Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Because she didn't collect them diligently, their quantity was far from enough for Mayumi Haga to squander as she used to... In fact, she would feel anxious if the quantity of any type of consumable was below 999.

We must find a way to obtain more containers, not just bottles and jars.

After all, most of the unorganized fragments in the backpack were not in a regular shape, and Mayumi Haga did not currently have the energy to repair them all into a shape that could be stuffed in.

It is indeed possible to dissolve the body with nectar and then refill it, but a lot will be lost during the processing.

Considering that this world is not like the world before, and will give her time to recover her body fragments, and given that Mayumi Haga has no idea how many body fragments are in her backpack, she does not intend to use a method that would cause too much damage.

Moreover, it would pollute the environment... If you use a chemical to dissolve it and then detonate it, the chemical's components would affect the surrounding environment, making it far less useful than a simple self-destruction.

After thinking it over, it seems that the only thing I can do for now is to use a black plastic bag.

At worst, we can just pick up all the plastic bag pieces later.

As Mayumi Haga pondered this, she casually turned off the shower.

We still need to conserve water; turn it off after rinsing yourself off.

In her view, clean water is still very precious.

Mayumi Haga filled the remaining bottles in the bathroom, put them in her backpack, and then came out wrapped in a bath towel.

Because cold water was used, there was no steam in the bathroom, and her face was pale. She quickly dried her slightly longer hair, water droplets rolling down from the ends and disappearing under the towel. The black-haired girl stood barefoot on the non-slip mat at the bathroom door, completely oblivious to the night's chill, patiently drying her hair and body.

Because of her night vision and the habits she developed in her previous world, Mayumi Haga generally does not turn on the lights at night.

Holding a torch or carrying a light source at night is like having a bright coordinate for those insects.

Now that the guardian, Ms. Sugiyama Rikka, has left, the lights shouldn't be on in the house.

However, Mayumi Haga noticed that the living room lights were on and there was some noise, which immediately put her on alert.

Who could be coming at this time...?

Thinking this, Mayumi Haga flicked her wrist, and a soft-shell plastic bottle labeled "Ultimate Orange Juice" appeared. This brand of orange juice tasted great, and the packaging was also very thoughtful; you couldn't see what was inside just by looking at the outside, so she used it to create her own exploding bottle.

"...A real bow?" However, the newcomer followed the sound directly.

It was Hitomi Tono, who seemed to be in a low mood.

...By the way, the guardian gave the other party a key to her own house.

The pink-haired idiot looked like a dog that had been soaked in the rain, and I wondered what was on her mind. She came straight over to chat with Mayumi Haga.

She saw Mayumi Haga come out of the bathroom, still only wearing a bath towel, and knew she had come at the wrong time: "Um, why don't you go put on some clothes? It's still quite cold tonight..."

Mayumi Haga didn't chat with her, and turned to go into her room to get dressed.

Meanwhile, Hitomi Tono was preoccupied. She returned to the living room to wait for Mayumi Haga to come out, but she couldn't sit still, so she went to the kitchen to open the refrigerator, thinking of pouring some drinks.

Upon opening the refrigerator and seeing it filled with glass jugs of orange juice, Hitomi Tono froze: "..."

Main Text: Chapter Seventy-Three: The Guardian's Mysterious Drink (4k)

When Mayumi Haga came out dressed in pajamas with a towel draped over her shoulder, she saw Hitomi Tono standing blankly in front of the refrigerator.

She asked, puzzled, "What's wrong, Xiaotong?"

Hitomi Tono swallowed nervously, pointing tremblingly at the orange juice in the refrigerator: "Mayumi... what are these?"

Her unpleasant memories were stirred up, and now her mind was completely blank. Even though the refrigerator compartment looked like it was just a place with drinks and nothing seemed wrong, she felt that the scene was no less terrifying than opening the refrigerator and finding three rows of human heads inside.

So is this really orange juice...?

"This is orange juice I bought at the convenience store downstairs. Don't you like it?" Mayumi Haga was completely oblivious to the problem. To her, this situation was far more childish than the ones she was used to dealing with.

Therefore, she naively believed that as long as she explained things clearly to Hitomi Tono, there shouldn't be any problems.

“…Well, it’s not that I don’t like it.” Under Mayumi Haga’s bewildered gaze, Hitomi Tono didn’t know how to explain to her that she had a psychological aversion to orange juice, since she was the culprit.

She was on the verge of tears: "I just really don't want to drink orange juice lately..."

"I see." Mayumi Haga realized her oversight in not preparing other drinks at home. After Rika Sugiyama went out again, the variety of food and snacks in her refrigerator had dwindled because no one was supervising her to replenish them.

However, since the guests have already arrived, it would be impolite to go and buy other drinks and leave Hitomi Tono alone here.

