72nd time
Lumberjacks at the Logging Camp
072 ? Lumberjacks at the Logging Camp #2
Jeok-.
I couldn’t help but be very surprised at the sight of Stomp’s body splitting apart like a shard. Did I just cut down this monster with one blow?
Sure, I gained two more stamina points yesterday, but even considering that, it can’t help but be quite powerful.
Nummmmm…!
“Ha, hotsaaaan-!”
At that moment, I heard a scream from behind me and turned my head to see Luna upside down, her pink hair waving back and forth, her ankles caught in a tree.
A situation where two Stomps each grab Luna’s arms and legs and pull them left and right, acting as if they were going to share them.
“Hey, you little brats!”
If things continue this way, Luna may be split into Luna and Na equally, just like Solomon’s judgment.
In an instant, the heat spread to the top of my head, and I swung the axe horizontally, splitting the body of the annoying tree monster in half.
Kwajik-.
I did it, and it’s amazing how those thick pillars get smashed like corn stalks. Damn, I’ve gotten so damn strong!
Actually, I was confident in my axe-wielding skills.
From the time I followed my father’s lead in weeding, to my time in the military as a weeder, to chopping wood for Elfriede’s bath, chopping wood was always my job.
Phew, phew-.
Quasi-snap.
As the giant axe flew around, branches and debris flew everywhere, and eventually Luna fell to the ground and rolled around.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Tch, I thought it was going to tear! But Hassan, you’re amazing! You cut down Stomp in one go! How did you do it!?”
“I don’t know either!”
Anyway, now that Luna was saved, all that was left was Rene and the tight elf side.
As I swing my axe at the torso of the bald man, Stomp splits vertically along the grain with a crunching sound.
“Thank you, thank you for saving me!”
In the meantime, Bakbak-i, who had become so skinny that he looked like a monk practicing asceticism, adjusted his clothes and clenched his fists.
“Tree-shaped demons, receive the wrath of Alfheim!”
Phew, bang-!
And then there was the tight elf who was slamming his fist into a wooden pillar. But it didn’t work because he was slamming his fist into the wooden pillar, and he ended up getting caught and tied up by some weird roots and branches.
“S-Save me! All my mana has been absorbed and I have no strength…!”
You little brat, there was no point in saving me!
So I decided to turn away from the tight elf and save Rene, who was already in a miserable state after being attacked by all sorts of roots.
“Ah, ah, that, that’s not okay…!”
… I think we can watch this one a little longer.
“Hassan, what are you doing! I need to save you quickly!”
Just then, Luna’s voice coming from behind me brought me back to my senses. I was just catching my breath to swing my axe.
Mmmmm… .
Namely.
All the trees, including the stomps that had been surrounding Rene, stopped moving and began to slowly retreat somewhere.
I was nervous about the sudden situation.
Swish.
Joseph, the lumberjack, appeared next to me, holding another axe, and began to explain.
“It’s their queen calling. Those damned stomps suck all the nutrients from the ground and give them to their queen. Well, at least we’ve stopped them for now. It’ll probably be quiet for half a day.”
“Let’s go back to the office. I’ll tell you the details of the request,” Joseph muttered, then turned around and went back into the tree house.
Luna and I helped up Rene and the tight elf who were lying sprawled on the floor and followed Joseph in.
* * *
“Drink it all. It’s sequoia sap. It’s less sweet than honey, but it has a refreshing aftertaste, so it’s better for moistening your throat. It’s also effective in restoring energy taken from the stomps.”
The lumberjack brought us a wooden cup for each of us. Inside, the amber-colored liquid sloshed about, smelling as sweet as sugar water.
Hurrup-.
Let’s drink it. It really has a clean, sweet taste.
If I were to compare it, I would say it tasted like maple syrup in water. It was a little different from the sap taste I was expecting, but it was still drinkable.
As I’ve said before, sweetness is quite a luxury in this world.
“it’s good.”
Luna also licked her lips as if she enjoyed the taste, then took out a small scroll and a quill from something like a pouch on her waist and wrote ‘Sequoia sap’ in crooked letters.
“What are you writing?”
“I thought it would be good as a leaping ingredient.”
Aha, you’re studying in your own way. You’re a better student than I thought.
When Joseph had regained his strength by eating the sap in the wooden cup and a few tasteless biscuits, he spoke again.
“As you have just experienced, the damage caused by the stomps is severe in this logging camp. Those rooted bastards are stealing all the nutrients from my logging camp without permission, and the healthy trees are suffering!”
Rene asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement at his explanation.
“I heard that Stomps are docile. How on earth do these guys attack people to absorb their nutrients? I almost died!”
“The stomps in this logging camp originally lived in symbiosis with our loggers for decades. They gave us wood, and we took their useless lives in return.”
