Countermeasures (1)
The confusion from spotting that knight riding a giraffe didn't last long. He was already gone, and there was nothing I could do about it now, so I decided to focus on what needed doing first. Break the ice covering the river and stick my hand in to bait the golden frogs. Of course, it would be even better if the golden frogs stayed hibernating and didn't show up. That way, I wouldn't waste time dealing with them.
Splash—
"Jaaah!"
The moment I plunged my hand in, I couldn't help letting out a weird yelp. It was freezing. Way too cold. I'd gotten a rough idea from the hose water, but feeling it directly on my skin made it seem even colder. Still, for the sake of solving my food problem, I had to endure it. Luckily, the golden frogs seemed to be hibernating too—no sign of them.
"Tchiii. Brr."
Couldn't do anything about the cold, though. This was exactly why I'd wanted cold resistance. The moment I stuck my foot in, I started shivering from the biting chill as I set up the baited traps. The boots I'd traded for so far had waterproofing, but the river was too deep. No choice but to wade in wearing sneakers.
Just 10 minutes. Endure for 10 minutes...!
There was a risk of frostbite, but I wasn't worried. I didn't have cold resistance, but I had cold energy inside me. It'd provide some protection, so no frostbite concerns. It was just insanely cold, that's all.
After setting all the traps, I hurried back to the cave. The first thing I did upon returning was heat up some water and soak my feet. Even if frostbite wasn't an issue, better safe than sorry. As I sat there soaking, the scene I'd just witnessed replayed in my mind.
But was that guy I saw across the river really real?
Not only was he riding a giraffe, he was swinging a sword like some knight. Even the predators swarming around him—lions, to be precise—couldn't get close easily.
Wait. Come to think of it, didn't that sword glow?
The sword in the knight's hand. It had definitely shimmered green. The light was faint, but unmistakably green. Only the Mithoricon I'd given out would glow green.
Ludwig?
Ludwig. The holy knight famous for his upright character. The guy who'd posted some seriously dad-joke-level stuff on the Gallery. It was possible he'd been the one riding that giraffe and swinging the sword.
What shitty timing, seriously.
I thawed my feet in the warm water, thinking it over. No matter how I sliced it, the timing sucked. Of all the moments for the space to shift. If I'd had just one more minute—no, even 30 seconds—I could've gotten a better look.
My luck is just the worst.
The knight I assumed was Ludwig probably hadn't seen me. He was in the thick of battling lions—did he have time to glance across the river?
Come to think of it, aren't there no giraffes in this world?
Not entirely sure, but I remembered hearing that. Just in case, I searched the Gallery for "giraffe." Nothing came up. There were posts about separate "necks" or "legs," but no animal called a giraffe. Meanwhile, unicorns and pegasi existed as common knowledge. So I drew a picture and checked.
YasaengGrill (photo of the giraffe drawing I made)
Any animal like this? Long neck and legs like in the picture above?
Where I'm from, we called it a giraffe.
└Cheonma Not a spirit beast, and I've never seen such a bizarre creature.
└SwordTasteStar Same here. Never seen or even heard of an animal like that in my life.
└ChangguPrincess It looks so sad with that long neck~
└StarlightPrincess How does it even eat with a neck that long?
└SunForever Something... something eerie about it. Kinda makes me wanna hunt it.
└SmartMine It's ugly as hell lololol
└Do they whip their necks like lashes when fighting? Lmao
└YasaengGrill How'd you know? Pretty sure they swing their necks to smash foes. Or kick with hind legs.
└Wtf is that thing even? Imagination on steroids lmao
└What if it breaks its neck swinging like that;;
└The epitome of inefficiency lol
└Olfather Ho ho. Quite the fascinating creature. There used to be something similar in ancient times.
└YasaengGrill Really?
└Olfather Yes. Dinosaurs, you see—ancestors to dragons or drakes. There was one with an extremely long neck.
└Did that dinosaur fight with its neck too?
└Olfather According to theories, it used its long tail like a whip. Wyverns are dinosaur descendants too. Are you talking about a Brachiosaurus? Dinosaurs existing in this world is intriguing.
Actually, before that—the fact that these people couldn't even comprehend a giraffe was more surprising. So what was the giraffe I saw?
Maybe giraffes lost in the food chain and went extinct. The Four Seasons Forest is a place where even herbivores are insanely strong, so the survivors adapted. Seemed like a reasonable hypothesis. If not that...
Is it... connected to Earth?
Just like I'd suddenly dropped into the Four Seasons Forest, maybe Earth's animals had too. I was an animal in a sense, so my existence proved the theory. But while I could see the results, the cause eluded me.
Guess I have to investigate thoroughly.
