Picked Up (1)
Although I had lost the Mithricon sword in such an absurd fashion, I was not too worried.
I could simply make another one. Mithril and orichalcum were lying all over the place around here.
That did not mean I intended to launch them recklessly like before, though.
Wasting one was the least of my concerns. If something went wrong, our shelter might explode.
In fact, we had been fortunate that the sword had launched like a rocket.
I wonder where that sword ended up.
I looked up at the sky.
The Mithricon sword had launched like a rocket.
It seemed to have exploded once more in the sky, so there was a good chance it had shattered into pieces. Nevertheless, I was curious.
It would be fine if it had fallen into the sea or a lake. The problem was if it had landed on solid ground.
Just as there were gorillas capable of manipulating mana, some mana-wielding creature might pick it up.
Since the sword amplified the efficiency of both aura and mana severalfold, I could not rest easy.
Title: Are There Any Monsters
Wild Grylls
That can use mana?
I’m also curious whether there are monsters capable of using aura.
Please exclude the Forest of Four Seasons. This place needs to be treated as an exception.
└ Heavenly Demon: Such creatures do exist. In particular, quite a few yao monsters are capable of wielding sword energy.
└ Wild Grylls: What are some notable examples?
└ Heavenly Demon: Nine-tailed foxes, Sun Wukong, white tigers, and the like. Most of them are mystical creatures.
└ Aren’t those all legendary yao monsters?
└ Yeah. But lately, scholars have been leaning toward the theory that they actually existed.
└ Why?
└ Because of the sky whale, the prevailing paradigm has become, "Assume the other legends are true too," lmao.
└ As if mere legends could ever compare to myths, lmaooo.
└ If even gorillas can use mana, then Sun Wukong probably exists too~
└ SwordMaster: I don’t know much about the Central Plains, but there are all kinds in the West. Death knights, liches, goblins, orcs, and many others. Higher-ranking specimens and mutants can even use aura.
└ Wild Grylls: What kinds of specimens?
└ SwordMaster: Dullahans among death knights, hobgoblins among goblins, and orc champions among orcs.
└ Wild Grylls: Ah. I’ve heard of goblins before.
Come to think of it, goblins existed in this world. I had forgotten about them.
They were monsters whose cunning was said to rival that of humans.
If those monsters inhabited the Forest of Four Seasons, perhaps they would be capable of using mana as well.
Or there might be an entire tribe of hobgoblins.
That would be terrifying in its own way.
But what exactly was an orc champion?
I already knew what this world’s orcs looked like.
They did not literally have pig heads, but they were ugly enough to warrant the comparison.
They were a race with almost nonexistent nasal bridges, thick lower jaws, and enormous tusks.
They were more intelligent than goblins, but had too many shortcomings to be accepted as part of "humanity," so they were still classified as monsters.
└ SwordMaster: Simply put, you can think of an orc champion as the leader of an orc tribe. Most of them awaken to mana on their own.
└ Wild Grylls: How strong are orc champions?
└ SwordMaster: It depends on how much experience they have. Some are strong, while others are weak.
└ The strong ones are seriously terrifying. They’re naturally huge too, so if you let your guard down, you’re dead.
└ Weren’t there orcs capable of using Aura Blades in the past?
└ Yeah, but you rarely see them anymore.
└ Why not?
└ Because they’ve been relentlessly exterminated ever since that incident. Whatever else happens, if anyone finds traces of goblins, orcs, or trolls, they immediately launch an extermination campaign.
There truly were all kinds of monsters in this world. It certainly lived up to being a fantasy world.
Whatever the case, I could only pray that the Mithricon sword had not fallen somewhere troublesome.
Otherwise, I’ll have tightened the noose around my own neck.
I modified my training method and got back to work.
Granted, "work" consisted mostly of making various tools and chopping down trees.
The most important matter at the moment was the World Tree sapling. I needed to carefully select the place where I would plant it.
I had planted the previous one wherever I pleased, but things were different now. The construction of the forge had reduced the available space.
I’d like to put it in the center, but it would get in the way too much.
World Tree leaves did not block sunlight. Sunlight passed straight through them.
Thus, the tree would not cast a shadow, but it could still obstruct our movement.
I needed somewhere that would not get in the way while still serving as a convenient passage.
Beside the cave should be good enough.
Thus, I selected the area beside the cave and cut down all the trees there.
