Chapter 98

Firewood (1)

There is a word called "bait."

Usually, it refers to bait used to lure fish.

Because of its characteristic of attracting fish, however, the word is often used with other meanings as well.

The same goes for the gallery. If you throw out a huge piece of bait, the fish will come swarming in.

The bigger the bait, the more fish gather around it, and every now and then, you even hook a big one.

[Upvote if you’re glad the Holy Kingdom is screwed lol]

[Even the Immortal King is pitiful.]

[So Eldorado was the real Demon King all along lol]

[Demon Kings aren’t born.]

[Wonder when we’ll get the Holy Kingdom’s response.]

’When is this going to die down?’

Evening had arrived.

I stared at the gallery, which was still blazing over the Immortal King controversy, and wondered about it.

I didn’t know whether it was because this had happened relatively recently or because the Holy Kingdom’s ugliness was simply that outrageous.

One thing was certain: there was no sign of the flames dying down anytime soon.

I think I was starting to understand what I had done.

’I just need to make a proper statement tomorrow.’

I closed the gallery. It was about time to head up to the river.

The outside world could deal with its own affairs. I just had to worry about surviving.

Pleasure without responsibility?

What am I supposed to do when I couldn’t take responsibility even if I wanted to?

Besides, I couldn’t exactly call it pleasure. I had revealed the information because I wanted to improve my own chances of survival, even if only a little.

I had no idea that the Immortal King or some hidden evil festering in the world would be involved.

’Though I still would’ve posted it even if I’d known.’

What did I know about this world, anyway?

I’d woken up in the Forest of Four Seasons before I even had a chance to learn anything about it.

Sure, I had the gallery, but a community forum wasn’t exactly the place to learn about the world.

’Will this cause problems if I ever get out?’

Even that depended on one condition.

The admin would have to reveal my address in real time.

Otherwise, there was no way people could find me.

’Ugh. Forget it. There’s no point thinking about this.’

I’d just watch and see what the Holy Kingdom had to say tomorrow.

I sighed inwardly as I arrived at the river.

There were exactly two fish caught in the trap.

Another feast today.

Delighted, I pulled up the fish trap.

Squirm. Squirm.

"Hm?"

Fish weren’t the only things caught inside.

An octopus of unknown origin was wriggling around in there.

Its body wasn’t glowing blue or anything, so it didn’t seem to be venomous. It looked like an ordinary octopus.

Nor did it look anywhere near as monstrous as the octopus I’d encountered on the sandy beach before.

’Is it because seawater is flowing backward into the river?’

Ever since that torrential downpour, all sorts of creatures had been getting caught.

Well, from my perspective, more things to eat was a good thing.

Besides, I’d never eaten octopus in this forest before, so trying it once didn’t sound bad.

’But were octopus legs always this thin? Maybe it’s a long-arm octopus?’

For now, I decided to carry the entire trap back with me. It was small, so I planned to eat it right away.

As for cooking it, I figured boiling it in water or stir-frying it would work.

Whether it was an octopus or a long-arm octopus, it was ultimately going to be my dinner.

That hadn’t changed.

Eventually, I returned to the cave and was just about to transfer the food from the trap into a container when—

Whip!

"Huh?"

The thing—whether it was an octopus or a long-arm octopus—wrapped itself around my arm.

It moved so quickly that I froze for a moment, and in that instant, another of its legs wrapped around somewhere else.

Clench!

"Ghk! Kgh!"

Right around my neck.

I couldn’t breathe.

I desperately tried to tear away the octopus leg that had begun strangling me.

But it was so absurdly strong that I could barely pry it loose.

Worse, I could feel something sticking to me. Its suckers must have latched onto my neck.

"Ghhk...! Kgh...!"

At this rate, I was obviously going to suffocate.

As my consciousness gradually began to fade, I groped around with my hand.

The dagger I’d left nearby for preparing food.

My hand closed around it.

Slice—slice—slice—slash!

I desperately hacked through the octopus’s legs, and before long, the pressure around my neck eased.

But the octopus apparently had no intention of giving up, because it tightened its remaining legs around me even harder.

My vision was starting to turn yellow.

I circulated the mana inside my body and continued cutting through the legs.

Crack! Riiip!

I severed every leg that had been tightly constricting my neck.

Finally, I grabbed its head with one hand and forcibly ripped it off me.

The octopus was still desperately trying to kill me, but all its legs had already been cut away.

"Cough! Cough! Haaah... Ngh."

I coughed and glared at the octopus in my hand.

It had only one leg left.

Watching it flail around, still trying to cut off my breath with just that one pathetic limb, was almost laughable.

Bam!

I showed no mercy to animals that tried to kill me.

I carried out its execution immediately.

