After some time of trying to figure out what the instructions were saying, the conclusion became clear. The ingredients for the special ink were: crimson clover, seed of a dreamroot, honey from a sweet sac and a horned rhino’s saliva. The crimson clover was the main ingredient, since there was a lot of it’s sap needed. With the saliva it seemed a little bit tricky, since the instructions mentioned it has to be obtained from a rhino that is under the effect of a nightmare leaf.

“What does it mean?” Emilia curiously asked.

“It means,“ Rin cleared her throat, “You need to either feed one of those green rhinos with that plant, or find one that’s already influenced by it. The ones which have consumed the nightmare leaf will be excreting an excessive amount of saliva from their mouth, so you just take this bottle and let it drip inside.

She gave the bottle to Emilia.

“Hold on, is it that kind of rhino from before? Why me?”

“At least you already have experience,” said Ken.

Emilia groaned, but took the bottle after all.

“Next, the crimson clovers,” said Mei, “We need a lot of them. If we are to split the tasks, then it would be good for someone fast on their feet to do it.”

“I will collect those,” said Iris.

“Nice.“

Mei slapped an insect that flew around. “I need to make a repellent again… Emilia, you should see those ball-like mushrooms in the rhino habitat, I need like three, please don’t forget!”

“Okay, okay…”

A small animal walked into the room. It looked like a light brown fox with three tails and was making a cute noise. Rin patted it on the head.

“This is Lino,” she said, “He isn’t used to other people than us, so he’s a little bit shy. Come, I will give you a treat.”

The pet slowly walked through the room until it reached his bowl and began nibbling his granules.

“I know where the dreamroot grows,” Aleric said, ”Leave that to me.”

“Alright. Just be aware that the seeds are very fragile, so bring one intact,” said Mei.

Rin brought the freshly steamed dumplings to the table and everyone took some on their plate. The aroma was very good and they looked incredibly tasty.

“Enjoy, guys! I hope you will like them,” Rin said.

Based on Emilia’s reaction before, it seemed like the filling was hydra meat. Even though it sounded bizarre, the dumplings were amazing. The dough was pretty usual, but the meat was delightful. It tasted like a juicy chicken with a fish-like aftertaste.

Ken was left with the task of collecting honey from a sweet sac, which grew on trees. Mei also told him that he shouldn’t confuse it with a sac of disgust, because they grew in pairs and it wasn’t possible to casually tell them apart. If any kind of insect flew by and sat on one of them, it would be the sweet sac. Though that would take ages, so Mei made a mixture for him to pour a little bit in one of the sacs. If nothing happened after five minutes, then that would be a sac of disgust, meaning he could collect honey from the other one. But if the sac he chose is the sweet one, it would decompose, so he would have to find another pair and try again.

“Now then, let’s do this!” Mei announced, after everyone finished their meal. “We will briefly show you the way and then continue with setting up our stuff. The places where you will be going are not far from here and not far from each other either, so you won’t get lost.”

Only Ken and Emilia got some basic maps, as the others knew the surroundings pretty well. Everyone went their own way, while Ken was going towards the southwest along with Iris, before their paths got separated. All he had to do is to find a tree with two purple plants that looked like the carnivorous type with liquid in their sac, and then pray for the fifty-fifty chance. It didn’t take long to find them. Just as he was told, they were completely the same and he couldn’t tell them apart by smell either. Ken poured a little bit of the mixture in one of them and waited.

The dark green grass was rather soft and felt nice to touch, almost like strips of silk. Ken lied down in it for a few minutes and was thinking how things have developed recently… new world, new friends... and soon the whole of humanity would be able to visit this place. But it was far from over. Other than dispelling cities of the curse, there was still the Cryth Empire, of which base was supposedly on a distant continent. Ken wondered if they have retreated there, because the only time he encountered the Cryth was the day before. Even though Enchoria was the capital, nobody was guarding it, as if something had gone wrong. Maybe the battle in Nataran made them lose much more power than expected. Shira was likely setting up another attack somewhere out there, but Ken was determined to make this world a safe place for Charlotte. Some evil witch was not going to stop him from conjuring happiness on his little sister’s face.

He almost forgot about the sacs. Five minutes have already passed, so he immediately went to check.

“Well, I guess it will take a few attempts...”

The sac was completely withered and destroyed. As he visited tree after tree and kept pouring the mixture into the sacs, he began to think it didn’t work. Or maybe he was really just that unlucky. What are the chances to choose the wrong sac four times in a row? An hour has passed as he struggled other pairs beyond the first. Even the mixture was about to run out, he had only 2 more attempts left. So he found another pair, poured it in again and waited. Five failures in a row.

“This is really annoying. I swear if the next one blows up...”

Another half an hour had passed when he approached the last pair of sacs. Hovering the bottled mixture above one of them, it was about to drip in. Just before it did, a small moth landed on that sac. Ken remembered insects sat only on sweet sacs, so he immediately moved the mixture away.