This made me feel like an environmental criminal, but I had no choice. My own survival came first.
Now that the World Tree sapling had been planted, all that remained was to bring over the squirrel and the marmots, something I had been postponing until now.
"All right. If everyone’s ready, let’s go."
"Kyuu!"
"Pii!"
The squirrel’s territory was fairly far from here, so it was better for all of us to go together.
I had not yet adapted to my new combat style either, so I needed some backup.
As luck would have it, neither Wonmo nor Tyrano was taking a nap, making this the perfect time.
Still, I should install some security devices, just in case.
I installed an alarm orb alongside the recording orb.
Previously, I would have installed only the recording orb, but the gorillas had been scouting this area frequently of late.
Judging from that, they would probably set foot inside my shelter before long. If they genuinely tried to steal something, I might have to cut their hands off.
That might make the gorilla chief come looking for me again...
Let him come.
If he tried settling things with a single banana again, I would curse him out properly this time.
I had grown much stronger since then, and I now had Ludwig and Kkobong with me. We stood a pretty good chance.
Most importantly, I have Namu ppareumbo.
Having Namu ppareumbo alone was reassuring.
I glanced at him clinging to my back.
I still had no idea what he was thinking. His expression had hardly changed even once since we met.
Nevertheless, he had contributed more than anyone toward making our shelter secure. Lately, he had also been playing well with the little ones.
He looks like an unemployed uncle resting at home while playing with his nieces and nephews.
The uncle would be steeped in the unique exhaustion of unemployment, while his nieces and nephews tried to drag him into playing with them.
Watching Namu ppareumbo play with the little ones looked exactly like that.
Still, he played with them properly once they got started, so it was fine.
"Squeak!"
"Have you been doing well? I’ve been busy lately, so I couldn’t visit."
When we reached the squirrel’s territory, the squirrel greeted us, looking exactly the same as before.
It had also taken good care of the World Tree. The sapling was perfectly healthy, without a single withered spot.
"Kyyaaaang!"
"Kyyaaaaa!"
"They’re fighting again."
As an added bonus, the marmots were fighting at the slightest opportunity as usual. I barely managed to separate them.
It was finally time to bring them back to the shelter. The overall construction project would take approximately five days.
We have plenty of food.
As far as I knew, both squirrels and marmots were practically omnivorous.
I could feed them fish or something like sweet potatoes.
"Let’s go."
"Squeak!"
I returned to the shelter with my suddenly expanded party.
The squirrel was the supervisor, while the two marmots were laborers. That was exactly what the group looked like.
I thought everything would proceed smoothly from there, but—
Wee-oo! Wee-oo! Wee-oo! Wee-oo!
A loud noise rang out from nearby.
It was the sound of the alarm being triggered.
I froze momentarily upon hearing it, then quickly began running.
I had a bad feeling about this, but did those gorillas really come?
I knew they had been scouting the area frequently, but I had not expected them to appear the moment we left.
Then again, it might have been some other animal.
Praying that our food had not been stolen, I rushed back to the shelter.
Wee-oo! Wee-oo! Wee-oo!
The alarm was still blaring when we arrived.
I silenced the noisy alarm first, then examined the shelter.
By carefully inspecting the area where the alarm had been triggered, I should be able to identify what had changed.
Besides, the recording orb should tell me what had disappeared.
However—
"...What is this?"
It seemed that would not be necessary.
A corpse was lying in the middle of the shelter.
No, it was not quite a corpse. Its chest was still rising and falling.
What should I do if this person accidentally caused damage to our shelter?
After thinking it over for some time, I glanced at the corpse—or rather, the half-dead person.
Good grief. Let’s save him first.
I could revive him now and decide whether to throw him out later.
I was not so heartless that I could simply ignore a dying person.
"#$%%%?"
[Hmm? Is that not a human?]
The rest of the group returned at that opportune moment.
Everyone appeared startled upon seeing the collapsed man.
I asked Ludwig to help me carry him.
Ludwig gave the man a suspicious look, but followed my instructions for the time being.
We carried the Central Plains man into the cave. Upon examining him closely, I discovered that his condition was even worse than I had thought.
"#$$s@@s.#$%M.##$%%."
Ludwig explained the man’s condition.
He wore Central Plains-style clothing drenched in sweat, and his complexion was gaunt.
"Half-dead" was the perfect way to describe him.
Is he really... human?