"I'll just drink water... Mayumi? What did you take out?" Seeing the thoughtful look on her face, Hitomi Tono felt a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, Mayumi Haga pulled out a dark purple fruit from somewhere. It looked like a lemon, but was about the size of a palm. She took a knife and tried to cut it open.

Yuga Mayumi looked at the extremely precious Nightheart Fruit in her hand and explained, "It's a fruit rich in water, with a structure somewhat similar to a coconut."

"Huh? It looks a lot like a blue lemon, but is it liquid inside?" Tono Hitomi curiously poked its soft skin and found that it didn't have a hard shell like a coconut. "How amazing... Does it taste good?"

Although it looks like a somewhat suspicious fruit, as long as it's not an orange, Hitomi Tono can accept it now.

I'm still a little curious about how Mayumi got her hands on this thing; it looks a lot like the legendary magical plant.

Seeing that she was in low spirits, Mayumi Haga generously took out the remaining three hundred coins from her backpack.

Make a small cut in the outer skin, pour the liquid inside into a cup, and hand it to Hitomi Tono.

The liquid inside the Night Core Fruit is transparent and colorless, with a faint fragrance, and looks no different from ordinary coconut water.

Yuga Mayumi recalled the benefits of the juice that her aquatic friend had described when she handed her the Nightheart Fruit, and said softly, "Drinking it will make you feel better...maybe it's because it contains sugar."

Perhaps due to her guardian's constitution, Mayumi Haga experienced no effects from drinking Night Core Fruit juice, except for its sweetness.

However, since her friend said it would bring her a good mood, and it also had a sweet taste, she kept it with her at all times.

Night Core Fruit is a specialty fruit that grows in the swampy territory of the Water Tribe. Later, due to climate change, the swamp dried up and became unsuitable for the Water Tribe to live in. So the Water Tribe moved to the foot of the snow mountain and lived in the frigid land.

The crop that produces this precious fruit can only grow in swampy territories with relatively warm climates and demanding soil conditions, and only the aquatic tribes know how to cultivate it. Later, the aquatic tribes also tried to cultivate it in the snow mountain territories, but without success, and so the crop gradually disappeared from the world.

The Night Core Fruits in Yuga Mayumi's hand were the last few hundred, given to her by a friend before she left the swamp territory.

"People usually only drink this kind of juice when they have something to celebrate, and it's often used in festivals. Because it's quite strong, it can also be used to clean wounds, but you probably don't need it."

As the other person spoke, they glanced at Mayumi Haga, who was holding an empty cup with a blank expression, and were shocked. They grabbed her shoulder and said, "Hey?! Mayumi? You didn't drink it all in one go, did you?"

Haga Mayumi was puzzled as to why the other person was in such a hurry: "Finished drinking... What's wrong?"

"Do you feel your head lightening, your body warming up, and all your worries disappearing?" The friend realized something and asked, looking at the guardian in front of him who had swallowed the juice of an entire Night Core Fruit in one gulp without even turning red.

Mayumi Haga was intrigued by this effect: "Does this fruit have hallucinogenic effects? If I apply it to my arrows, can it be used as an anesthetic?"

"...Ah, it doesn't have that effect. At most, it will make you feel excited." Her friend looked at her with clear eyes, feeling a little regretful that she hadn't seen the guardian lose her composure.

Although Night Core Fruit doesn't smell or taste like alcohol, it's a surprisingly strong liquor. Even aquatic creatures have to be careful to mix it with other drinks before consuming it, lest they lose consciousness and not wake up for three days after just one sip.

The reason they brought it out to entertain the guardian in front of them was because the other party was leaving tomorrow.

Tsk, I can't get the Guardian drunk and force myself on her. It's rare for her to find such a suitable partner.

But this is good, because this way, even on the journey, the guardian won't get drunk from the effects of the juice.

Mayumi Haga looked at the empty glass: "Sweet..."

And it tastes great.

It can quickly replenish the energy needed by the body during travel.

She asked directly, "Could you give me some Night Core Fruit?"

"Would you like to drink it?" The aquatic friend didn't let go of her shoulder. The aquatic chieftain lazily stretched her tail in her private pool, her hand on Mayumi Haga's shoulder slowly stroking it. "This isn't a specialty that you can just buy anytime... Mayumi, you'll have to pay a certain price for it."

Mayumi Haga nodded: "I will pay you a satisfactory price."

Then, she took out a fire crystal from her backpack, and the temperature in the pool immediately rose.

The guardian lady, who was soaking in the pool with you, said seriously, "After you get to the snow mountain, you will face an even harsher cold. I think you will need enough fire crystals."

The aquatic friend twitched his lips, a hint of anger in his voice for some reason: "Of course, that's necessary, but what I want to ask you for is something else..."

Splash splash splash splash—

Yuga Mayumi poured out a set of fire crystals she had collected from her backpack. The heat wave that hit her caused the aquatic chieftain to flee to the other side of the pool. Even more terrifying, the pool water had begun to boil and bubble.

