CH 34

Episode 34 – Stuck in a Dangerous Situation 

TL Note: Aside from the normal chapter, there will also be 2 sponsored chapters today.

I was standing over the corpse of the Angry Wolf, absolutely dumbfounded. Did… I do this?

I didn’t remember much since everything happened one after the other in a crazy rush, but my hand could still feel the fleshy sensation of piercing the Angry Wolf’s neck with my dagger. Although it was a monster that had attacked me first, I was keenly aware of the weight of taking its life.

….But this wasn’t the time to be standing here absentmindedly.

Though the immediate threat in front of me was gone, it didn’t change the fact that I was alone on the mountain at night. Since there was only a single opponent, I was somehow able to pull out a victory with some clever usage of items. But if I were to run into multiple opponents, even if they were the lowest level goblins, I would lose. Before the monsters started swarming from the scent of blood in the air, I quickly evacuated the area without dismantling the Angry Wolf’s carcass. Smash told me before that in situations like these, your life was the first priority. I decided to find a tree that was easy to climb and perch myself in a position high in the tree so I wouldn’t be attacked by monsters. I wouldn’t be able to do anything until the night was over.

After I had found a nice tree to take shelter in, a few hours had passed. The sun was finally beginning to come up, and I managed to pass the night without getting attacked by any monsters. Since I was in a spot high up in the tree, I could see the surrounding area quite well, but… I had no idea where I was. With the great peak of Mount Cornello rising up in the background, it was a little hard to tell in the first place where exactly I was in relation to the vast area surrounding it. After daybreak, rays of sunlight began brightening the area, expanding the visibility of my field of view, but it didn’t change the fact that I didn’t know where I was.

Well, now what? Go down the mountain alone or wait here for help? Frankly, I had no expectations for help to arrive anytime soon. It was seriously unlikely that the members of [White Feiler], who were the first to leave me behind, would ever come back to save me. If I was honestly asked if I would be able to descend Mount Cornello with no problems… I think it’d be difficult to answer positively. I wouldn’t be able to deal with any monsters that showed up along the way, and I was currently unclear about the path to get back. I contemplated just sitting here and betting on a singular hope that the Adventurer’s Guild would hear about the abnormality and send someone to help. I had some portable food rations which could last me a while longer. In the end I decided to wait here for two days, and if no help came, I would try and make a push to escape from the mountain.

I kept watch on the surroundings from my perch atop the tree, and when I made sure there were no monsters, I would go down and do a bit of plant collecting in the area around the base of the tree. After my battle with the Angry Wolf, I realized just how useful plants were. Instead of pushing myself to synthesize the ones I needed on the spot, I felt that it would be better to carry some useful ones on hand just in case something happened. Regarding the Magical Grass, it might have been super effective against that Angry Wolf since it was a creature that had a highly acute sense of smell. But when it came to other monsters, the stink it emitted when heated was probably still strong enough to deter most from approaching. The Magical Grass had its own faults, mainly because it was effective against me as well, but I could burn it and use it as an effective monster repellant. As for Slime liquid and highly poisonous plants like the Angel Grass and Linrin Weed, they should be effective against any monsters. Since I had no fighting abilities, it would be good to mass produce those Angel Grass-imbued Slime liquid vials for future use. As I reflected on those various things, I passed the time by rotating continuously between climbing up the tree to keep watch for monsters and climbing down the tree to collect plants.

That night, since the sun had already set, I was just sitting up on the tree waiting for the sun to rise again. I had nothing else to do and wanted to sleep, but couldn’t. If anything went wrong, I would have to be the one to deal with it. On top of that, since I was resting at a position so high in the tree, if I fell off the tree in my sleep and hit the ground in the wrong way, I could even break my neck and die. However, even though I was aware that it was dangerous to be falling asleep in this situation, the moment my mind started to wander, my consciousness would begin to drift off too.

Walking to Mount Cornello, fighting the Angry Wolf, and an entire 24 hours of anxious restlessness and full alertness. Not sleeping at all within these two days was harsh, and my fatigue and drowsiness was at a peak.

…Although I seriously didn’t want to do it, I decided to eat some Magical Grass to stay awake. I took out a piece that I had harvested earlier, and, after wiping it clean, I put it in my mouth and began to chew. Grimacing at the consistently terrible flavor, my face warped in displeasure, but it was also thanks to this characteristic bitterness that my drowsiness lessened and the disheartened mood I was feeling earlier was slightly lifted. I decided to keep on chewing on Magical Grass like this until morning came.

Well, that was what I thought I would do, but I soon noticed some monsters below causing a ruckus. I couldn’t really see much at the moment because I was in the middle of the canopy of the tree, but I could feel that the entire mountain was in a bit of a clamor since the brisk movements of monsters’ footsteps kept rushing past. Hiding deeper in the trees without a single sound, I was suddenly put on full alert as I waited for the uproar to subside.

Suddenly, I noticed that there was… “something” approaching at an incredibly swift speed. It sounded like a fairly large monster, but judging by the loud footsteps and the violent, unsettling sounds coming from below, it was slaughtering a path through a bunch of other monsters. It abruptly crossed my mind that it was most likely the boss of that Angry Wolf I had killed yesterday who had come to get revenge on me. I began to shake and quiver in my boots. As if confirming that premonition of mine, that “something” suddenly came to a stop right at the bottom of the trunk of my tree. I was holding both hands to cover my mouth to hide my ragged breaths as I desperately tried to stop my heartbeat from palpitating wildly. It felt like my heart would burst out of my chest at any moment.

Please leave quickly…

With my eyes tightly shut, I wished for this one thing with all my heart. All of a sudden, I heard a totally unexpected voice from directly beneath the tree.

“OI, LEWIN!! You’re up there, aren’t you? I’m here to help!!”

In response to that intimately familiar voice, my heart leapt out of my chest. That way of speaking, that voice… it had to be Ahmed’s!

“Ahmed-san!! I-I’m coming down now!” (Lewin)

“Ufufu… you really were there! Okay, hurry and get down here.” (Ahmed)

I was wondering why Ahmed was here, but more than anything, I was overjoyed. I was really glad; the overwhelming relief I felt from hearing Ahmed’s voice caused the dam of anxiety and tension built over the last few days to burst, and warm tears began flooding from my eyes. I climbed down the tree, doing my best not to fall through the welling tears. The moment I touched solid ground, I bounded straight towards Ahmed.

“Hehehehe! Lewin, I’ve come to help you! You don’t need to tha– oof! Hey!! Don’t hug me!” (Ahmed)

“Aaahmeeed-san…! Thank you so much! A massive monster was t-trying to eat me! And then, I didn’t know the way home, and I didn’t know what to do, so I thought I’d never be able to go home… and then…” (Lewin)

“It’s fine, just get on already, or I’ll punch you!” (Ahmed)

Well, I was kind of forced to, so I grabbed onto Ahmed’s back.

Her back was wide like the ocean and warm like the sun, and she had a somewhat pleasant scent.