Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 296: Survey

The day after the banquet, we left early in the morning to walk into the forest to go hunt for food reserves while also investigate the monsters living in the forest.

「The aforementioned dungeon core and the device that controls the dungeon are the middle of the ruins, right?」

「Yes, there was a time when my predecessors and I headed to the control room. We somehow managed to get there shortly, but our inherent racial characteristics is to fly in the air and attack from a distance using bows. We were capable of reaching the center of the ruins, but could not advance further than that.」

Our party surrounded Valkan-san who was acting as our guide as we trudged deeper into the forest. The Aligerous Tribe were not assertive with flying above the forest. There were no Wyverns, Griffins, and other strong flying monsters, but there were raptor-type monsters which would come flying. Flying above the forest was only for emergencies.

「Ha!」

Berkut brought out her sharp spear and pierced through the neck of the monkey monster, and Vart-kun threw his spear right down the middle of the monster’s forehead.

「……Valkan……that girl is your daughter, right? Why isn’t she using a bow and arrow to defeat monsters? What’s with that girl’s spear and skills?」

Seeing that young boy and girl of the same age in the tribe were fighting Silver Monkeys in close combat by themselves and were unmatched had surprised him.

「Onii-san, don’t talk too loudly. Monsters will draw near.」

「Ah, yeah, my bad.」

「Onii-san, it’s normal that you’re surprised. Iruma-dono had kindly taught us how to fight.」

Valkan-san explained to Valzak-san about the power leveling we did in the monster nests inside the Demon Continent.

「……a monster nest? A land where even stronger monsters run rampant in a land…… I can’t imagine.」

「We haven’t explored the entirety of the Sky Island, but this land seems unlikely to be polluted by miasma. The monsters from monster nests that were engulfed in dense mana were strong and aplenty.」

「Then Iruma-dono and his party help us deal the finishing blow. Now that I think about it, Valzak-oniisan, even you would be able to hunt in this forest without any danger.」

「Oh, I-i see.」

Valzak-san’s cheeks were cramping as he replied. He must have been surprised that the man he didn’t see for over 200 years had become combative.

「Takumi-sama, the kinds of monsters are monkey, wolf, tiger, snake, and lizard types. It’s fortunate that there are no goblin or kobolds.」

「Yeah, those ones multiply infinitely, after all.」

「Master, there doesn’t seem be that many bugs either.」

「Thanks, Kaede.」

「Ehehe~」

Sophia and Kaede came back from scouting and informed me of the types of monsters in the forest.

As might be expected from this forest which didn’t have as much mana as a monster nest, there were plenty of wild animals. Still, even if the wolves and bears[1] hadn’t been monsters, they would still be a threat to normal hunters.

「We did not investigate the entirety of the Sky Island so I am unable to say for certain, but if we thin out the monsters and retake control of the dungeon core, it might be possible to reclaim land for agriculture.」

「Oooh, I would be glad if that were true. Relying solely on hunting leaves uncertainty in the long run.」

A life that relied so heavily on hunting and foraging would inevitably be unstable. This forest had wild fruits, mountain yams, and all sorts of mushrooms were forageable, but it wasn’t possible to forage as one pleases within a forest that monsters inhabit.

「We roughly understand what kind of monsters tend to come out, so let’s end things here and go back.」

「Indeed. Valzak-dono also seems to be tired, so I think this is a good idea.」

I called out to Sophia, and we took a different route back to the caves.

As a result of our exploration into the forest and its surroundings, there were no monsters that could be threats. There were also lesser monsters than in a monster nest, and as long as one is capable of fighting a wild animals such as wolves or bears, then there shouldn’t be any issue. Also, according to Laeva, she could hardly find any medicinal plants. She reported that medicinal plants grow in places that have somewhat dense mana, so it would be difficult to secure fixed amounts of it.

Valzak-san and Valkan-san also had limited knowledge on medicinal plants, so this had been the case for a long time.

Having obtained results from a tentative exploration, we decided to go to the center of the ruins, and hunt while we make our way there.

***

Footnotes:

1. Bear wasn’t included in previous list.