What was happiness, and how were you supposed to find it?
The children did not know, and Broly was not very clear on it either.
But that was fine. He had a direction now. All they had to do was walk toward it.
Under Broly's lead, they headed the way the Imperial Intelligence Bureau men had flown off.
On the way, they ran into plenty of danger beasts—but danger beasts were not dangerous when there was a Saiyan in the group who was more dangerous than they were.
Every beast that attacked was turned into the next day's food by Broly. Compared to the threats from danger beasts, the real trouble came from the snakes, insects, and other creepers hidden under the fallen leaves and among the vines, things that were hard to guard against.
Fortunately, some of the kids had lived in forest environments before. The poisons in Gifnora Seatre Forest were different, but methods of detox and prevention still overlapped a bit.
They gathered some mildly toxic leaves, lit them, tied them to sticks, and smoked the path ahead. Many snakes and bugs were driven off in advance.
"Do we really have to do this?"
Broly coughed in the smoke.
"There's no helping it. We're not like you, Big Bro. We can't shrug off bites."
The one who answered was Rivarina, said to be from a western foreign tribe living in the mangrove swamps.
She had figured out this way to ward off vermin by experimenting with forest plants.
She had forest survival experience, but here most of the creatures were danger beasts. Without Broly's rescue the day before, she probably would have been eaten already.
"I've got a better way."
Broly thought for a moment.
"What way?"
The children all looked at him curiously.
He had Rivarina put out the smoldering plants, then raised his hand toward the forest ahead. A green beam of energy blasted forward, and a broad, straight road appeared where the trees had been.
"That's my way."
Broly patted his hands, as if he had done something trivial.
The kids: …
They had never imagined such a "road." The dense forest that had been there moments ago was simply gone.
There were no snakes or bugs left, and any danger beasts that had been in the blast zone were likely ash as well.
The air went quiet. Naha Shu, the oldest and most experienced of them, sensed something was off and quickly started clapping.
"Big Bro is mighty! Big Bro is amazing! Come on, everyone, clap for Big Bro and thank him for opening a path through the forest for us."
Great power inspired awe, but too much power could turn awe into fear. That was only human.
Guided in time by Naha Shu, the children's instinctive fear was slowly transformed into even greater admiration.
"Big Brother Broly, you're incredible. How did you do that—whoosh, and the forest was just gone?"
Spurred on by girls with thicker nerves like Akame, Chikushi, and Pony, this mostly simple group of kids quickly became lively again. Only a few who had been through more watched Broly with complicated eyes.
Monster.
They did not say it out loud, but that meaning was definitely there.
They felt fear, but they held it down.
It was not perfect, but Broly was not the careful type anyway.
With "Big Bro! Big Bro!" ringing all around him, he gradually lost himself in it.
Or, put another way, he was starting to enjoy the way kids his age looked up to him.
"You just gather ki in your hand like this, then—whoosh, boom."
Broly demonstrated again, blasting another tree.
Throwing energy blasts was, aside from cat's cradle, one of the few "skills" he could share.
"Mm… still not working."
The kids mimicked his movements, straining to imagine what "gathering ki" meant as they aimed at nearby trees.
Nothing happened, as expected. Their ki simply was not full enough yet to be pulled out and turned into blasts.
Still, this world had danger beasts, strange secret arts, and bio‑modification. Learning to shoot blasts someday was not out of the question.
After resting a bit, the group set off again. With a broad road to walk, their pace sped up significantly.
The only downside was that Broly's loud, destructive display had scared the forest's creatures.
Where the woods had been full of sounds, the areas near their new road fell eerily quiet.
On the road that followed, they ran into no more danger beasts and no more vermin—meaning no more prey came conveniently to them either.
…
As night fell, they made camp by a forest stream.
"It really is better to walk in the woods."
Broly sighed. Ever since he'd blown out a road, no game had come looking for him.
"I disagree. Flat ground is much easier to walk on."
Akame shot back, then lifted one small foot to show him.
