The self-sufficient barrier device system made by planting world trees was soon improved. I had made the World Tree while keeping the image of "a tree that could produce a huge amount of mana, and being able to stand tall in the presence of scarce mana" with the «Creation Magic».
I created multiple world tree seeds and planted them in many regions of the wilderness with nutrient-rich soil along with the Barrier magic tool - Stone pillar.
The Barrier magic tool - Stone pillar was an independent magic tool that could maintain a barrier and sustain itself by absorbing mana. I had set up such a mana generation point by the world tree inside a narrow barrier in every place of the «Empty Wilderness».
"Next main thing is一一"
Also, I have made sure that the isolation barrier could automatically expand itself and restrain the mana flow that accompanied the increased mana density.
I mixed the plants and tree seeds in the soil and sprinkled them into the ground. Now what was left was to see if these plants could increase their domain after germinating and give rise to natural plant regions.
This was only a small step to setting up mana-generating points in each place one by one, but I believed that the average mana density in the «Empty Wilderness» had gradually begun to increase.
"Besides, such things are a piece of cake once you get the knack of it."
I created a new residence and woods inside the Great barrier near the Beastkin kingdom. The reason for our moving to that location was to interact with the outside world.
"I should let Selene hang out with other people besides us, lest I risk hampering her social ability."
After muttering that, I turned towards Selene.
"Become good friends with other people, okay?"
"Yes!" Replied Selene energetically.
I had already investigated the nearby village beforehand. As such, I knew that it was a frontier town in which an equal number of humans and Beastkins lived.
It should be easy to live in this town of Adventurers who defeat monsters overflowing from the ominous place of the frontier region.
"The things to trade are sorted out, I also got other things. Alright, let's go. I am leaving the house sitting duty to you, Teto."
"Alright-nanodesu!"
I took out a broom instead of my usual wand and straddled it together with Selene.
"Ohhh! We're flying!"
"Be careful to not lose your balance!"
Selene went gaga in happiness and beamed cheerfully, she had always longed for the flying broom.
The contents of the books I had collected during my journey to other places were still difficult for a child like Selene to read. So I created the picture books from my previous world, Earth, with the «Creation Magic» and gave them to Selene to read after translating them to this world's letters.
In the picture book, there was a witch who had made her appearance, and, similar to me, she was dressed in a black robe and wore a black triangular pointy hat. After reading that the witch flew into the sky with a broom in the picture book, she asked meー
「Mama, you can fly in the sky?」
「I can」
Saying so, I showed her the floating magic but apparently, the flying Selene meant was using the broom to fly in the sky.
After that, I developed a broom-type magic device that could fly in the air and also created a spell to control it efficiently, and my word, that was quite a hassle.
However, the good thing was its flying speed in a linear direction was pretty fast and the mana consumption was quite low.
As I was immersed in the changes that had happened so far, we soon arrived at our destination. Selene and I got off outside the town and, after entering through the city gate, we directly headed for the adventurer's guild.
"Hey 'here, Missy. Don't ye come in th' guild wit' a child. Guild ain't a plac' for ye to play."
A male Adventurer suddenly raised his voice at us.
Selene was frightened by the influx of people she was seeing for the first time besides myself and Teto and the well-built person of the opposite gender hunching his back to look at us.
I have more or less taught her that there are two genders, male and female, in a bookish way but I guess she must be shocked to suddenly see such a huge difference.
"Mama......"
"It's fine. There's no need to fear."
"I haven't done any requests recently but I'm an adventurer registered in a different country."
"Guild card seems alrigh'. Bu' bringing a child wit' ye ain't commendable."
"We have settled down near this town recently, so I just came here only to visit the guild. I don't have any plans to bring a child with me while completing quests."
We exchanged a few words but seeing that the Adventurer showed no sign of retreating even after politely telling him off, I released my mana.
It's been a while since I last pressured someone with magic.
In the process, I realized that there were limits to how much magical power I could release or use for body strengthening to cover my body even if I have increased my mana quantity.
Nevertheless, the pressure I released from my vast mana reserve after a long time was still unlike before and the opponent too seemed to have understood this somehow.
"O-Oh, gotcha. Sorry to stop ye."
I passed by him flashing a gentle smile while Selene cocked her head in confusion at the sudden change in the attitude of the male Adventurer.
In this way, when I made my way to the reception counter, a Cat Beastkin receptionist greeted us.
"What kind of business do you have? Do you want to register with the guild? Or there's something you want to know about the request?"