“I found it, I found it!”

He took out the other bottle and proudly scooped the honey in.

Ken was tired of walking so much and sat dawn on the grass for a while. He was slowly getting used to the unusual environment of this world, as most of the things seemed similar to what one could find on Earth. A deer-like creature came into view in the distance, near the road. It’s fur was snow white, and antlers were faint red. Ken decided to take a closer look on it, out of curiosity. The animal was peacefully chewing on grass, while he slowly approached, making almost no noise. The deer suddenly became alerted, raised its head and looked behind itself before running away.

“Something is coming from there,” Ken thought and hid behind a tree, as he was hearing footsteps. Though, it was just Iris, with two full bags of crimson clovers. She was talking to herself quietly, but her words were still audible for Ken.

“Forgive me, please… It was my fault… What have I done…”

Her voice was soft and weak, as if she was crying,

“I am trying to forgive myself, I am trying to forget, but I can’t.”

She stopped and looked into the sky.

“I am sorry...”

After that, she groaned in pain and dropped the bags on the ground. She held her left leg as if it was hurt.

“Iris!” Ken shouted and ran towards her.

She furiously took out a dagger and pointed it at him.

“It’s just me, calm down!” he said.

She put the dagger on the ground and continued to groan in pain.

“I am fine! It’s fine…” she said.

“Are you sure?”

“It will stop… yes.”

While Iris was trying to relax, Ken gathered some of the crimson clovers that fell out of the bags and put them back. Some of the leaves were mashed and leaked dark red, almost black sap. The ink would probably end up being a similar color.

“Have you done you part?” Iris asked.

“Yeah,” Ken showed her the little bottle with the sac liquid. “If you are okay, then let’s get back-”

A sound of a car engine quickly approached from the road’s direction and it was soon apparent who it was, when it stopped in front of them. Iris was obviously frightened of that thing, but stood in place. From the jeep’s side window, Emilia was recording them with a camera, and smiling.

“And after a short journey through the forest, here are our mighty heroes!” she announced.

“Who is she talking to?” asked Iris.

Ken sighed and walked towards Emilia.

“Thanks for watching, like and subscribe!” he said and gently pushed the camera down, to make her stop recording. On the driver’s seat, there was Marco, smoking and chilling in summer party clothes.

“You guys have the wrong idea,” Ken said, “This is not a vacation.”

“Yeah, yeah, just get in, we are on our way to Enchoria... Aleric left us the dreamroot and went to Nataran, to do his stuff or whatever.”

“I see,” Ken said and opened the trunk of the car for the big bags which Iris was carrying. The other ingredients for the ink were there too. When he opened the side door for her, she was afraid of the unknown machine and hesitated to get in.

“It’s like a carriage,” said Ken, “Just a bit faster and moves on it’s own, no need to be afraid.”

Iris slowly sat into the jeep, followed by Ken. There was a gasoline tank in the space for the legs, so it was a bit uncomfortable for him to sit. An assault rifle, probably Marco’s, and Emilia’s sniper rifle were on the seats too, so he put those in the back. The road was very bumpy and Emilia was giving directions to Marco, based on the map she got from the twins. Along the way, Emilia spotted a small village in the distance, so she proposed to give it a visit. Ken was about to refuse, but he saw people in there and hoped to gather some new information. When they arrived, they left the vehicle and went to look around. Just like in Enchoria, all the people were brain-washed, ignoring everything. It was a pretty small village, with most of the residents living in wooden homes. Their clothes looked rather poor as well. There was nothing new to be found, so they returned to the vehicle.

Not so far from it there stood a beast. A four-legged, dark grey basilisk just a bit more massive than the car itself. Everyone saw it at the same time, when it rushed towards them.

“Go!” Marco shouted, as they hurriedly ran to the jeep.

After they got in, the beast lunged at it, briefly bending the hood while Marco pulled away in reverse. He made a 180-degree turn and drove away.

“The hell is that thing?!” said Emilia, “Give me my baby!”

Ken reached to the back of the car and gave her the sniper rifle. He took the other gun for himself. The basilisk chased them and was catching up. Ken and Emilia were shooting at it, but it wasn’t doing much harm.

“I will take care of it,” said Iris, and before even getting an answer, she was already on the car’s roof. Ken didn’t know what she was capable of, so he didn’t try to intercept her. As the beast came closer, she jumped on its back and began stabbing it as much as she could. It looked like she is trying to stab the same place, behind the neck, but its skin was just too thick. It growled and tried to shake her off, as it slowed down. Eventually, they stopped and fought each other. Marco stopped with the car as well. Iris seemed to be handling it nicely, dodging all of its attacks and tail whips, while continuously jumping around and stabbing it. The beast was getting covered in blood. Iris was about to deliver a final blow, as she raised both of her daggers. Suddenly, her face drowned in pain and she froze in place for a moment.

“Oh no,” Ken said, “Why now?!”