Shit, I don’t see how you can call it symbiosis. Isn’t it just exploiting lives and wood?
I don’t know if the Stomp pups were originally docile or not, but after being exploited like that for decades, it’d be strange if they didn’t go crazy.
Joseph continued speaking.
“But one day, they changed. Not only did they suck up all the nutrients from the land like hungry demons, but they even attacked people and animals to absorb their energy. It’s all because of their queen.”
Joseph clenched his thick, rock-like fists and trembled. Luna asked him.
“Queen? I’ve never heard of stomps having a queen. I don’t know about bees or ants, but do stomps have a queen too?”
“Of course, the Stomps have no queen. The queen is just a name given to them by our lumberjacks. Anyway, deep inside this lumber camp, there is a terrible necromancer who drives the Stomps into a frenzy. Please catch him.”
The word necromancer brought to mind a strange bunch of guys in black robes. If those guys show up again, will we be able to handle it without Hippolyte?
“You mean the necromancers? The work of the Pluto cultists?”
Rene pulled out her sword from its scabbard with a thud. She stared at the blade reflecting her pupils for a while before speaking as if she had a lot of problems.
“But it’s hard to cut down the stomps with a sword. And setting them on fire doesn’t work either. Is there no other way?”
“Oh, in that case, there are specially made axes. Axes made solely for the purpose of cutting down trees.”
And then there was Joseph, pointing his finger in the corner.
There were various axes neatly stored on a stand-like thing there, including the battle axe I had swung.
Swish.
Rene got up from his seat and grabbed a small hatchet that was lying in the storage cabinet. He looked at it for a while and frowned.
“It’s really enchanted. It must be expensive.”
“It is a weapon that can only cut down trees, but because of that, it is a weapon that can cut down at least one tree.”
“Just cut down the tree….”
Rene soon traced the sharp axe blade across his palm.
Contrary to expectations that blood would spurt out profusely, there was not a single small wound visible on Rene’s hand, only a small mark.
“It looks like only real trees can be cut down.”
“Enchantments are all like that. They impose restrictions, and they only work within those restrictions. Those axes are world-class swords for cutting down trees, but for anything else, they’re just dull clubs.”
Aha, now I understand why the stomps were getting split by the battle axe. It may be because my strength has increased, but the axe was definitely better.
While I was alone contemplating what I had done, the tight elf spoke.
“Are you saying that the Wilderness Brothers were able to defeat the Stomps in one blow thanks to the enchantment?”
“No, that’s not it. My battle axe isn’t enchanted. Man, that’s the most exciting axe-swing I’ve seen in a while. You seem to have some experience chopping trees, huh? You’re a natural-born lumberjack.”
Renee snorts at Joseph, who is licking his lips in surprise.
“The wilderness of Samaria is a wasteland. Where would you find a tree to cut down? It must be because of the experience of chopping down many human bodies.”
“That makes sense. Anyway, I have faith in the capable Samaritan. Please kill that bitch by any means necessary.”
* * *
We set off, having been tipped off by Joseph to the location of the lair of the Queen of the Stomps, the Necromancer.
This logging site was so large that it took up half the forest, so it would take more than half a day’s walk through the trees to reach the hideout?
If I do well, I might have to prepare myself to camp out tonight. Of course, I’ve already packed all the camping gear, so that shouldn’t be a problem at all.
“Wow! It’s a hyacinth flower!”
At that moment, Luna was running somewhere and getting her hands dirty. I watched her carefully digging up the roots of a pure white wildflower.
“What are you doing?”
“Collecting herbal ingredients. Wow, there are a lot of mushrooms on the tree. They’re all things you don’t see near Sodomora! I think each root is worth 10 coppers!”
It seemed to Luna that this logging site was some kind of treasure trove.
The monk muttered a few words while watching Luna, who was busy digging up mushrooms and wild flowers scattered here and there.
“It hasn’t been that long since you were promoted to Bronze. When I was wearing the iron necklace, I used to dig for grass and herbs to earn money. Now, it’s been a while, so I think I’ll reminisce a bit.”
Then he also started putting mushrooms into his pockets.
He must have been shocked to hear that one root costs 10 coppers. He must have been a greedy religious person.
In any case, it seems that there is no change in the way you make money by digging up herbs and such as this as a side job, whether you are Iron Tier or Bronze Tier.
“Huh, herbs and such. They’re all good, but don’t hold yourself back too much.”
Only Rene, who had been looking at the herbs and mushrooms with disdain, just stood there with his arms crossed, looking somewhat pitiful. Just then, the bushes shook with a thud.
“Damn, it’s a rabbit! Dinner!”
Rene, who had been keeping his composure, screamed and disappeared far away into the grass. No, I didn’t expect the Shiva Party Leader to disappear.
