Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Lumber Camp Lumberjacks #2
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Crack—.
I couldn't help but be shocked by the stump's trunk splitting apart along the grain like it had shattered.
Had I really just cleaved this monster bastard in one strike?
Sure, my strength points had gone up by two yesterday, but even accounting for that, this was some insane power.
Nnnngh...!
"Ha, Hassaannn—!"
At the scream coming from behind me, I whipped my head around. Luna was dangling upside down from her ankle, caught by a tree, her pink hair thrashing wildly.
Two stumps had grabbed her arms and legs, one on each side, yanking her apart like they were about to divide her up.
"Y-you little shits!"
If this kept up, Luna might end up split fair and square into Lu/na like Solomon's judgment.
Heat rushed straight to the top of my head in an instant. I swung my axe horizontally, cleaving the insolent tree monster's trunk clean in two.
Crunch—.
Even though I'd done it myself, it was wild seeing those thick pillars snap like sugarcane. Shit, I really had gotten ridiculously strong!
Truth be told, I was pretty confident in my axe work.
From tagging along with my overzealous dad to clear brush, to handling all the mowing duty in the army, to chopping wood for Elfriede's bath fuel—axe work had always been my job.
Whoosh, whoosh—.
Crunch.
Every time the massive axe flew around, branches and debris sprayed everywhere. In the end, Luna tumbled to the ground with a thud.
"Hey, you okay!"
"I thought I was gonna rip in half! But Hassan, that was amazing! You took down a stump in one hit! How'd you do that!?"
"No clue!"
Anyway, with Luna saved, that left Rene and the bald elf.
I slammed my axe into the stump trunk holding the bald guy captive. With a crack, it split vertically along the grain.
"Th-thank you for saving me!"
In the meantime, the now-gaunt bald elf, looking like some ascetic monk in fasting, straightened his robes and clenched his fist.
"Tree demons, feel the wrath of Alvheim!"
Whoosh, smack—!
Then he punched the wooden pillar. But punching a tree trunk did jack shit, and soon enough, he was bound again by those bizarre roots and branches.
"S-save me! They've sucked out all my mana... I have no strength left...!"
You little shit, that rescue was pointless!
So I turned my eyes from the bald elf and decided to save Rene next. She was already getting wrecked by all sorts of roots, looking a total mess.
"Ah, ahh, th-there, nooo...!"
...This one could wait a bit longer.
"Hassan, what are you doing! Hurry up and save her!"
Luna's voice from behind snapped me back to reality. I was just about to catch my breath to swing the axe when—
Mmmuuuh....
Namuuut.
Including the stumps wrapped around Rene, all the trees froze in place and started slinking back somewhere.
As I tensed up at the sudden change—
Swoosh.
Joseph the lumberjack appeared beside me, holding another axe, and explained.
"Their queen's calling them. These damn stumps offer up every bit of nutrients they suck from the ground to their queen. Whew, anyway, we blocked it once. Should stay quiet for about half a day."
Muttering something about heading back to the office for the full request details, Joseph turned and went back into the wooden cabin.
Luna and I helped up Rene and the bald elf, who were sprawled on the ground, and followed Joseph inside.
* * *
"Drink it down. It's sequoia sap. Not as sweet as honey, but the crisp finish makes it better for quenching thirst. Great for recovering stamina stolen by the stumps, too."
The lumberjack brought wooden cups for all of us. The amber liquid inside gave off a sweet smell like sugar water.
Slurp—.
It tasted clean and sweet, sure enough.
Like water mixed with maple syrup, I guess. Not quite what I'd imagined for sap, but drinkable enough.
As I'd mentioned before, sweetness was a luxury in this world.
"Tasty."
Luna seemed to like it too, licking her lips around the cup before pulling a small scroll and quill from a pouch at her waist. She scribbled 'Sequoia Sap' in crooked letters.
"What're you writing?"
"Seems good for potion ingredients."
Ah, studying on her own, huh. Smarter than she looks.
After downing the sap from the wooden cups and munching some tasteless biscuits to recover our strength, Joseph spoke up again.
"As you just saw for yourselves, the stumps are causing massive damage here. Those root bastards steal all the nutrients from my lumber camp without permission, leaving the healthy trees to wither away!"
