Blisters and Shoes

What was happiness, and how could one find it?

The children did not know, and Broly was not entirely sure either.

But that was fine. A direction had already appeared; they just had to follow it.

Led by Broly, everyone headed in the direction the Imperial Intelligence Agency personnel had left.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few Danger Beasts, but the Danger Beasts were not dangerous, because their group contained a Saiyan even more dangerous than them.

Every Danger Beast that attacked became ingredients for the next day. Compared to the danger posed by the Danger Beasts, the snakes and insects hidden beneath fallen leaves and among the vines were actually harder to guard against.

Fortunately, there were children in the group who had once lived in forest environments. Although the poisons in Jiffonora Sea Tree Forest were somewhat different, some methods of detoxification and prevention were still similar.

After finding some slightly poisonous grass and leaves, lighting them, and tying them to branches to fumigate the path ahead, many snakes and insects were driven away in advance.

"Do we really have to do this?"

Broly asked, coughing from the smoke.

"There's no helping it. We're not like you, Big Brother. We aren't immune to snake and insect bites."

Rivarina said. She was said to be from a western Different Race and had lived in the Mangrove Tribe.

She had come up with this method for driving away snakes, rats, mosquitoes, and insects by experimenting with forest plants.

She had experience surviving in forests, but unfortunately, this place was full of Danger Beasts.

If Broly had not saved her yesterday, she might already have been eaten by one.

"I have a better way."

Broly thought for a moment before speaking.

"What way?"

The children all looked at him curiously.

Broly had Rivarina put out the poisonous smoke, then raised a hand toward the forest ahead. A green Energy Beam shot out and blasted the forest before them, opening up a broad, clear road right in front of the group.

"This is my method."

Broly clapped his hands as though he had merely done something trivial.

The children: "..."

They had never imagined such a route. The Dense Forest ahead, which had been packed with enormous trees, had now been utterly wiped clean.

Forget snakes and insects—even the Danger Beasts that had been there probably had already turned to ash.

The atmosphere fell silent. Nahash was an older child who had experienced more than most, and realizing something was wrong, he hurriedly took the lead in applauding.

"Big Brother is mighty! Big Brother is amazing! Everyone, clap for Big Brother too! Thank him for opening such a road through the forest for us!"

Great strength inspired awe, but strength that was too great could also inspire fear. That was simply human nature, difficult to control.

However, under Nahash's timely guidance, the instinctive fear the children felt gradually turned into even greater respect.

"Broly Big Brother, you're amazing! How did you do it? You went swoosh, bang, and the forest was gone!"

Led by Akame, Tsukushi, Boni, and the other more carefree girls, the group of mostly innocent children soon became lively again. Only a few older children with more experience looked at Broly with complicated expressions.

"Monster."

Perhaps they did not say it aloud, but that was indeed what their gazes toward Broly meant.

They were afraid, but they held it in.

It was not perfect, but Broly was not exactly a thoughtful person.

Amid the children calling him Big Brother again and again, he gradually lost himself.

Or rather, he experienced the joy of being admired by children around his own age and found himself enjoying it.

"You just gather Qi in your hand, then—swoosh, boom~"

Broly demonstrated again, blasting a tree out of existence.

Throwing Energy Blasts was the only thing besides games like Cat's Cradle that he could share with others.

"Hmm... still no good."

A group of children copied his movements, trying hard to imagine what gathering Qi even meant as they practiced on the surrounding trees.

In the end, no one learned it, but that was only natural. The Qi in these children's bodies had not yet reached the point where it could be drawn out and turned into Energy Blasts.

Still, this world had Danger Beasts, all kinds of strange Secret Arts, and biological modification technology. It was probably possible to learn how to fire energy waves.

After lingering there for a while, the group set off again after failing to fire energy waves. This time, with a clear road to follow, they moved much faster.

The only troublesome thing was that Broly's sudden huge commotion had frightened the creatures in Jiffonora Sea Tree Forest.

The forest had originally been filled with all sorts of sounds, but the area near the clear road was exceptionally quiet.

For the rest of the journey, they encountered neither Danger Beasts nor interference from snakes and insects. But in return, no prey came walking into their laps either.

Night fell. Beside a forest stream, the children prepared to camp in the wilderness.

"Forest paths are still better."

Broly sighed. After blasting out a road, prey no longer came looking for him.

"I don't think so. Flat ground is much easier to walk on."

Akame retorted from beside him, then raised her small feet for him to see.

