Chapter 250

Meteorite (3)

Finding the raptor eggs had been purely coincidental.

Although I was learning a new combat style through my grueling training sessions with Ludwig, regular patrols were still essential.

If another animal was drawn to the World Tree sapling and started fighting the squirrel, we would be the ones who suffered the damage.

Even if the World Tree remained unharmed, the camp we had worked so hard to construct would be left in ruins.

Ludwig seemed to share my opinion, as he had permitted me to explore areas we had already visited.

"Squeak."

"...And who is this?"

When we arrived at the camp where the squirrel lived, a new animal greeted us.

It generally resembled a beaver, but its fur was a little lighter.

With its somewhat chubby body and dopey expression, it was rather cute.

It was a marmot, an animal famous for screaming in videos on YouTube.

"Squeak. Squeak."

"He’s a burrowing friend. He’s going to help."

The squirrel spoke amid the strange situation, and Kkobong interpreted his words.

According to the squirrel, he needed help to dig a tunnel large enough for me to pass through.

As it happened, the marmot also needed to relocate, so he had come here to help with the work.

"Screee!"

Once the squirrel finished explaining, the marmot thrust a paw into the air. It seemed to be greeting me.

Far from looking dangerous, he was just as adorable as Wonmo, so I lowered my guard.

"Want one of these?"

"Screee!"

While I was at it, I gave him a Byeokgokdan.

Since he was going to be doing construction work, one should be sufficient.

Normally, Namu Ppareumbo would have tightened his grip on my shoulder in protest, but he remained still.

I had given away so many Byeokgokdan by now that he seemed to have half given up.

In any case, construction on the camp had yet to be completed, so we searched the surrounding area.

"Kyaaaah!"

"Kyaaah!"

"Ah. I shouldn’t have come."

We encountered a pair of raptors passing through the area.

Fortunately, there were only two of them.

I already knew how to deal with them, and their numbers were far too few to pose a threat, so we killed them with ease.

Normally, that would have been the end of it, leaving us with nothing more than two raptor carcasses.

However, we discovered something even more interesting.

"Huh? These are..."

[Eggs.]

They were eggs nearly as large as those of an ostrich.

No wonder the raptors had resisted so desperately. They had a reason for doing so.

So raptors build their nests on the ground.

After acquiring that fascinating bit of knowledge, I raided the nest and took every egg.

These eggs would soon become delicious fried eggs.

Or perhaps I would boil them instead.

Naturally, I didn’t forget to post them on the Gallery.

There was no way I could resist.

Title: Scored Some Loot

Wild Grylls

(A photograph of several eggs gathered inside a nest)

Found a raptor nest while exploring. Fried eggs are on today’s menu.

└ Heavenly Demon: The eggs appear quite large. Did you not eat something similar before?

└ Wild Grylls: Those were turtle eggs. These are dinosaur eggs.

└ SwordMaster: I don’t know about turtle eggs, but something about eating dinosaur eggs feels wrong. ;;

└ Wild Grylls: What does it matter? They’re all eggs.

└ This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone eat dinosaur eggs.

└ Isn’t he also the first person you’ve seen eat a dinosaur? Lmao.

└ What the hell is that place for there to be so many dinosaurs?

└ Could there be other kinds of dinosaurs too?

└ All-Father: Since ancient times, creatures capable of blending into their surroundings have developed such abilities for survival.

└ Wild Grylls: That sounds ominous.

└ All-Father: It means there must be many creatures capable of threatening those dinosaurs. Please remain vigilant.

└ Wild Grylls: I already encountered an armadillo that sliced a dinosaur in half.

└ All-Father: I have never heard of such an armadillo. What did it look like?

└ Wild Grylls: I encountered it a while ago, so I don’t have any pictures. It looked like an ordinary armadillo, but spikes emerged from its shell when it curled into a ball. Then it spun at high speed and sliced the dinosaur in half.

└ All-Father: It sounds terrifying even from your description. I wonder what principle allows it to function that way.

└ Wild Grylls: I couldn’t catch it.

└ All-Father: What a shame.

└ I kind of want to try kicking one, lol.

└ Wouldn’t your leg get completely screwed the instant you kicked it? Lmao.

└ Starlight Princess: The dinosaur carcass has already caused an uproar. If you put the eggs up for auction too, things will become even more chaotic.

