On the way to their destination, the group took a quick detour. They traveled to the place where Grisella had previously left the other Trolls that she had hunted.

It was a bit difficult to carry all these Trolls at once, so Ellis connected the corpses to one another with a string of rope (courtesy of Grisella). He then proceeded to drag a literal train of oversized corpses across the forest floor.

Twenty minutes quickly passed.

“We’re here,” Grisella stated as they arrived at a small clearing.

She stared at the area with conflicted eyes. An inaudible sigh leaked out from her lips. I only went out for less than a day, why does it feel like I’ve been gone for centuries?

Unlike the rest of the forest, bright light illuminated the clearing. Looking up, there was a hole amidst the evergreen canopy. It wasn’t much, but this was probably one of the brightest spots in the entire forest.

Near the center of the clearing was a thatched cottage with a conical shaped roof. The cottage wasn’t very big, but it was more than enough for one person.

Ellis widened his eyes in excitement. The house looked a bit rustic, but its mere existence brought comfort to his weary heart. Finally, after so long, it was the first concrete proof of civilization.

The walls of the cottage were made out of a brownish material that didn’t quite resemble wood. The rooftop was constructed out of individual strands of dried grass. It was pale-yellow in color and a wooden stick stuck out from the very top of the structure.

What surprised him the most was the fact that the cottage was located shockingly close to the river. In total, it had only taken them forty-five minutes to get here, and that was with the detour that they had taken.

If that Troll had not run to the river, if Ellis hadn’t met up with Grisella, then he might not have even realized that this cottage existed. He would have simply passed by it without noticing.

“You really live here all by yourself?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes,” Grisella nodded her head. “I’ve lived here for about one hundred years now. Give or take. I haven’t really been keeping track.”

“O-one hundred?!” His eyes almost popped out of his sockets. I know it’s a fantasy world, but there’s no way she’s over one hundred years old. “You don’t look a day over thirty.”

Grisella lightly chuckled in response. Her face looked noticeably less tense than what it was thirty minutes ago. She had grown used to his company. That or some instinctual part of her brain had reassured her that this dull looking man was not an actual threat.

It didn’t really matter either way. From the very start, Ellis did not even notice Grisella’s fluctuating emotions.

“You’re flattering me.” She paused for a moment, before she explained, “In truth, this is normal for my race. We live rather long lives.”

“Your race?” Ellis had originally assumed that her youth came from regenerative potions or something along those lines. To think that it was an inherent racial characteristic… was Grisella part elf or something?

“That’s right, my race. I’m a member of the Witch race.”

“…”

So, in this world, Witches are an actual race and not just human females with magic… Ellis quietly digested this information.

He then asked, “So, how old are you really?”

Grisella briefly glanced back up at him. A thin smile formed on her face. “It’s not nice to ask a lady such a thing, you know…”

Ellis stopped for a moment. He crookedly smiled as an awkward laugh leaked out from his lips.

She did not say anything, but one thing was clear: Grisella was a full-fledged grandmother.

No! Don’t think about it like that. Ellis inwardly reprimanded himself. Different races have different sensibilities. It’s… it’s still okay to pursue!

With such carefree thoughts in his head, he dragged the corpse train closer to the house. Grisella led him towards the side of the cottage, where there was a small outdoor garden. The garden was cordoned off by four weird smelling wooden pillars.

He could not tell what sort of vegetables grew in the garden, just that, the stems that stuck out from the ground somewhat resembled carrots.

“Do I just put it here?” He asked

“Mn. Right here is fine.” She nodded.

Ellis lined the corpses up in a row next to the vegetable garden. In total, there were nine bodies. Two adults and seven ‘children’. Even though he said children, they were nearly five times bigger than him.

In addition, there was the still breathing adult male troll.

Grisella grabbed her spatial satchel and pulled out something that looked like a wine barrel. He watched the whole process with rapt fascination.

“Those things are pretty common, huh?” He commented.

“What?” Grisella looked down at her satchel. “This thing? It’s far from common. It’s an ancient artifact that was crafted all the way back in the Plumeroic era. Artifacts from that time are very valuable. What’s more, this thing is a spatial artifact. Those things are even rarer.”

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A slightly proud smile stretched her lips. “I’m afraid I’m one of the only people on this planet that own such an artifact.”

“Oh…” Ellis lightly nodded his head.

Guess I was wrong. Storage items weren’t as commonplace as he had first assumed. Whether this was a good thing or not was still up for debate.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, he suddenly heard a soft scoff coming from somewhere close by. Ellis looked towards the ground.

“Kyu!”

Ena sat next to his feet. She raised her nose high up in the air while a rather arrogant smirk stretched her lips. All the while, she fiddled with the pouch hung around her neck.

Ellis couldn’t help but roll his eyes. No matter where it was, this brat sure liked to brag.

He moved in to scold her but he was a step too late. Just then, Wight walked over. She stared curiously at the brown leather pouch. After a few seconds of silence, she inched her head closer. Wight tried to bite the spatial pouch.

Ena let out a cry as she hurriedly jumped back. She glared hatefully at Wight, but the little wolf was not one to be defeated so easily. She tried again. This time, she lunged towards Ena.

The little fox dodged by the skin of her teeth. She let out a series of cries as she desperately ran away. Naturally, Wight gave chase. The two ran around the small clearing.

Ellis let out another silent sigh. This time, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Those guys are still playing around even though we’re at another person’s home…. Should I scold them?

