We’ve arrived on the planet Mishyltia, met a guy who was reincarnated into an elf, and decided to take a day off. Along with something called life tree fruit that’s the size of a football.
“Firstly, about the life tree fruit. I heard of something similar here and there, such as Yggdrasil fruit or spirit tree fruit.”
According to the simple appraisal magic item, there’s nothin’ poisonous, toxic, or anythin’ cursed. I’m scared because he said we can eat it raw and it’s not a problem if we eat too much… But I don’t think he’s gonna use this to do something.”
“Smells nice~! I looked it up and saw an Yggdrasil fruit was sold for ten thousand puni~!!”
“Is this thing bad news?”
The living room on the second floor of Tortilla Double is filling with a sweet melon smell.
It supposedly grows on a tree, so why does it smell like a gourd? Shouldn’t it be like a peach or apple?
Let’s just crack it open… That’s the idea anyway, but no one can do it barehanded, so Saratha gets a claw hammer from Kori’s room to crack it. She’s the strongest among the four of us.
The three of us clap, while Saratha mumbles asking what we’re doing. She gives it a shot, and with a thud, the hammer bounces back.
“Tch, this is tougher and more flexible than I thought.”
“If it comes to that, I’ll open a hole with the laser gun.”
Saratha whispers no, and this time swings down harder. And with a bang, the hammer bounces back. Still, the shell is a little dented this time, so she starts hitting it with the claw part.
“I’m going as hard as I can!!”
She grabs it with her tail to make it stay still and holds it with her left hand, and strikes it with the claw part harder than before. That’s all her strength, and after a strange wet sound, the sharp claw part goes into the tree of life fruit.
The fruit is split in two. Saratha loosens her tail, and both halves of the fruit face forward.
“Ah…? I just swung a hammer, right…?”
“Why did it split cleaning in half upon Saratha striking it?”
“Fuah~~! It smells so sweet!”
It really does. The air purifier and the vent kick in and start making a lot of noise.
Kori raises the tree of life fruit.
“It didn’t break like I thought… Let’s get plates and serving utensils. And wrap one half to put in the freezer container in the cargo bay.”
“How about we adorn the ham case with it~? Won’t it fit~?”
“I think it would if we tried…”
“Kori! Let us eat already! The smell! The smell!!”
One of us can’t wait anymore, so we split it with a knife and everyone gets a plate.
It’s surprisingly deep blue inside, the color of the sea as seen from space. The juices aren’t that blue, and the color doesn’t stick to my fingers like blueberries.
Strangely enough, the blue color doesn’t cause me to lose my appetite.
It still smells like melon.. But it doesn’t have the unripe smell of gourds, even past the sweet smell, there’s a mellow aroma. I stab a bite-sized piece with the fork, and juices fall on the plate. It’s crazy how they overflow from just cutting it.
Once I put it in my mouth and chew, more juice than I expected fills my mouth, like I just squeezed a sponge filled with water.
It tastes pretty much how it smells, but it wraps around my tongue like a fully ripe peach. There’s less dietary fiber than I thought, but that’s probably because of the impression I got from its shell. It’s surprisingly soft.
In summation, it’s a blue peach with a rich sweetness that’s so juicy the juices come out by just pressing my finger into it. And it tastes like melon.
“Tasty…”
“This is…”
“Too good…~”
“Wonderful… Wonderful…”
No, this is tasty to the point of addiction…
I rinse my mouth with water, and bring ham slices to everyone. Let’s reset our mouths with saltiness and test the sweetness of the life tree fruit once again.
It’s tasty. The ham can’t match the sweetness, but I can’t think of anything else.
I’m nice and warm around the time when we’ve eaten about a fourth of it. I look around, and see Saratha and Suzuri also have red faces. And Kori’s cola is fizzing.
“Is this what I think it is~?”
“That guy knew what he was doing… Can’t even use appraisal…”
“Ahh… Purification… I got rid of the smell and juices, but…”
“I will put the fruit in the container… Please don’t start before I return…”
Everyone gets fidgety. Saratha starts cleaning the room a little, Kori gets a twelve meter long rolled futon, and Suzuri takes the dangerous goods into the freezer container in the cargo bay.
I tell the ship’s support AI to go into defense mode, and get water for everyone.
We all sit with our feet flat on the floor as we wait for Suzuri. When the elevator opens, she jumps this way…
▽▽▽
The next morning, I’m spent. I was trampled even after announcing complete defeat. No mercy for the defeated.
Life tree fruit is tasty, very tasty, but it came with a side effect.
I look at the smartphone, and see it’s eight. We didn’t make plans with Van, but if that bastard’s an early bird, he should be calling any moment… And my movement prompts the others to wake up too.
“Did it… With Saratha and Kori… Did that…”
“Why does somethin’ that tasty have a side effect like that…”
“Suzuri. Give up~. It wasn’t direct, but we were pole sisters~…”
“I feel like it gets too heated with the four of us all mixed up… But it was fun.”
We all take turns hitting each other, using a purification magic item, and purification magic to clean each other. We also thoroughly clean Saratha’s futon. This isn’t what it’s supposed to be for.
It’s a little awkward, so we don’t talk much while having breakfast, until we receive a transmission.
“<Did you do it?>”
“I’m gonna punch your lights out. That’s the first thing you say?”
“<Hahahahaha! Don’t be so mad.>”
“So, what about work?”
“<Yes, about the space pirate hideout. Apparently there’s an asteroid belt in this star system. There are a few spots where refugees decided to live, but one of them is a space pirate hideout.>”
“How do you figure?”
“<Hahaha, we took out the intimidating Blood Servants that attacked this place. If you’re worried, I have a video I can show you later.>”
“Let me check that anyway.”
“<Yes yes, that’s important. In an hour… Alliance time nine thirty? Can you come here?>”
“No… Problem. I’ll come down to the dock then.”
“<Got it! Talking with people is fun. Excuse me.>”
“You heard it. We’re supposed to be there in an hour, so get ready after you’re done eating. Refugees… They still have them in space…”
“A mountain full of them. I was one.”
“Eh? I guess you did say you were in the Zadar colony without a license.”
“Yeah. I was in a mining station that was attacked and destroyed by space pirates. I ran away when I was a kid, and ended up in Zadar.”
“It is not unusual for people to lose their homes to wars and attacks. In the past nine thousand years, there have been many cases of refugees settling in one place and building stations.”
“A lot of them come from ships that became scrap~. Like me~.”
Nine thousand year history… Earth had nomads and people displaced by wars, but I guess that gets crazy when you expand it to a galactic scale.
“So~. Ones that don’t feel like working, end up making space pirate hideouts~.”
“And people who feel like working can work hard and survive in a colony. And join one of the Alliance’s branches.”
“You have been through a lot, Kori!”
“Uhehehe~~. It was tough~~.”
“You wandered in a colony penniless until I picked you up.”
“You two worked hard from zero…”
I didn’t find the right time to ask, so I never heard about their pasts. So that’s how it was…
“Leaving that aside, we need to crush those space pirates. They take away refugees’ meager food like it’s no big deal.”
“Got it. Let’s finish our breakfast, and see how big that hideout is. I can’t imagine it’s that big.”
First we get dressed, and then we’re heading out to talk to Van.
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