A Pathetic Body
"Is the sword I commissioned coming out around today, by any chance?"
"No. It'll take a few days, at least."
"That long???"
These people really know absolutely nothing about swords. I debated where to even begin explaining, but gave up when I realized it would take far too long.
"Normally it takes several weeks, but since he's a skilled dwarf, it'll only take a few days. I have to stay here for a while to adjust the handguard, the weight, and a bunch of other details. Sometimes it even takes months."
"That's a shame, but I guess we'll have to head out first. I wanted to stay a bit longer and chat."
"We'll have another chance someday," I said.
But it was mostly just polite small talk; I preferred being alone for the time being. More than anything, my body randomly heating up out of nowhere made me anxious. If anyone was nearby, I'd only end up showing them something incredibly embarrassing. Just thinking about getting caught masturbating in the bathhouse still made my blood run cold.
"Ah, Luremir, are you all done with your business?"
Helien, who was a good two heads shorter and always had to look up at Luremir like that, was almost pitiful to watch.
"I only dropped by on a whim anyway, so I didn't have much to do. I just did what I could while I was here, and after staying a few days, I've finished everything. That dwarf named Berentel is quite skilled, you know? He even gave me a few extra things as a bonus."
"So she says," Helien sighed.
Luremir looked thoroughly satisfied, while Helien seemed reluctant to leave. Before they could drag the conversation out any further, I spoke up first.
"So, I'll be staying here to wait for my sword to be finished, and I figure I'll look around the village some more while I'm at it. Wandering around without a set destination was my original goal for this journey anyway."
"Well, that's a shame, but..."
"I don't know what you're hiding, big sister, but don't rely solely on that. Work on your actual skills too."
"Yeah, yeah."
As if anyone could easily deal with a giant slime on the ground. Fortunately, the last three days had passed without any major incidents, and now it was time to part ways with Helien's group. Since their goal was to raise their adventurer rank, they had no reason to linger in one place. It wouldn't make sense for them to blindly wait around with me when no one knew how many days my sword would take.
I bid farewell to the departing duo and resumed my aimless wandering through the dwarven village. Come to think of it, since I met Meria on my very first day, this was the first time I was truly on my own. Right after parting with Meria and arriving at the dwarven village, I had gone straight to hunt slimes and ran into those two.
"Looks like you've gotten used to the village by now."
As I walked around eating a skewer, the tall dwarf who had been my very first acquaintance here, Mr. Malpen, called out to me. I took a bite of the skewer. I had noticed he was tall from the start, but after staying here and meeting other dwarves, the contrast was even more striking.
"I haven't even seen a quarter of the village yet, but I've walked through that quarter several times over." I took another bite. During my stay, I had spent most of my time at Mr. Berentel's forge—testing the grip of the hilt, checking the weight of the primary materials, and satisfying my curiosity—but I couldn't stay there all day. Most of my time was spent idling about.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"We get everything we need through trade. Hmm... but you really have gotten comfortable here."
I placed my skewer, which had gone cold while I was walking, over an empty forge fire to reheat it. Mr. Malpen stared at me, looking utterly dumbfounded. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to rest the skewer, and since I didn't want to burn my hand, I held it by the very tip, hovering it awkwardly over the flames.
It was a bit hypocritical coming from someone who had developed a habit of self-harming the back of her hand, but even if my pain tolerance had increased, pain was still pain. I had self-harmed multiple times to test just how numb I had become compared to before. Mild pain felt virtually the same, but the more intense the pain, the more noticeable the numbing effect became. In the end, though, severe pain still hurt like hell; the numbing effect was really just enough to keep me from losing consciousness.
"I'll have to charge you for using my forge fire."
Mr. Malpen went inside, retrieved a leather pouch, and handed it to me. Please, don't let it be slimes again.
"See that mountain to the north? It's right next to the mine. It's the same mountain as the mine, but half of it is a dense forest, and the other half is a barren mining wasteland. That's why we call it the 'Mutt Mountain' or 'Half-Breed Mountain.' Go gather some meat and edible herbs from there. Meat roasted over this forge fire is incredibly addictive."
...That sounds like a pain.
"Even if it's a bit of a hassle, you'll be bored out of your mind doing nothing all day for the next few days."
"Did I say that out loud?"
"Did you really think that?"
As Mr. Malpen stared at me with slumped shoulders, I grabbed my skewer and the pouch and bolted. He hadn't specified what kind of animal to hunt, so any meat would do. Since there weren't any particularly dangerous beasts nearby, many villagers frequented this mountain. The temporary sword I was currently using would be more than enough.