Rene, her sunken eyes gleaming, asked in response to his explanation.
"I heard stumps were docile. What the hell happened to make these things attack people and suck their energy? I almost died!"
"These lumber camp stumps used to coexist with us lumberjacks for decades. They'd give us timber, and we'd take their worthless lives in return. That's how we lived together."
Shit, how was that coexistence? Sounded more like exploitation of both their lives and wood.
I had no idea if the stumps started out docile or not, but after decades of that treatment, it'd be weirder if they didn't snap.
Joseph continued.
"But one day, they changed. Not just sucking up all the ground's nutrients like starving ghouls—they started attacking people and beasts to drain their energy. It's all because of their queen."
Joseph clenched his thick, brick-like fist, trembling with rage. Luna asked him.
"Queen? First time hearing stumps have a queen. Bees or ants, sure, but stumps?"
"Of course stumps don't have a queen. It's just what us lumberjacks call it. Anyway, deep inside this lumber site, there's a terrifying necromancer driving the stumps mad. Catch that bastard for me."
Necromancer. My mind flashed to robed weirdos in black. Fuck, if they show up again, can we handle them without Hippolyte?
"Necromancer, huh. Pluto cultists' doing?"
Sring—Rene drew her sword from its sheath. She stared at her reflection in the blade for a while before speaking like there was a problem.
"But chopping stumps with a sword's a hassle. Can't just set them on fire either. Got any bright ideas?"
"Ah, for that, we've got specially enchanted axes. Made solely for felling trees."
Joseph pointed to a corner.
A rack there held a neat array of axes of all kinds. My battle axe was among them.
Swoosh.
Rene stood and grabbed a small hand axe from the rack. She examined it closely, then furrowed her brow.
"Real enchantment on this. Must cost a fortune."
"Only cuts trees, but man, does it cut trees."
"Only trees, huh...."
Rene lightly drew the sharp axe blade across her palm.
Contrary to expectations of gushing blood, her hand just had a faint mark—no wound at all.
"Looks like it really only cuts trees."
"That's enchantments for you. They come with restrictions, and only shine within those limits. Those axes are peerless for felling trees, but otherwise, they're just dull clubs."
Ah, now I got why the stumps split so easily under my battle axe. My increased strength helped, but the axe was the real MVP.
As I nodded to myself over my own handiwork, the bald elf spoke up.
"So the wilderness brother one-shotting stumps was thanks to the enchantment?"
"Nah, my battle axe isn't enchanted. Damn, that was the most ferocious axe work I've seen lately. You must've swung an axe before, huh? Born lumberjack."
Joseph smacked his lips in amazement, and Rene snorted at him.
"Samaritan wilderness is all barren plains, they say. Where's the trees there to chop? Probably just lots of experience slicing human torsos."
"Good point. Anyway, having a skilled Samaritan makes me trust you folks. Kill that queen bitch somehow."
* * *
Joseph tipped us off to the hideout of the stumps' so-called queen, the necromancer, and we set off.
The lumber site was huge, covering half the forest, so it'd take over half a day trekking through the trees to reach it?
Might have to camp tonight. Good thing we'd packed all our gear—no issue there.
"Eek! Hyacinth flowers!"
Luna suddenly dashed off somewhere, getting dirt on her hands. Watching her, she was carefully digging up the roots of some white wildflowers.
"What're you doing."
"Gathering herb ingredients. Whoa, mushrooms on the trees too. Stuff you never see near Sodomora! These roots alone gotta fetch 10 coppers each!"
To Luna, this lumber camp was like a treasure trove.
Watching her frantically dig up mushrooms and wildflowers everywhere, the bald monk muttered a few words.
"Guess you just hit Bronze rank. Back when this humble monk wore an iron collar in the minor orders, I made ends meet gathering grass and herbs. Been a while—maybe I'll indulge in some nostalgia."
Then he started stuffing mushrooms into his pouch too.
Must've perked up at the 10 coppers per root. Greedy zealot.
Anyway, Iron Tier or Bronze Tier, seemed adventurers moonlighted picking herbs for cash regardless.
"Hmph, herbs and such. Fine, whatever—just don't slow us down."
Rene, arms crossed and looking down on the herb-picking like it was pathetic, stood watch. Right then—rustle—bushes shook.
