The Beast That Licks Me - Chapter 3.9

“Huh?”

Looking in the direction Levit pointed, Rosette saw a merchant with a wooden cart piled high with popoco fruit. Rosette’s eyes lit up as she dusted herself off and stood.

“Great, let’s go. I’ll buy one for each of you.”

Approaching the popoco merchant, Rosette confidently held up three fingers. Although they couldn’t communicate through language, there was something better than language in the world. Body language, and capitalism!

The merchant nodded and began cutting the top part of the fruit with a large, square knife. The merchant’s actions were so bold that Rosette worried he might hurt himself while cutting the fruit. In contrast, the children were watching the merchant with sparkling eyes as though witnessing a performance.

“That’s really awesome.”

“It would be fun if he cut off his finger.”

“…Kids?”

At Rosette’s call, the children who had been distracted seemed startled and changed the subject with awkward smiles.

“Haha, it really looks delicious. Right, Ariel?”

“Hahaha, yeees. One is ready. Teacher, you try it first!”

After inserting a hollow wooden stick, the merchant handed the popoco fruit to Rosette. Rosette took the fruit while giving the two a sidelong glance. Unlike its outer shell, covered with bushy brown fur, the flesh inside was snow-white and filled with clear liquid. Wondering what it would taste like, Rosette couldn’t resist her curiosity and sucked on it once. Her expression became peculiar.

“What’s wrong, Teacher? Doesn’t it taste good?”

“Well, it’s not that it doesn’t taste good. No, it doesn’t exactly taste good either… How should I explain this? Would you like to try it?”

When Rosette abruptly held out the popoco fruit, Levit shook his head with his ears turning red.

“N-no. I’ll eat my own.”

“Such a prude.”

At Ariel’s words, the two began bickering. Already somewhat accustomed to this, Rosette tried drinking the fruit’s liquid again instead of stopping them. Holding it in her mouth to taste it, she found it slightly sweeter than plain water. There was also a faint fruit aroma. While feeling disappointed that it wasn’t the taste she had imagined, a voice came from beside her.

“If you drink it chilled after swimming, you’ll experience it differently.”

It was Laub. When Rosette frowned at him, Laub made a pretend hurt expression.

“Looking at me like that is too…”

‘Whether he’s hurt or not,’ she thought while sipping the drink, when Laub said.

“Enchanting.”

Rosette, who almost spat out her drink, wiped her mouth and glared at Laub. The children were watching Rosette and Laub with sparkling eyes. Conscious of their gazes, Rosette lowered her voice and whispered to him.

“What are you up to? I told you I didn’t want to see you again.”

“What can I do about running into you by chance? I just happened to want a popoco fruit too.”

Saying that, Laub ordered a popoco fruit from the merchant. He was wearing a shirt with a fancy pattern and shorts, and with his hair swept back as though by hand, he gave off a strong, free-spirited impression. In a word, he looked a bit wild. Not wanting to deal with him anymore, Rosette rummaged through her pocket. When she held out a silver coin, the merchant who was cutting Laub’s popoco shook his head. Confused, Rosette asked why not, but communication failed.

“They usea different currency here. They must have told you about the exchange place before disembarking, but you didn’t hear.”

“….”

“I’d love to buy it for you, but since you said you don’t want to associate with me, I have no choice but to stay out of it.”

Laub said with a grin. Rosette genuinely wanted to punch this man.

“I’ll quickly go exchange the money.”

Sensing the atmosphere wasn’t right, Levit quickly volunteered.

“No, I’ll go. You wait here for a bit.”

Meanwhile, Laub, who had received his popoco fruit, said something to the merchant while handing him money. The merchant burst into hearty laughter and nodded. He seems to know the local language despite not knowing other countries’ languages. While Rosette was giving him a sidelong glance, Laub turned his head and looked straight at her. Unconsciously tensing and pulling her neck back, Rosette saw Laub raise one corner of his mouth and say.

“I paid enough for all of you, so try one after swimming. It’ll be delicious.”

“Why should I?”

“Just think of it as a bonus. You returned too much money. After writing until your hand hurt for hours, it seems a shame to only receive that amount.”

Before Rosette could object further, Laub left without hesitation. While thinking what an absurd person he was, she noticed Ariel staring at Laub’s retreating figure with sparkling eyes.

“Ariel…?”

“I, I want to marry that person.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to marry Mr. Evanium just recently?”

“Shut up, Levit. A woman’s heart is like a reed, you know?”

Ariel said while firmly stepping on Levit’s foot for ruining her dream. Unlike Ariel, who was wearing shoes, Levit was barefoot and hopped around on one leg after being stepped on.

“Arieeeel!”

“That’s what you get for ruining a girl’s dream. Teacher, let’s go.”

Ariel linked arms with Rosette and moved forward.

“Ah, wait up!”

Levit limped after them.

“But where are we going?”

Rosette asked, puzzled by Ariel’s confident stride. Unlike Levit, Ariel said this was her second time here.

“It’s too crowded here. If we go that way, there’s a prettier and more secluded place. I guarantee there won’t be a single person.”

Ariel boldly led them there. After walking for about 5 minutes, Rosette understood why Ariel had made such a guarantee.

“Huff…”

The path was quite rough. There were uphill and downhill sections; the uphill was difficult because it was uphill, and the downhill was difficult due to fear of falling. Unfortunately, Rosette was the only one struggling. The two children were walking lightly, far ahead of Rosette. Levit was even barefoot. Walking ahead, Levit turned back and asked worriedly.

“Teacher, are you okay?”

“Y-yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry and go ahead. It’s no problem.”

“Okay…”

Still concerned, Levit occasionally looked back. Despite her struggle, Rosette pretended to be fine, raising her hand and smiling. There really was no problem. The problem was with Rosette herself.

“Huff, huff…”

Fortunately, the downhill ended, and flat ground appeared. The two waited for Rosette in front of dense vegetation covered with vines.

“You can go ahead.”

“Teacher, look at this.”

“One, two, three!”

The two said in unison as they pulled aside the vines. Sunlight poured down like rain, making Rosette slightly furrow her brow. Her expression soon changed to one of surprise and enchantment.

“Wow…”

A magnificent landscape unfolded before her eyes, making her forget all about the difficult path. Rosette stood with her mouth agape, lost in the scenery before her. Beads of sweat that had gathered dripped from the tip of her chin. From their slightly elevated position, Rosette could see the entire beach landscape. The beach, nestled concavely between sheer cliffs, was brilliantly beautiful. Gentle waves rolled over the white sand that densely filled the area, and each time, the water scales sparkled in the sunlight. Unlike the main beach, where dead white patches were mixed in places, colorful red and blue corals formed clusters here. A gentle breeze blew from the cliff, tickling Rosette’s hair and cooling her sweat. The two prepared to run down but looked at Rosette hesitantly. They seemed conscious about running since she had recently been teaching them etiquette. Though running was prohibited on the ship because it was dangerous, she had no intention of stopping them from running outside. Rosette took a playful stance, ready to run with them. Noticing Rosette’s action, the children smiled brightly.

“Last place has to jump into the sea!”

Ariel shouted these harsh words as she ran forward faster than anyone. Levit, thoroughly provoked, followed after her. Rosette tried her best, too, but it wasn’t easy to beat the light-bodied children. Moreover, there was more sand than on the main beach, making her feet sink deeply. How on earth do those kids run so well? While running with these random thoughts, Rosette tripped and fell hard just before reaching the beach.

“Ugh!”

The children who were ahead turned around and stopped at her scream. Then they came running, one after another, in panic.

“Teacher! Are you okay?”