Chapter 16
Chapter 16
“Yawn…”
Thanks to sleeping in a place with a proper roof, it felt like I’d had a really deep sleep for the first time in a while.
“Are you up? Hurry and get ready.”
“Yeah…”
Reb was already awake before me again, and had wrapped bandages all over his body.
“Get up quickly. The southern forest is quite far from here.”
“The forest… why?”
“Why do you think? You picked that useless herb-collecting request, didn’t you?”
“Ah, right…”
I casually grabbed Momomo and the sword hilt of Zildre that had long since lost its use, something I still carried around like a charm.
“…Why are you still carrying that?”
“It’s… like a charm… I guess…”
“…That looks like a pretty good sword.”
“It’s fine. I can’t even use it anymore.”
I slipped the sword into my clothes, and Reb stopped asking.
“When you’re done, let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Momomo was still asleep, so even after I called, there was no response. I just placed it on my head and climbed down from the attic.
“Oh, old man…”
“Ugh… Hero-nim…”
The senile old man was rocking in his chair as usual, and in the kitchen there was an elderly woman I hadn’t seen yesterday.
“Oh my, you boys are awake.”
“Ah, hello…”
The woman, who seemed to be the old man’s wife, smiled warmly and placed a bowl of soup on the table.
“Here, eat up. You need strength.”
“Thank you…”
“It’s nothing. That old man here made you boys deal with him yesterday, must’ve been hard on you.”
The grandmother looked at Reb, who was quietly eating soup, and continued.
“He said he had something urgent yesterday, so this young man agreed to take care of him. I’m really grateful.”
“…So that’s what happened.”
No wonder Reb was late yesterday.
“This young man is the Hero? Well, you do resemble him.”
“Resemble…?”
“Yes. That old man grew up hearing stories about the Hero since he was young.”
“The Hero…?”
As if hearing us, the old man in the rocking chair suddenly spoke up.
“The true Hero is only that one person!”
“Oh dear, there he goes again…”
The grandmother went back to calm him down while I took a sip of soup and asked Reb quietly.
“The true Hero…?”
“…He’s talking about the First Hero. Some people say only the First Hero is the real Hero, and all the others summoned after are fake.”
“Really? Is the First Hero that amazing?”
“He alone invaded nearly half of the Central Continent, defeated the worst Demon King… and sealed all five calamities that threatened the world. A true legend.”
At that moment, the grandmother returned and joined the conversation.
“Don’t mind him. He always says he’s a descendant of the inn where the First Hero stayed for the first time.”
“Oh! I heard something like that at the Adventurer’s Guild too…”
“This city is close to the imperial capital, so it’s the place where the First Hero first set out on his journey. It was just a village back then. That’s why there are so many stories about him. You boys should look around if you have time.”
“Ahaha, we will…”
Reb, who had already finished eating, stood up and cleaned the bowls.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just glad young people listen to our stories.”
“Let’s go, Hero.”
“Ah, yeah!”
I quickly finished my soup and followed Reb out.
“Take care! See you tonight!”
“Be safe out there!”
We walked for a long time and finally reached the edge of the forest.
“Wow, the city is pretty big…”
“The place we stayed was far from the southern forest. Look, other adventurers are already here.”
Reb pointed ahead. Several beginner adventurers were gathering herbs nearby.
“Ack! At this rate we won’t get anything!”
“Don’t rush. The herb on the request says we need thirty.”
We found a spot and started searching, but it looked like everyone had already picked through the area.
“Ugh… I only found two…”
“I only got one. At this rate we’ll fail the first request.”
Even the herbs we found were in poor condition.
“No choice. Let’s go deeper.”
“Deeper into the forest…?”
“Yes. It’ll be dangerous, but we need the herbs.”
Reb took the lead and headed deeper. We were both unfamiliar with Central Continent forests, but he knew slightly more than I did.
As we went in further, we saw traces of other adventurers who had already taken the good herbs.
We kept moving deeper, and I was completely distracted by the fantasy forest around me.
“Wow… that dragonfly is huge!”
“That’s a geojipjam. Just a normal insect.”
“Reb! Look! That flower is glowing like glass!”
“That’s a glass flower. Beautiful, but it dies if you pick it, and it’s hard to grow. Not very valuable.”
“Then what about this? There’s a caterpillar?”
“That’s… crap! A Death Worm! Back away!”
“Huh? It’s tiny!”
The normal-sized caterpillar opened its mouth and fired something at me.
KWAHAAAAA!!!
“WHAT THE—IT SHOOTS WATER?!”
“Dodge it! That’s its digestive fluid! It’s lethal!”
“AAAAAAAA!”
WOOONG—
KWAHAA—
We kept running from giant carnivorous plants and human-sized bees, and somehow managed to reach deeper into the forest.