"Shit, rabbit! Dinner!"
The cool-headed Rene screamed and bolted into the underbrush far away. No, shit, the party leader vanished.
I wondered if this was okay, but since no one said anything, I just kept digging mushrooms and stuffing my pouches full. Now I reeked of mushrooms all over.
10 coppers a root? This haul's gotta be about 2 silvers easy.
As my pouches filled up, I wondered what the others were doing and looked around.
Soon I spotted Luna digging under a tree root like a dog.
Scratch, scratch—scratch.
"Hey, what're you doing?"
"Something feels like it's here."
"What's here?"
"Look at this tree root—it's a bit shaded, right? Ground's damp nearby too. Spots like this sometimes have rare ingredients."
Seeing her, I thought of my dad, who'd dabbled as an illegal land squatter. Sunny mountains have lots of bees, shady deep-mountain ones have snakes, or something like that.
"Aw, nothing."
Luna soon lost interest, dusted her hands, and stood.
"What were you looking for?"
"Wildlings. Go for about 30 silvers each. Used in potions too, so finding even one is pure profit."
No idea what wildlings were, but 30 silvers a pop? My vision spun. A beast worth 30 silvers? Like a white fox fattened on ginseng?
"Kids that live in forests. Feels like one's around here...."
Luna eyed the tree bases with the grim determination of a detective chasing a perp.
"Here?"
Swoosh, swipe, swipe.
Luna and I dug around various tree bases for a bit, but no luck finding the 30-silver dream beast.
Wandering the forest half-assedly, goofing off like that, soon the sun set and darkness blanketed the lumber camp. The dense trees blocked even moonlight, so night fell early.
"Hassan, looks like an abandoned shelter! We can pitch tents here!"
We'd just finished setting up camp in a clearing full of stumps when Rene reappeared, rabbit in hand.
"Boil water!"
Dinner was rabbit hotpot.
We tossed in the freshly dug herbs and mushrooms, boiling them in sap water.
Bubble—bubble—.
With everything cooking, it started smelling pretty appetizing.
As I ladled it into everyone's bowls, it hit me late that one of us was vegetarian.
"But monk, didn't you say no meat? Want it without?"
"Just line the bottom with some. Already dead, so not an animal anymore—no issue eating it."
Shit, what a heretic.
Makes sense, though—who lives without ever eating meat? Ridiculous.
We had a simple hotpot dinner like that.
Adding a splash of the habanero chili oil from the deer hunt last time gave it a spicy tingle, like samgyetang—super tasty.
"Brother of the wilds. Your cooking skills are surprisingly good. Heard Samaritan men handle housework. Seems true."
The bald bastard approached me while I cleaned bowls. I'd noticed it when we met, but the guy moved without a sound—creepy as hell.
"Wh-what? Problem?"
"Just curiosity. Have you met any other elves besides me?"
"Other elves...?"
Elfriede's face flashed in my mind for a second.
"You act like you know elves. When adding stuff to the hotpot, you skipped this one, right?"
Swoosh—he held something out to me. Looking close, it was that spice I'd picked out of the pot.
Didn't know the name, but it smelled like shampoo, so I'd removed it. Picky Elfriede hated that kind of seasoning.
I'd figured same elf, bald guy probably same, and he'd noticed.
"But why ask?"
"This monk crossed from Alvheim to Gaia continent hunting an escaped criminal. A vile sinner. If you ever spot her, please let me know."
"What's she look like?"
"Ah, you'd notice from afar. Cursed from birth, stripped of color. Pure white all over, but eyes glow red."
Albinism, huh. Anyone could tell it was Elfriede. Who knew she was a fugitive wanted back home.
She never talked much about her homeland, and rolling as an adventurer far away—I'd vaguely guessed she had her reasons.
"But she's stunningly beautiful, easy to enchant people, so beware. Roses guard petals with thorns, but sinners cultivate beauty to hide thorns—aberrations."
"Mind if I ask what crime?"
The bald monk Kalidur paused, like pondering. Now I saw his pale brown eyes were pretty sharp.
"She set fire to the World Tree."
[Author's Note]
May's over... Somehow managed a full month of uploads...!! Please keep supporting...!!! Now we're easing into the main story... Hehe...!!