I slammed the octopus onto the cutting board and drove my dagger into its head.

Apparently I hit a vital spot, because the octopus rapidly turned white before going completely limp.

"Ugh. Seriously."

Pop! Pop-pop!

I peeled the severed legs off my neck.

The suckers had attached themselves so firmly that it felt like I was peeling off duct tape.

"Phew..."

When I put the legs on the cutting board, they were still writhing.

They looked so grotesque that I wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

’What kind of octopus tries to strangle someone?’

Considering it hadn’t sprayed any ink, maybe it really was a long-arm octopus rather than an octopus.

Either way, that had been dangerous.

Once again, I’d learned that I couldn’t let my guard down just because something was small.

’I’m going to make sure to chew you into tiny pieces.’

They were the same legs that had wrapped around my neck, but I didn’t care.

Such "minor" hygiene concerns weren’t a problem.

While I was at it, I could also write down a record of the long-arm octopus in my journal.

I’d gained quite a lot today.

Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle—sizzle.

Eating it alive didn’t really appeal to me, so I decided to cook it in a pan.

There was such a thing as stir-fried long-arm octopus, but I didn’t have any sauce for that.

It would probably be fine if I just tossed it in while cooking the fish.

Chew. Chew.

"Mmm. Tastes good."

It had the distinctive fishy smell of marine life, but its rich, savory flavor completely covered it.

And I was eating it together with fish.

The umami of the fish flesh blended perfectly with it, delighting my taste buds.

"Wonmo, you can have the head."

"Kkyuu!"

I gave the head to Wonmo.

Naturally, I cut it into small pieces and cooked it thoroughly so he wouldn’t choke.

For the record, Namu-Ppareumbo adamantly refused.

Well, it was an herbivore, so that made sense.

I polished off another filling dinner.

There had been a crisis in the middle of it, but I seemed to have gotten through it safely enough.

’The smaller they are around here, the more dangerous they are.’

Until now, I’d mostly been threatened by enormous monsters.

But thinking about it now, being huge might actually be a disadvantage when it came to survival.

Namu-Ppareumbo, for example, was smaller than me, yet it was absurdly strong.

And especially that saber-toothed tiger that had possessed a dragon heart.

Its regeneration had been powerful, but because of its massive size, it had left plenty of openings.

The same was true of the orichalcum Protector. The smaller ones were more dangerous.

’...Let’s make an exception for crabs and crayfish.’

Those things were practically the definition of "monsters," so it was better to treat them as exceptions.

After finishing all the cleanup, I went back into the cave to write in my journal.

Scratch, scratch—scratch, scratch—

The corpse was worth noting, but the most important thing was the long-arm octopus. I carefully wrote down everything I had learned about it.

After getting such a harsh lesson today, I probably wouldn’t fall victim to a similar attack again. Still, keeping a record was essential.

There was always the chance I could injure my head and lose my memory.

’I’m done with the journal, so it’s time to practice the internal energy cultivation method.’

I was gradually getting used to the cultivation method as well. All I had to do was close my eyes and concentrate a little, and I could vividly sense the mana inside my body.

I should start taking the inner cores tomorrow or the day after. I’d begin with just one.

After finishing all my training, I logged into the gallery.

I wanted to see whether it was still blazing over the Immortal King controversy.

’Nothing’s changed.’

There wasn’t much difference.

The gallery was still on fire.

It was impressive that the flames had lasted this long even though no one had thrown any additional firewood onto them.

Even the admin wasn’t trying to stop it. According to the rules, posts that encouraged conflict between nations were supposed to be prohibited.

’Maybe it’s because this technically isn’t a conflict between nations?’

The countries currently being mentioned were the Holy Kingdom, Eldorado, and the Balkan Kingdom.

The Balkan Kingdom had already fallen long ago. There couldn’t exactly be a conflict with it.

Mephisto, the nation of demons where the "Demon King" resided, was occasionally mentioned as well, but only rarely.

Most of the posts were criticizing or outright condemning Eldorado.

’I should ask the admin and the Heavenly Demon, just in case.’

It wasn’t that I was worried about Eldorado.

I simply felt indifferent toward it.

Just how terrible had its reputation been for everyone to seize this opportunity and start cursing it out?

But if posts like these kept springing up everywhere, the mods would have their hands full.

I wasn’t worried about Eldorado.

I was worried about the people who would have to deal with the mess.

[Wild Grylls: Heavenly Demon, are you there by any chance?]

[Heavenly Demon: This Lady is always waiting for a chance to converse with you.]

The Heavenly Demon was the first person I contacted.

The admin occasionally disappeared, so I planned to ask them afterward.

[Wild Grylls: It seems like the gallery is in chaos because of me right now. I was wondering if you were busy because of it...]

