Chapter 8

Forest Diary

Its the second day of my daily life in the forest . Before retiring for the day, I want to be a bit more familiar with the Grandy and Blue Grizzlies ecology . Im relying on the moonlight to see; its a bit dark but I can still make out what Im writing . I wonder if its become a habit this past month, but I feel uneasy if Im not keeping my thoughts in a diary .

Day 2 With the black rabbit leading the way, I quickly arrived at the monsters dwelling .

Inside were two Blue Grizzlies along with one Grand Grizzly . Of the two, one appears to be a cub with its small stature . The other one has a large build so its probably the parent . Although it was written in the book that Grand Grizzlies like to move in groups… Could these two types of bears be part of the same monster group?

Seeing as there hasnt been much development in this past hour, I should wrap things up for today . As usual, the rabbit is riding on my shoulder . . but since youre cute, Ill permit it .

Day 3 Im observing their habitat again . Just like yesterday, they arent moving . Nothing noteworthy happened, guess thats it for today . I wonder what this rabbit actually is and why it keeps following me… It understands my words and is able to sense danger, which is very convenient . I have an endless amount of doubts about it . But its cute so whatever .

Day 4 My stomach hurts .

Day 5 As expected, the water was no good . It was very reassuring to have the rabbit at my side while I was suffering from stomach aches .

By the afternoon, my condition improved and I continued observing the bears .

Looking down at them from a tree, the bears seem to be on a hunt today . Even though I havent seen them for only a day, it feels like its been a long time . As for the hunt, it felt like the Grand Grizzly was leading the Blue Grizzly cub . Somehow, the sight of it was calming .

From watching them today, I learned that they basically eat anything . They also brought down a Fall Boar, a wild boar monster, with ease .

Am I really capable of taking them down?

Day 6 I encountered a monster today . The black rabbit led me to a place with clean water and just when we were heading back… the rabbit started trembling . What appeared was something akin to a tsuchinoko; a gigantic snake . I dont know the name of this creature so for now Ill call it a giga tsuchinoko, or rather Ill just shorten it to Giganoko . Its abdomen was thick and its body was around 7 metres long . Slithering on its belly, it came directly for me while I froze in fear . Of course, I ran . It chased after me persistently but I managed to get away . Just as a precaution, I also took a detour on the way back .

Somehow, that snake gave me a strange feeling . Unlike the other monsters of this forest, it felt ominous . In addition, the black rabbit appeared to be frightened, even though it remained composed in the Grand Grizzlys presence…

Despite not fully understanding the monsters in this forest, it seems that something dreadful was occurring here .

Day 7 Nothing abnormal happened with the bears today . This is bad, its already been one week, Im starting to forget why Im here .

Day 8 I encountered the Giganoko again . It was lurking in a place not far off from my base . When I first encountered it, it was deeper in the forest, or at least that was supposed to be the case . . did it follow me back to my base? If so, then its targeting me . Ill pass on getting eaten . It would be good if I brought down the Grand Grizzly soon .

I have a bad feeling about this .

Day 9 In the morning, the rabbit seemed scared so I decided against setting out and took a longer rest on the tree . I considered fetching my water canteen from the ground but it was risky, and theres no substitute for my life .

Nevertheless, isnt this rabbit too emotionally attached to me? Even if I healed its wound, would one normally be this attached? To be honest, I want to take it home .

Tomorrow, once the Giganoko goes away, Ill start hunting the bears .

Day 10 In the end, I wasnt able to hunt the Grand Grizzly . Its not that my desperate attempts at a strategy failed… I didnt even have to chance to use any .

Right in front of me was the cruel sight of a Grand Grizzlys messy, half-eaten corpse .