That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill-Chapter 161: Bet!

My afternoon had come to an end. I spent my time in the dark woods I briefly visited, then it was time to hit back home. In a week, I hadn't entered my own residence. I might have dreaded such activity at first, but sleeping outside on rooftops wasn't so bad.

Still, at times, the feeling of being home was just worth it.

So, before the sunset, that was where I was. Leisurely, after I sneakily entered the room the old man had said could be for me by the window I always left open, I dug my back in the most comfortable seating accommodation resembling a throne of sorts. My arms resting on the sober, comfortable bench's rear side, I crossed and uncrossed my legs together, looking straight ahead of me. My eyes weren't lost on the fine canvas that rested there on the wall; I looked at nothing in particular.

A minute passed. My eyebrows raised, and I snorted.

"I definitely feel something. Some change… or something."

Uncrossing my legs, my back parted from my black throne, I leaned in, and picked another of these.

"Magical flowers. They're some nourishment, after all." This time, I didn't bother tasting the plant one petal at a time. Confident in both the fact that it tasted good to me, and the fact that it nourished me (and allowed my mana to regenerate), I brought the whole flower to my lips, before I drowned the flower in the dark of my gaping mouth. "Hmm. Definitely tastes good, right. …This book here calls it, uh, a Mana Begonia of Plains, eh?"

Upon the coffee table I had in front of me, there were both wildflowers in a bundle—I picked those in the woods I hunted—and a book called Alchemy: All Sorts of Mana-flower Varieties and their Properties.

"Well, even flowers have a lot to say about themselves."

"True, they do."

I turned to Cetha, the elven princess. She sat beside me and faced the coffee table with excitement. Her eyes were sparkling and a cute smile was pleated on her pale lips. Curiously eyeing the rare flowers I brought home, she looked so passionate. The girl's passion was really about anything that had to do with learning and mana.

"And the one you got here is called…"

"—Rare Forest Catmint."

That was my fairy of her own majestic valley for you. Always so knowledgeable about things she was passionate about. Always so gracious when she shared such knowledge and experience with me. The wondrous lady turned toward me, smiled at me, and behold, the entire room lit up. I had to smile back at her, and she complimented me on all the rare flowers and magical wonders I found, trying to make me feel better yet.

"Right. It's a catmint." Leaning closer to Cetha, I observed her playing with the magical flower in her hands. Once she was onto it again, the girl was studious and observed every angle of the subject of her admiration. I observed it with her. A mana-flower. Cetha noticed my growing interest, and laughed: "What, you want to eat that one, too?" I laughed, too, and explained to the girl for the nth time that, no, I wasn't about to eat them all.

In the first place, I was just experimenting with those flowers when I was back home. I was hardly comparable to any organic creatures, human or animal, of this world. I was purely from water and mana. Eating flowers filled with magical energy was a rather pleasant experience for someone like me.

But that wasn't some matter I had to over-explain to her—my old man was the one to whom I gave reports. Reports about myself. Reports about that unique monster-type.

He insisted I had to so he knew everything there was to know about his beloved grandson perfectly. Later, he bragged that he could be the first author to write the unpublished bestseller of a lifetime: How to Bring Up Your Unique Monster-type Child Well: A Complete Guide.

"That's why I won't eat it," I said, digging my back deep into the two-placed throne again. "Tell you what, you're the one who should try some. They're really tasty, you'll see."

"Well…" the girl hesitated, scrunching up her delicate facial features with slight disgust. I chuckled.

"Was it really that terrible…?" I seriously liked the taste. It felt fitting to my palate. Like it agreed with the ingredients I ate today.

"It was sour!"

"You're not a real elf. Scam elf. I should boo you."

"That'd be rude." It wouldn't. Elven people were renowned for their love of vegetables and greens all around the world. My elf didn't like raw flowers, though. That was a surprise to me.

"Jokes aside, like you say, Aoi, I imagine that's only because of your rather unique condition, don't you think?"

"Right." I knew it was.

