Chapter 53 Outdoors Beginner

The sounds of forest-dwelling creatures were audible throughout the depths of the nature-ruled domain; some were the chirps of birds, but some were the howls of apex predators.

“Err, are you sure this is a good idea?” He wryly asked.

Vandread drew a pair of hunting knives that were sheathed beneath the all-black cloak, “Just keep quiet and follow along.”

There wasn’t much of a choice with how lost he felt in the dark forest and how stone-like his escort’s personality was, so he simply nodded and followed close behind the man.

…Father, you couldn’t warn me at all about this guy?! I’m going to be stuck with him for at least a month…He thought.

Though he was curious about how the man handled himself in combat; it was something he had been looking over since first laying eyes on the enigmatic man: there were at least twenty blades that Vandread kept sheathed on various parts of his body, like the knives strapped to his chest, the ones under his wrists, a pair by his ankles, and even a pair on his shoulders.

…He doesn’t strike me as a swordsman–at least not the same kind as Father. I don’t think he’s a mage, either. Is he some sort of assassin, or what?…I’m curious, he thought.

As he followed behind Vandread through the thick foliage of the forest, he noticed something else about the man–looking at his dark-leather boots as they stepped over leaves, breaking them but no crunching being heard.

His steps are totally silent. Is he a ninja?! He wondered.

It wasn’t very often that he had been to the forests that inhabited the outskirts of Yullim, but it was usually with Julius and during the day, at that.

By the stories he heard from Julius over the years, it sounded like the forests around Yullim were definitely not a place of peaceful little forest critters–in fact, more than once or twice, Julius returned with minor injuries from ventures to these foliage-filled areas.

…Please, no bears! He thought.

He kept his staff held tightly in his hands as he stayed closely behind Vandread, though he didn’t possess the same ability to make his steps silent–so each stride was accompanied by the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath his boots.

“–” Vandread glanced back at him.

“…Sorry,” he chuckled quietly.

“Stay still,” Vandread whispered to him.

–He realized Vandread wasn’t turning back to wordlessly reprimand him for his loud steps, but that there was something behind him.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Now that he had stopped moving, he could hear those steps quietly approaching from behind–stomping over the fallen leaves on the forest ground.

“–” He froze.

…There’s something behind me? He realized.

Across his body, a frightening chill crawled over his skin. He didn’t dare move, following the words of advice from the man as he kept his eyes forward–gripping his staff even tighter as sweat exuded from his palms.

All he could do was listen to those prowling footsteps while watching Vandread, who was even more still than him, but lacking any urgency in his platinum gaze.

Aren’t you going to do something?! Whatever it is behind me–get it! He thought.

As soon as a growl from the unknown creature met his ears, he nearly soiled his pants as hearing the daunting tune bellowing from the beast with his back to it made it ten times as worse.

…Please, please, please! He thought.

He couldn’t tell exactly how far behind him it was, but the steps began to sound out closer and closer while the growl continued.

–Finally, it reached the worst as the air shifted and leaves were dispersed by a seeming leap from the unseen beast; a roar emitted from it as it launched towards his back.

…Dammit! He thought.

Just as he began to turn around with his staff clutched tightly, intent on blasting it with whatever magic came first to mind–SWOOSH.

He was left speechless as before he could make a move, darkness swept across his vision swiftly; now turned around, he saw what the prowling beast was: an enormous, tiger-like creature with gray fur and stripes of black; it seemed twice as large as tigers on Earth.

That flash of darkness was as he suspected–Vandread.

With such swift movement, the man had taken initiative the moment the beast leapt, managing to strike it from below as he sunk his hunting knife beneath its chin and coming out from its skull.

“–” He was devoid of words.

A whimper left the giant tiger’s mouth before its body went limp. Vandread plucked his knife from its head and wiped the blood off.

“Looks like our dinner came to us,” Vandread said.

He looked on, still in shock, “…That huge thing?”

“It’s a long road ahead. This’ll feed us for a week or so,” Vandread told him.

While the dark-skinned, insociable man certainly didn’t seem weak as he was just shy of a full two meters with a toned build, it was definitely surprising to see him hoist the creature that likely weighed around half a ton and nearing twenty feet in length.

“–“

Vandread glanced back, holding the gray-and-black tiger over his shoulder, “Are you coming?”

“Y-yeah!”

As he followed the man back towards where the black carriage was parked, he couldn’t help but be even more curious about the mysterious escort of his.

He’s strong. I know that he used to be in an adventurer party with Father, but…there’s still a lot about him I don’t know. Something tells me it won’t be easy to get stories out of him…He thought.

As they returned by the carriage, Vandread tossed the tiger down onto the ground floor and held his knife, kneeling down beside the felled beast and beginning to cut into its flesh.

“–“

It never got easier for him to witness this process: the skinning of an animal. But, he knew it was a natural thing and there was no point in being squeamish about it.

“Fetch some wood,” Vandread said without looking at him.

“Err, alright…”

Though he didn’t really feel like going into the forest alone, with magic by his side, a lot of that fear was quelled, though some of it was simply irrational–such as the fear of spiders.

And there sure were a lot of them in the forest of Yullim.

“Ugh…”

He clutched his staff close to his body as he slid by low-hanging cobwebs that were woven around tree branches.

The insects of Arcadius seemed familiar to those on Earth, but there were certainly variations–such as the large, yellow spiders that weaved black webbing; he made sure to stay as far away as possible from those sorts.

…Seriously, I should’ve read more creature encyclopedias! I have no idea what’s venomous or not…Well, it’s a safe bet to just avoid anything colorful, right? He thought.