Volume 8 - CH 5

Chapter 5 – Forest Exploration and Mountain Exploration

We step out from the Seeker to check on the Add. It is already dark, so I float a ball of light to get a light.

“Then I will summon it.”

I summon the Add. Yeah, they look complicated. They won’t understand unless I show them how to ride it.

“I’ll show you how it works, so please check it out.”

Then, I ride on the Add and go back around in a circle.

“Wataru-san. It’s very impressive, but I thought Wataru-san’s unique skill could only summon ships.”

That’s a fair question. It’s a ship summoning. But still, Alessia-san and Marina-san aren’t immediately biting into it. I thought they would be interested, like Ines.

“Maybe, but the Add is amphibious, so I think they recognize it as a ship as well.”

“Really? I think I’ve told you before; magic vehicles are more valuable than large magic ships. If they are found, it’s a big deal, so if you’re going to ride on the continent, you’ll have to make sure not to be found. If you are found, you have to flee the country or flee the continent. You aren’t thinking of fighting and subduing them, are you?”

I don’t want to fight. But flee the country or the continent. That’s a no.

“Alessia-san, is the Add similar to a magic vehicle?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only heard about them. But I’m aware that a magic vehicle is one that can move by itself, so I guess the Add could be considered a magic vehicle.”

“…So the basic premise is that it can’t be found. How about this?”

I disguise it as a horse-drawn carriage with the ship disguise. I showed it to them, and they asked me to ride in it. Let’s take a ride.

“A carriage that makes a sound… where the driver can’t be seen and drawn by a horse that doesn’t move its legs. …It’s going to be a rumor, but it’s not going to make as much noise as a magic vehicle. I don’t know if there will be a request to take it down or something, but…”

Who knows if there will be a request to take it down? I wouldn’t stand still in place until a request is made to take it down. The carriage form is better.

“Okay, if I have to ride on the continent, I’ll disguise it as a carriage. How about on this island?”

“As Wataru-san said earlier, this island has already been exposed to the summoning of the Hideaway, so there’s no point in hiding it now, is there?”

“That’s right. Shall we take a normal ride on this island?”

Do we have to think this much just for the Add? It’s kind of a hassle, isn’t it? After reaching a conclusion, we returned to the Seeker and decided on tomorrow’s schedule.

Tomorrow, we will start exploring hot springs in the morning. We have to get into the swing of things. After observing Rimu’s transformation practice, I took a bath and went to sleep.

In the morning, after getting ready. I was thinking of going on the Japanese-style boat, but I decided to explore on the Add anyway, so I bought four additional Adds. The colors were two red, one blue, one yellow, and one silver. For now, I’ll just make up tickets for all of them.

After repatriating the Seeker, I held a training session with the members I taught yesterday. Yesterday, Alessia-san and Marina-san were not so interested, but when they found out that they could go faster, they became more interested at once.

I guess they were not so interested in it yesterday because I only drove slowly in a circle. Speed is important, isn’t it? They started to learn how to operate the boat seriously and started to ride it around.

I am sorry that when the village chief and the others saw that my ship had disappeared, they came running in a hurry. Should I have repatriated the ship after I told them?

They were relieved when I explained the reason. I am truly sorry. It’s not much of an apology, but we put the chief and the others on the back of the Add and sent them back to the village. They were happy to see it, so that was a bit of a relief. I told them that we were going out to explore and were about to go when the children came running, attracted by the sound.　

“Wow, this is amazing! What is this?”

“What’s this? What is this?”

“Let me ride it. Hey, let me ride it.”

Eight kids running around the Add. …This won’t stop unless we let them on. We took turns riding them on the back, and we went around the perimeter of the village. The kids are so happy and excited. I was scared that they might fall off. It was bad for my heart.

After taking them one by one, we leave the village immediately. If we take it easy, it looks like we’ll have to go around the village endlessly.

We left the village and headed straight for the river. At first, we went slowly up the river to get used to it. By the way, Girasole and I split up and boarded the Add, with Ines and Felicia riding alone.

When we arrived at the border of the forest, the dark elves appeared with their weapons at the ready. They lowered their weapons after seeing us, but I think we startled them.