"I tasted a petal for you. And it was just… really, sour, ha-ha."

"That's that. Too bad. I'm done experimenting anyway. So, as we agreed, you can have 'em all to yourself now."

"All of them? Sure?"

"All of them. Yup."

"I thought we agreed I couldn't take all of them, though, Aoi."

Cetha said that she could hardly accept them all, though. The ingredients were too precious, according to her, and she wouldn't allow herself to impose herself on me like this. Or, she could, but before she knew it, she would start asking for every one of my possessions.

"And I'm telling you you don't have to be so polite, y'know."

We spoke about it, and I told her I'd give her everything I brought once I was done with it: Be it red and blue crystals or the magical herb ingredients of all sorts I found outside. On top of the coffee table, more than just flowers, there were also magical gemstones and crystals I plucked in the cavern. Cetha called all of those oh-so-precious alchemy ingredients. And by now, I was done with it all.

Sure, I had driven my sharp teeth into the unstable crystals and gemstones. Sure, I also drove my teeth into the feeble mana-flowers, too. I tasted them all. One from each variety I brought. All of them tasted succulent, and most importantly, they fed me rather correctly, compared to your regular human-made food. That confirmed this and that theory of the old man. As I knew the flowers, which were basically brimming with accumulated mana as well, worked the same way as the other stones, I was thoroughly done experimenting.

Cetha was happy, then. If I was done experimenting with those random magical ingredients, she certainly wasn't. So she told me as much, smiled, moved closer to me, and thanked me. Fondly, I gave the girl a head pat and stood up. I needed to go and see the old man, now.

"Ah, Uncle, right. He is downstairs. He misses you, you know, Aoi." Cetha couldn't believe she had to say that, but she told me that I should drop by more often. "Like this isn't your residence in the first place," she laughed. She was right.

I made to leave, so Cetha followed with me. I saw the majestic fairy to her private moonlight lake—a room she had upstairs, too—and stood by the entrance, arms crossed on my chest, as she arranged the things I gave her on her desk, with her books and stuff. For a moment, we chatted idly.

"So… are your friends adventurers? Like, from the Guild Bureau?" They were. "I guess it must be fun going out adventuring with them." Surprisingly, it wasn't especially. "Ah! But then what is it that is always keeping you busy outside, mm, Aoi?"

Not much kept me busy, I guess. I mean, there was a lot I wanted to go about, but I didn't have any big plans I needed to work toward achieving or anything of the sort. Clearing my throat, I decided not to mention most of what I, the monster, went about outside. Like, what I just did today. I didn't want to freak her out.

"You know, Aoi, I'm sure you could… no, I'm sure we could sit back next to each other at the Academy. The apprentices are so numerous the grandmaster wouldn't notice. My guess is, when he put us apart, he certainly didn't intend for it to be definitive, you know, Aoi."

I knew that. Still, I wouldn't do that as long as I had stuff to take care of in the outside world, where I belonged.

"The courses are fun!" And our conversation naturally drifted to what the girl was studying for an education, and I listened to my fairy enthusiastically chat about every of her "fun" little interests or discoveries related to what the corpus of students was in the midst of learning. Sitting by the edge of her chair, her eyes glowed with eagerness and she gestured animatedly. I was surprised to hear that, after she was given the choice, Cetha oriented herself more toward the magic arts as they related to fighting and warfare. "I supposed we would have more courses in common, as you told me you would definitely head down that path, Aoi. Ah! But I do have a personal interest in the field myself, hehe."

I was happy. High spirits. That's what the pleasant fairy of her own splendid valley had. Grinning at her sight, I nodded to her every word, and at some point, my noble host fairy permitted my leave.

"I'm sure Uncle has noticed you. I told you: he misses you a great deal! And you mentioned you had some stuff to take care of with him. Later, then. Ah, and you give some thoughts to school, Aoi!"

"You consider hanging out with me and my colleagues someday, too, then."

"Bet!"

I sailed to the old man.