I became a vampire princess and then a dragon girl?

"...Let's go pick mushrooms!"

After a moment of silence, Eve silently ignored the question. How could she possibly say that when she encountered an unfamiliar mushroom, she would just taste it and then use her physique and detoxification magic to confirm the condition?!

[Note: The protagonist's behavior is extremely dangerous. Please do not eat mushrooms you don't recognize.]

§ 76 The Birth of a New Cuisine (Part 2)

After leaving the village with the declaration that she would bring back mushrooms, Eve was wandering around the nearby mountains and forests with a few others.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Brave, where can we find mushrooms?"

After a while, Istina suddenly asked.

They had walked for a while, but hadn't seen even the shadow of a mushroom. Although Eve would sometimes rummage around among the rotten tree roots, she always came back empty-handed.

"Well, it's probably some cool, humid place. Whether or not you can find one depends on luck."

Hearing Eve say this, Melchis suddenly raised her hand.

"But Eve, you're on the wrong path now."

"…Eh?"

"That's the shady side."

Melchis said this while pointing to a place perpendicular to their current direction.

"…Okay, I'll leave it to Shizu to lead the way."

After a brief silence, Eve silently pulled Melchis in front of everyone. She had just forgotten that if they wanted to find something in the forest, they should just ask her, the white elf, for help. Why was she wandering around there by herself?

After exchanging guides, the progress of the group was extremely significant. It didn't take long before they found some traces of mushrooms, but because the number was too small, they were not suitable for making fungus strains.

In this way, the group finally arrived at the shady side of the forest. Due to insufficient sunlight, the trees here were much shorter, and there were a lot of rotten leaves, branches and the like piled on the ground. Many fallen tree trunks also made it difficult to walk here, but it was a place suitable for mushroom growth.

After taking a quick look around, Eve simply changed into a combat uniform that was easy to move in, and asked Istina and the others to wait for her outside.

"Tina, you guys just wait here for a while. I'll go in and look for mushrooms. You can't tell the difference between those mushrooms anyway, so I'll have to do it myself."

"Ah."

After hearing the responses from Istina and the others, Eve looked at Melchis in a strange way.

"Shizu, what's wrong?"

For some reason, Melchis was the only one among the group who did not respond to her words. She was looking at the forest in front of her with a frown on her face, not knowing what she was thinking. She only came back to her senses when she heard Eve calling her again.

"Eh? Ah! Okay..."

"What's wrong? Is there anything special here?"

As she spoke, Eve glanced at the forest ahead again, and there was nothing unusual at all.

"Hmm...it seems familiar, but I can't remember what it is. Eve should keep an eye on it."

"I understand. I'll pay attention to it."

Just like that, Melchis was still racking her brains to figure out what that sense of déjà vu was all about, while Eve had already entered the forest in front of her and started searching.

At first she was still paying some attention to her surroundings, but since nothing unusual happened for a while, she gradually relaxed her vigilance.

Then, as everyone knows, if nothing unexpected happens at this time, an accident will happen.

When Eve walked to a relatively open place in the forest, her foot accidentally hooked on a vine, but then the vine seemed to come alive and directly wrapped around her foot. The next moment, the ground under her feet suddenly closed upwards and swallowed Eve's figure.

As the first big mouth closed, it seemed as if something was triggered. Similar big mouths in various large and small open spaces in the forest in front of them suddenly closed upwards, but they returned to their original state after discovering that there was no prey inside that they could catch.

"Y-Yong, Lord Yong!"

Seeing this sudden change, Istina subconsciously exclaimed, but Melchis clapped her hands and completely remembered the source of the abnormal feeling just now.

"Ah, I remember now. This is a rotten wood vine, a carnivorous plant. It likes to live in groups in dark places. It will disguise itself as a ground creature to sneak attack passing creatures, and it will also use digestive juices to break down its prey."

Well, I can only say that I remembered it, but it was a little late.

While Melchis was explaining, Eve had already escaped through physical means - she simply punched through the mouthparts of the rotten wood vine and then crawled out.

However, Eve's image was a little subtle at this time. When the rotten vines closed together, a lot of messy dead leaves, branches, dirt, etc. were blown onto her, making her dirty all over.

That is to say, she ran out quickly, otherwise when digestion began, it would have become a limited edition of slime damage. Hmm... it seems to have some color?

After hearing Melchis tell her that these things were everywhere, Eve decisively changed to flight mode and returned to the others.

"Hey, hey, sorry, Eve, I remembered it a little late."

Looking at Melchis who was pinching her hair with an apologetic look on her face, Eve didn't know what to say. After all, the other party had reminded her in advance that there was a problem, and it was she who reacted a little slowly.

"Never mind, at least the mushrooms we need have been collected."

As she spoke, Eve took out some mushrooms from the demiplane and shook them.

She is already in such a mess. If she still hasn't collected the mushrooms, the rotten vines in this area will be in big trouble.

"I'll wash myself first, and then I'll rush back."

As she spoke, Eve snapped her fingers and summoned a huge water ball in the air. Then she jumped in with her clothes on and started washing off the dirt on her body.

"Ah! I'm coming too!"

When Melchis saw Eve in the water, she jumped in without saying a word, which scared Eve.