We were sorry that we had startled the chief and the others in the village, but we neglected to mention that there were dark elves in the forest as well. A man who can… No, if they were normal members of society or something, I wouldn’t have forgotten about them.

Romano-san was there, too, but after bowing to us, he was standing by in a stern position. This is scary; he looks like he’s been trained by the Spartans.

We parted ways with the dark elves and headed back up the river. Along the way, the river was blocked by a fallen tree, so we moved onshore.

…I found a wide place, so I signaled the others, and we stopped.

“What’s wrong, Wataru-san?”

Alessia-san asked.

“Yes, it’s quite bumpy, and I thought we could discuss whether we should continue on the Add or switch to foot.”

I can avoid tree roots and check them, so I’ll be fine, but the ground itself is bad, so it’s very uneven. I can stand it, but I wonder if anyone else gets motion sickness?

“Well, it’s definitely bumpy, but the fastest way to get there is on the Add. And it’s even faster because we can ignore the goblins even if they do appear.”

That’s true. Goblins have attacked us a few times, but we can ignore them and proceed because of the boarding rejection. The Add is quite convenient, isn’t it?

“Is anyone else feeling sick?”

No one in the ladies’ group seems to be feeling sick. They were all shaking their heads.

“It seems no one is feeling sick. Then we’ll keep going until we can’t go any further.”

“Wait a minute; this is a good spot, so why don’t we have lunch?”

“Ah, right. The time is just right, so let’s have lunch.”

Even though only weak monsters have been found, it is still in the middle of the forest, so I repatriate the Add and surround the area with rubber boats. I summon the food storage boat, and each of us takes a dish of our choice.

I’ll have a cup of noodles and onigiri. It tastes strangely good when you eat outside. Rimu said the meat was good, so he had pork cutlet, fried chicken, and onigiri. He’s a growing kid, so there’s no problem, right?

I enjoy my meal while looking at the forest around me.

“Master. Is there something wrong?”

“Ah, Felicia. I was wondering why this forest and the Demon Forest don’t look so different under normal circumstances.”

“Well, the Demon Forest is caused by the special nature of the monsters, so maybe it doesn’t differ as a forest.”

Speaking of which, that’s true. It’s only troublesome because the monsters go crazy and attack intensively, but the forest itself isn’t so different. No, there were some strong monsters, so it must be a little different.

“Well, compared to the Demon Forest, you don’t have to be all nervous, so it’s a lot more comfortable.”

After finishing our meal, we boarded the Add again and proceeded toward the mountain.

“Uhii…”

…Goblins are like that; I guess it can’t be helped that they make loud noises, but it’s scary because they just barge right into you without thinking. While they may not be so fast, they need to stop jumping out in front of us.

It’s weird to watch them cling to the barriers until they get bounced off. On top of that, they do little to no damage, so they chase after us in anger and scream like this, “Gyaa, gugyaa, gyaa――!”

It’s like a hit-and-run, so it’s understandable that they are angry, but don’t forget that you are the one who jumped out of the bushes and blocked our way.

We continue on, being startled by the goblin a few times. The slope is getting steeper, so we switch to walking to be on the safe side.

I don’t want to reenact the scene where we roll over and fall down in the horror TV footage. If I didn’t take my hands off the handlebars, I would probably be safe because of boarding rejection, but if we hit a tree or something and changed direction, I could have been thrown off the boat.

Mountain Climbing… I don’t have any physical problems, but as a rather indoor person, I feel tired just hearing the words. Also, when I get off the Add, I am surprised by the insects that suddenly fly in because there is no longer the boarding rejection.

Surprised by goblins, surprised by bugs… It’s embarrassing.

As the women climb up, cleaving grass and vines as if they are fine, I pretend to be fine and climb up too. When I climbed before, I was fine because I was so determined to do my best in the other world, but now that I’ve got a good ship, my soft spirit is coming back. I climb the mountain thinking pathetic things.

“Wataru-san, we are almost halfway up the mountain.”

Marina-san, carrying Fuu-chan on her head, tells me that we have reached the halfway point. Fuu-chan is jumping around on her head. I wonder if they are telling us together.　Fuu-chan, if you send me a thought, I’ll understand, you know.

