“Hey, Berry!”

Standing in the middle of the forest, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted. A minute later, a shadow fell from the canopy and landed a few feet away.

“...Klue.”

“I’m back! Did you miss me?” I beamed at Berry, who, as always, gave off the air of ‘Please stop getting close to me’ every time I approached him. “Aah, it took me a while to make it back this time. I had to travel quite a bit. At night, when you were lonely… did you think of me?”

“No.” The reply was immediate. It was like a dagger through my heart!

“So cruel, Berry. I thought of you every night.” I took off my backpack and rummaged through it. I pulled out a simple yet sturdy wooden box; the wood was smooth and fragrant, created as a gift for me by one of the woodwork artisans from the southeastern country I had been doing business in for the past few months. I undid the metal latch and opened the wooden box, revealing an interior padded with soft cloth, and, more importantly, a bright golden pear-apple nestled inside. Because of the thorough protection of its packaging, the pear-apple was just as unblemished and ripe as when the farmer had plucked it off the tree and handed it to me. “I brought back something good for you! See?”

The aroma of the applewood box and the fresh fruit drifted over. Captivated, Berry leaned closer, his head casting a shadow over the box in my hands. “This…”

Was he going to start drooling? How cute. “This is called a Cadochian Apple. It’s actually a type of pear, but its appearance and texture are closer to those of an apple. It’s known for being an especially sweet, crisp, and juicy fruit. Some people in Wisteria have called it the Fruit of the Gods because, historically, it was said that only gods and kings could touch it. Though nowadays, there are enough in each harvest that the average person can try one at least once in their lifetime.”

As I spoke, I took out a fruit knife and began cutting the fruit into slices. The bright golden skin had a sandpapery texture unsuitable for human consumption, while the creamy white insides were soft, crisp, and nearly melted in one’s mouth. If I were cutting this for myself, I would definitely peel off the skin. This time, though, I simply cut the pear-apple into wedges, leaving the skin intact.

“Here you go! Say aaah~”

I held out a slice of fruit with my fingers. Berry looked at me with hesitance, but the draw of the juicy and dripping fruit was too great. After a moment of inner conflict, he bent his head down and softly nipped the fruit from my fingertips.

Aaaaaaah, I felt it. The swipe of his big, powerful tongue. Those razor-sharp teeth grazing against my fingers. In ecstasy, I offered up more slices of fruit, avidly watching Berry feed from my hands.* After he ate a few slices, Berry seemed reluctant to eat more.

“What’s wrong? Is the taste not to your liking?”

“No… it’s… delicious…”

For some reason, Berry seemed conflicted. But in the end, his appetite won out, and he ate the rest of the fruit from my fingers.

*I didn’t know it at the time, but apparently, the facial expression I used while looking at Berry was that of a pervert cornering an innocent victim while breathing heavily, and would have made guards arrest me on sight.

Soon enough, all of the fruit was gone, leaving only traces of juice on my fingertips. I smiled eagerly, repressing the anticipation in my heart.

“It looks like you really enjoyed the Cadochian apple, hm?”

“...Mm.” Berry nodded. He was so satisfied that I could practically see flowers blossoming around his head.

“How nice. I also want a taste…” Saying that, I leaned forward and stood on the tips of my toes, pressing my lips to the corner of Berry’s mouth. My skin only made contact for about 0.0005 seconds before Berry disappeared, leaving me standing with my hands pressed against air.

Aaaah, he ran away again. I dropped my arms. Even though I worked so hard to s-l-o-w-l-y approach him. At this rate, was I going to go [bleep]-less for my entire lifetime?!

Where was I going wrong? I used every seduction and romance technique up my sleeve, but I still ended up nowhere. Don’t tell me… he’s really 100% straight? No no no, that can’t be it. Even supposed ‘completely straight’ men have fallen before me. Berry is just too much of a miserable virgin, and that’s why he panics when a beautiful and charming man like me approaches him. Yeah, that’s it.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I consoled myself. Well, there was no helping it for today. I would just have to give Berry some space until he felt comfortable again. I picked up my backpack and set off through the woods.

Since the first time I met him, I’ve been back to Everglace Woods to visit Berry several times. Because of his shy nature, it’s been an unexpected struggle to get closer to him. The first few times I openly propositioned him, he instantly vanished and didn’t reappear no matter how far I searched for him. So, I could only accept a temporary retreat and leave the forest. I continued to travel around the country and continent, trading supplies and noting the changes in the environment.