[Heavenly Demon: This Lady understands what you mean. You need not worry too much. This sort of thing happened often even before this.]

[Wild Grylls: It happened often?]

[Heavenly Demon: Indeed. Whenever something happened in the world, the gallery tended to erupt like this. Occasionally, the trouble spills over into the real world, but such cases are exceedingly rare.]

[Wild Grylls: So if we just leave it alone, it’ll die down on its own.]

[Heavenly Demon: As long as the nation called the Holy Kingdom does not throw more firewood onto the flames.]

So in the end, I wouldn’t know how things would turn out until tomorrow.

I’d already suspected as much, so I didn’t think too deeply about it.

[Wild Grylls: Then what if the Holy Kingdom gives a terrible explanation?]

[Heavenly Demon: It will burn even more fiercely than it does now. That is when things will become busy.]

[Wild Grylls: I hope that doesn’t happen.]

[Heavenly Demon: Are you worried?]

[Wild Grylls: Of course. My posts might get buried.]

[Heavenly Demon: Hmm. A most serious matter indeed.]

The gallery’s posting rate was insane right now.

If I closed it for a moment and opened it again, another one or two pages of posts would already have appeared.

For someone like me who depended heavily on the gallery, this was a very serious situation.

At least direct person-to-person trading was possible. Otherwise, this would have been a real headache.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Yes! I’m here! What is it?]

Fortunately, the admin seemed to be logged into the gallery.

I wondered what to say before deciding to simply ask about the current situation.

[Heavenly Demon: This Lady will seek out your posts and read them regardless, so do not worry. This Lady will always support you.]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you.]

[Wild Grylls: Admin, you’ve dealt with situations like this a lot, right?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: It happens all the time! And it’s a pain every time!]

I felt a little guilty since I was the one who had created this particular headache.

After receiving reassurance from the Heavenly Demon, I turned to the admin, Don’t Abandon the Hero.

They were probably the person suffering the biggest headache in the gallery right now.

I felt even more apologetic because they were the one who had given me privileges.

[Wild Grylls: Admin, are you there?]

[Wild Grylls: I didn’t know this would happen either. I’m sorry.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: You don’t need to apologize! I don’t think you posted it with that kind of intention!]

[Wild Grylls: Thank you. But what happens to me once this whole controversy dies down?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: It might be different if you’d acted maliciously, but you didn’t have any malicious intent, so I don’t think there’ll be a problem!]

[Wild Grylls: That’s a relief.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Besides, deleting it now might make the gallery explode even more!]

That was probably true.

I’d heard of something like that before.

Trying to hide something only made people more interested in it.

In the end, I wouldn’t know whether the controversy would die down until tomorrow.

[Wild Grylls: I’ve ended up making things difficult for you without meaning to. I’d like to apologize again.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: It’s fine! If the Holy Kingdom did something wrong, then they did something wrong, and if they didn’t, then they didn’t!]

[Wild Grylls: Are you from the Holy Kingdom, Admin?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Yes! It is a nation blessed by the gods, especially the Goddess!]

Patriotism practically overflowed from the answer.

If all those atrocities turned out to be true, wouldn’t that affection disappear?

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I’ll say it again, but you really don’t need to apologize! There must be some kind of misunderstanding!]

[Wild Grylls: Probably. I hope they explain themselves properly.]

That way, my posts wouldn’t get buried.

I finished my conversation with the admin and browsed through the gallery.

Most of it was about the Immortal King controversy, so there weren’t any interesting posts.

There were occasionally people who tried to take advantage of the lull to post about something else, but those posts were buried before long.

’I guess I’ll practice aura until bedtime.’

Since the gallery wasn’t entertaining either, I practiced controlling my aura.

The more time passed, the more aura came pouring out on its own, making it increasingly difficult to control, but I still had to practice.

I channeled mana into Cheonma’s sword, generating aura.

The aura shimmered around the blade like a heat haze.

My first task was to shape it into something sharp.

"..."

As expected, it wasn’t easy.

Apparently, this was the sort of thing that depended on talent.

I extinguished the aura and began maintaining my equipment.

’There really isn’t much to do without the gallery.’

Especially before bedtime.

Even training became harmful if you overdid it.

’I only smoke when things get rough. I guess I’ll just practice the internal energy cultivation method.’

Until I found a decent hobby, it looked like I’d have to fill my spare time with internal energy cultivation.

And so, that eventful day came to an end, and the next morning dawned.

Now that a new day had arrived, the controversy in the gallery should have cooled down somewhat.

Unless someone had thrown more firewood onto the flames, it should at least have lost some momentum.

[Eldorado Holy Kingdom: Here Is What Really Happened.]

I already have a bad feeling about this.