"At least after walking so far today, I didn't get any new blisters."
As she spoke, she took a thin splinter of wood and started treating the blisters on her sister's feet.
Broly looked down at his own. He had never grown such things.
But everyone else seemed to be popping them, and he felt a little envious.
"So how do I get blisters?"
He asked.
"Why would you want those?"
"Because you all have them."
Akame was speechless.
"They're not a good thing."
"Yeah, they hurt like crazy when you step on them."
Kurome added.
"If I could help it, I wouldn't want them at all."
The other children chimed in.
"So… is there a way not to get them?"
Hearing they were no good, Broly changed his mind and asked again.
"Blisters aren't a big deal. Pop them and rest a bit and they're fine."
Cornelia said.
"I think if we had soft shoes, our feet wouldn't blister."
A blonde girl named Natara offered.
"The shoes the slavers gave us are too hard."
"You had shoes at least. The slaver who sold me here didn't give me any."
They carried on like that, one after another.
"I don't wear shoes, and I don't get blisters."
"Wow, your soles are thick!"
Listening in, Broly reached a conclusion: most people needed soft shoes.
As for how to get them, he thought of his father back on Vampa, who was good with his hands.
Paragus had made him shoes once. Broly had found them stuffy and not worn them, but they had been very soft, woven from Baya fur.
Thinking of that gave him an idea. Before he blew the road today, he had hunted some long‑haired, soft‑furred animals.
He walked over to the carcass of a long‑haired deer, yanked off some fur, and started braiding.
By the time someone finished butchering the deer, he still had not managed to twist the soft hair into the shape of a foot.
"What are you doing?"
Akame came over.
"Making shoes."
Broly said.
"Can you even make shoes out of just hair?"
She did not quite get it.
"My father did it with hair."
"Really?"
"If I'd worn them here you could see. They're super soft."
He had barely worn them on Vampa, but that did not stop him from vouching for them with total confidence.
"Same kind of hair as your clothes?"
"Yeah."
Akame stroked his Baya‑fur garment. It really was very soft.
It felt more like some kind of plant fiber than animal hair.
"Does anyone here know how to make shoes?"
She thought for a bit, then turned to the others.
"I do."
A boy raised his hand.
"My father was a cobbler. Then he got hooked on gambling and lost a lot. I got sold off. This kind of handiwork isn't much trouble for me."
"Can you weave this fur into them?"
"Probably."
He thought about it and nodded. His hands were much surer than Broly's.
He first gathered some vines, shaved off the bark with a knife, scraped off the thorns, and turned them into simple weaving material.
Twist and loop, fold and cross—soon the vine strips became the rough shape of a sandal in his hands.
"I used to use dried grass. It's softer and lasts longer. I've never tried vines, but with the fur added they should be softer too."
He talked as he worked, fingers flying.
By the time the meat was ready, a crude pair of vine‑and‑fur sandals had taken shape in his hands.
Akame tried them on. A little big, but still far better than her original wooden shoes.
"We'll need more vines and fur to make enough shoes."
Broly said.
"I can't make shoes for everyone."
The boy shook his head. There were more than seventy of them.
"Then we'll all help. You just teach us how."
Chikushi and some of the other handy kids spoke up.
Soon a knot of them were huddled together, discussing how to weave shoes.
Before that, though, they ate.
Tonight's main dishes were long‑haired deer and some big, long insects. The deer was strong‑tasting when roasted, but the giant bugs had a fruity wood aroma after grilling. The texture was rubbery like tendon and hard to chew, but the more you chewed, the better it tasted.
On the Crystal Palace's exchange list, this stuff was called "Heisen Giant Grub Roast," priced about the same as a katsudon.
The soup was fish broth. There were small fish in the stream; someone had caught some and boiled them in yesterday's crab shells.
They had no name, but even without salt the broth was rich and savory.
When the soup went on, Pony suggested adding mushrooms for color—and was unanimously overruled.
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