Chapter 75

Joy in Life (1)

Since the vote on the trade cooldown was already underway, I got started on my work.

First, I reinstalled the fish trap in the river, then moved on to maintaining my tools.

I paid especially close attention to the Heavenly Demon’s Sword. Whether I had this sword or not directly affected my chances of survival.

But how often would an ordinary person ever have occasion to maintain a sword?

At most, I’d sharpened kitchen knives before. That was about it. Which was why I had to be even more careful.

Title) Dwarf, help

Wild Grylls

I want to take care of my sword. Got any tips on how to maintain it?

└ Passing Dwarf) For free?

└ Wild Grylls) You bastard.

└ Passing Dwarf) Give me some crab first, lol.

└ Wild Grylls) Ah, right. If I give you crab, will you give me some tips?

└ Passing Dwarf) You think I’d stop at tips? I’ll give you oiled paper and a whetstone too.

└ Wild Grylls) Oh;;

└ Passing Dwarf) But if you don’t give me crab, forget it.

└ Wild Grylls) I fought a Guardian and then fought a bunch of otters. Can’t you cut me some slack?

└ Passing Dwarf) If you’re really tired, you can give them to me tomorrow. But then I want three.

└ Wild Grylls) Okay, lol;;

Guess I’d better just go and get them. I was a little tired, but bringing back some crabs wouldn’t be difficult.

The mana that the Guardian had absorbed from me had already replenished quickly once I circulated my internal energy cultivation method.

Maybe the Forest of Four Seasons was rich in mana, because just a few rounds of breathing were enough to restore it.

I haven’t maintained the sword at all until now...

It would be better to start taking care of it regularly from now on.

If I neglected it and it broke at a crucial moment, I’d be in serious trouble.

After getting myself reasonably prepared, I left the cave.

Wonmo was taking a nap, probably because he had effortlessly polished off an entire fish.

As always, Treefast was staring at me with that completely laid-back expression of his.

“I’m going out for a bit. Keep an eye on Wonmo.”

“....”

After giving Treefast those instructions, I blocked the entrance with the barricade.

That way, even if Wonmo woke up while I was gone, there was no chance he could escape outside.

Elixir. Fasting pills, smoked food, crossbow... Got everything.

I even had the World Tree Gloves I’d received from Let’s Grow Trees and a backpack to carry the crabs in. Everything was perfect.

Still, I’d already fought twice today, so I intended to avoid combat whenever possible.

Especially since I still had some lingering injuries from the Guardian.

But if some beast cornered me, I’d have no choice but to fight.

If things get dicey, I’ll distract it with the smoked food.

It was ridiculously salty, but meat was still meat.

If I used it as bait and slowly slipped away, I should be able to buy myself some time.

If it spits it out because it’s too salty, well....

I had no idea.

It was probably better than a fasting pill, at least.

I checked my equipment once more and took a sip of elixir.

The faint pain I’d been feeling in my stomach eased somewhat.

It was time to go. This wasn’t an exploration trip. All I had to do was get some crabs.

However...

It should be easy if I just keep following the river downstream, right...?

The problem was that I had no idea what might jump out of that river.

A pack of otters I’d never seen before had appeared there just a little while ago.

There might even be animals like crocodiles lurking around, so I walked while keeping some distance from the river.

Last time, I ran into an iguana around here, didn’t I?

And it had been an absolutely enormous iguana, one nearly as large as a crocodile.

Fortunately, it was a coward and ran away the moment it saw me, though I encountered it again later.

It had grabbed the mosquito I killed and scampered off with it.

Following the familiar riverside route, I headed toward the lakeshore where the crabs lived.

Swoooosh—

As I gradually approached the lake, the river grew considerably wider as well.

It wasn’t quite as wide as the Han River... but either way, this was a huge downstream section.

There were probably far more fish living here than in the fast-flowing upper reaches.

Kwaaaaah! Splash!

I even got to see a whale, something I’d thought could only be found in the ocean.

