The Paladin Riding a Giraffe (4)

Not long after I uploaded Ludwig's video, the Gallery erupted in a total frenzy. He seemed to have aired out all of El Dorado's dirtiest laundry, but that wasn't all—there was vital intel regarding the Forest of the Four Seasons as well.

Specifically, that anyone entering from the outside world found themselves entirely incapable of utilizing mana. Because I had spent my time here blasting mana left and right without a care, I'd remained completely oblivious, but this was a critical piece of information. In a death world like this, having access to mana didn't just tip the scales; it sent your survival rate leaping off a cliff.

Hell, even the local wildlife wields mana here.

I had survived thanks to the dimensional lifeline of the Gallery, but the same didn't hold true for ordinary outsiders. Unless someone arrived armed to the teeth with an absurdly broken artifact like the Heavenly Demon's Sword, clearing this forest was virtually impossible. Ludwig had been an absolute powerhouse back in his own world, yet even he had been driven to this wretched state despite carrying the enchanted blade I had forged for him.

Well, let the outside world handle their own mess……

I glanced toward Ludwig, who was resting quietly against the rough cavern wall. His eyes were shut tight—whether he was deep in meditation or simply fast asleep, I couldn't tell. Coexisting and surviving alongside this man inside this forest wasn't going to be a walk in the park. He had lost an ankle, which practically made him my dependent.

Still, the Juddak assured me he was a good person at heart.

It wasn't just the orange-tagged moderator, either; almost everyone who knew of Ludwig echoed the same sentiment. He was stubborn to a fault, a consummate old-timer boomer, but fundamentally a man of upright character. The whole reason he had stepped foot into the Forest of the Four Seasons in the first place was for honor—to prove the absolute sincerity of his conviction by forcing a breakthrough along the most suicidal path possible.

Honorable and diligent is great and all, but his leg's in that state.

Fashioning a proper prosthetic leg was beyond me for now, but carving a sturdy pair of crutches seemed like the bare minimum. At least then he could hobble around for basic mobility. Of course, before any of that, restoring his physical stamina and depleted vital energy came first.

If I keep feeding him fish porridge and honey, he should bounce back eventually, right?

According to what Ludwig managed to convey, he hadn't slept a wink for days on end. Crossing the savanna meant dealing with predatory beasts springing ambushes at all hours of the day and night. It was only through the sheer sharpness of the Mythrecon sword and the tireless efforts of his giraffe that he had scraped through alive.

In terms of pure survival, the grasslands might actually be harsher than this forest.

As I'd noted before, scrounging up food in the savanna was excruciatingly difficult. Water was one thing, but if you wanted to eat, hunting dangerous carnivores was practically mandatory.

Communication's an issue too…… Guess I'll have to figure that out as we go.

For now, letting Ludwig heal took top priority. Before that, though, I needed to boil water. Whatever else I could stomach, the putrid stench clinging to him was entirely beyond my tolerance.

Stepping outside, I set a large pot over the fire to boil.

"Hah!"

"Kkyu-woo!"

While the flames crackled, I watched Ggobongi and Wonmo going through their training routines. Come to think of it, Ludwig was renowned as a legendary mentor who had nurtured countless champions, including the Hero herself. Which meant he had a vast repertoire of martial techniques and survival skills he could potentially teach me.

He'll teach me, surely. I saved his life, and I'm putting food in his belly.

If he tried to pull rank or put on noble airs in my own home, I wouldn't hesitate to throw him out on his ass. He could go enjoy the wilderness with his giraffe. Naturally, the odds of him acting like that seemed practically nonexistent.

While waiting for the bathwater to heat up, I surveyed our surroundings. Nothing particularly alarming caught my eye. It looked like we'd be hunkering down around the shelter for the time being.

Lost in thought, I walked back into the cave.

"……Huh?"