Once I had accepted that it would be impossible for me to get close to Berry by propositioning him, I changed tactics and decided to go the slow route. That said, the slow route was… incomparably slow. It’s not like anyone could blame me for pressing my advantage whenever an opportunity arose, right?

In any case, now that Berry had ditched me, the only thing left to do was wander the forest. I walked through the now-familiar trails until I reached a spot where a tall and leafy shrub grew.

“Looks like it’s growing well…” Raising a hand to my chin, I walked around the plant and observed it. I grabbed one of its leaves and flipped it around to check on its health, and also bent down to look at the soil around the roots.

“...That plant… why do you always look at it…?”

A disembodied voice floated down from above. Without even bothering to check, I answered. “This is a silverwort. It’s an extremely rare plant. I was surprised when I first saw it, so I want to make sure it stays healthy. Medicine made from these leaves can sell for over five thousand gold coins.”

That’s right, even after he ran away, Berry secretly continued to tail me. Cute, wasn’t it. Well, some people might think it terrifying that a giant monster lurked above them while they were unaware. But after all this time, I had determined that there was no harm to come from Berry, so I didn’t pay it any mind.

Despite how many times I had come to bother him, Berry never raised a hand to me. Furthermore, after observing and questioning him on his diet, I determined that he was primarily an herbivore - he subsisted on fruits, berries, nuts, leaves, mushrooms, and grasses. He didn’t hunt for meat and, in fact, seemed repelled to the idea.

Contrary to all appearances, Berry was actually - dare I say it - harmless.

As to where exactly the rumors had come from, and the actual culprit behind the deaths and bodies in this forest - even after all this time, I still wasn’t sure of the answer.

Still, this plant in front of me provided some clues.

“...You never harvest them?”

I laughed. “Of course not. Even if I tried to sell that medicine, no one would buy it.”

“...?”

Smiling, I rubbed one of the leaves of the silverwort between my fingers. The color was a rich silvery blue, full of vitality. It had surely been well-fed. “The silverwort… is an incredibly rare plant. The conditions for its growth are so strict that in the current day, there is only one other place where it is known to grow. That place is the burial ground of the demon king from the old legends.”

“...”

“A silverwort can only grow from soil scattered over a demon’s corpse. It’s used to treat wounds tainted by a demon’s poison. Nowadays, the people of Wisteria have been in peace for so long that something like the rise of the demon king from a thousand years ago is just a fairy tale, so it makes sense that no one would ever buy silverwort medicine. It’s a cure for a make-believe injury.”

“...You… don’t believe that…”

I laughed again. Standing, I brushed the dirt from my knees. “Of course not. After all, I’ve seen demons before.”

If you searched hard enough, you could find all sorts of rare, hidden things. Even the ones that were trying to stay quiet, biding their time.

Missing caravans. Villages destroyed without cause. Crops failing from mysterious poisoning. There were only a few cases of these spread out over the past years, but they grew more frequent as time passed. The average person might not have noticed, but the people in charge of this country surely had. As to what they had decided to do, I didn’t know. But for myself, it was clear - something was going to happen in the near future. Thus, as a trader, it was my job to prepare for it.

And as a human, it was a duty to myself to fulfill as many of my hopes and dreams before I might not have a chance to fulfill them.

“Berryyyy. Won’t you come down to talk to me? I’m so lonelyyyy.” I whined pitifully, casting a watery gaze up at the tree canopy. “Pleaseeee?”

“...No.”

“Why noooot?”

“You’ll do… something weird…”

“Then what if I promise not to? Will you?”

‘I don’t believe you.’ The oppressive silence coming from above was clear.

Aaah, he really has started to understand me, huh. Even though he was such a naive boy when we first met, in just the short time of a year, he’s already learned not to trust the darkness of a man’s intentions. I’m so proud.

I sighed in defeat, but a smile had made its way onto my face. “Fine, I give in. It was good to see you again, Berry. You take care of yourself, okay? I’ll have to head out soon. I probably won’t be back for a while. Don’t miss me too much.”

Naturally, it was a joke. I wasn’t sure how he viewed me. An annoyance? A force of nature he couldn’t push back? A pervert who only aimed for his body? It was impossible to tell. The only thing Berry ever did when I visited was ask me to leave, so of course he didn’t want me to stay. He may, in fact, actually think my presence in the forest was a disturbance.

Yet, even so - a soft and grumbling voice drifted down from above:

“...You be safe, too.”