"At least we walked a long way today, but I didn't get any more blisters."

As Akame said this, she used a thin wooden thorn to help her Younger Sister treat the blisters on her feet.

Broly lowered his head and looked at his own bare feet. He had never gotten those things before.

But seeing how everyone seemed to be popping blisters, he felt a little envious.

"Then how can I get blisters too?"

he asked.

"Why would you want those things?"

"Because all of you have them."

Akame was speechless.

"They aren't anything good."

"Yeah, they hurt like crazy when you step on them."

Kurome added.

"If I could, I wouldn't want them at all."

The other children all chimed in.

"Eh, then is there a way not to get them?"

Hearing that they were not good things, Broly changed his mind and asked again.

"Blisters aren't a big deal. Pop them, rest a little, and they'll be fine."

Cornelia said.

"I think if we had soft shoes, we wouldn't get blisters on our feet."

A blond girl named Natala said.

"The shoes the Slave Traders gave us were too hard."

"You had shoes? The Slave Trader who sold me here didn't even give me any shoes."

The children all spoke over one another.

"I don't wear shoes, but I don't get blisters either."

"Eh, your soles are so thick?!"

Listening nearby, Broly reached a conclusion: most people needed a pair of soft shoes.

But how could they get such shoes? Broly thought of his father back on Vampa, who was skilled at handicrafts.

His father had made shoes for him before, but Broly had found them too stuffy and had not worn them. Still, they really had been soft, since they were woven from Baya fur.

Thinking of that, Broly got an idea. Before blasting the road open today, he had hunted a group of creatures with long, soft fur.

Broly walked over to a Long-haired Deer carcass, tore off some fur, and began weaving it.

But by the time someone had prepared the Long-haired Deer meat, he still had not managed to weave the soft fur into the shape of feet.

"What are you doing?"

Akame came over and asked.

"Making shoes."

Broly answered.

"Can you make shoes with just fur?"

Akame did not really understand.

"My father made shoes out of fur."

"Really?"

"I just didn't bring them with me. Otherwise, I'd show you. Those shoes were really soft!"

Although he had only worn shoes a few times on Vampa, Broly spoke to the girl with absolute confidence.

"Fur like the clothes you're wearing?"

"Yeah."

Akame reached out and touched Broly's Baya-fur clothing. It really did feel soft.

Though calling it fur, it was more like some kind of plant fiber.

"Does anyone know how to weave shoes?"

After thinking for a moment, Akame asked the other children.

"I do."

One child raised his hand.

"My father was a shoemaker. Later, he became addicted to gambling and lost a lot of money, so I was sold. This kind of handiwork is nothing to me."

"Then can you weave this fur into them?"

"Probably."

The child who knew how to make shoes thought for a moment and nodded. His hands were far more dexterous than Broly's.

First, he found some vines, scraped off the bark with a knife, then shaved away the small thorns, creating simple materials for weaving shoes.

Curling and twisting, layer upon layer, the vine bark soon took the shape of Slippers in his hands.

"I used to weave them from dried grass. That was more durable and fairly soft too. I've never tried vines, but if we add fur, they should be a bit softer."

As he spoke, he quickly wove the Shoes.

Around the time the roast meat was nearly done, a crude pair of vine-and-fur shoes had been made in the Boy's hands.

Akame tried them on and found them fairly good. Aside from being a little too large, they were far better than the wooden shoes she had been wearing.

"We need more vines and animal fur to make more shoes."

Broly said.

"I can't make shoes for everyone by myself."

The Boy who wove shoes shook his head. There were more than seventy people here.

"Then we'll make them together. Just teach us how to weave shoes."

Tsukushi and some other children who were good with their hands spoke up.

The children gradually gathered together to discuss shoe weaving.

But before that, they needed to fill their stomachs.

Tonight's main course was Long-haired Deer and some huge, long worms. The roasted Long-haired Deer had a somewhat gamey flavor, while the huge worms had a fruity wood fragrance after roasting. Their texture was like tough beef tendon—hard to chew, but the more one chewed, the more fragrant they became.

On the exchange page in the Crystal Palace, this was called Haisen Great Worm Roast, and its exchange price was about the same as a Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl.

The soup was Fish Soup. There were some small fish in the forest stream, which someone had caught and boiled in yesterday's Swamp Crab shells.

The small fish had no name, but even without salt, the cooked soup was incredibly fresh.

While the soup was boiling, Boni suggested adding some mushrooms to give it more color, but everyone unanimously vetoed it.