Ludwig wasn't where I'd left him. Just a moment ago, he had been leaning against the cave entrance's rock face. Now, he was all the way at the deepest end of the cavern—right beside the self-regenerating Mithril vein.

Wondering how the hell he had moved that far so quickly on a single leg, I briskly walked toward the back.

"Why are you over here……"

"……."

The moment my eyes landed on him, my jaw dropped in sheer disbelief. The self-regenerating Mithril vein was an awkward nuisance I had essentially abandoned because mining it over and over had become pointless. And right now, believe it or not, Ludwig's amputated ankle was fused directly to that very same vein.

I could hardly believe what I was looking at, yet the sight before me was undeniable reality.

……What the actual hell?

What kind of bizarre phenomenon could possibly lead to this? The silvery-blue Mithril vein had clamped onto Ludwig's stump as if it were trying to mold itself into his brand-new foot.

"Hey! Sir! You just got here, and you're already causing disasters?!"

"$@$%#. @%$%$#."

"I have no idea what you're saying! Just pull, put your back into it!"

First things first: get him unstuck. Grabbing Ludwig by the leg, I threw my weight backward and pulled with everything I had. Realizing my intention, Ludwig gritted his teeth and hauled back with all the remaining strength in his battered body.

"Nnnrgh……!"

"……."

"GRAAAAH!"

"Ah. Ah. Ah."

Halfway through the struggle, a series of bizarre, muffled grunts leaked from Ludwig's throat. When I glanced up, I saw cold sweat pouring down his forehead in sheets—even as his face remained frozen in a completely deadpan, stoic mask. Was he trying to tell me it hurt? The moment I gently eased my grip, the strange noises stopped.

"……If it hurts, just say so!"

"#%@%$%"

"Ah, for fuck's sake, this is driving me insane."

Not understanding a single syllable made my blood boil with frustration. The situation was too chaotic and urgent to waste time asking questions on the Gallery.

How the hell did this even happen?

Since the metallic bond showed no signs of releasing its grip, I took a breath to assess the scene. First off, why had Ludwig ended up all the way over here? Following the ground with my eyes, I immediately spotted distinct drag marks clawed into the dirt. It looked as if he had been pulled across the floor toward the Mithril vein like a scrap of metal drawn to a high-powered magnet.

Why? Did it pull him? And more importantly, why didn't he even yell for help?

The Mithril vein had sat there completely inert all this time. I couldn't fathom the cause. Sure, the Forest of the Four Seasons defied all common sense, but this was absurd even by local standards.

Should I ask Allfather about this?

A heavy sigh escaped me. Regardless of the mystery, I had to resolve the immediate crisis first. One way or another, I needed to sever that leg from the rock face.

"Hold on a second. Don't move."

Leaving him there, I hurried to grab my mining tools. If the foot wouldn't come off the vein, then I'd just mine the vein out from under the foot. It was a crude, brute-force solution, but it was the best option available.

Clang! Clang!

Before swinging in earnest, I tapped the rock around his ankle with a small hammer. Given that they had fused without any apparent rhyme or reason, I needed to confirm whether he felt any transferred impact or pain.

"Does that hurt?"

"……."

Ludwig shook his head slowly. There was no sensation whatsoever. Though we shared no common tongue, he had clearly pieced together what I was trying to test.

With that cleared, all that was left was excavation. I gripped the heavy pickaxe with both hands.

CLANG! Clang! Clang!

It had been a while since I'd done any serious mining. I certainly hadn't envisioned swinging a pickaxe under these bizarre circumstances, but life in the wild had a way of surprising you. Exercising extreme caution so I wouldn't accidentally take a chunk out of Ludwig's shin took considerable time, but gradually, progress began to show.

Twitch— Twitch—

The silvery vein bonded to Ludwig's ankle started to shudder and loosen. A few more well-placed strikes, and it felt like the whole mass would pop right out.

CLANG! CLANG! Clang!

Glistening shards of Mithril scattered across the cavern floor, silver dust billowing into the air, and then—

Pop!

