It seemed he couldn’t grasp it since it was the first time hearing the word. 

Valentin wore the most confused expression of all the faces she had seen today. His already pale face making that expression was quite cute, making her laugh.

“I’ll show you later. I have to make as much as I can myself from what I can get in the forest.”

Aila, having finished organizing all the food ingredients, brushed off the debris on her skirt as she spoke.

“In the afternoon, I’m going to gather some herbs.”

“Herbs?”

“Yeah. I need to sell them in the village to make money. There’s a limit to being self-sufficient in the forest for what I need to live. I need money to buy flour or other vegetables. I also need daily necessities like candles and soap. So I have no choice but to earn money.”

“…”

“Herbs are what make the most money in the forest. It varies a bit by type, but the harder the herb is to find, the higher price I can sell it for.”

Warmth circled in Valentin’s green eyes as he listened quietly.

“So you used something you could sell for money on me.”

“I had leftover hemostatic herb. Really lucky. Without it, how would I have saved you?”

When Valentin made a face like he had caused trouble while making a low sound, Aila hurriedly added.

“I had set it aside for emergencies. Its condition wasn’t perfect, so it had somewhat lower market value to sell anyway. If it gets too old, I can’t use it properly anyway.”

Then Valentin smiled gently.

“Should I help?”

“With what?”

“Gathering herbs.”

“You’ve never done it before. You don’t know what they look like or where they grow.”

“I don’t have experience, but I might find them better than you, Aila. I have a really good sense of smell.”

Valentin popped out his bump-like horns and ears, twitching his nose.

Come to think of it, she had heard about it. Beastfolk’s sense of smell was several times more sensitive than ordinary people’s. With their excellent sense of smell, they avoided natural enemies and found food.

To Aila’s nose, various herbs and grass didn’t smell that different. But Valentin would be different, right? Maybe he could easily find rare herbs too.

She got a bit excited at the expectation that her impoverished life might improve a little.

“Then I’ll find them first and show you, so you try to remember the smell well.”

“Okay.”

The two, picking up their baskets and leaving the cabin again, moved to the opposite side of the path they had looked around earlier.

On this side, the trees all stretched up tall, so sunlight didn’t come through well and the ground was damp. Thanks to that, herbs that naturally took root in the soil were occasionally found.

Aila decided to first look for a five-leaf herb, which was found relatively often. It was an herb with five leaves spread out in all directions like petals, with only a small white flower blooming in the center.

Since it was a plant with almost no fragrance, she had to focus on looking for the white flower. Just as she was carefully examining here and there in the forest, a small bud came into view.

“Found one!”

Aila, who bent down and dug up an herb, showed it to Valentin.

“This is an herb? It looks like a caterpillar.”

“That’s because the flower hasn’t bloomed yet. This is an herb good for inflammation. I see it relatively often in spring.”

Valentin brought his nose close and smelled the leaves and flower.

“How is it?”

“Hmm, it has a fishy smell.”

“Really? I don’t smell anything except grass.”

Aila sniffed the herb close to her nose like Valentin, but couldn’t detect any particular smell.

“Can you remember it?”

“Yeah.”

Valentin, who answered confidently, moved his steps without hesitation. Aila usually wandered around aimlessly until herbs caught her eye, but Valentin moved with certainty like someone with a definite destination.

Amazingly, where his feet stopped, there really was a five-leaf herb.

“Wow! There really is one! How did you find this? It’s so amazing.”

Aila picked up and gathered the herb Valentin found with an excited expression.

It was truly amazing how the basket filled with herbs each time his nose, which didn’t look that different from hers, twitched.

“You can distinguish that among all the grass smells?”

“Yeah. Even if they seem similar, they’re all different.”

If Valentin’s sense of smell was this excellent, couldn’t he find thornweed too?

Thornweed was one of the precious herbs that could be found in this forest.

The part rising above ground looked similar to ordinary weeds, but the part buried in the soil was sturdy and long like a tree trunk. 

There was a folk belief that if you peeled the bark and chewed it, your energy would surge and you’d become ten years younger, so it was called a miracle medicine.

Naturally, she had never eaten it, but since the village people said so, Aila believed it too.

“It would be nice to find thornweed too.”

The thought in her mind popped out of her mouth.

“What’s that? Is it good?”

“Of course it’s really good! But I’ve never gathered it either. It’s a hard-to-find herb.”

“Just in case, explain it to me.”

Even Valentin couldn’t find thornweed that he had never seen or smelled before—she thought it was impossible, but still, Aila earnestly explained its appearance and smell.

When hidden in the soil, it had no smell, but when pulled out, it was a plant that gave off a sharp mint scent.

“That’s really precious! I can sell it for five times more than other herbs.”

“Mint, mint…”

Valentin, who repeated that word several times, moved his legs again. He moved more carefully than before, turning his nose in all directions.

He won’t find it, thornweed is really rare so it’ll be difficult—even while thinking that, Aila couldn’t hide the expectation in her large eyes.

About thirty minutes passed. Valentin, who had been moving diligently, finally stopped in one place.

“Here?”

“Yeah. I think it’s around here.”

Aila pulled up the grass under his feet haphazardly.

Not this one.

Not this either.

Not this one either.

When she pulled up the sixth grass root, finally a large stem covered in dirt came up with it.

During her cabin life, she had seen another herb gatherer dig one up exactly once, and Valentin had found it.

“Wow!”

Aila’s mouth fell open, unable to believe the scene before her eyes.

“Valentin! You’re really amazing!”

Aila shouted excitedly. It was her first time discovering this many herbs in one day, and to even find precious thornweed. She felt like she could fly.

If she found one of these every day, she’d become rich quickly.

Then she wouldn’t go hungry, and maybe she could finally eat the white bread she had wanted to try so badly.

Aila hugged Valentin’s neck and shouted joyfully. It was the most delightful spring.

* * *

After Valentin came, Aila realized something new. 

Days spent with someone really flew by quickly. It had barely been any time since she started living with him, and it was already summer.

The time spent with Valentin was generally enjoyable.

Even eating one meal, they could share their preferences by talking about how delicious it was and what they liked. Of course, their eating habits were very different.

Valentin liked things like grass roots, vegetables, and tree bark, while Aila ate such things out of necessity when there was nothing else to eat, but if she had money to buy food, she preferred food made from flour.

Like bread, for example.

When Valentin heard the word bread, he asked what it was. He asked if it was such delicious food, saying he had never seen or heard of it before.

She laughed at how he could not know bread and Aila resolved to definitely buy some when she sold herbs.

When she told him he could be in deer form anytime inside the cabin, he lived in deer form quite often.

When he returned to his animal form, they couldn’t communicate, but there was no problem grasping general emotions. Deer were quite expressive animals.

When he was in a good mood, he wagged his tail like a puppy and shook his head down vigorously, and when expressing some complaint, he raised his upper lip and made strange sounds. 

Sometimes he stamped the floor with his front hooves, and he also liked smelling various things.

Naturally, she learned various things about deer beastfolk too. Females had no horns even as adults, and only males had horns. The horns were very hard and used as weap*ns, he said.

When talking about horns, Valentin couldn’t hide his pride even though his own horns hadn’t grown yet. It seemed to be the part he felt most proud of.

She also enjoyed occasionally hearing stories about the western forest. For Valentin, who was born and raised there, the western forest was his hometown and a place with many memories.

Learning about Valentin was truly fun and enjoyable.

But at some point, that joy made Aila anxious. The more she learned about him, the more free and happy he seemed when living in deer form.