My little ancestor, can you swim?!

Just as Eve had worried, Melchis's little face turned red after she had just jumped a few times in the water ball, and her hands and feet began to wave around randomly, obviously because she was lacking oxygen.

Well, why are you diving if you can't swim?!

But the problem was that when Eve jumped in, she didn't cast underwater breathing magic on herself. After all, she just came in to wash her body, and holding her breath was enough. As a result, she was in an awkward situation now.

There's no other way. If nothing works, I can only use some simple methods. Ah, if I really use them, I have to think about how to comfort Tina afterwards. What a headache...

While thinking about this, Eve swam to Melchis's side, forcibly held down her waving hands, and clamped her kicking feet with her legs.

At this time, Melchis had choked on several mouthfuls of water and was completely unable to understand her current situation. Although her movements had been restricted by Eve, she was still struggling, making it impossible for Eve to take her out of the water ball.

There is no other way, let's use the final option. Thinking of this, Eve kissed Melchis's red lips, and passed the air in her mouth to her.

Thus, the world-famous painting "Istina and Her Hero" was born. What? You said there's only Istina and a water ball in the painting, but no hero?

Stupid, the hero is of course giving Melchis artificial respiration in the water ball.

§ 77 The Birth of a New Cuisine (Part 3)

Outside the water ball, Istina saw Melchis accidentally drowning and was thinking about going to rescue her, then she saw Eve swimming to Sis's side.

Ah, since the brave hero has already gone, I don’t need to go. I just need to prepare to catch up with Shizu. Hey, wait, brave hero, what are you going to do?

"???"

"!!!"

For some reason, although she was in the forest, Istina felt as if a grassland had grown above her head.

Although she knew that it was an emergency and she had to do it to rescue him, but, but it was still weird! He was obviously my hero...

I was able to travel with my hero and meet cute juniors during the trip. It was two happy things put together, but why did it turn out like this?

Elsewhere, Melchis, having regained some air from Eve's side, had calmed down and stopped struggling. Instead, she began to look at Eve curiously. From what she knew, kissing seemed to have a special meaning. What was it...? And now, it seemed like she had to cooperate, like reaching inside?

After the high fever that lasted all night, although Melchis gained a lot of knowledge, she was particularly indifferent to matters of the heart. Eve didn't mind this at all. After all, it would be wrong for an innocent girl to become a veteran driver overnight. But she didn't expect an accident to happen this time.

Just as Eve in the water ball gave Melchis in front of her a helpless look and was about to take her out, her eyes suddenly widened and her movements froze for a moment.

Wait a minute, Melchis, what are you doing?!

I gave you artificial respiration and you took advantage of me?!

Do you understand that illegal entry will lead to deportation?

She kicked her legs back suddenly to use the force to send both of their bodies out of the water ball. Eve then let go of Melchis's lips. At this time, her tongue was still slightly protruding, and it was unknown where she was exploring.

At this moment, as Eve suddenly let go of her, Melchis asked with a silly look on her face.

"Eve, are you not going to continue?"

I…I T|M…I just don’t want to continue!!!

What do you think of artificial respiration?!

"Isn't what you just did called a kiss?"

Looking at Eve who was conflicted about what to say, Melchis tilted her head and stabbed her again.

"..."

He silently brought Melchis back to the ground, without even using the hot wind to dry her clothes first, and then Eve gave her an iron hand to crack her head.

"You were about to drown, and I was giving you artificial respiration! What were you thinking about!!!"

"Hey, but wasn't that a kiss?"

"Of course not!!!"

Eve's roar in the forest resounded in all directions, startling a flock of birds.

At this time, Istina had already come to them and started explaining.

"Sis, listen carefully. Kissing is not something you do casually. It's an act with special meaning. And what you just did wasn't a kiss. It was just an emergency measure in an emergency."

"Is that so? But Eve, can you please let me go first? It hurts a little."

As she spoke, Melchis looked at Eve with tears in her eyes.

"Yes."

He let go of Melchis Eve and continued unhappily.

"That was just emergency resuscitation, not a kiss at all. You're still too early for that."

"Hmm...what exactly is a kiss?"

"Well, Shizu will know in the future. For now, let's continue looking for mushrooms."

After cleverly changing the subject, Istina then looked at Eve.

"The mushrooms have been picked. They can be processed into spawn after that. We can go back now."

As Eve spoke, she summoned a foehn wind to dry her and Melchis's wet clothes.

"Let's go back to Kaililian."

With that, Eve took the lead and walked in the direction of return.

"Good~"

He responded and followed Eve, and the group started their return journey.

Although the kissing incident has passed, a tiny seed has been planted in Melchis's heart. No one knows when it will break out in the future.

"What does a real kiss feel like? What does love feel like?"

And no one knows whether she can find her own answer in the short time before she disappears...

—·—·—·—·—·—·—

When the group returned to Lillian's shop, it was still some time before dinner, but the smoke from the kitchen never stopped rising.

jingle

Accompanied by the crisp sound of wind chimes, Eve pushed open the door of the shop.

"Welcome light, ah, the guests are back."

"Well, fortunately, I lived up to my fate."

As she spoke, Eve took out the mushrooms she had just picked from the demiplane and placed them on the table.