With a clean, satisfying release, Ludwig's leg yanked free.

And there, exposed clearly beneath the flickering torchlight, was the result.

"……?"

A foot crafted entirely out of solid Mithril. It carried a faint emerald luminescence, but no matter how you looked at it, the metal had molded itself into the unmistakable shape of an anatomically perfect human foot.

What the actual fuck is that?

I was so flabbergasted I couldn't even form words. Not even Tony Stark could fabricate something this absurd out of raw magic ore. Of course, the person most bewildered by this development was undoubtedly Ludwig himself. He had undergone an emergency battlefield amputation mere days ago, only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to suddenly wake up with a solid Mithril prosthetic foot fused directly to his flesh and bone.

He stared down at the gleaming silver-green foot in utter disbelief before his weathered features hardened once more.

"#%$%?"

"……You want a hand?"

"#$%!@."

Whatever he was mumbling, it seemed clear he wanted me to steady him. Even if neither of us understood how this miracle had occurred, a man who just grew a new foot naturally had an urge to test whether it could hold his weight. His stamina had barely returned, but taking a few tentative steps shouldn't kill him.

"Easy there. Careful."

"#%@"

Presumably, that was a polite thank-you. I supported his shoulder, helping him place his weight down to walk. Whatever bizarre magic the regenerating vein had performed, the height aligned with his left leg down to the millimeter. The weight distribution was equally flawless; Mithril was famously as light as a feather despite its immense density. As a result, though he walked with a noticeable limp, his overall balance remained astonishingly stable.

"@#$%"

Now eager to test his own balance, Ludwig gently nudged my arm away. I obliged his pride, stepping back while keeping a watchful eye in case he took a sudden tumble.

Thud— Thud—

Even for a divine metal like Mithril, spontaneously generating functioning skeletal joints was apparently ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bridge too far. For all practical purposes, it was a solid, foot-shaped prosthetic. Even so, the sheer fact that an amputee could walk upright without crutches was a monumental game-changer. The mystery behind its origin was baffling, but I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. A win was a win.

Wait, where is he going?

Ludwig had brought himself to a halt before a massive, thick tree near the cave entrance—one I had earmarked for lumber. As I watched with growing curiosity, an utterly unbelievable spectacle unfolded before my eyes.

Shaaaaa—

While it didn't match the blinding, celestial radiance of the Mythrecon sword, a brilliant corona of light began to gather around the Mithril foot. Faint at first, the emerald glow intensified by the second, rapidly condensing into an incandescent haze.

The sheer density of the aura swelling inside that metal was staggering. I blinked in sheer shock, unable to look away.

WHIP!

Ludwig swung his leg outward like a snapping bullwhip. Perhaps because his physical vitality was still recovering from severe exhaustion, the kicking motion itself wasn't exceptionally rapid.

CRRR-CRACK!

The terrifying part wasn't the speed—it was the payload. A razor-sharp, crescent-shaped blade of luminous aura unleashed directly from the tip of the Mithril foot. The flying slash collided dead-center with the massive trunk, and in an explosive shower of splintered wood, obliterated the entire midsection of the tree into fine kindling.

It hadn't been a small tree by any stretch of the imagination. The sheer destructive output was nothing short of catastrophic.

"Hmph."

"……."

Ludwig nodded to himself, thoroughly pleased with the outcome.

I, on the other hand, stood frozen, completely incapable of nodding along.

……Please tell me that's not the baseline standard around here.

The guy had just fired off a straight-up flying kick slash straight out of some pirate anime.

The entire damn world has gone completely insane.

They say in the village of the one-eyed, the two-eyed man is treated as a freak. But out here, I had somehow stumbled into a land full of three-eyed monsters.

……Or maybe I'm just absurdly, pathetically weak.

I was just an ordinary two-eyed guy who had fallen headfirst into a world populated entirely by unhinged gods of war.