Darkness and moonlight intertwined with each other. The ink-black night gradually revealed patches of blue under the moonlight’s reflection…
Dry branches and fallen leaves mixed together, with specks of sparks falling down.
Oh no, it was a fireball that completely ignited a tree stump, forming a bonfire that shot up toward the sky. Then a young girl sat down by the tall fire, extending her hand as if to warm herself.
That girl was me. At this point, I had already escaped from the [Meditation Corridor], and incidentally brought a few big guys along with me.
“Because I betrayed the legion, I have nowhere to go now…” she said. I nodded perfunctorily.
At that time, I lit the portal again, intending to leave right away, but the goblin grabbed my hand. I pulled away forcefully and pushed it toward the priest on the side. The priest was stunned for a moment, and only let out a sound of realization after I had gone quite far.
And then…
It continued until hours later, until I was shivering from the cold, until I used a fireball to start a bonfire.
At that time, I crouched down and sat, wanting to warm myself by the towering flames that could be called a fire disaster. Before long, an orc sat down, a second orc sat down, then a third—
It wasn’t until a giant orc also sat down in front of me, making an earth-shaking noise, that I realized they had been following me the whole way.
With the mindset of “I won’t attack unless attacked,” I sat silently by the fire, quietly observing the orcs’ every move…
I suppose it’s only fitting for a race that has lived in the wild for years—they quickly caught prey and borrowed my bonfire. Perhaps due to military discipline and habit, their food distribution was quite far-sighted and suited to the situation.
As the saying goes: Under one roof, incense drifts everywhere.
As the roasting meat sizzled by the fire, I naturally couldn’t escape the meaty aroma swirling around my nose.
“I’m not hungry I’m not hungry I’m not hungry I’m not hungry,” I chanted these four words… three words, hypnotizing myself not to want to eat.
But actually, I didn’t feel “hunger.” Ever since I died in [Feltro], my satiety level had never decreased.
Not to mention that along the way, I wandered all over the forest, originally intending to head southeast based on my impressions… I didn’t find the path, but I did fill my stomach first.
Mushrooms, fruits, all kinds of things—all brought to me by animals. And look, another small animal brought me a “little gift.”
“A leaf ring? Thank you~” I scratched the fox’s chin, then stroked its little head along its ears. In an instant, I heard fox sounds that could absolutely never be heard in the real world.
It seems that ever since [Spirit Light Forest], I’ve been very popular with animals. No matter what kind—canines, felines, primates… anyway, I have a constitution that really attracts animals. And even relatively fierce animals become very docile in front of me.
After I had petted enough, the little fox hopped away, seeming overjoyed, into the bushes, its dark shiny eyes still staring at me—
“So cute…” I couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed like in my real world, whatever animals there were had almost all gone extinct.
World organizations could only rely on the remaining DNA profiles in certain research institutes to continue breeding and protecting them, then repeating the same mistakes… If there were any animals that could still survive freely in a heavily industrialized world, one would have to mention crows and vultures in the desert.
Unknowingly, I realized I had been sitting by the bonfire for quite a while. When the half of my body facing the fire became unbearably hot, I was just about to shift position when I noticed the orcs had one by one lain down.
“Asleep, huh. Phew…”
The severely injured warrior was asleep, and the priest seemed to have fallen asleep too, in order to recover consumed elemental magic. Only the giant orc still seemed to be patrolling. As for that “goblin,” he sat down beside me on his own.
He was a head taller than me, but when sitting down, he wasn’t much taller than me. He nervously rubbed his slender fingers, as if he wanted to ask for something.
“What’s wrong?” Though my words were gentle, I actually didn’t have much goodwill toward him anymore. To be honest, ever since that incident in the early morning yesterday, I had lost interest in elves.
For what reason? I did so much—was it all just for a sinister backstab? Or was this the deserved retribution for sticking my nose into other people’s business?!
I’m so stupid, actually running around for an ungrateful brat…
Well, hehehe, I am very stupid. Who in this world wouldn’t live for their own safety?
In that kind of situation, anyone could do it—betray a friend in exchange for a slim chance of survival.
As long as you sacrifice someone else, you can save yourself from danger.
I understand now. It’s that I’m not qualified! I…
“M-Master! I deeply apologize for earlier, for calling you the Blue Demon! From the way the animals treated you just now and even gave you gifts, you really aren’t that demon.”
Demon, the Blue Demon? So that means the legendary Blue Demon isn’t close to animals, and is even despised by them?
“Don’t call me master. Building a relationship with someone all on your own—how thick-skinned are you?” I made a small complaint, and also did a little self-analysis. I must not speak carelessly in the future, because too much talk leads to mistakes.
After sitting blankly for a while, I felt the fire beginning to weaken, so I used my Force to pick up nearby dry branches and fallen leaves and added them in. Later it was still too small, so I got up intending to find another rotting tree stump…
“Master! Where are you going?”
Sure enough, he was going to follow behind me, still holding his short blade as if about to show off his skills.
Considering that it would be very troublesome later without fire, and that with my terrible sense of direction it would be hard to return to camp alone—
“Alright, but don’t cause trouble.”
Things went more smoothly than I imagined. I quickly found a rotting tree stump. Although I was almost unable to move the whole way because a group of animals blocked me, at least I didn’t cause any trouble.
I thrust out my right hand, extended my Force to grip the stump, then pulled hard… Ah, it’s rooted too deep. Even with strengthened Force, I can’t move it?
“Master? What are you doing?”
“…You wouldn’t understand.” Heh ;-), my temper flared up instantly. Today I absolutely had to uproot it.
I called up [Green · Patience], swung my right hand back, then suddenly threw it toward the stump. The green rope instantly flew far from my palm and tightly bound the stump.
[Green · Patience] can focus out an extremely long rope, and after capturing a target, it can multiply the original strength several times over. And as long as I can properly distribute my spiritual power, I can further control the movement of the rope and the target…
Just like this. After confirming the rope had hit, I flicked my wrist upward and immediately pulled back—with a crisp sound of earth breaking, the stump landed steadily in front of me along with the movement of my rope.
“Using softness to overcome hardness—that’s what it means, right?”
I dragged the stump and turned to leave. Following my impressions and barely avoiding getting lost, I managed to return to camp…
“Master! What kind of magic was that just now!?”
“Special magic.”
“Can you teach your disciple?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“You can’t learn it. And I don’t want a disciple.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve never tried, and besides, you and I are complete strangers.”
I recorded it word by word in my diary. Maybe someday I could take it out again and reminisce… Unfortunately, it had only been six or seven days since I got it, and yet I had already filled the diary with entries big and small.
The concept of writing didn’t seem very important to anyone. Compared to writing, language had a more thorough meaning. As if everything written down is emotionless, yet when spoken it is already full of tenderness—
I hope that someday, whoever picks up this diary and reads it can experience my feelings.
But that’s just a vain hope.
“…What is Master writing? I’ve been illiterate since I was little.” Oh right, although during his years following the orcs he had learned to express himself verbally, he was still an “illiterate.”
Most people would understand “illiterate” as “foolish,” meaning someone with low intelligence…
But that’s not actually true. People are broadly the same; it’s just environmental factors that influence them.
Just as country folk don’t understand writing, they can still communicate freely with each other through language alone. They can’t read, but that doesn’t affect anything.
“A diary. Understand?”
“Dia-ry… diary. Is that the kind of thing students write?”
The goblin… the elf boy’s eyes lit up, and his face showed expectation. I suddenly felt an urge to teach him to read, but unfortunately—
I myself only relied on the game system’s translation module to write and understand speech.