He discreetly turned to Grisella. She seemingly did not notice any of the commotion. Her full attention was focused on the spatial artifact in her hands. She pulled out several more wine barrels.

After a while, there were now thirty barrels all strewn across the clearing.

“Alright, this should be enough.” She nodded to herself. “Then, shall we get started?”

Although Grisella had guests over, the Trolls took priority. After all, a Troll was best harvested fresh. Their potency rapidly decreased after the ninth hour. Grisella was cutting it incredibly close.

If it was before, then even if this year’s hunt had to go to waste, she would not have dared to neglect these guests of hers. Luckily, during the journey over here, Grisella had grown to somewhat understand Ellis’s personality. Something like this should still be in the green.

In the first place, the grey-haired youth did not look like someone who gets easily irritated.

And like she had expected, rather than anger, Ellis showed a great deal of interest towards the Troll.

“Can you really turn these things into potions?” He asked as he stared at the corpses.

“Yes. More specifically, I only need their blood. Grandelier Troll blood is rather valuable. In its natural state, it is poison to most, but when processed in a certain way, it can be transformed into the world’s most valuable potion.”

The image of the legendary HP Potion popped into his head. A bulb-shaped glass bottle filled to the brim with clear red liquid. It was a staple in any videogame.

Grisella continued, “I make these potions for myself. They come in handy, especially considering how dangerous the forest is. But in the future, if I ever return to civilization, I can sell the potions for quite a bit of profit.”

Civilization… Ellis’s heart momentarily shuddered. That was the one thing that he had desperately yearned for. Just as he was about to ask more, Grisella suddenly pointed to the last Troll. It was the male Grandelier Troll that he had subdued.

“Out of all the Trolls today, this thing is probably the most valuable. You managed to subdue it without killing it. As a result, its blood still retains its life vitality. The potions from this thing will definitely turn out even better than usual.”

“That’s good to know.” Ellis offhandedly commented. His mind was still hooked onto the earlier topic.

In spite of this, Grisella continued at her own pace. She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, before all that, we need to do step one first: Blood Letting.”

She took hold of one of the barrels and unscrewed the lid. The barrel was somewhat unique. At first glance, it looked to be made out of wood, but upon closer inspection, the material was actually stone. It was a brown-colored stone carved in the shape of a wine barrel.

Noticing his stare, Grisella promptly explained. “This can also be considered an artifact, although not as valuable as the magic satchel. Its main purpose is for preservation. It’s a moderately valuable object.”

“Don’t spatial items already do that?” Ellis once again recalled back to the pouch around Ena’s neck. The meat that they stored in that thing never once went bad, regardless of how much time passed.

Grisella looked at him with a bewildered expression. “Where did you get that idea from? A spatial artifact’s only function is to house a larger space within a much smaller space. It can’t do anything else. Naturally, we need something that can preserve the blood.”

Hearing her words, he numbly nodded. He should have expected this, but again, he was once again reminded of just how skewed his current common sense was.

“So, how long will this process take?” He asked.

“Hmm… in order to completely squeeze out all the blood, I’ll need at least seven days.”

“I see…” Ellis hesitated for a moment. After a long pause, he shamelessly asked, “Can we stay here until then?”

Grisella’s shoulders imperceptibly twitched. Although she was not as afraid as before, she was still hesitant towards this group of irregulars.

“T-that’s a bit…” She wanted to reject him, but she did not have the heart to. More specifically, she couldn’t muster up the courage to do so.

“…”

Ellis knew he was imposing. Seeing the conflicted expression on Grisella’s face, he could somewhat sympathize with her. Still, he had to do it. This went beyond his desire to stay in contact with a beautiful woman. Grisella was knowledgeable. She was wise. She knew her way around the forest, and most importantly, she knew her way out of the forest.

She was his only hope of escaping this place. Short of kidnapping her and forcing her to guide him out of the forest, acting like a shameless man was the only other way.

And like Ellis had originally hoped for, eventually, Grisella begrudgingly nodded her head.

“Since you helped me catch this Troll, I’ll also give you half of my finished products.” She additionally proposed.

“You really don’t need to.” With a ‘modest’ expression on his face, Ellis shook his head. “I gave that to you as an apology— er, as a gift. You don’t need to pay it back.”

“No, no, no, I insist. Just think of it as a gift.”

Hopefully, after the week’s over, you lot will leave my house. Grisella smiled through her teeth and buried her real intentions deep within her heart.

Ellis was left with no other choice but to accept her offer.

“Then, how are you going to extract the blood?” He turned back to the corpses.

In response, Grisella smirked.

“Like this—” She snapped her fingers. The cottage suddenly shook. Ellis hurriedly turned around, just in time to see the straws on the rooftop elongate and stretch out. Threads of finely formed wire (dried grass) flew through the air and rushed to the Trolls. They pierced its skin while other strands entwined around their legs and arms.

Several more threads jabbed into the bodies.

In addition, a few of the threads connected towards the wine barrels.

“Hollow straws will extract the blood directly from their body and deliver it to the barrels.” She explained. “We can just leave it alone like this. After seven days, all the blood will have been extracted. Once that’s done, I can start the process of making the potion.”

Her words barely registered in his ears. He was still amazed at the sight before him. He had seen Ena perform incredible feats of magic, but there was something novel about seeing a house literally come to life.

After a while, he turned to her and asked. “Aren’t you afraid that animals might come and steal the corpses?”

“How long do you think I’ve lived here. I have already taken the necessary precautions.” She smiled a somewhat cheeky smile.

Grisella shook her head. “Enough about that, let’s go inside.”