I wondered if this was okay, but since no one said anything, I just kept digging up mushrooms and stuffing them into my pockets. As a result, my whole body smelled like mushrooms.
They say 10 coppers per root, so I think I would have earned about 2 silver.
As my pockets were getting full, I looked up and around to see what the other guys were doing.
Soon, Luna came into view, digging under the tree roots with her hands like a dog digging the ground.
Pass, pass, pass.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“I think there might be something here.”
“What’s there?”
“Look at the tree roots here. They’re slightly shaded. The area nearby is also damp. If you dig in places like this, you can sometimes find valuable materials.”
Luna’s appearance reminded me of my father, who was also an illegal land speculator. They say there are many bees in sunny mountains, and many snakes in shady mountains.
“Hey, there isn’t any.”
Luna quickly got up, shaking her hands as if she had lost interest.
“What were you trying to find?”
“Wildlings. They cost about 30 silver each. They’re also used as ingredients for potions, so even if you find just one, it’s a total hit.”
I don’t know what a wildling is, but my eyes were spinning when I heard that one was worth 30 silver. A beast worth 30 silver? Is that like a white snake that ate ginseng?
“They’re children who live in the forest. I think they’ll be around here…”
Luna looked at the tree stumps with a solemn look in her eyes, like a detective chasing a criminal.
“Is this it?”
Swish, swish, swish.
Luna and I dug around the base of the tree for a while, but we were never able to find the 30 silver worth of mythical beast.
As I wandered through the forest, doing something else like walking, the sun had set and darkness had descended on the logging area. Because of the dense trees, even the moonlight could not penetrate, so evening must have come early.
“Hassan, this must be an abandoned shelter! We can pitch a tent here!”
When we had finished setting up camp in a clearing with many stumps among the trees, Rene appeared again, holding a rabbit in his hand.
“Boil the water!”
Dinner was a stew with rabbit meat.
It was made by putting freshly dug up herbs, mushrooms, etc. into sap water and boiling it vigorously.
Bubble-bugle-.
When you put this and that in and boil it, it starts to smell quite appetizing.
As I was distributing it to each of our bowls, it occurred to me later that there was a vegetarian among us.
“But didn’t you say that monks don’t eat animals? Do you leave out meat?”
“Put it on the bottom appropriately. It is already dead and no longer an animal, so it is okay to eat it.”
Shit, this fucking idiot.
How can you live without eating meat? It’s ridiculous.
We made such a simple stew.
I added a little bit of the habanero pepper oil I used when I chased deer last time, and it tasted like samgyetang with a slightly spicy flavor, so it was very tasty.
“Brother Savage. He’s a lot better at cooking than you might think. They say that the Samaritan men do the housework. It seems to be true.”
A tough kid who started talking to me while I was cleaning up the dishes. I felt this way when I first met him, but he was really scary because he didn’t make a sound when he was following people.
“What, what? Is there a problem?”
“I’m just curious. Have you ever met any other elves besides me?”
“Another elf…?”
For a moment, Elfriede’s face flashed through my mind.
“I guess it’s because you act like you know the elves. When you were putting this and that in the stew, didn’t you leave this out?”
It was a sticky thing sticking something out towards me. I looked to see what it was, and sure enough, it was the incense stick I had taken out of the stew.
I don’t remember the name, but I took it out because it smelled like shampoo. Elfriede, who is picky about her taste, really didn’t like that kind of spice.
I vaguely thought that since they were both elves, they would also be bald, so I took it out, but it seems like they were watching it closely.
“But why do you ask that?”
“The Soseung came from Alfheim to this continent of Gaia in search of any other defectors. He is a truly evil man who has committed terrible crimes. If you happen to find him later, please tell the Soseung.”
“What does it look like?”
“Ah, you can tell even from a distance. Since birth, you have been cursed and have lost your color. Your entire body will be pure white, but your eyes will glow red.”
She looks like an albino. Anyone can tell that she’s Elfriede. Who would have thought that Elfriede was a criminal being pursued in her hometown?
Actually, he didn’t talk much about his hometown, and seeing him wandering around a faraway place as an adventurer, I had a hunch that there would be a reason for it.
“But you have to be careful because they are so beautiful that they can easily dazzle people. Roses protect their beautiful petals with thorns, but sinners are a different breed who grow beauty to hide their thorns.”
“Can I ask what crime you committed?”
The stern monk Kalidur paused for a moment as if lost in thought at my question. Now that I look at him, his light brown eyes are quite fierce.
“I set fire to the World Tree.”
[Work Review]
May is over.. Somehow I managed to serialize for a month..!! Please take care of me in the future..!!! Now I’m going to slowly get into the main story..sob sob..!!