I’d seen one here before, but it was still hard to believe.

At this rate, there might even be sharks living in the river.

Considering this was the Forest of Four Seasons, I couldn’t exactly say it was impossible.

“Hm?”

I was walking downstream with a dumbfounded feeling when I spotted a deer drinking from the river.

It wasn’t the spirit deer I’d seen this morning, just an ordinary deer.

Judging by its antlers, it seemed to be a male.

And those antlers were pretty big.

I’d better deliberately make some noise.

Who was it that said herbivores could be more dangerous than carnivores in the wild?

Unlike carnivores, people often let their guard down around herbivores and ended up getting seriously hurt.

So rather than provoking it unnecessarily, it would be better to make my presence known.

Step— Step— Step—

Even though I deliberately made my footsteps loud, the deer didn’t budge.

Instead, it merely glanced in my direction before going right back to drinking.

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if this bastard was ignoring me.

That was when—

KWAAAAAAAH!!

Something enormous burst out of the river.

Its gaping maw was filled with teeth as large as my fist, and its body was much bigger than the deer.

I hadn’t sensed even the slightest sign of it, so I jumped in surprise.

But it didn’t take long for me to figure out what it was.

“Holy shit. There really was a shark?!”

It was a shark.

An absolutely enormous shark at that.

It was so big that a deer would barely amount to a single bite.

But where were we?

This was the Forest of Four Seasons, a place where even Treefast was ridiculously strong.

Perhaps the deer had anticipated something like this, because it immediately stopped drinking.

Then it spun halfway around and kicked backward at the shark’s open jaws.

CRACK!

The deer’s hind kick landed squarely on the shark’s nose.

A shark’s nose was one of its well-known weak points.

And it had just taken a deer’s hind kick directly to it?

Splat!

The shark, struck by a perfect counter, collapsed onto the riverbank.

Judging by the fact that it wasn’t moving at all, it seemed to have been knocked unconscious.

As if none of this mattered in the slightest, the deer went right back to gulping down river water.

“.....”

A deer drinking water beside an unconscious shark.

What kind of bizarre combination was this?

I cautiously walked past while keeping an eye on the deer.

Fortunately, the deer apparently had no interest in me either, because it didn’t even glance my way.

...I should post this on the Gallery first. Maybe deer in this world are just strong.

There were creatures like spirit deer around, after all, so it wasn’t entirely impossible.

I took a photo that clearly captured both the deer drinking water and the unconscious shark beside it.

Title) A deer took down a shark.

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a deer drinking water beside an unconscious shark)

A shark attacked a deer in the river, but the deer knocked it unconscious with a hind kick.

Are deer in this world strong enough to beat sharks?

└ Heavenly Demon) It appears to be a deer possessing profound internal energy. Be careful.

└ Wild Grylls) Could you tell that from just a photo with Treefast too?

└ Heavenly Demon) Are you simply ignoring the shark lying beside it?

└ Wild Grylls) Ah.

└ SwordMaster) Wow. Even I’ve never caught a shark before. That’s fascinating. Don’t sharks normally live in the ocean?

└ Wild Grylls) There are whales living in the river here too, not just sharks.

└ SwordMaster) This forest really is insane.

└ Allfather) That’s a bull shark. It’s a shark capable of moving between the ocean and rivers. A similar animal would be the saltwater crocodile.

└ Wild Grylls) Then what’s up with that deer?

└ Allfather) It’s just a deer. Apparently, it’s one fucking strong deer.

└ Wild Grylls) ;;

└ My common sense is falling apart right now. Does that make any sense?

└ Fine, sharks can live in rivers, but what the hell is up with that deer? LOL

└ Treefast too. Why are these herbivores so damn strong? What the hell?

└ This forest is seriously insane, LOL.

So that deer really was abnormal.

My common sense wasn’t the problem.

I closed the Gallery and glanced behind me, wondering what the deer was doing.

“Prrf.”

Oh my.

When the hell did this bastard get behind me?