She quickly jumped out of the pool, her fish tail transformed back into human legs, and she even felt as if a layer of skin on her feet had been scalded off.

"Quickly put it away, quickly put it away—" the aquatic friend was about to collapse, "It's too hot!"

Yuga Mayumi then put the fire crystals back into her backpack and looked at the other person with clear eyes: "Is this amount enough to exchange for Night Core Fruit? I have about 5 sets left, I can sell you 4 sets, about 4,000."

"That's enough, absolutely enough." For some reason, the other party gritted their teeth and got angry. "You almost burned all the scales off my tail, that's definitely enough."

Mayumi Haga became excited: "Then how many of those Night Core Fruits can you give me?"

The result was that we got about five hundred.

It wasn't that her friend was stingy, or that she was angry with Mayumi Haga for not following the rules; it was simply that the yield was really low, only about seven hundred a year. Moreover, these fruits rotted very quickly and required strict preservation conditions, so they could only be stored without any worries in Mayumi Haga's backpack.

Aside from the needs of the sacrifices, there are also the costs of maintaining body temperature during the migration. Giving Yuga Mayumi five hundred fruits is already the maximum they can provide.

Yuga Mayumi knew that this might be the last batch of Night Core Fruits, so she didn't squander them after receiving them.

When I ran into Senior Urzana on the road, I gave her 100 of them. I used the rest myself, and now I have about 300 left.

Now, she felt that Hitomi Tono was a bit too cute and not like the usual pink-haired idiot, so she took out the precious Night Core Fruit, intending to make her happy too.

Tono Hitomi was also curious about this drink that Haga Mayumi rarely showed any liking for, so she took a big gulp as soon as she got it.

Her face lit up with surprise: "It's sweet..."

Then, holding the cup, she flipped backward and fell over, only to be caught by Mayumi Haga.

The latter was a little panicked, wondering if the Night Core Fruit had become poisonous to the people of this world.

After all, she herself wouldn't have any problem drinking it, but the guardian's body can metabolize the toxins quickly, and the aquatic's body structure is different from that of ordinary people.

...Could it really be poisonous?

She pinched Tono Hitomi's mouth and forced some antidote down her throat, but it had no effect.

Three minutes later, inside the magic clinic, Terasaki Ayasa, who was discussing the assignment of future night patrol duties with Arisu Akari, saw the Guardian hurriedly carrying the unconscious Tono Hitomi and slamming open the door.

Terazaki Aisa:?

Why did you bang on her door?

After examining Hitomi Tono, Aya Terasaki was even more incredulous. She practically stared at the Guardian: "You took Hitomi to drink? She's underage!"

The guardian lady felt like the other person was looking at some kind of scumbag, but...

"Alcohol?" she asked, puzzled. "That's clearly just juice..."

Now, even Arisu Juri, who had been watching from the sidelines, was staring at her with the same look she would give a scumbag who was abducting a minor.

Miss Guardian: "..."

Guardian Girl: "…………"

Miss Guardian: "………………I'm very sorry."

After realizing what had happened, the Guardian apologized very decisively.

Even though she really didn't know it was alcohol.

Next time, it's better not to take things out of your backpack to eat... Sorry, I should have given Xiaotong orange juice.

Mayumi Haga was seriously reflecting on her actions.

.................................................. .................................................. .

[Travel Notes]

In the 235th year of the Alamo calendar, the waning moon was on the fifth day.

Before entering the aquarium's territory, we purchased insect repellent and waterproof clothing from the surrounding villages.

Swampy depressions are infested with insects and ants, making them a harsh environment for humans. Aquatic creatures are also relatively averse to outsiders, so villagers advise against trying to get close.

Five stone tablets containing fragments of the wizard's scroll have been rubbed, with the remaining three located within the water tribe's territory. The aim is to complete the rubbings before the full moon and have them delivered to the wizard by a messenger.

Before she could finish writing the last few words, a hand with blue nail polish reached out from behind Mayumi Haga, grabbed a small leather notebook, and pulled it from her hand.

"Let me see what Mayumi is writing... So you keep a diary." The plump aquatic with curly blue hair browsed with interest, but after discovering that she was writing almost nothing interesting, she suddenly felt bored. "I thought you would write some little secrets in it."

Mayumi Haga didn't think it was a bad thing that her travel notes had been read, since she hadn't written anything shameful in them. She was just puzzled: "Secrets?"

"Like, who do you like?" the aquatic creature teased. "Having lived for so long, haven't you ever liked anyone?"

Mayumi Haga said, "Nineteen years... shouldn't be too long."

As for who he has liked, that's an even more baffling topic.

Mayumi Haga has no interest in romance; rather, she's simply lacking in that kind of intuition.