The second day of searching was a bit more productive than the first one, probably because we more or less knew what to look out for now.

Most of the trees were practically the same as the ones from both the previous lower world and the Sky Archipelago, so we didn’t pay much attention to them and instead focused on the smaller plants that grew on their shadow. We did find an interesting tree with a thick and greyish colored bark.

“That… wow.” Livio said in surprise.

“What? Is it good?”

“Yeah, I’d say this is a good wood to produce tar from. The wood from it isn’t especially appealing or anything, I just have a good feeling about how its bark looks.”

“So should we note it down?”

“Absolutely!”

After moving on from the tree, we moved on deeper into the forest. There were some noises here and there, but we didn't pursue them since we weren’t sure whether the source of the sounds were aggressive or not.

It took us about an hour more of walking before stumbling upon a natural clearing covered in knee high herbaceous plants.

There were some flowers mixed in among the herbs which immediately caught our attention.

One of them was a variety of flower with seven petals that were colored a deep red at the center and bright yellow at the extremities of the petals, with the color in between being somewhat of an orange.

Since Livio said they probably could be useful for medicinal purposes, we decided to take one with us and note it down in drawing and word to bring back to the guild.

The other one was a flower that looked much like a normal white lily, but when inspected closer one could see that the petals reflected light in a variety of colors with the luster of a jewel. According to Livio, it was probably due to some concentration of magic energy, so we also took a sample of it to bring back.

Aside from the flowers, the herbs that grew there also picked both Fiora’s and Livio’s attention. According to them, they probably would probably be useful for making tea, given how similar they were to the native plants we used to make tea back at the Archipelago.

One of them was a plant with leaves shaped like swords, while the other had leaves shaped like a paddle.

Having finished for the day, we decided to return to the ship and rest to try again on the next day. 

However, since we could find anything of note when we went searching on the following day and in order to not extend the expedition for too long, the captain decided that it was about time for us to depart.

“Are you alright?” On the way back, when I went to check on Fiora I found her staring at her drawing board with a slightly downcast expression.

“Oh…! N-No, I just-”

When I took a glance at the paper laying on her drawing board, it was various different illustrations that looked vaguely like the plants and flowers we had seen while we were down there.

“Ah, did you like it down there?”

“Well… yes. There were so many flowers that I’ve never seen before. Everything back home was dull in comparison, since the most I saw of plants were the bushes and mushrooms that grew on the cliffs.”

“I see…” I should probably see about how much it would cost to take regular trips down here. Since it would be a good thing for her to experience more of this rather than the isolated mood of Simar.

Of course, considering my current situation, perhaps rather than traveling down there it would be a good idea to bring the things from down there to a garden at the new home. I should probably find some books on gardening while I stay at Damiya.

“Can I take a look at it?” I said, pointing at her drawings.

“A-Ah!” She looked a bit flustered, but handed over the drawing board cautiously.

While there were mostly drawings of plants and flowers, there was one thing that caught my attention.

“Huh? Was there a bird like that? I don’t think I saw it.” One of the drawings was of a bird with a long tail and elaborate crest around its neck.

“Ah, that bird… I somehow felt it was following us, so I decided to draw it.”

A bird following us…? I guess some animals are indeed curious.

“Was there anything interesting about it?”

“Mnnn… It was really pretty, since the feathers were blue and white, but their eyes were… uh… cold and icy.”

Hmmm… I somehow have a bad feeling about this, but I’ll just keep it at the back of my mind.

For the time being, I decided to spend my time watching over Fiora as she drew. I used the time of the travel to also finish compiling the notes I made of the plants from down there.