Conclusion: I needed to learn more about this forest. It didn't feel like my arrival here was pure coincidence. Survival was key, but exploration mattered too. Grasping clues would boost my escape chances.
I've been keeping a steady journal, so time will tell.
Now that I knew seasons changed weekly, I'd ramp up exploration. I'd planned to hole up in the shelter until stronger, but dragging that out wasn't ideal. Winter would force downtime anyway.
Of course, now that I'd spotted another survivor, countermeasures came first.
I need to supply them with helpful stuff.
Was the knight on the giraffe—likely Ludwig—the only one who'd entered the Four Seasons Forest? Word was, someone had been forced in with him. With luck, they might be surviving somewhere like him. But from my experience, the forest was brutally unforgiving without a base. Without proper tools, survival rates plummeted.
The Gallery helped me, so I should help them.
No one but me could use the Gallery once inside, and location tracking was impossible. Even asking the head mod wouldn't help. Best I could do was toss survival supplies across the river. Not knowing where they were, that was optimal.
Food is most crucial for survival, but...
Sadly, I couldn't supply food. With winter coming, I needed to stockpile starting now. Which meant I could provide pretty much everything else.
Like weapons, for example.
Weapons were vital in the Four Seasons Forest. I'd overcome countless crises thanks to Cheonma's sword. Ludwig seemed to be scraping by with the Mithoricon blade, even if he didn't fully get it.
Make a sword and chuck it across the river. That'll do.
That was my best plan. Nothing else came to mind. Well, one other option: the signpost I'd set up near the cave. Make a huge billboard visible from across the river. Like those defector welcome signs at the front lines.
Should've done it sooner...
I hadn't put one on the river. Big mistake. I'd naively assumed Ludwig would end up on this side. So I hadn't bothered with anything visible from across. If I had, he might've crossed already. Regret city.
Using this mistake as a stepping stone, I'd make multilingual signs. Not just for Ludwig—prepared for anyone, anytime.
Gallery can handle the languages.
Languages varied by race and nation, but I had the Gallery. High-nics came from everywhere; just ask.
Sign has to be huge.
Like the last signpost, but bigger. Wood assembly would be fiddly and time-consuming. I made a giant one by slotting wooden planks onto long poles.
You might think writing on it would suck, but no worries.
Just paste huge paper on it.
Easy peasy. No need to carve directly. Satisfied with the billboard visible from afar, I logged into the Gallery. Bought paper for it and pinged the high-nics.
Can you write exactly what Cheonma said?
Cheonma 'Tis no trouble. Wait a moment.
Got it.
Cheonma (photo of paper with notice in Jungwon language)
This suffice?
Thank you! Every time I see it, your handwriting is so beautiful.
Cheonma My thanks.
First up: Jungwon language from Cheonma.
SwordTasteStar (photo of paper with explanation in Messia Empire language)
Like this?
Yes! Thank you so much!
SwordTasteStar Hold on. Let me redo it...!
Huh?
SwordTasteStar (photo of paper with notice in Messia Empire language)
Here, take this lol;
What'd you write first?
SwordTasteStar "Get strong and marry me." ;;;
A playful moment from SwordTasteStar got me Messia Empire language.
PassingDwarf Hah, who knew I'd be doing this lol. Understand my desperation, yeah?
I get it. Just a sec.
Dwarf language from PassingDwarf.
The rest from ChangguPrincess, Olfather, SunForever, GrowTrees, SusanghalJeongdorok, and more. Asked around and collected languages from various nations and races. Could've just posted publicly, but it would've been a mess, so worth the effort.
Don'tAbandonHero (photo of notice paper in El Dorado language)
This good?!
Thanks. Hope Ludwig sees it.
Don'tAbandonHero Have you seen Ludwig?!
Think so, but hazy. He was on a giraffe swinging the sword I gave him.
Don'tAbandonHero Giraffe... that freaky animal Grills posted?!
Yeah.
Don'tAbandonHero Got it! Weird, but he's alive—relief! Contact me if confirmed!
Will do.
Finally, El Dorado from the head mod.
Thus, I transcribed all the languages onto paper. Used black ink for stark contrast against the white.
So many languages—exhausting.
Big sheets, cramming foreign scripts—tough work. Had to space efficiently, so focus was key. Finally done. I smiled at the finished notice.
The content went something like this:
Gallery high-nic YasaengGrill welcomes survivors!
If you see this, follow the signpost down!
You'll spot the cave!
We're stronger together!
Let's get through this!
What can I say. Less a notice, more a naturalization ad...
Anyway, notice done—now survival supplies.
Hurry up.
A sign doesn't help if they can't survive to reach it. I grabbed my pickaxe and mined the mithril vein in the cave.
And, please survive.
I prayed someone would make it.