Episode 5: Forest People and Demonic Beasts
I woke up in the morning with the puppy who woke up before me and licked my nose.
The quilt, made of bundles of grass stuck to the bark for thermal protection, was warmer than expected, but the sheets were hard. It was uncomfortable to sleep on.
I want to eventually build a comfortable place to sleep. Add this to my list of goals.
After starting a bonfire with the charcoal I had buried in the ashes, I boiled and ate the smoked rabbit I had made yesterday. Of course, I’ll share it with the puppies too.
I go to the river, wash my face, and brush my teeth.
If you get cavities in a survival environment, it becomes a matter of life and death. There’s no dentist, it won’t heal on its own, and you won’t be able to eat all hard foods.
Charcoal is crushed into powder with the molars and used as a substitute for toothpaste. I brushed the leaves with a grass stalk that had been loosened, and rubbed the inner bark of a tree that had been scraped into thin threads between his teeth.
I have to think about things like taking a bath.
Added to the list again. I have a lot to do.
Then, in order to achieve my biggest immediate goal, I turned my attention to the puppy.
“Now, where is your owner?”
I put the puppy in a backpack made from bent tree bark and start walking.
It’s faster to carry your dog on your back than to walk with your small dog’s feet. And there are dangerous creatures called carnivorous rabbits. I want to make sure there’s no chance that I’ll be eaten while I’m not looking.
Let’s start from the first riverside we come across and search as far as we can walk around in one day.
For now, I’ll walk upstream along the river. If there are people out there, they should be using the river as a treasure trove of resources, just like me.
If you’re near a river, you’ll probably set traps to catch fish along the river, leave footprints, or leave some kind of trace.
Proceed with caution and observe your surroundings.
I walked steadily at a pace of six kilometers per hour. I can barely breathe and it doesn’t feel tight. Even with this, there is enough leeway that I can feel that I am proceeding with caution.
This improved body is truly amazing.
It was a big difference from before, when I felt my physical strength weaken every time I went camping.
“Please mark it so you don’t get lost.”
At the starting point, we used Craft Gear to carve the shape of a house on a piece of wood and attach it to the tree. From there, I made easy-to-see marks on the nearby trees every five minutes or so.
As I continued walking, I found some wild plants that resembled edible plants along the riverside.
I won’t collect it, but I’ll keep it in mind. I want to add color to my food.
There are quite a few signs of fish on the surface of the river where the clear water flows. The sound of fish splashing mixed in with the ear-tickling murmur of the river.
“It would be a good place… As long as there were no monsters attacking people.”
The problem is that because of the attack, it’s hard to see if there’s something lurking in the river.
By the way, the size of the puppy is about 5 to 6 kg. In other words, the range of movement is not that wide.
In a forest where humans are attacked by wild animals on the first day, a puppy like this would be perfect prey. So, they should only be away long enough to be safe.
If I’m heading in the right direction, I’ll be able to find the owner soon.
The problem is,
“That elf was alone…but are there others?”
I have to ask people from another world how this forest is treated. I don’t actually think that if there was an elf village and humans would be told to leave…
I have complete trust in the Goddess.
I wouldn’t be sent to a place where such trouble would occur.
“If they have some salt, I’d appreciate it if they could share it with me…”
salt.
Without salt, people will die.
If there is no salt pond nearby, it is necessary to actively eat animal internal organs and blood.
It’s surprisingly enough if you mainly eat meat, but the taste is completely different with salt than without.
The puppy leans out from the backpack on my back and places its front legs on my shoulder. When I stroked his head, he pressed my head against me and seemed to be having fun.
I continued walking like that for about an hour.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
The puppy suddenly started acting up in my backpack. Just then, it flew forward from my shoulder and landed perfectly. It’s a big deal for a dog to jump this high and land.
Not when I’m impressed.
The puppy makes short cries intermittently towards me.
“Is there something?”
I gripped my cane again and tried to pay attention to my surroundings again. In front of me, the puppy started running in a certain direction, then immediately stopped and lowered his stance.
It’s a familiar gesture. This behavior is similar to that of a hunting dog when it detects signs of prey.
I quietly approached that small tail, keeping my stance low as I searched for signs in the same direction.
There were no footprints or traces of people at the scene.
However, as I held my breath and strained my nerves, I heard a strange noise coming from deep within the forest. Only a little, but
“I hear the sound of beasts. Are they fighting?”
The roar of a wild beast is a battle roar that carries an intimidating will. However, only one species and one head can be heard. If that’s the case, the reason they’re fighting isn’t a turf war or a fight between meat eaters.
