The tent had been materialized, and Statiw and Mirajane went together to gather some firewood around it.
After discussing, it was decided that Statiw would take the first half of the night watch, and Mirajane would take the second half.
Sitting by the campfire, Statiw picked up a thick branch and poked the flames a couple of times, making the wood burn more fully and brightly.
"Hey, Statiw. Can't you materialize a pillow or a plush toy to use as a pillow?" Just then, Mirajane's voice came from the tent next to him.
"Please, given our current circumstances, you still want a pillow?" Hearing her request, Statiw immediately threw the branch aside and replied with a helpless expression.
"What? Can't I?" Her voice came out again.
"Of course. Can't you just endure it?" Statiw pouted.
"Alright," Mirajane mumbled in a low voice, and then there was no more sound from the tent.
After a while, just as he thought she had fallen asleep, her voice came from the tent again: "Ah—, I can't sleep. Statiw, let's chat for a bit."
"Hey, Mirajane. Is this really okay? You know, you're supposed to take the second half of the night," Statiw reminded her, seeing that she still wasn't asleep.
"What can I do if I can't sleep?" she replied righteously.
"Alright, what do you want to talk about?" he asked indifferently after hearing her reply.
"Tell me, what can I do to make Elfman more manly?" Mirajane in the tent thought for a moment, then suddenly asked.
"That depends on what you do," Statiw answered casually.
"What do you mean?" Hearing his answer, she was stunned for a moment, then pressed on.
"It's simple," he explained. "Between you three siblings, no matter what it is, you, as the eldest sister, have always made the decisions. This way, all Elfman needs to do is follow your instructions. In other words, you've protected him a bit too much, not giving him enough room to grow."
"What does this have to do with making Elfman more manly?" she asked, full of confusion and bewilderment after hearing his words.
Seeing her confusion, Statiw further explained: "Because Elfman has never made any important decisions on his own, he naturally won't develop enough self-confidence. Without self-confidence, how can you talk about being manly?"
"Is that so?" Mirajane thought for a moment, then pressed again: "Then what should I do?"
"It's simple. At first, let Elfman do some tasks alone to cultivate a sense of independence. Of course, if you're worried, you can secretly follow him, as long as he doesn't find out," Statiw thought for a moment and said. "Once he has enough independent ability, then let him take Lisanna to perform tasks together. At this time, he not only needs to be responsible for himself but also needs to take good care of Lisanna, so the responsibility on his shoulders will be heavier. When he encounters problems, he will have to think more, because once he makes a wrong decision, the consequences will not only be borne by him alone but will also involve Lisanna in bearing them with him."
"And then?" she continued to ask.
"And then?" Statiw was stunned: "Then, once Elfman gets used to it, he will believe that the decisions he makes are correct, and self-confidence will naturally develop."
"Is that so? I see," Mirajane murmured as she pondered after hearing this.
For a moment, both of them fell silent, with only the crackling sound of the campfire in front of Statiw.
After quite a while, seeing that she was no longer speaking in the tent, he casually picked up two dry branches from nearby and threw them into the campfire, adding a little fuel.
Then, he lay down by the campfire, head in hands, looking at the boundless night sky through the gaps in the branches and leaves.
Just like that, as time passed, Statiw occasionally added some dry branches to the campfire.
Gradually, the sky began to lighten.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the tent, and after a short while, Mirajane came out.
Seeing Statiw poking the campfire at this moment, she punched him on the head: "Why didn't you wake me up? Didn't we agree that I would take the second half of the night watch?"
"Ah, that hurts." Covering his head, Statiw looked at the angry Mirajane and said, "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" Her eyes narrowed, and she grabbed his collar: "We agreed that I would take the night watch for the second half, but now it's already light…"
"Alright, I get it," Statiw quickly grabbed her hand that was holding his collar and explained, "I've already thought about it. Since we need to stay in a fixed place at night, we can completely return to town to rest during the day, right? If that's the case, there's no need for you to suffer with me, right? Besides, I heard that if girls don't get enough sleep, they can age very easily."
"Hmm?" Hearing his explanation and understanding his thoughts, Mirajane thought for a moment and realized that what he said indeed made sense.
So she gradually loosened her grip on his collar and said, "Alright, I'll grant that you have a point. So, did you find any signs of birds active last night?"
"No, none at all. It was completely quiet all night," Statiw replied, straightening his collar and spreading his hands.
Mirajane glanced at him, walked to the horsetail grass, and carefully picked the plant, roots and all, saying, "Since that's the case, let's pick this one horsetail plant and deliver it to the client. We'll rest well during the day today, and then tomorrow night, we'll go guard the second plant."
"Okay," Statiw waved his hand, dispelling the materialized tent, and followed her out of the forest.
Over the next two days, Statiw and Mirajane went into the forest every day to keep watch at night.
Of course, this time, they wouldn't forget to bring a tent.
However, until the mission was completed, the two of them still hadn't found any trace of the bird Mirajane had described.
Finally, out of necessity, she once again found the person who had given her the information and asked, only then realizing that the person was referring to the common Nut-Eater found in that forest.
This Nut-Eater indeed likes to be active around plants rich in magic, such as horsetail grass, and its body color is indeed very vibrant.
However, its appearance is somewhat less than flattering.
It has a large fleshy growth on its massive head, its call is very unpleasant, and it likes to feed on nuts and seeds, sometimes also eating small lizards or snakes.
The more poisonous something is, the more it likes it.
This is because the large fleshy growth on its head can secrete a variety of detoxifying substances, and this bird is indeed very rare, because the Nut-Eater is only found in the forests around Magnolia on the entire continent…