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“Silkworms?”
As in, they weren’t caterpillars? Then again, silkworms were basically a kind of caterpillar, so it didn’t change much.
“Rainbow silkworms produced beautiful silk threads with a dazzling rainbow luster. It was said that the silk spun from them was greatly favored by the upper classes.”
“Wow... Wait, what’s with the past tense?”
“The elders of my village told us they’d gone extinct around two thousand years ago.”
They’re an extinct species? Oh no...
“They must have come to this time through the dimensional gap with that extinct creature Kuon and the others fought that one time. Hehe, what an unexpected find. You did well, Steph.”
“Yay, I did something good!”
A wide smile burst out on Steph’s face as Leen gave her a gentle pat on the head.
Apparently, rainbow silkworms were bred exclusively by one country two thousand years ago, but they’d all gone extinct because of some experiment. They used to live out in the wild, but after being captured and bred by humans, their vitality gradually weakened. If memory served, even our silkworms had been so domesticated that they couldn’t live out in the wild anymore.
“These were a wild, undomesticated species of silkworm. If we could improve their way of life, the fabric made from their silk would undoubtedly become a mainstay of Brunhild. I didn’t think the wicked devout could be anything but a nuisance, but no, it turns out they can be useful too.”
Leen had a wide grin on her face. I wouldn’t be against turning it into one of our main industries, but that would mean we’d have to look after them, right?
“Don’t worry your little head, darling. I won’t tell you to look after them. Let’s see... How about we start by asking Flora to improve their quality a little? We have to breed them first. Then...” Leen railed off, seeming very on board with the idea of making a business out of the rainbow silkworms’ threads.
As one could tell from her attire, she was quite the fashionable girl. Linze was the one best at embroidery, but Leen would frequently give her own thoughts on designs. There was no way she could give up the chance to have the best quality fabric possible.
Maybe it would be smart to get Zanac involved as a fashion designer... Then again, he’d recently gotten really busy with orders from across the continent for his well-received bridal service that he’d just started up, so would he even have the time to help? He was a merchant in his own right, so I doubted he’d pass up a chance like this if he could find the time, but still...
“Huh... Brunhild is actually famous for its sericulture industry in the future, but I never imagined Steph would be the cause of it,” Kuon muttered to himself with a slight sigh.
I see. So this turns into a big success, huh?
“Still, it’s amazing that they managed to survive. A normal bug would’ve been eaten by the birds by now.”
“Despite their appearance, rainbow silkworms are a type of monster. They have natural magic applied to them in the form of cognition disruption, so birds and other beasts can’t find them so easily.”
“Huh? They aren’t regular bugs? Wait, they aren’t dangerous, are they?”
“From what I’ve heard, they don’t even have any form of venom, so I doubt they’re very dangerous. All it is is magic that makes them harder to detect, after all,” Leen explained. It only made the fact Steph spotted them way more impressive.
“Do you really think a simple bug’s cognition disruption could get past our children?”
“Yeah, good point...”
Our kids had really sharp instincts. Even vague hunches like “I think it’s this way” or “It’s probably this” often struck true. Was this something they came with as demigods? Why did I not have the same level of instinct? Was it because I wasn’t born divine?
“Anyway, let’s return to the western forest tomorrow. There might be more rainbow silkworms. We might even be able to find some cocoons.”
Leen was getting excited again. It was rare to see her like this over something other than magic. It was the same way that Quun got hyped over magic items. Like mother, like daughter.
“Hey! What are those cute little animals you all have?!”
“Souvenirs from father. There’s one for you too, Steph. Which would you like?”
Steph had caught sight of the wooden animals with her sharp eyes and immediately latched onto them. I subtly did a quick search on my phone for more rainbow silkworms while they did that and found that there were a good dozen of them left.
Dimensional holes would absorb everything in their surroundings and spit them out in the future. For all we knew, the leaves and branches around them were from trees that were now extinct. Not that I would be able to tell, since I wasn’t exactly a botanist.
When I showed Leen the results, a very wide smile formed on her face. She was nowhere near as bad as Doc Babylon, but Leen was quite the mad scientist herself... That must have been who Quun inherited it from...