Chapter 83

Merman (2)

Never in my life did I imagine I’d not only get slapped in the face by a fish, but even end up kissing an eel.

My nosebleed stopped pretty quickly, but the stinging sensation still lingered.

Even so, seeing the iron tubs filled with fish gave me a sense of satisfaction.

Especially that eel, which was even bigger than extra-large.

The rain had caused one unfortunate situation after another, but this haul made up for all of it.

’Let’s see....’

After setting up the fish trap, I spent the remaining time browsing the auction house for materials to work on the drainage channel.

All I had to do was install the proper materials in the trench I had already dug.

That was it.

However, I needed to find something that fit the dimensions, and I might even have to redo the earthen walls.

’Something suitable for a drainage channel....’

’There are surprisingly a lot of options.’

Drainage channels weren’t just important in cities. They were essential even in ordinary villages.

Even if there was only a single building, drainage was one of the first things that needed to be installed.

Without proper drainage, every rainfall could turn into a disaster.

’That must be why.’

The gallery’s overwhelming advantage was that it completely bypassed distribution.

Places where transporting goods was difficult—especially remote rural areas—would probably rely heavily on the gallery.

Even the high prices wouldn’t necessarily be much of a drawback.

As someone once said, time is money. In effect, you were buying time.

’And since I have practically unlimited time, it’s always a good deal for me.’

After rummaging through the gallery for a while, I found a suitable drainage channel.

It was trapezoidal in shape, and there was a considerable quantity available. The good reviews were a bonus.

I decided on that one.

Just in case, I grabbed a tape measure and roughly calculated the required length.

’I’ll have to dig out a little more dirt.’

After digging out some more soil, I neatly installed the drainage channels I had purchased from the auction house.

Once I had carefully fitted them all together and completed the work, I poured some water into the channel to test it.

Trickle, trickle—

"Hmm. Perfect."

The water flowed smoothly along the stone drainage channel.

Feeling strangely proud of myself, I took some pictures and posted them on the gallery.

Title) Drainage Channel Complete!

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the carefully installed drainage channel)

(Photo of the drainage channel from another angle)

(Video of water flowing smoothly through the drainage channel)

Finished the drainage channel. No more worrying about rain!

└ Heavenly Demon) It gives one a strangely soothing feeling.

└ SwordMaster) It’s oddly mesmerizing. You bought it from the auction house, right?

└ Wild Grylls) Yes. I figured making it myself would take too long.

└ Passing Dwarf) You planning to live there permanently or something? You even built a drainage channel.

└ Wild Grylls) Nah. It’s just that the temporary drainage channel I made kept collapsing whenever it rained.

└ Passing Dwarf) It’s fairly neat. By human standards, anyway, lol.

└ Wild Grylls) Are you insulting me?

└ He’s insulting you while pretending to compliment you.

└ Dwarves and their pride lol

└ Those damn dwarves can’t do anything except build stuff lol

└ Passing Dwarf) And what did you lot do when we went on strike? Nothing, that’s what lololol

└ Fuck, I still remember that.

└ P-Please, anything but another strike!!

Apparently, by dwarf standards, that counted as praise.

That made me even prouder.

The only time I had ever done work like this was in the military.

And even then, it wasn’t something I had chosen to do. Someone had ordered me to do it, so I hadn’t felt any sense of accomplishment whatsoever.

After inspecting the drainage channel a little more, I looked around the entire cave.

’Still, I don’t think I can just brush off what the dwarf said.’

His question about whether I planned to settle down here had hit the nail right on the head.

The dwarf had probably meant it as a joke, but I couldn’t take it as one.

’Even if I don’t settle down here permanently, I should at least consider this place my hideout.’

I definitely hadn’t given up hope of escaping.

This forest simply wasn’t a place where humans could live.

Even ordinary plants and animals became enormous or unusually intelligent.

There were countless things here that treated common sense as something beneath them, constantly threatening my life.

’And since this place is some weird mixture of fantasy and murim, common sense works even less.’

Of course, even to the people of this world, the Forest of Four Seasons defied common sense.

I looked around the cave, lost in thought, before letting out a long sigh.

’What can I do? I’ll just have to accept it as my fate.’

What kind of sin had I committed to wake up in a place like this?

Had I gotten completely wasted and committed some atrocious crime without remembering it?