That means that the other person is
“I guess it’s your owner.”
When I ran towards the sound, there was a ridiculously large monster.
No, I have to say that because it’s a complete monster.
A figure with the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion. I’ve seen it on social games. It’s a griffon. It has a larger body than a horse, beats its wings, leaps high, and runs around with the flexibility of a cat.
Amidst the loud, high-pitched cries of birds of prey, there was a figure fighting with them. He slashes at the monster bird with two daggers held in both hands, and quickly avoids the claws that attack him. Occasionally, a fireball appears and lands on a monster, scorching its fur.
It’s a fantasy battle.
I didn’t want to jump into that, so I urged the puppy under my feet to bark.
Although the puppy was small, he knew how to make a threatening sound. In response to the puppy’s threatening cries over and over again, both of the fighting men turned to look at them.
The figure was startled. The griffon roared ferociously. I wave my hand in both directions.
The reaction was as expected.
I had already expected the monster to attack towards me, and I was already throwing the hammer at it as a counter.
A metal hammer is a tool. It’s an unbalanced tool, like the one in a hero movie, with a head that can be held with both hands but a handle that can be held with one hand.
This time, I will throw with all my might.
The huge bird didn’t care about the thrown object that a human could hold in one hand, and charged right in front of it. Well, I thought that was the case, so I fixed it the moment it hit. That was my intention.
“If it’s
What was unexpected was that the
The griffon fell to the ground with a thud. The
“ah……”
I place my hand on the hammer and call it back. I looked down at the
“This is definitely a dangerous item…”
You have to be very careful when throwing as hard as you can.
Although the hammer looks heavy, I didn’t expect it to fly faster than a professional baseball player’s ball.
“Aha, that sounds like a lie! Did you kill the Storm Griffin with one blow?”
Hearing that voice, I turned around. The person who had been attacked earlier was waving at me.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. A beautiful, tall girl was running towards me with a bright, bright smile.
“It’s been a day. Good morning!”
He greets me cheerfully and carefree.
“good morning”
“So, are you really as human as you look? Or perhaps the God of War has descended upon you? Either way, I’m sorry for being dressed like this. But it was an emergency. Please forgive me!”
The elf who said such things was still a beautiful woman when I looked at her up close.
She is around 20 years old, and her clear white skin is generously exposed. for all she was wearing was a white cloth which covered only a very small area.
What’s more, her whole body was evenly wet, and the thin cloth that was clinging to it made her skin see through.
Even so, she was hiding more of her two daggers than her own body. I hold it all in one hand and put it behind my back. It was probably a sign that he had no intention of pointing a weapon at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m just a human.”
When I tried my best not to look at anything other than her face, her jewel-like eyes blinked and she smiled happily.
“A mere human can’t do that.”
That’s what he said, pointing at the giant bird that had been blown away. I’m in trouble.
“Well, there are a lot of things. If you like, please use this.”
“Oh, thank you! Actually, I wasn’t sure what to do. Ehehe.”
When I took off my jacket and handed it to her, she took it with a shy smile. Place it firmly on your chest and use it to hide your large, sheer, cherry-colored bump.
“I’m sorry for being like this. I was suddenly attacked while I was taking a bath. Honestly, I was saved because the only weapon I had was a dagger. I will repay your kindness twice as much.”
“You’re welcome. Well, don’t worry about it. In fact, last night I was able to sleep warmly thanks to this guy. I thought I should find the owner and thank him.”
When I said this while picking up the puppy at my feet, she giggled.
“This child was abandoned by her parents, and I picked her up. But I can’t believe she was saved. I guess there is no debt between this child and me. She seems like a lucky child, so I cherish her.”
She said this while patting the puppy’s head, then returned her eyes to me.
“Nice to meet you again. I’m Mystia, a high elf who lives here in the Divine Tree Forest. How about you?”
“…I’m Sojiro Himuro, a Japanese man. Well, actually, I’m a human who has been in this forest since yesterday.”
I was a little hesitant, but I honestly didn’t know what else to say. This is a terrible self-introduction.
Well, anyway,
“High elf…san?”
Isn’t that a mysterious race that lives deep in the forest?
“Ahaha, call me Mystia. I have to call you ‘human’. There are a lot of humans!”
Mystia laughs funny. She seems to be quite the friendly type.
“Well, I need to collect my things and change my clothes. I’d like to talk to you for a bit once I’m properly dressed. Is that okay?”
“Of course, I was going to ask you that.”
At Mystia’s suggestion, I agreed to cross the ship.