CH 246

Chapter 246 : Forest Fungus

It’s been two hours since we left the village.

The deeper we went into the forest, the more often we encountered Green Foxes.

We haven’t found any trouble fighting them so far thanks to our nice teamwork.

First, Nicola would spot their exact location and I would kill them with my Stone Bullets from afar, then Ester would take care of the Green Foxes I couldn’t kill due to the trees blocking my sight.

However, as I got used to the environment, the accuracy of my Stone Bullets increased. Because of that, Ester rarely had a chance to use her dagger.

At first, I felt bad for Ester. I thought she wanted to kill Green Foxes too, but when I asked, she told me not to mind. She said that it was better and safer if I could kill them all at once from a distance.

By the way, other than Green Foxes, we also encountered Forest Fungus on the way.

They were small mushroom-type monsters about the size of an adult’s arm.

I’ve heard a scary story about them from Ester. It was said you better stay away from them if you’re wounded. After all, if the spores they scattered into the air got into your wound, mushroom-like things would grow out of your wound and eventually cover your entire body. (chapter 188)

Fortunately, none of us were wounded, so there was no reason to be scared of them.

Forest Fungus are normally hard to be found because they hide on trees, mimicking the color of the tree trunks.

However, we had Nicola who could detect their presence, so I could just shoot my Stone Bullets in the direction where Nicola was pointing at.

We defeated some Forest Fungus on the way, and as a matter of course, I stored them in my Item Box.

I heard that they are edible. I cut one of them to see the inside, and it looked just like a normal white mushroom in my previous world. I can’t wait to ask Dad to cook them when I return home.

「ーーAlright. This is the twelfth Green Fox.」(Mark)

When I put another Green Fox’s corpse into my Item Box, Celine looked up at the sky.

「Hmm, I think it’s about time to go back home.」(Celine)

「You’re right. We have more than enough Green Foxes to make a blanket for Rumilu, so there’s no reason to stay any longer here.」(Ester)

「Celine onee-chan…」(Nicola)

When we decided to go home, Nicola suddenly pulled Celine’s dress and looked at Celine with a serious expression.

「What’s wrong, Nicola-chan?」(Celine)

「There’s someone a little away from here.」(Nicola)

「Someone? Ah, it must be a hunter. Sometimes people come here to hunt Green Foxes.」(Celine)

「But, that person is not moving at all.」(Nicola)

「Then that person is probably taking a break, but… I think we better go check up on them.」(Celine)

Ester and I nodded to Celine, and then we followed Celine, going in the direction where Nicola was pointing at.

ーーーー

After a while of walking, we found a man leaning languidly against a tree.

His face looks familiar…

Aa! I don’t know his name but he is Matilda-san’s husband who usually sells meat in the morning market.

「Norwell-san, is that you? Are you alright?」(Celine)

I see. So his name is Norwell.

「Khh…! Ah, it’s you guys. Stay away and don’t get any closer!」(Norwell)

As soon as he noticed us, Norwell-san warned us not to get closer.

The four of us then immediately stopped walking.

It doesn’t sound good… He seems to be in trouble…

「A, Alright. We won’t get any closer, but can you tell us what happened?」(Celine)

「A special variant of Forest Fungus got me…」(Norwell)

Special variants are more powerful and outstanding than the normal ones. It is said that they are rarely born in the colony.

Since I reincarnated in this world, I’ve only encountered two special variants.

The first one was The Lord of the Lake which was the special variant of Tentacles in the Secard Lake of Secard Village.

The second one was the Mothers and the Harem Lizard which were the special variants of Stone Lizard in the mine of Sadola town.

「It seemed that they attacked me with dark magic or something. Even now, I feel like my mana is being sucked. I was able to escape from them but… I guess I’ll die here…」(Norwell)

「Norwell-san, don’t give up! We can take you home!」(Ester)

When Ester tried to step closer to him, he stuck his hand, telling Ester to stop, and then stretched out his leg so that we could see it clearly.

「Look at my leg.」(Norwell)

As we were told, we turned our attention to Norwell-san’s leg.

The condition of his leg was terrible…

There were hundreds of gooey mushroom-like things that looked like enoki mushrooms growing from the wound in his calves. The part around the wound that was overgrown with them looked reddish and looked so painful.

「They planted something like a mycelium in my leg just by grazing it a little with their tentacle. These mushrooms can infect any wounds no matter how small they are, so you better stay away from me.,,」(Norwell)

Norwell-san let out a deep breath as if he was very exhausted and then continued speaking.

「I want to go home, but I know I won’t make it… So, Celine, can I leave this to you…?」(Norwell)

Norwell-san took something out of his pocket and passed it to Celine.

Celine took it and observed it.

I looked into Celine’s palm and saw a beautiful crystal shining bluish.

「It’s my Portal Stone. I can’t use it because most of my mana has been sucked by these mushroom-like things… Please give it to my wife, Matilda. Tell her that I love her until the end…」(Norwell)

Norwell-san moved his gaze and looked into the distance while smiling as if he was about to leave this world.

「You guys can go now. Perhaps because I’m under the control of dark magic, I can tell that my end is approaching. I don’t have much time left…」(Norwell)

After saying that, Norwell-san closed his eyes. He seemed to have completely given up.

However, Celine stepped closer to him and shouted.

「Norwell-san! Are you really giving up!?」(Celine)

Hearing Celine’s voice, Norwell-san opened his eyes.

「Yeah… I’m done for… So please leave me alone…」(Norwell)

「Norwell-san… Since you have given up, you won’t complain no matter what I do to you, right? 」(Celine)

「…Eh? What are you going to do with me?」(Norwell)

Celine ignored Norwell-san’s question and turned to Ester.

「Ester, can I borrow your dagger?」(Celine)

Oi, oi… Don’t tell me… She’s going to…