Just as Nino said, no matter what she did, Kisaragi Rin would feed her the meal.
Although it was embarrassing, it was also the truth.
After all, they were still young ladies this morning, and now they truly lacked the Talent for combat. If Kisaragi Rin didn't feed them, was he expecting the Nakano Quintuplets to cultivate a rice paddy on their own?
Not to mention, this Trial Mission was inherently unusual, which was why Nakano Maruo had entrusted it to Kisaragi Rin.
Just like studying, Itsuki clearly knew her own limits, so she wasn't overly ambitious. Her only expectation at this stage was not to fail even at chewing the food fed to her mouth.
If that happened... "Can't you even manage this?
I really can't help Itsuki. Since you've become a cripple, you should just eat liquid food.
Waffles, Age Ring cake, Meat Buns... all crushed into tasteless liquid."
Kisaragi Rin's voice seemed right next to her ear. Itsuki saw herself paralyzed in bed, and Kisaragi Rin, who came to take care of her, crushed her favorite foods into liquid. After she painfully finished eating, he would lean close and say with a wicked smile:
"Itsuki, paralyzed in bed, you can no longer keep up with your abdominal exercises. You've gotten fat."
The fantasy in her mind grew increasingly distorted. Itsuki quickly straightened her expression and began commanding the Gingerbread Man of the Gingerbread Witch to scout in all directions.
The Gingerbread Men were only seven or eight centimeters tall, with rudimentary bodies and features.
Although they were created by the Gingerbread Witch, they seemed more like a special species. As long as they weren't killed, they could exist indefinitely. In contrast, their strength and intelligence were simply indescribable.
Their strength was similar to that of an ordinary person. Aside from being small enough to be agile, and potentially serving as emergency rations, they had no supernatural Ability.
In terms of intelligence, Itsuki realized they were already getting lost and forgetting her commands.
Putting a lost Gingerbread Man into her mouth, Itsuki's eyes suddenly lit up. This was much more delicious than the Candy House built by the Gingerbread Witch.
"Let me try another one."
The Gingerbread Witch didn't mind, after all, this group of Gingerbread Men wasn't very useful in Strange Tale combat.
After taking action, Itsuki realized that this space wasn't as large as it seemed.
Some scenery that looked distant seemed to be wallpaper on the pumpkin carriage walls. After walking less than three or four hundred meters to either side of the road, she would hit a wall, so she could only follow the path forward.
"I wonder what we'll encounter..."
---
Meanwhile, in a Castle.
"Departing from Chiba City, arriving at the Candy House, and successfully obtaining her first Pokémon, Super Chiban Itsuki has finally embarked on her journey!"
Watching the scene on the Magic Mirror, Kisaragi Rin high-fived the cheering Illya beside him.
This was a considerably large Inner Hall, and they were sitting on a sofa next to the Fireplace.
Kisaragi Rin looked behind him. Several Strange Tales with unfamiliar faces were weeping mournfully, but the moment Kisaragi Rin's gaze arrived, they trembled and forced a smile...
When Itsuki and the Gingerbread Witch entered the pumpkin carriage to accept this Mission that could raise their evaluation, Kisaragi Rin also put down his Three Kingdoms hand and happily enjoyed the new territory with the members of the Strange Tales Association.
There were Strange Tales inside the pumpkin carriage.
More accurately, this pumpkin carriage contained a Strange Tale organization, and the pumpkin carriage itself was modified from a special Strange Tale.
This counted as a pleasant surprise.
After all, the Gingerbread Witch was too weak; she didn't know the situation inside the pumpkin carriage.
Kisaragi Rin had originally just planned a team-building exercise with the Strange Tales around him, treating this Trial Mission as a tourist trip. He hadn't expected the specialties of this world to be so abundant that he could "wait by the stump for a rabbit."
Of course, this situation might also be caused by the effect [Tai Sui] of the [Demonic Garment].
Demonic Garment - Tai Sui: Every Strange Tale controlled by the Demonic Garment brings you a special fortune.
Through Hanako and Sadako before, Kisaragi Rin had long discovered that this so-called special fortune made it easier for him to encounter Strange Tales, and this Fairy Tale World, full of Strange Tales, allowed the effect of the [Demonic Garment] to be fully exploited.
A few seconds later, the pumpkin carriage quieted down.
Their strength was quite good, but unfortunately, they had encountered the Strange Tales Association from Chiba.
After Spider Mother advertised the power and generosity of the Strange Tales Association, these Strange Tales were moved by the organization's great prospects. They actively pledged allegiance, even willingly contributing all their possessions and lives in exchange for a chance to join the Strange Tales Association.
Kisaragi Rin accepted their allegiance.
Thus, this group of strange, local Strange Tales stood behind him.
There were six in total.
One Scarecrow, whose abilities were Clone, creating illusions, and teleporting through fear. Overall, it had no obvious characteristics, and Kisaragi Rin didn't know if it came from a fairy tale or was a common product.
One Witch who had two Demonic Sheep beside her. According to her, they were her older sister and younger sister. The former only had one eye, and the latter had three eyes.
This led Kisaragi Rin to deduce that she came from the "One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes" story in grimm's fairy tales.
One not-very-intelligent Golden Goose, whose Ability was to link two objects together, though the actual manifestation of this Ability was far more terrifying than the literal meaning.
It came from the "Golden Goose" in grimm's fairy tales.
One Pumpkin Freak, who was violently tempered and was cursed into a spider by Spider Mother the moment he tried to attack. His Ability allowed him to grow various strange pumpkins, and this pumpkin carriage, which contained a world within, was his creation.
A ball of flame named Calcifer, responsible for the entire pumpkin carriage's energy supply, came from "Howl's Moving Castle." The appearance of this fellow intensified Kisaragi Rin's interest in this world.
After all, its appearance indicated that the composition of this world was far more than just grimm's fairy tales.
The last one was their master.
Hmm... they didn't have an alliance; they gathered together simply because they were slaves caught together, sharing the same plight.
"Miss Red, what level of difficulty do you think we should maintain for Itsuki's Trial?"
Kisaragi Rin asked the person beside him.
She had beautiful purple curly hair, a slender figure, and the charisma of a mature beauty, but the elaborately decorated Western Dress made her look like a doll.
But she was a doll to begin with.
This beautiful doll had her eyes tightly closed; her true main body was the pair of blood-like Dancing Shoes beneath her feet.
Compared to the doll wearing the shoes, the Dancing Shoes were the existence that made people unable to look away once they saw them—their eerie charisma was truly a Talent.
"Whatever the President decides is fine."
Miss Red said, elegantly and intelligently.