Chapter 256

Dumb Luck (2)

Today marked the beginning of my fortieth day here.

With the same routine repeating every day, time seemed to pass surprisingly quickly.

I could not say that was entirely good, but neither could I call it bad.

Still, I remained perfectly healthy without any injuries, so I decided to look on the bright side.

I did not have to look far to realize how lucky I had been. All I had to do was look at Ludwig’s foot.

Even I had nearly suffered a disastrous end when a Mad Dog bit me during my first few days here. I had survived only thanks to SwordMaster’s help.

Title: Today’s Gallery Icon

Wild Grylls

(A photo of Wonmo sleeping soundly)

(A photo of Wonmo extending a front paw to ask for food)

(A photo of Wonmo happily eating)

(A photo of Wonmo jumping in surprise)

Here are today’s pictures of the Gallery Icon.

You guys don’t have a Gallery Icon, do you? Lmaooo.

└ Heavenly Demon: Hmm. This Lady would like to raise one as well.

└ SwordMaster: If you raised one of those, it would eat you out of house and home.

└ Isn’t Grylls barely managing to raise him as it is?

└ Yeah. If Grylls doesn’t feed him, Wonmo will eat Grylls instead.

└ So Wonmo was the real master all along, lmaooo.

One slight change to my daily routine was taking photos.

I still made a post every morning after waking up, but starting yesterday, I had begun uploading pictures of Wonmo as well.

Whenever the Gallery Icon appeared, everyone flocked to the post, and recommendations poured in.

I liked it because I could earn points while showing him off at the same time.

’Of course, our Tyrano is adorable too.’

I could not discriminate between them, so I made sure to upload pictures of Tyrano as well.

After finishing breakfast, I sent a message to one of the fixed-nickname users.

The time the squirrel had promised had arrived, so I needed to plant a World Tree sapling here as well.

[Let’sGrowTrees: Ah! I’m sorry! I haven’t managed to prepare it yet! I can give it to you this afternoon. Would that be all right?]

[Wild Grylls: Yes, that’s fine. I’m the one receiving your help, after all.]

[Let’sGrowTrees: Thank you. Please wait just a little longer!]

Unfortunately, I had no choice but to postpone it.

There was nothing I could do if she was busy with her life outside the Gallery.

Still, I had not run out of things to do.

Fortunately, summer had not yet begun.

The insect swarms had not appeared, so I still had enough time to briefly inspect the surrounding area.

I immediately gathered my equipment and headed toward the squirrel’s territory.

Since I was only going to look around, I asked Ludwig to guard the shelter.

Eventually, I arrived at the squirrel’s territory, which would now serve as our second shelter.

"Wow."

I exclaimed in admiration as I looked at the World Tree sapling the squirrel had cultivated.

Was this what one should expect from a descendant of Ratatoskr, a legendary creature?

The World Tree, which had originally been nothing more than an ordinary sapling, had grown into a proper tree.

’It looks fairly ordinary, though...’

At first glance, the World Tree did not look particularly different from an ordinary tree.

However, its left and right sides were perfectly symmetrical, and its leaves sparkled like jewels whenever the light struck them.

I had heard that Alvenheim’s World Tree was large enough to cover an entire city, so this one must still have had a great deal of growing left to do.

"Squeak!"

As I admired the World Tree, a sound suddenly reached my ears.

I turned my head and saw the squirrel poking its head out of a hollow in the trunk that I had not noticed before.

It seemed the squirrel had burrowed into the tree as soon as it grew.

I addressed the little guy.

"Are you finished now?"

"Squeak! Squeak!"

"The conditions have been met. All that remains is to dig the tunnel."

Kkobong, who had accompanied me, translated on the squirrel’s behalf.

Come to think of it, where had the marmots gone?

I looked around and quickly found them.

"Kyaaaang!"

"Kyaaaang!"

"Why are you two fighting again?"

They were fighting while pinching each other’s chests.

It felt like they were fighting every time I saw them.

Still, they served as our construction workers, so I gently calmed them down.

When I asked what the fight had been about, the answer was amusingly mundane.

They had been arguing over what to eat.

’They fight just like people.’

I told them to decide lunch for themselves.

The important matter was the tunnel.

We would have to travel through the tunnels they dug.

"Can you take me through the tunnel?"

At my request, the marmots stopped arguing and guided me toward it.

"Wait. Didn’t you say it was a tunnel? This is just a doorway."