The forest here felt much livelier than the southern woods. Small animals scurried about, and the chirping of birds echoed clearly through the trees. I had to hike for over thirty minutes just to hear it, but it wasn't bad exercise. Since my physical strength had waned, my stamina had taken a hit too, making this a much-needed workout.
"Alright, how am I supposed to hunt..."
They said there weren't many aggressive animals around here, so waiting for something to attack me was out of the question. In the end, I had to be the one to track them down... Should I bleed myself to draw them in with the scent? I had no idea how sensitive wild predators were to the smell of blood, which made this unexpectedly daunting.
I might have complained about the hassle, but I was actually quite excited at the prospect of eating fresh meat. At this rate, though, I wouldn't even be able to forage herbs, let alone get any meat. Hunting was actually the easier part—I just had to catch any random animal—whereas I knew absolutely nothing about edible plants. Shallow wounds healed quickly, but deep gashes took hours, and a severed limb took a full day to regenerate. To avoid having to make annoying excuses, I needed to target the least ferocious beast possible.
"Sigh..."
Rustle.
As I sighed in frustration, a sound came from behind me. I slowly and silently turned around, creeping toward the source...
"Grrr!"
"Ugh?!"
Just as I neared the bushes, a beast lunged out. I instinctively threw myself backward, but I couldn't stop its claws from tearing deep into my arm. It was a four-legged beast with two heads. Its name was... uh... a... her... right, a Hernak. Because of the pronunciation, many people just called it a Hernak.
After its successful ambush, the Hernak glared at me before vanishing back into the thicket. It wouldn't let me go. I didn't know much about its habits, but there was no way it would just walk away after drawing blood. I cursed my pathetic lack of knowledge—I didn't even know if these things hunted in packs or alone. Its brown fur blended perfectly with the surroundings, and its body, roughly the size of an adult man's torso, made it incredibly hard to spot.
"Ha... and they said there was nothing dangerous here."
Even if I wouldn't die, I absolutely loathed the idea of getting shredded by those claws again. Immortality was one thing, but unless my life was on the line, I had no desire to endure that agonizing pain and ruin my clothes just for a bite of meat. I actually liked this outfit, too.
"Come on, then."
Blood was already pouring down my arm, soaking my sleeve. My strength was draining, and it hurt like hell. But while my physical power had weakened, my combat instincts and the techniques I had learned hadn't vanished.
"Huuup...!"
But I had overlooked one crucial detail: raw strength mattered in a fight. Brimming with reckless confidence, the beast bit down directly on my sword, pushing me back with sheer force while its other head snapped at me.
"Must be nice having two heads!"
Shouting to force some strength into my body, I gave up on trying to push back. I pivoted to the side, letting its momentum carry it past me, and immediately bolted. No, seriously, how the fuck was I supposed to beat that? Even if my pain tolerance had improved, a deep gash still made my head spin. I had passed out multiple times from having my arm severed before; if my flesh was going to be gouged out by those claws over and over, I had zero confidence I could stay conscious.
Fortunately, the beast didn't charge blindly after me. Instead, it stalked me from the shadows, lingering nearby and waiting for another perfect opportunity to strike.
"Haah... haah..."
Of all things, both critical wounds were on my left arm, leaving it a shredded, bloody mess. With cuts all over my body and my breath growing ragged, this was turning out to be incredibly difficult. I knew from experience that blood loss would only knock me out rather than kill me, but I had no idea what would happen if I fainted and the Hernak tore me to shreds and ate me. I didn't even know if I could regenerate if my head got cut off. Wait. If I do regenerate, would the succubus heart be excluded, leaving me with just the regeneration? Wouldn't that actually be better?
"Grrr!!"
"Whoa!"
I had kept track of the Hernak's position well enough to react when it suddenly lunged from behind, but my foot slipped on the wet leaves, and I tumbled backward. Well, "tumbled" usually implied hitting the ground. Instead, a sickening sensation of weightlessness washed over me as both the Hernak and I plunged over the edge of a hidden cliff. I had known there was a cliff nearby, but I had no idea how high it was, leaving me with absolutely no plan.
Desperate to use the Hernak as a cushion to break my fall, I grabbed onto it and twisted my body, trying to get on top. But the beast thrashed so violently that I couldn't pin it beneath me. We wrestled in midair, the fall seemingly lasting forever. Just how high was this—CRASH!!