“Thank you very much. Then let’s move to the other side of the mountain.”

We switch to moving sideways from near the middle of the mountain… It’s hard to walk. Would it have been easier to get on the Add at the foot of the mountain and move to the other side? It’s too late now. Let’s just try my best and keep walking.　　　

We proceeded through the mountain, killing goblins that came out by chance. It took longer to move sideways because of the steep cliff-like slopes in places.

Perhaps it would have been easier to climb to the top and go down the other side? I managed to keep going, trying to regain my strength. Frankly speaking, I didn’t want to go through all this trouble to get into the hot spring. And I’m not even sure if it’s a hot spring or not… Don’t you think my thoughts are going in a negative direction?

I’m the type of person who would be satisfied just by watching it on TV. I think it’s because of the magic of the word “Hot springs” that I got excited for no reason.

Most Japanese people would respond to the word hot spring, wouldn’t they? I feel that the Japanese DNA is imprinted with information that makes them get excited when they hear about hot springs.

“Wataru-san, there is a strange smell coming from over there. It stinks.”

I smelled the odor at Claretta-san’s words but could not discern anything.

“I can’t smell it. Can you tell which direction it’s coming from?”

“Beastmen have a good nose, you know. I don’t think Wataru-san can tell yet. The direction is roughly in that direction.”

“I see. Well, is it going to take much longer?”

“I’m not sure about the distance. I think it will take some time, so it is better to prepare for the encampment today. It will be sunset soon.”

We could not arrive there by the end of the day, or it would be meaningless if it were dark even if we forced ourselves to go. We’d have to camp somewhere where I could get a rubber boat out.

“Then let’s find a place where there is space and camp there.”

“Okay, Wataru-san, you stay here and wait for us. We’ll go and search.”

“Eh? Ah, yes, please.”

At Alessia-san’s command, the Girasole scattered. I’m on standby because, to put it bluntly, it’s probably because it’s dangerous. Or, to put it another way, because I’m a liability. I had an inkling of what was going on.

After about 20 minutes, everyone returned. We exchanged information and were directed to the best place. There is no room to summon the Hideaway, but there is plenty of room for the hut boat.

We cut the grass lightly, and I summoned three hut boats, a food storage boat, and a rubber boat. We take out food and drinks and prepare dinner.

“So, Wataru-san. We’re going to a place that has a strange smell, aren’t we? What’s there?”

It seems strange to go to a place with a strange smell, doesn’t it, Claretta-san? I understand how you feel. Besides, she seems to have a much better sense of smell than I do.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s what I think it is, and I’ll be disappointed if it’s not, but do you want to hear it?”

“Hmm… Alessia, what do you think?”

“Right. Claretta, does it smell that bad?”

“Yes, it should be much thinner, but it’s a bad smell.”

It’s not well-received. Well, it’s not a very flattering smell, is it?

“Wataru-san, can you tell us what kind of place it is? I’m afraid to go to a place with such a strange smell without knowing why.”

That’s true, isn’t it? I would also like to refrain from going to a place that smells bad without knowing what it is about.

“If the place is what I think it is, there is a possibility that there are hot springs there. It was in the movie before, and I explained it to you, didn’t I?”

“Ah, uh, you mean the place where the hot water has various substances dissolved in it to relieve fatigue and cleanse the skin, right?”

They remember it well, don’t they? I guess they remembered it because it was supposed to make their skin beautiful. The ladies’ eyes lit up when they heard about the hot springs.

But I’ve heard that when it comes to beautiful skin, the ingredients in hot water dissolve something on the skin’s surface, making it smooth and silky. …I wonder if the hot water in the other world is safe? I’m starting to get worried.

“Yes, but even if it is a hot spring, there is a possibility that there are poisonous gases emitted or the water is not suitable for bathing. Please don’t get your hopes up too high.”

I had to take precautions. I’m going to be very disappointed if I’m wrong. …The ladies are not listening to it. They are just talking about it while giggling.

I can only hope that it is a wonderful hot spring. After dinner, we split up into huts and rubber boats and slept. I went to sleep, hoping that there would be a hot spring that I could at least enter. Good night.