Instead of digging a tunnel, they had piled up earth and created an actual doorway.

In terms of convenience, this was even better.

The entrance was large enough for Largo to pass through if he lowered his head.

Still, it was strange, so I asked why they had made it like this.

"Kyaang. Kang."

"You’re too big. Building it aboveground was easier."

That was a reasonable answer.

As expected of animals living in the Forest of Four Seasons, they were highly intelligent.

However, the work was not over yet.

I would need their help at my shelter as well.

’Still, we should test it first.’

We needed to confirm whether this tunnel—or rather, doorway—could truly teleport people.

When I asked the marmots about it, they told me they had already installed another entrance elsewhere, as though they had anticipated my question.

The other entrance was located in some nearby bushes.

The vegetation concealed it so well that it was difficult to see.

With all the preparations complete, I nervously stood before the entrance.

Nothing was visible beyond it except darkness.

I might have felt better if it glowed blue or something, but the pitch-black interior only made me more anxious.

"This thing is safe, right?"

"Kyaang!"

The marmots thumped their chests as though telling me to trust them.

They were unlikely to have made a mistake, so I steeled myself and stepped forward.

As I entered, I felt as though something were pulling me inside.

The moment I pushed my entire body through, I found myself looking at a very familiar forest.

When I turned around, I saw the World Tree and the marmots, except they were now facing a different direction.

"Wow..."

Spatial transportation itself felt surprisingly mundane.

Its effectiveness, however, was astonishing.

With this, I could increase my chances of escaping the forest, even if only slightly.

These creatures were invaluable.

"You worked hard. Here, have one Byeokgokdan each."

"Squeak!"

"Kyaang!"

I handed them each a Byeokgokdan and thanked them for their hard work.

When I asked them to help with the next project as well, they nodded enthusiastically.

We could not begin immediately because I had not yet received the second World Tree sapling, but it would not be long.

Squeeze.

"All right, all right. We’re not going to run out of Byeokgokdan seeds, so stop worrying."

While I was at it, I reassured Namu ppareumbo, who was worried about his food supply.

He had let it go last time, but now he was acting like this again.

Was it because I had given away three pills at once?

After tidying up the surrounding area, I returned to the shelter.

’I have nothing to do until I receive the World Tree sapling.’

The only task remaining was to train with Ludwig.

Since the training was producing tangible results, I rarely complained about it.

I had struggled a little after changing my fighting style, but I adapted quickly.

"Okay. Let’s have lunch."

"Kyu!"

"Piiik!"

After lunch, I waited for a message from Let’sGrowTrees.

But no matter how long I waited, no message came.

Evening arrived without a word from her.

I assumed she was busy and did not send another message, but I could not help feeling slightly concerned.

’Still, I shouldn’t pester her. World Tree saplings are incredibly difficult to acquire.’

I was the one asking for a favor.

It would be disastrous if she decided to stop dealing with me entirely.

So I simply waited.

Naturally, I did not forget to browse the Gallery in the meantime.

[That thing the Elf Queen is revealing tomorrow.]

[Did the Elf Queen cause another incident?]

[What the hell is she planning to reveal...?]

It seemed the Elf Queen had caused yet another commotion.

She was the same person who had delivered a public address about a week ago.

Judging solely from her speech, she appeared surprisingly capable. The problem was that she was far too radical.

’Let’s see... She’s unveiling a new machine tomorrow? An elf is?’

From what I could gather, she planned to unveil some kind of new machine tomorrow.

It was strange to hear about machinery from elves rather than dwarves.

Still, I recalled hearing that the Elf Queen was not the sort of person who lied.

It did not have much to do with me anyway, so I quickly lost interest.

’The insect swarm might arrive tomorrow. I should prepare.’

I began by tightly covering the entrance with a curtain, then thoroughly applied insect repellent.

Ludwig had yet to experience summer in this forest, so he watched my actions with a puzzled expression.

However, he seemed to conclude that I had a good reason and helped me.

"#$%%M?"

[He wishes to know whether we will truly be able to see a sky whale.]

"We should. If we’re lucky, we might even get another piece of ambergris."

It seemed Ludwig was curious about the sky whale as well.

That was understandable. It was a mythical creature.

Even I had been struck speechless the first time I saw it.

After thoroughly preparing for the insect swarm, the rest of the day passed without incident.

BZZZZZZZZ!

The following morning.

As expected, the moment summer arrived, an unimaginable number of insects appeared.