Even then, it was strange that I alone had been singled out.

’God, aren’t you being a little too harsh?’

As far as I knew, gods existed in this world too. The Moderator had even tried to convert me.

But regardless of whether I believed in them, I had no desire to worship them.

What had they ever done for me to deserve worship?

’Still, once I escape, I should at least ask.’

Why did you dump me in this godforsaken place?

What the hell did I do to deserve this?

And could I return to the place where I originally lived?

That was the most important question.

If I managed to escape and still couldn’t return home...

’No. No. Let’s not think like that.’

I shook my head vigorously.

Negative thoughts only weakened my resolve.

The environment might make survival difficult, but I had good people waiting for me.

That alone was reason enough to go back.

I still hadn’t even repaid them for everything they had done for me.

"Kyuu."

"...Are you hungry?"

Just as my thoughts were growing heavy, Wonmo quietly approached me.

As if he could sense my mood, he moved cautiously.

When I smiled and asked him that, he rubbed his face against my leg.

I chuckled and stroked Wonmo’s head.

Clever little guy. It seemed he had noticed how I was feeling.

’Even after I get out of here, I’m definitely keeping Wonmo.’

Abandoning an animal this cute and lovable?

Anyone who did that deserved to get eaten by an owlbear.

After petting Wonmo, I checked the time.

It was almost lunchtime.

Somehow, my stomach clock was even more accurate than the gallery clock.

Amazing.

’The ground’s still damp, so I should bring over some leather.’

Because of the torrential rain, the ground was still wet.

I dragged over the tiger hide I had laid on the cave floor.

Then, after finishing my preparations to cook the fish, I headed toward the iron tubs.

One tub held three fish, while the other contained one enormous eel.

’I’ve never eaten eel before, and now I’m going to try it in a place like this.’

Why had I never eaten eel?

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to.

I simply couldn’t afford it.

I used to get by on ramen for practically every meal. Eel was completely out of the question.

Of all the things I had eaten, beef had been the tastiest.

I could still remember the taste vividly.

It would probably be difficult to eat meat like that for a while.

So instead, I’d settle for fish that tasted like meat.

’If only I had some seasoning.’

I didn’t eat fish very often, so I wasn’t really sure what went well with it.

And what did I need at times like this?

The gallery.

Eating something new every once in a while boosted your motivation—and your combat power too.

Title) Recommend Some Seasoning That Goes Well with Fish

Wild Grylls

Is there any seasoning that tastes good on fish? Other than salt.

And don’t tell me I’m getting spoiled. I’ve got more money than I know what to do with, so I want to spend it.

└ SwordMaster) Oyster sauce is seriously delicious with fish. Try brushing some on.

└ Wild Grylls) There’s oyster sauce?

└ SwordMaster) Yes. It’s a popular sauce in the Central Plains. Heavenly Demon should know about it, but she doesn’t seem to be here right now.

└ Heavenly Demon) This Lady has never personally prepared food. Moreover, this Lady no longer has any need to consume food.

└ SwordMaster) Ah, yes. Of course.

└ Heavenly Demon) If thou desirest seasoning, this Lady can bestow some upon thee. I need only ask one of my close aides.

└ Wild Grylls) No, it’s fine. I’m just going to buy some from the auction house, so you don’t need to do that.

└ Praise the Sun) Instead of some cheap oyster sauce, why not take what I have?

└ Wild Grylls) What is it?

└ Praise the Sun) Truffle powder.

└ Wild Grylls) What’s that?

└ You crazy bastard, that stuff is practically worth its weight in gold;;

└ Isn’t that basically asking to be indebted to him? lolol

└ Praise the Sun) lol

└ Wild Grylls) ;;

I decided to just buy a bottle of oyster sauce from the auction house.

Heavenly Demon offered to give me some special oyster sauce, but I barely managed to talk her out of it.

Every time something came up, she made her aide go through hell for it, and I was starting to feel sorry for them.

She had said she was considering giving that aide an inner core, but I had no idea whether she had actually done it.

’I can only hope Heavenly Demon isn’t an exploitative boss.’

Anyway, I decided on oyster sauce for the fish this time.

It was sold at a high price in the auction house, and there wasn’t much of it.

Considering the eel I planned to eat for dinner, I’d probably use all of it today.

Sssssizzle—

’I just spread this over the flesh, right?’