He did not appear to be a gorilla, considering the lack of hair covering his body.
The arrival of another human should have been good news. The problem was that he was dressed like someone from the Central Plains.
Could he be a member of the Blood Cult?
There were four Blood Cult members whom the Heavenly Demon had said she failed to capture.
There was a high probability that this man was one of them.
I had thought, No way they’ll come all the way here, but one had actually reached my shelter.
However, his condition was anything but normal.
In addition to his haggard complexion, his arms and legs had been set in splints.
The Blood Cult is a group of murderous lunatics.
Was saving someone suspected of belonging to the Blood Cult truly the right thing to do?
The bones in his limbs were either broken or fractured in several places, and he was suffering from some unknown illness.
In addition to his injuries, he apparently had not eaten properly for some time, leaving him severely weakened.
Judging from the splints, he seemed to have survived somewhere nearby, but I knew nothing beyond that.
"Let’s give him some honey water first."
I wanted to give him an elixir, but that would be difficult at the moment.
It was not because he might belong to the Blood Cult, but because the elixir would be inefficient.
Elixirs were medicines that enhanced the body’s regenerative abilities, so they were less effective when the patient’s overall condition was too poor.
Most importantly, even an elixir could not cure disease. It would be better to improve his condition gradually with honey water.
"Mmm... Mm..."
Fortunately, the Central Plains man seemed to retain some degree of consciousness and slowly drank the honey water.
His expression relaxed at the sweetness he had not tasted in a long time, but his illness persisted.
I could not tell whether it was tetanus caused by his broken bones or something else.
[There are signs of insect bites here.]
"Insect bites?"
[There are many more elsewhere.]
Before long, however, we realized that his illness had been caused by insects.
The man’s Central Plains-style clothing covered nearly all of his skin.
Unlike us, however, he had no insect repellent, leaving the backs of his hands exposed.
If insects really caused this, we’ll need to keep applying repellent regularly.
I placed a damp towel on the man’s forehead and waited for his condition to improve.
In the meantime, I checked what the recording orb had captured.
I needed to determine whether this man had crawled here or walked.
Tap, tap.
When I tapped the recording orb twice, the footage began playing.
I watched alongside the others to see what had happened.
Nothing unusual at first... Huh?
We soon discovered how the man had reached our shelter.
Three gorillas appeared at the shelter and gently placed the Central Plains man on the ground.
It would have been fine if they had simply left afterward, but one of the gorillas entered the cave.
Thwack!
[Uwohk!]
[Ooh! Oooh!]
Fortunately, another gorilla struck it on the head before it could steal anything.
In any case, we now knew that the gorillas had illegally dumped—no, brought—the Central Plains man here.
This meant that the man had most likely been living among the gorillas until recently.
Come to think of it, Wei Huchang taught the gorillas, didn’t he?
Furthermore, the gorilla chief could speak the language of the Central Plains. They should have been capable of communicating to some extent.
Nevertheless, the man had been expelled from their group for some unknown reason.
Had he caused trouble there?
If so, perhaps the gorillas had broken his limbs and thrown him out as a final act of mercy.
I’ll have to ask him for the details, but...
I looked at the Central Plains man, whose condition had improved slightly after drinking the honey water.
To be honest, I was reluctant to take him in.
Even a slave needed to obey orders to be useful. This man was nothing but a potential threat.
Can’t I return him?
I was seriously considering that possibility when—
"Mmm..."
The Central Plains man groaned and regained consciousness.
He struggled to open his unresponsive eyes. His mind was probably still hazy.
Once he finally opened them, he surveyed the surroundings through his blurred vision.
The first person he saw was not me, but Kkobong.
"...Ah."
"##$"
He muttered something in the language of the Central Plains, so I had no idea what he had said.
However, we had Kkobong, a gorilla fluent in the language.
I gestured for him to translate the man’s words.
Understanding my request, Kkobong scratched his head and spoke.
"Fuck."
"...What?"
"He said, ’Fuck.’ That is a curse."
Should I seriously send this bastard back?
While I was at it, I should probably lodge a formal complaint with the gorillas.
We might be enemies, but illegally dumping their garbage here was going too far.
They could have simply taken a shit here if they wanted to spite me. Throwing actual garbage into my shelter was excessive.
They’ve dumped a real headache on me.
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that someone would dump their unwanted burden on me in the middle of the wilderness.
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