Ludwig looked stunned. Even he had apparently never seen a swarm this enormous.

If he had been sleeping outside, the insects would have devoured him without mercy.

’Come to think of it, he said he was stranded on a grassland, but he didn’t get bitten by insects.’

Ludwig was apparently exceptionally lucky too.

Could Ares truly have been protecting him?

In any case, we ate breakfast inside the cave.

I had prepared the meat yesterday.

"Nom, nom, nom!"

"Nyam, nyam, nyam!"

"Is it good?"

Seeing Wonmo and Tyrano happily eating put me in a good mood.

Naturally, I did not forget to take photos and videos.

Adorable things deserved to be shared with the world.

We finished breakfast without incident, and I was idly browsing the Gallery when—

—Bwooooooo!

The familiar cry of a whale came from outside.

The moment I heard it, I carefully pulled aside the curtain.

The insect swarm was still flying around, but the repellent prevented them from entering the cave.

Whoooooosh!

That did not last long.

The sky whale had begun sucking up the insects.

The trees swayed violently, but not to a dangerous degree.

Once the swarm had completely disappeared, I took Ludwig outside.

—Bwooooooo!

When I raised my head, I saw a colossal whale swimming through the sky, lazily waving its tail.

It was the mythical creature known as the sky whale.

Ludwig’s mouth fell open in awe at the sight of it.

"Wow..."

[Remarkable.]

Even Cain exclaimed in admiration. This was his first time seeing a living sky whale as well.

No matter how dignified those Paladins might be, something astonishing was still astonishing.

Apparently, sky whales had frequently appeared not only in myths but also in children’s stories.

Plop!

As I photographed and filmed it, the sky whale excreted something just as it had before.

It had to be ambergris.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I gave the order.

"You all saw that, right? We need to retrieve it."

[Hmm? Did the sky whale not just defecate?]

"Yes. We need to pick that up."

The expressions Ludwig and Cain made when I told them to collect excrement were truly something to behold.

But what else could I do?

The ambergris was supposedly that valuable.

’Even All-Father hasn’t discovered its exact properties yet...’

There would undoubtedly be some use for it.

If nothing else, I could use it as fertilizer.

In any case, everyone equipped themselves according to my instructions.

We estimated where the ambergris had landed and headed in that direction.

Eventually—

"Ah. We won’t be able to retrieve it this time."

[Why not?]

"The area ahead is... rather dangerous."

I realized that the ambergris had fallen within the gorillas’ territory.

I might have risked entering another region, but I still felt uncomfortable going into the gorillas’ territory.

Moreover, Kkobong was with us.

He might fly into a rage.

Or perhaps not.

I looked at Kkobong, who seemed utterly unconcerned.

After glancing around, I cautiously asked him a question.

"Hey. You know where we are, right?"

"I do."

"But you’re surprisingly calm. Don’t you want revenge?"

Kkobong tilted his head at my question before giving a peculiar response.

"Oh. Right."

What the hell did he mean, "Oh, right"?

As I stared at him in disbelief, Kkobong answered.

"My stomach is full, and my back is warm. Why bother?"

I was left speechless.

***

Grylls ultimately gave up on the ambergris and returned to his original shelter.

He had plenty of work to do even without it.

Then what became of the object that had fallen into the gorillas’ territory?

"Woohoo?"

"Woohoohoo. Woohoo."

As Grylls had expected, the gorillas discovered it.

However, it looked quite different from the ambergris Grylls had imagined.

Ambergris was normally something closer to excrement, but this possessed a complete and recognizable shape.

Although it was covered from head to toe in filth and sticky fluids, it undeniably had a distinct form.

Had Grylls seen it, he would have thought it resembled a person lying dead in the Yamcha pose.

"Woohoo?"

(Is it dead?)

"Woo-woo-woo."

(Let’s take it with us for now.)

"Woohoo. Woo-woo."

(It smells awful. Let’s throw it away.)

After the gorilla scouts discussed the matter among themselves—

"Woo-woo-woo."

(Let’s take it to the boss.)

"Woohoohoo."

(That sounds best.)

They decided it would be better to take the corpse—or whatever it was—with them.

"Woohoohoo?"

(Come to think of it, doesn’t someone similar live nearby?)

"Woohoohoo. Woohoo."

(We can deal with that later.)

A piece of nonreturnable garbage had arrived.

READ MORE ChapterS HERE : https://beastnovels.com/