’re so expensive only royalty can afford them though.”

Hmm, interesting.

By the way, this world has kings too, huh?

Hmm… I don’t really understand much about this world. Is it round like Earth? How many countries are there? I might need to study up on that through books or something.

Oh, right! I’ll ask Ermine later. Since he’s a “guide,” he probably knows a lot, right?

…He’s a bit unreliable, but I’m sure he’ll tell me at least that much, right?

“How do you transport something as large as a carriage?”

“When something that big appears, there’s usually a return point nearby to bring it back to the surface.”

Oh~. Even the aftercare is well thought out.

I wonder how the labyrinth system works.

I won’t ever go there since fighting is out of the question for me, but it’s still intriguing.

“We’re about to take off.”

“Woof!”

With the sound of Ermine on my lap, Pegasus took a few steps and then I felt us lift gently into the air.

“Wow! We’re flying!”

Looking out the large window, I could see us ascending higher and higher.

As a nice gesture, Pegasus circled once around the house.

That’s our home.

Looking at it from up here, it seems so small. The yard is fairly spacious, though.

But the cute red roof makes me like it.

Oh, Koko’s perched on the roof like a weather vane.

I waved at Koko, and she spread her wings.

“Koko! We’re off!”

I don’t know if she heard me, but I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted.

Koko flapped her wings with a “bash.”

“I’ll bring you a souvenir!”

It might just be a coincidence, but Koko flapped her wings again.

Pegasus continued to rise, flying over the forest.

The forest is pretty large, and though I can see birds in the distance, none of them come close.

“So this is the Misty Forest.”

Right, the fog used to be so thick we couldn’t enter the forest, huh?

From the sky, the forest stretches long and thin. The middle is slightly wider, and right in the center of that wider area is our home.

After flying a bit further, the house was hidden by the trees and became invisible even from above.

“It’s quite large, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I hope the other adventurers aren’t lost.”

Zeke and Cloud, sitting across from me, said this while gazing out of the window.

“This expedition is only for mithril and platinum, so I think it’ll be fine.”

“But with monsters like the King Snake around, even mithril adventurers are in danger.”

Oh right, Cloud was poisoned and barely made it.

“We should suggest suspending the exploration once we’re back at the guild.”

“Good idea.”

As the two of them worriedly stared at the forest, Ermine twitched his whiskers.

“Koko’s doing the rounds in the forest today, so it should be fine.”

“That… chicken?”

Zeke looked at me with a face that was hard to describe, averting his gaze from the window.

“There’s no creature in that forest that can beat Koko, so you can relax.”

“Just what is she?”

“Koko is Koko.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Zeke and the other two turned to look at me all at once.

But even I don’t know what Koko is!