I froze stiff at the sight of the deer that had approached from behind without making a sound or giving off the slightest presence.

Its body itself was only about as tall as my eye level, but those antlers made its presence incredibly intimidating.

Am I... fucked?

I slowly backed away and assumed a defensive stance.

The deer simply stared at me.

Then it made a Prrr! sound and turned around.

Without even making a sound with its hooves, the deer lightly made its way into the forest.

Before long, it disappeared completely among the trees.

“Phew....”

I let out a long breath.

I seriously thought my heart was going to stop.

To think a mere deer could exert that much pressure. I felt like I would have lost if we’d fought.

Sure, it had hit a weak point, but it had still knocked a shark unconscious with a single hind kick.

No.

Even before that, reacting to and evading a shark’s ambush from beneath the river was already insane.

When will I be able to react to something like that?

The reality was that I still had trouble reacting even to Treefast’s attacks.

At least I could block them with my shield, but I still had a long way to go.

I sighed at how the Forest of Four Seasons only seemed stranger the more I learned about it, then continued walking.

BOOM! BANG!

I was almost at the lakeshore when a tremendous noise reached my ears.

It was coming directly from the lakeshore.

It sounded like the kind of noise you’d hear when a building was being demolished.

What is that?

I frowned in confusion because I’d never heard anything like it in the forest before.

It wasn’t until I reached the lakeshore that I discovered the source of the noise.

CRUNCH! BOOM! KABOOM!

Have you ever seen one of those monster movies?

The kind where abnormally gigantic animals—or enormous monsters—fight each other and completely wreck everything around them.

I was now getting to watch one in real life.

In real time, no less.

...What the hell is that now? A crayfish?

I’d seen a crab large enough to rival an apartment building before.

But this was my first time seeing a crayfish the size of an apartment building.

And the two of them were actually fighting, trading blows with their pincers.

Watching a battle between giant monsters in reality instead of in a movie was simply absurd.

THOOM!

I was staring blankly at the spectacle when the giant crayfish’s pincer smashed into the giant crab’s face.

A piece of its carapace broke off from the impact—

and came flying straight toward me.

My eyes widened as the chunk of carapace grew larger and larger in my vision, and I hurriedly raised my shield.

KWAAAAANG!!!

“Ugh?!”

With a sound like a massive bell being struck, my entire body was sent flying backward.

The impact was ridiculous.

The only consolation was that, thanks to properly defending myself and breaking my fall, I hadn’t suffered any serious injuries.

Groaning, I staggered back to my feet.

“What the hell....”

That solid chunk of carapace might as well have been a piece of concrete.

Did I seriously have to go anywhere near those things while they were fighting?

Surely even the dwarf would cut me some slack after seeing this.

But I’d already come all this way, and as the saying went, strike while the iron is hot. It would be hard to turn back empty-handed now.

Instead, I’d squeeze everything I could out of the dwarf in return.

I took several photos and recorded a video.

Naturally, I planned to upload them to the Gallery later.

I was curious to see the dwarf’s reaction.

Let’s just grab the crabs and get back quickly.

Even while the giant crab and giant crayfish fought, the smaller crabs were still going about their business.

Meaning they were eating something off the ground.

I noticed shattered pieces of carapace scattered around them.

Apparently, they were eating the pieces that had broken off during the fight between the giant crab and giant crayfish.

Here and there, I could also see smaller crabs that had been crushed and splattered beneath falling chunks of carapace.

KABOOM!

“Eek!”

Just as I was picking up some crabs, a chunk of carapace crashed down right beside me.

I hurriedly grabbed a crab in each hand and bolted.

I would’ve liked to collect more, but I was in too much of a hurry.

There was no telling when another chunk of carapace might come crashing down on my head.

This goddamn hellhole of a forest.

“Phew. Phew.”

Only after running far away from where the carapace fragments were falling could I finally relax.

The crabs in my hands were frantically struggling to escape.

I stuffed them into my backpack and steadied my breathing.