"For now, I just want to withdraw money from this guild card. Also, is there any place in this town where I can leave the child for caretaking?"
"Hm, ah, yes. Please wait a minute."
The receptionist's eyes widened at the recorded entry in the guild card and she was surprised again when she saw I'm a B-rank Adventurer and then一
"Wha, 17 years old...... "
"That's right. Is there something wrong?"
I entered my age as 12 years old at the time of registration and I had been active for around 1 and a half years in the Iscar kingdom.
After that, it has been around 4 years since I met Selene so I was now officially 17 years old.
Though it was quite refreshing to see the perplexed expression the receptionist showed due to the contrast in my age and my outward appearance.
"Err...... Are you really a parent and a child? You aren't siblings?"
"More precisely, I'm her foster mother. Her biological mother has passed away."
"I apologize for asking such an insensitive question...... "
Selene tugged on my clothes as silence flowed amidst us.
"Mama...... Wee-wee...... "
"Excuse me. Can you tell me where the toilet is?"
"Ah, yes. It's in that directio一...... Wait, Mama?"
The multiple factors of being a B-rank Adventurer, a great amount of money in the unit of several dozen large gold coins, being 17 years old but having the appearance of a 12-year-old and even more so carrying a non-blood-related child caused not only the Cat Beastkin receptionist but even the neighboring receptionist, the other adventurers and the staff behind the counter to be frozen stiff in surprise.
I ignored them and took Selene to the toilet, and even after I returned, there were still a few people looking absent-minded.
"Excuse me, how much should I withdraw from the card?"
"Hmm, can you withdraw a small gold coin and convert it into silver or copper coins?"
"I understood. Also, there's a nursing facility catering for Adventurers with children if you want a place that will look after your daughter(?) temporarily. Besides this, there are also orphanages, Sabbath church, and a private school......"
"I see...... Can I leave my child in their care next time I come to visit the town?"
When I asked, the receptionist Big-sis showed me related documents.
"This is the fee for one-time care."
The reason for the expensive 2 silver coins a day price should be because it was a facility used by high-ranking Adventurers.
In addition to resolving one of the worries of high-ranking Adventurers who couldn't work because of their children, it also prevents the possibility of the children becoming their parent's Achilles heel.
It was very much possible for someone to threaten high-ranking Adventurers by kidnapping their children and coercing them to do evil deeds.
I guess it's more like the protection fee when the Adventurer is absent due to them working on a quest.
As I was looking at the documents, Selene also tried to read the content but it was still hard for her to read as she didn't understand anything.
After pouting, her gaze shifted to the head of the receptionist Big-sis...... More like, to the top of her head.
"...... Meow, meow's ear, cute."
Cat Beastkin receptionist Big-sis smiled at her childish words, and I addressed Selene.
"You're right, they're amazing."
"The flip-flop ears, cute!"
"I also heard they can pick up minute sounds and have good hearing."
"Ohh! You're amazing, Big-sis!"
A warm and cozy atmosphere spread in the guild as Selene gave an innocent, amusing smile.
I received the money withdrawn from the guild card, applied for Selene's caretaking in the nursing home, and decided to go shopping in the town that day.
I can arrange necessary things with the «Creation Magic» but it wouldn't be good teaching material if Selene were to think it was the norm for things to be made out of thin air.
So I handed her money and taught her how to use them.
"Mama, the woof-woof doll, is cute!"
"Yeah, it is. Excuse me, how much is it?"
"This is one and a half silver coins."
The cloth's quality was a bit crude but Selene seemed to have taken a liking to a light brown dog doll.
I could produce a better quality one with creation magic but I bought it to make Selene have an attachment to objects.
"Alright, here you go, Selene. Can you count and buy by yourself?"
"Selene can do it! Err, one silver coin...... One, two, three, four, five big copper coins!"
After correctly counting the coins, Selene handed them to the shopkeeper's uncle and received the doll.
Selene was so cute when she hugged the doll in her arms that I almost felt like she was an incarnation of an angel.
"Selene. It will get dirty and it's dangerous to walk around when your hands aren't free, so I will keep it for you, okay?"
"Ok. See you again, Harry."
Oh my, it seems like she has already decided on the doll's name.
If I'm not wrong, it was the name of a dog that had appeared in one of the picture books I gave her.
After shopping for a while while keeping Selene in front to teach her how to shop, we left the town in the afternoon and returned to the «Empty Wilderness» riding on the flying broom.