└ Wild Grylls: That’s why I’m planning to eat these. By the way, have you gotten any research results yet?

└ Starlight Princess: Surprisingly, no. There appear to be some unidentified bacteria, but they aren’t present at harmful levels.

└ Wild Grylls: Bacteria?

I flinched at Starlight Princess’s words.

That was something I hadn’t considered.

Come to think of it, I had once heard that the world was filled with bacteria and viruses that had yet to be discovered.

Bacteria and viruses could even survive in outer space.

There were plenty of movies in which an unknown virus appeared and devastated the world.

The Black Death had ravaged Europe’s population, while COVID-19 had shaken the entire world.

The Forest of Four Seasons must be even more dangerous.

I had sent countless items to the outside world without giving it any thought.

There was no telling what sort of pathogens might have been hiding on them.

The dinosaur carcass I had sent out this time must have posed the greatest risk.

Fortunately, Starlight Princess said they hadn’t discovered any particularly dangerous pathogens.

From now on, I should probably inspect everything before sending it away.

Even Earth, with all its advanced medicine and technology, had been thrown into chaos by COVID-19. This world would fare even worse.

Can divine power cure diseases?

I wasn’t sure.

Judging by Ludwig’s regenerative ability, perhaps it could.

What was even more remarkable was that I remained healthy.

I regularly applied insect repellent and wore clothes that covered my entire body, but that alone shouldn’t have been enough.

Whenever I developed a fever, it was caused by the energy inside me. I had never become bedridden because of an illness.

Still, I need to be careful.

I gathered up all the eggs and returned to the base camp.

I had originally planned to eat every egg, but I decided to give one to a fixed user.

It’s about time I gave PraiseTheSun something.

This would be a separate gift from the dinosaur hide I had given him last time.

He would probably send me something soon as well. I wondered what it would be.

Naturally, as I had just mentioned, I didn’t forget to thoroughly sterilize the egg with an elixir.

Elixirs possessed disinfectant properties, so half a bottle should be enough.

"Screeeech!"

"Skreeee!"

"...?"

When I returned to the camp where the World Tree sapling had been planted, I witnessed a bizarre scene.

Two marmots were pinching each other’s chests.

Their adorable shrieks were an added bonus.

Whenever one of them pinched particularly hard, the other stretched his head upward and grimaced.

It was a fight that somehow felt both pathetic and solemn.

So even the Forest of Four Seasons had creatures that fought like this.

"Guys, why are you fighting?"

"Skreeee! Screech!"

"Kyaaa! Kyaa!"

After I barely managed to separate them, the two marmots pointed accusing paws at one another and began shouting.

Naturally, I couldn’t understand them, so I asked Kkobong to interpret.

"Fella keeps tellin’ me to dig right here when I done told him we can’t."

"...?"

"Sure is frustratin’. That tree ain’t finished growin’ yet, is it? Can’t be diggin’ like that."

Kkobong had suddenly begun speaking in a thick dialect, but apparently, that was how the marmots talked.

They looked unbearably cute, yet they spoke like middle-aged construction workers.

I asked Kkobong to translate into standard speech, then calmed the marmots down.

It didn’t matter where they dug, so long as they completed the construction properly.

What did the squirrel offer them to get them to come here?

I wasn’t sure, but perhaps they were distantly related.

There was also the World Tree sapling, so they might have been drawn to its energy.

"We’ll be going, then. I’m counting on you."

"Squeak!"

"Screech!"

With the inspection complete, I immediately returned to the shelter.

The first thing I did after arriving was send the egg to PraiseTheSun.

I didn’t forget to scrub it squeaky clean with an elixir in case it carried unknown bacteria.

I don’t know whether a dinosaur will actually hatch from it, though.

I stored the remaining eggs in the freezer.

They shouldn’t hatch if I kept them in there.

After receiving the date palm seeds from PraiseTheSun, I moved on to my next task.

First, I butchered the dinosaurs we had killed today.

Our food supplies were plentiful once again.

Red wine was necessary to eliminate the gamey odor of dinosaur meat, but it was still perfectly edible.

I should ask Passing Dwarf to process the hides while I’m at it.

I planned to provide Ludwig with a stealth cloak as well.

The cloak’s stealth function activated with even the slightest amount of mana.