The problem was, I didn’t have a suitable tool for applying the sauce.

In other words, I didn’t have a brush.

So instead, I carefully spread it over the fish with a spoon.

"Oh. Smells good."

The flesh had originally been white, but after coating it with oyster sauce, it turned almost brown.

Just looking at the color made my mouth water.

I wanted to eat it already.

"Nom, nom, nom, nom."

While the fish coated in oyster sauce cooked deliciously, Wonmo ate his meal beside me.

As always, it was a fish with its inner core removed.

Seeing him happily devour it made me feel satisfied too.

’Time to eat!’

It looked about done, so I moved the cast-iron pan with the fish away from the heat.

It was better to keep the campfire burning anyway, if only to make charcoal.

Then I picked up my chopsticks and took a bite of the beautifully cooked fish.

"Kaah!"

If the fish seasoned with nothing but salt had tasted like meat, then the fish coated in oyster sauce tasted like steak.

Comparing it to actual steak might have been a bit of a stretch, but that was how delicious it was.

Sweet, salty, and savory flavors filled my mouth, and there wasn’t even a trace of the fishy smell peculiar to seafood.

It was truly a delicacy.

I think this was the tastiest thing I’d caught in the forest so far.

’And I get to eat all of—’

BOOM!

—I thought happily, when suddenly the ground seemed to shake and a heavy silence descended.

Even Wonmo, who would do anything for food, stopped eating and raised his head.

Rustle—

Namu-Ppareumbo must have sensed that something was wrong too, because he clung to my back.

BOOM! THUD! THUD!

The tremors grew stronger and stronger.

I quietly set down my chopsticks and picked up the Heavenly Demon Sword.

I always kept the Heavenly Demon Sword and the adamant shield beside me.

That way, no matter where I was or what happened, I could respond immediately.

’It’s definitely something huge.’

Considering the ground shook every time it moved, it had to be at least as massive as the Guardian.

For a moment, I wondered if it was the bear I had seen before, but SwordMaster had once told me something.

Four-legged animals distributed their weight efficiently, so they didn’t make the ground shake with every step.

According to him, only beasts or monsters that walked upright on two legs produced such powerful tremors with each step.

And if something like that was making the ground shake this much, it had to be absolutely enormous.

Fully alert, I armed myself and stood up.

BOOM! THUD!

Before long, the vibrations became even stronger.

BOOOOM!

Something enormous emerged along the path leading toward the river.

Just as SwordMaster had said, it walked upright, but its appearance was extremely bizarre.

Its skin was pale gray overall, and its posture was hunched.

It wasn’t as large as the Guardian, but it was still well over three meters tall.

Below the head, its body was roughly humanoid.

But there was no way anyone could mistake its head, hands, or feet for those of a human.

"...A shark?"

Its face looked as though someone had taken a shark’s head and stuck it directly onto a human body.

Its slightly open mouth was packed with sharp teeth.

There was even a fin jutting out from somewhere between its back and neck.

Its almost human-like hands and feet were webbed like a frog’s.

A shark-shaped giant.

Yeah.

That description fit perfectly.

"Grrrrr..."

The shark’s terrifying face stared directly at me.

I immediately took a defensive stance.

Despite its vaguely humanoid appearance, it didn’t seem to have come here with particularly friendly intentions.

Besides, I already had the mushroom man as an example.

I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

THUD! BOOM! THUD!

The shark-man—

No, the shark giant—

slowly approached with heavy footsteps.

Its hunched posture made it appear somewhat shorter than it actually was, but its sheer presence was terrifying.

Then the shark giant came right up to me and—

SNATCH!

—grabbed the fish I had been eating just moments ago.

The fish I had even coated with that expensive oyster sauce.

"Huh?"

No way.

Right?

Before I could even finish the thought—

"Crunch. Chomp. Crunch. Smack."

It chewed the fish a few times and gulped it down.

I stared at the shark giant in utter disbelief.

What the hell had this bastard just done?

I had finally decided to splurge and even bought oyster sauce to put on that fish.

I’d only gotten one bite.

And this bastard just gobbled the whole damn thing down?

"You...!"

I think I finally understood how Namu-Ppareumbo had felt when the raccoon nearly stole his fasting pill.

"You son of a bitch!!!"

I couldn’t contain my rage.