Now all I have to do is go back.

BOOM! KABOOOM!

Something exploded behind me, but I did my best to ignore it.

No.

To be fair, it was pretty hard to ignore.

A piece of carapace could come flying all the way to where I was.

So every time I heard a loud crash, I checked behind me as I made my way back to the shelter.

I’d already fought twice today, and now I’d even filmed a disaster movie(?).

I felt completely drained.

“Uaaaaah....”

“....”

The moment I returned to the cave, I collapsed onto the ground, and Treefast began patting me.

You’re the only one who actually comforts me.

Thank you. Seriously.

I gave Treefast a fasting pill and logged into the Gallery.

I planned to tell everyone what I’d just gone through.

Title) Dwarf. Got the crabs.

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the giant crab and giant crayfish fighting)

(Photo of carapace fragments broken off during the fight)

(Video of the giant crab and giant crayfish fighting)

I barely managed to get through these bastards fighting and grab the crabs. Please appreciate how hard I worked for these.

└ Heavenly Demon) You are experiencing rare sights that even this lady has never encountered. By the way, what exactly is that creature fighting the crab?

└ SwordMaster) Isn’t that a crayfish? Judging by its appearance, I’m pretty sure it’s a crayfish.

└ Heavenly Demon) This is my first time seeing a crayfish that large.

└ SwordMaster) It’s not just you, Sub-Mod. It’s the first time any of us have seen one;;

└ Passing Dwarf) Whoa;; What the hell are those things? Is that the same lake you went to last time?

└ Wild Grylls) Yeah. When I got there, they were fighting. Maybe it’s a territorial dispute?

└ Passing Dwarf) That’s insane. But where are the crabs?

└ Wild Grylls) (Photo of the crabs inside the backpack) Here. Aren’t you going to worry about me?

└ Passing Dwarf) Want me to?

└ Wild Grylls) Forget it.

└ Are there monsters or animals bigger than those things?

└ There’s one right there.

└ I mean besides in the Forest of Four Seasons.

└ There probably are... but aren’t most of them treated as legendary creatures?

└ I guess there are dragons. Those are even bigger than these things.

└ There’s a deer that beats sharks and crabs and crayfish the size of buildings, LOL. What the hell kind of place is this? LOL.

└ For real. This place is like an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more bizarre shit keeps popping out, LOL.

As expected, the Gallery was filled with rave reviews(?).

They were going on about how they got to see something incredibly rare thanks to me.

But I was the one who had barely survived another day, so I couldn’t exactly share their excitement.

I’m completely drained.

I already didn’t feel like doing anything, and somehow I felt even less like doing anything now.

That was it for today’s exploration.

I was absolutely not going outside again.

...Wait, didn’t I have some tobacco?

The World Tree tobacco that Let’s Grow Trees had given me suddenly came to mind.

My body was so exhausted that I wanted to put something—anything—in my mouth.

But I couldn’t exactly waste food.

The tobacco was perfect.

I thought I’d go my whole life without ever smoking....

Was this how smokers felt?

To think I’d end up smoking when I hadn’t even touched cigarettes during my military service.

I picked up one of the tobacco rolls from the box and examined it from different angles.

It looked like an ordinary cigar.

The wrapper was probably made from World Tree leaves.

They said this tobacco was incredibly expensive.

That suddenly made me wonder just how good its effects were.

I’ll light it with the firestone.

Click! Crackle!

When I brought the firestone to the end of the tobacco roll, wisps of smoke began curling upward.

As soon as the smoke appeared, I hesitated for only a moment before slowly drawing it in.

Tobacco smoke was normally harsh, and cigar smoke was even stronger.

But the World Tree tobacco wasn’t harsh at all.

Instead, it felt refreshing.

It definitely had something like a minty aroma, but the cooling sensation was several times stronger—so intense that the refreshing coolness was almost all I could feel.

On top of that, vitality began returning to my exhausted body.

...It’s delicious.

It really was delicious.