Chapter 97: A New Resident Has Joined Us
Although I had said she’d understand if she just watched, waiting for two whole hours was a bit much, even for me. So, I decided to take Io to a corner of the garden where the “meats” had already grown to their harvestable stage.
“W-Wait… the meat is really… growing…”
Io-san stood there, frozen in disbelief, her eyes wide as if the very laws of nature had shifted before her.
“It’s the power of my Gift,” I explained.
“My… Gift…? I think I’ve heard of that. Humans are said to be granted special powers by the gods…”
“Oh? Does that mean… beastmen don’t get them…?”
According to Io-san, beastmen aren’t granted Gifts.
“In exchange, each of us inherits the traits of our respective beasts,” she continued. “We have naturally heightened physical abilities and unique skills that probably serve the same purpose as Gifts.”
So, in a sense, it was similar—but not quite the same. Beastmen’s abilities were inherent to their species, not individualized like Gifts.
“Even so… I never realized Gifts could be this amazing. You’d never have to worry about food, would you?”
“Well… I might be the exception,” I admitted. “I’ve never heard of anyone else with the same Gift, nor have I ever seen it in use.”
After that, I led Io-san to the southwest corner of the garden. There, waiting as if it had always been part of the scenery, was a small house I had quietly generated during our journey with a quick application of my house-creation ability.
“You can use this house,” I told her.
“Huh? Are you… letting me live in your house…? Suddenly… cohabiting…?”
“Oh, no. I don’t actually live here. I stay in another house with my sister,” I quickly clarified.
“Oh… I see…”
Why did she sound a little disappointed? I couldn’t help but wonder.
“And there are already a couple of other residents in the garden—one in the northeast, one in the southeast. I’ll let them know, but please don’t fight if you happen to see them,” I added.
“You mean… you’ve already taken in two people? You’re bolder than you look…”
“?”
I didn’t quite understand what she was talking about.
When I mentioned the house had a bath, Io-san perked up. “I’ll go wash up right away!” she exclaimed, dashing inside.
While she was occupied, I decided to brief Miranda-san and Bladia-san about Io-san. If they ran into each other unexpectedly in the garden, there was a chance they might see one another as intruders—and, well, that could lead to unnecessary fights.
Since I had expanded the garden a bit since last time, walking from one end to the other now took nearly twenty minutes at a normal pace.
However, the inter-garden teleportation ability can’t be used for movement within the same garden.
So, to move around the second garden, I had to temporarily pass through the first garden. The teleportation between gardens allows specifying the destination, which makes this workaround possible.
“Miranda, it’s me. May I come in?”
I knocked on Miranda’s hut but received no answer. Shrugging, I opened the door and stepped inside.
“Ugh… what a smell.”
The moment I entered, a strong alcohol scent assaulted my nose.
“How much did she drink…?”
The room was bare—no furniture, nothing at all—and empty bottles were strewn everywhere, leaving almost no space to step.
For context, Miranda magically produces these bottles herself. She transfers the liquor she harvests in the garden—grown like coconuts or milk fruit—into the bottles for preservation. But honestly… considering she drinks nearly all of it as soon as it’s harvested, the preservation aspect seemed a bit pointless.
“Gugaaaahhh—”
Miranda-san lay sprawled on the floor, belly exposed, snoring loudly. At first, her unguarded form might have caused surprise, but by now, seeing her like this barely sparked even a flicker of emotion.
Honestly… could she actually be an old man trapped in a young woman’s body?
I decided to leave a note on the floor explaining the situation instead of waking her. Drunken company is never fun to deal with.
Next, I made my way to Bladia’s hut.
“…Wait, why is it painted bright red?”
I paused at the exterior, startled.
Bladia-san was a vampire—a true blood-drinking demon of the kind said to prey on humans. But surely this red wasn’t actual blood… right?
I hesitated before knocking on the door.
“Geo. Enter,” came a voice from inside.
“Oh, okay.”
She had spoken before I could even knock. Somehow, she had sensed my arrival without seeing me.
Inside, the hut was properly furnished with beds, tables, and the like, unlike Miranda’s sparse quarters. Everything was tidy, well-kept, and clearly in regular use.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked.
“Your scent,” she replied, still facing away from me. “Your blood.”
Her… blood sense?
Though she looked like a small, innocent girl of about ten, she was, in reality, a centuries-old vampire—a predator that had once caused large-scale wars.
Being alone with someone like her seemed… unwise.
Then I noticed a wet, squelching sound coming from her hands.
Her hands… were coated bright red.
C-could she… be—someone…?
“Yet your tomatoes are delicious! Far better than human blood!”
The blonde, red-eyed little girl turned toward me, her mouth full of chewed tomatoes.
Ah. Right. She wasn’t attacking anyone—she just had an insatiable love for tomatoes.
“The hut’s color… changed, right?” I asked cautiously.
“I painted it red to mimic tomatoes! Using actual tomatoes would be wasteful, so I used red dye instead.”
“…I see.”
Perhaps, as a vampire, she should have gone with a blood motif, but at least she seemed harmless as long as I kept giving her tomatoes.
Feeling reassured, I began explaining Io-san’s situation to her.