“Oh! There are herbs here!”
As Reb said, untouched herbs were growing deeper in.
“Good, let’s hurry and collect them… I’m exhausted…”
“Stop whining. You chose this request.”
“True, but still…”
As we were gathering herbs, I felt a vibration in my head.
『Ugh… what is this? Where am I?』
“Momomo, you’re awake? You slept for a long time…”
『Beauty needs sleep.』
“That’s a stretch… it’s already past noon.”
Momomo had been unusually quiet since we escaped the underground prison. Sleeping more, speaking less…
“Is something wrong?”
『No. I’m just not used to this place yet.』
“Yeah…”
For someone who had crossed hundreds of years, this must feel like being thrown into a completely unfamiliar world again.
“Let’s see… 13…”
I counted the herbs and called Reb.
“Reb! How many did you get?”
“Not many here. I got 14.”
“Then let’s just get one more. The first ones we picked were in bad condition.”
I looked around for another herb.
“Oh, that one should work.”
I reached toward a herb near a tree root.
“Looks pretty green…”
The moment I bent down, something dropped onto my head.
“Huh? What’s that?”
I instinctively reached up and grabbed it.
But the texture in my hand was soft and sticky.
KWAHAAAAA!!
“AAAAAAAH!!”
It was a plump Death Worm.
“Hero! Throw it away!”
It wriggled violently, preparing to spray acid. My body froze in shock, then suddenly lurched as I was dragged into an emergency evasive movement.
WOOONG—
“AAAAAAAH!!”
“Shit! Don’t come here!!”
My trajectory and Reb’s dodge path overlapped at the worst possible moment, and we ended up tangled together, rolling across the ground.
“HELP!!”
“Untangle us!! Hurry!!”
We rolled and rolled, dodging acid blasts that melted trees instead.
The momentum didn’t stop. Instead, it carried us straight toward a slope.
“Wait!! We’re going off!!”
“Grab something!! Anything!!”
But it was too late.
“AAAAAAAH!!”
“AAAAAAAH!!”
We crashed into trees as we rolled down, until finally stopping against a large tree root.
“Haa… you okay…?”
“Ugh… I’m fine…”
Reb slowly stood up, holding his side.
“Hey! You’re bleeding!”
“…Damn it.”
Blood was seeping from his side.
“That wound… from the bandits?”
“Yeah… looks like it reopened from the rolling.”
“Hold on, I’ll—”
But there were no herbs left. We’d lost everything while rolling.
“It’s fine. It’s not that deep.”
“Don’t say that…”
“The bigger problem is where we are.”
He was right. We had rolled so far we no longer knew our location. And the sun was already setting.
“If we’re unlucky, we might wander here until we die slowly…”
“Don’t say stuff like that…”
We followed what looked like a path, but soon…
“…Ah.”
“…Yeah.”
We got lost.
“What do we do? It’s getting dark…”
“No choice. We’ll stay here—”
Jingle—
“…!”
A bell rang.
A woman’s voice followed.
“…Who’s wandering around at this hour?”
“Who’s there?”
Reb immediately took a fighting stance.
A girl stepped out.
She looked our age, wearing a robe made of leaves and vines, holding a large wooden staff. A bell hung from it, ringing with every step.
“Who are you?”
Reb questioned her sharply.
“I? I am Yakacham-da.”
“That’s not what I asked. What faction are you from?”
“Faction? I live in Capha Village-da?”
We relaxed slightly at her innocent tone.
“Reb, I don’t think it’s a trap…”
“…Fine. Yakacham, we need help.”
Seeing Reb’s wound, she panicked and rushed over.
“What happened-da?!”
“It’s a long story… can you take us to your village?”
“I understand-da! Follow me!”
We followed her.
And what we saw was surprising.
“This is Capha Village-da!”
A village that blended completely into nature.
“Yakacham… I told you not to wander off…”
A stern-looking man approached from the village.
He also wore a vine robe and carried a staff, but also had wolf fur draped over it.
“You brought outsiders… you should be punished-da!”
He pointed his staff at us.
“Dad! Stop-da! They’re injured-da!”
“That doesn’t matter-da! Outsiders are forbidden-da! And…”
His gaze landed on Reb’s purple skin.
“The traitorous race is even worse-da!”
“Wait! Please!”
I stepped in front of Reb.
“We don’t have to enter. We’ll leave.”
“No. Once you’ve seen this village, you cannot leave-da!”
Without warning, he swung his staff.
WOOONG—
I pulled Reb aside and dodged.
“…Who are you people!”
“I am the Hero from another world, Isiu! And this is my companion, Ilas Reb!”
I declared it to seize control of the situation.
Thud.
But the man suddenly dropped to his knees.
“…Hero-nim… finally-da!”