Kkobong would have to wait, since he was still wearing a mana-suppressing collar around his neck.

After another productive expedition, lunchtime approached.

"Piiiiii!"

"Kyuoooo!"

"You little gluttons! Get back! It isn’t ready yet!"

Wonmo and Tyrano were becoming more voracious with each passing day.

Apparently, the fact that today’s dessert was candied sweet potatoes had driven them mad.

It would have been manageable if only one of them were causing trouble, but with both of them throwing a fit, it was a tremendous headache.

"Mister, help me out! Stop sneaking bites from behind me!"

Only after I scolded Ludwig for secretly nibbling on the food did he finally lend a hand.

After fighting that arduous battle, I managed to earn myself some time to rest.

Should I plant the date palm seeds?

I examined the seeds PraiseTheSun had given me.

Dates were fruits known for their sweetness and were one of Setan’s major specialties.

PraiseTheSun had said they were even sweeter than sugar, so they should taste quite good.

It’s about time I started conserving honey.

I should be able to make sweet dishes with dates.

PraiseTheSun had said they needed to be dried first, but that was something I could work out later.

I planted the date palm seeds in the garden and waited.

Pop!

At first, a seed leaf seemed to emerge.

Whoooosh!

Just as expected, it rapidly grew into an enormous tree and soon produced fruit.

Other crops grew almost instantaneously, but perhaps because this was a tree, it developed more slowly.

Watching it grow as though in slow motion was quite fascinating.

But...

The problem was that the dates had grown rather high up.

I tilted my head back and stared blankly at them before turning around.

As it happened, there was someone nearby perfectly suited to this task.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Go up there and pick them."

"Grumble, grumble."

When I jerked my chin toward the tree, Kkobong grumbled something under his breath and began climbing.

He soon returned carrying entire clusters of dates, harvesting every last one.

[Even a slave would not be worked so mercilessly.]

"He’s not a person, so it’s fine."

[O God...]

I casually ignored Cain as he prayed to his god and inspected the dates Kkobong had harvested.

Now I needed to dry them, but I had nowhere suitable to do so.

In that case, I would simply have to make something myself.

I opened the Gallery.

[Breaking News: Situation in Eldorado.]

The moment I logged in, a trending post caught my eye.

Had something happened in Eldorado?

The post had only just been uploaded, making me even more curious.

Title: Breaking News—Situation in Eldorado

The Pope and the other serious criminals are currently being transported to the Forest of Four Seasons.

Eldorado is right next to it, so they’ll probably enter the forest around this evening.

The Hero is accompanying them, so it looks like they’re absolutely determined to put them inside.

└ Those bastards are finally going.

└ Is Grylls going to have more friends now?

└ This is basically just dumping garbage in his yard, lmaooo.

Come to think of it, quite a lot of time had passed since that incident.

I nodded as I read the post.

Honestly, the probability of them surviving unharmed approached zero.

Even Ludwig, who appeared to be one of the world’s greatest warriors, would have died quickly without my support.

Ludwig had been exceptionally lucky as well.

One wrong turn, and he could have landed somewhere far more dangerous.

I hope they all die miserable deaths out there.

Even if they somehow made it all the way here, would Ludwig leave them alone?

Absolutely not.

Of course, I could put them to work like Kkobong.

But the idea still left a bad taste in my mouth.

There was no telling what they might do.

I’m sure it’ll work itself out.

I was about to ignore the news and send Passing Dwarf a message.

Ding!

A notification suddenly sounded.

Someone had sent me a private message.

When I checked, I discovered that it was from the Heavenly Demon.

Wondering what she wanted, I opened it immediately.

[Heavenly Demon: Sir, are you there?]

[Wild Grylls: Yes. I just logged in.]

[Heavenly Demon: I have news to share with you.]

[Wild Grylls: What news?]

As they said, the world was filled with all manner of coincidences.

[Heavenly Demon: I have received a report that the remnants of the Blood Cult have begun to move. It appears they intend to enter the Forest of Four Seasons.]

In the blink of an eye, the Forest of Four Seasons had become a public meeting square.

It’s not like someone’s spreading fertilizer around here.

I wondered if the chances of encountering other people had increased, even slightly.

[Heavenly Demon: I shall take care of this matter, so you need not concern yourself with it.]

[Wild Grylls: What?]

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