Chapter 9. Going to Meet Them
“Those would be the Wolves That Clear the Fog.”
Clack, clack, clack.
It almost felt like I could actually hear those sounds as a proper-looking house was being built piece by piece.
The very next day after meeting that terrifying monster, I revived and finished my swimming session across the sea.
When I returned, Hephae was building a perfectly decent cabin that couldn't even be compared to the embarrassing hut I had built.
What kind of magic did he use?
It hadn't even been that long, yet a surprisingly large part of the house was already completed.
Ah…
So this is ‘construction’…!
I had no idea about any of this.
The humans of this fantasy world really were amazing!
I'm impressed!
“If they're wolves, then they're wolves. What's with ‘Wolves That Clear the Fog’?”
“The Labyrinth Forest is an area covered in extremely thick fog, and those wolves only live in the Labyrinth Forest, so that's what they came to be called.”
Honestly, I had thought Hephae would run away.
So I was surprised that he was still here.
Not only that, he was even building me a house.
And on top of that!
“Modak, it looks like I'll finally be able to avenge your big brother.”
“Aren't you excited too?”
Modak was alive!
I had been wondering if the fire had gone out during the night.
But it seemed that this Hephae had kindly kept adding firewood to Modak!
My goodness!
Was he an angel?
“Um, could you please stop talking to the campfire?
It's creepy.”
“Hey!
There are children around!
Is there anything you can't say in front of a child?!”
And another thing!
As if that wasn't enough, he had even made a proper fireplace where Modak could safely live!
I had already forgiven him for breaking my door.
At this point, he was practically my benefactor!
I would do my absolute best to complete the quest!
“Anyway, Guide, can you lead me to those wolves?”
“Please use either casual speech or polite speech.
Choose one.
And yes, I can.”
Being a guide seemed much more impressive than I had thought.
I'd been asking him things like, ‘Can you do this?’
And, ‘What about this?’
He said yes to almost everything.
He had even worked as a blacksmith before.
It was honestly amazing.
**“I'm a rookie among guides, but I'm still a guide.
Not just anyone can use the title of guide.”**
“That's cool!”
“No, it's nothing…”
Anyway, the important thing was that I now had a way to find those wolves.
It would definitely help me level up too, so this was beneficial in many ways.
Yeah.
Those wolf bastards…
Once I met them, I was going to burn every single one of them to death.
Modak and I would burn them all to ashes with our perfect tag-team combination.
I had leveled up a little while hunting goblins.
My stats had improved to some extent too.
And with a blacksmith here, I should be able to obtain some equipment as well.
“Do you remember about how many there were?”
“Hmm, around fifteen?”
“Then it might be a little difficult for just the two of us.”
Of course it would.
I already had trouble defeating more than five goblins at once.
There was nothing I could do about it.
This game also had small penalties every time I died.
I had already died dozens of times.
So perhaps there was no reason to keep challenging something impossible while continuing to risk death.
Slowly.
Let's build up enough stats to properly crush those wolves.
Then we'll move.
Knowing my personality, my anger might completely disappear by then.
But if that happened, well, I'd deal with it then.
[Are you giving up?]
“…Wow, seriously… Ah, this… Haah.”
Don't you know what a tactical retreat is?
You didn't say anything when I temporarily put the wolf quest aside until now.
Why are you suddenly acting like this now?
Are you saying you're going to interfere because it's important from this point onward?
Are you like those obsessive parents who never sent their kid to an academy when they were young, but suddenly signed them up for ten different academies after seeing good grades and made them spend the entire day going from one academy to another?
No.
Actually, it felt more like a hateful voice whispering into my ear while I was trying to take the easier route.
“Are you scared?”
That was what it felt like.
It was incredibly nasty.
It had precisely targeted my tiny pride and stabbed right into it.
“What are those wolves' weaknesses?”
“I'm not sure.
Maybe they're cowardly?
They're monsters that normally hide and live in the Labyrinth Forest.”
“I see… They're cowardly?”
I had no idea what I should do to make them afraid.
Hmm.
Whatever!
I don't know!
Don't think too much!
My head hurts!
Games are supposed to be fun!
They're meant to be enjoyed!
“Can you guide me there?”
“Huh?”
I nodded at Hephae, who was looking at me with a still-confused expression while gathering up the goblin equipment that had been blown away when my house collapsed.
Hephae's expression slowly hardened.
He didn't say anything, but he was looking at me with an expression that clearly said,
‘Then why did you ask me in the first place?’
“Can you make torches?”
“Yes.
Something that simple is no problem.”
“Make some for me.”
“I'm going to use them to burn all those damn wolves.”
The quest only required me to burn the one-eyed wolf leader to death.
But for some reason, I had developed a rebellious streak.
I didn't want to do exactly what this system told me to do.
Who knew?
If I burned every single one of the target wolves to death, maybe I'd receive an additional reward.
“…You remember that I told you it would be dangerous, right?”
“Hmm!”
“Even so, challenging the limits is my path!”
It seemed that my mouth was surprisingly talented at spouting words that I didn't actually mean.
If I had known I had this kind of talent, I might have learned acting.
Fortunately, Hephae didn't seem to despise me for what I said.
He let out a long sigh and nodded.
If he considered me something like his lifesaver and was willing to do whatever I asked, I would feel terribly guilty.
I hadn't actually acted out of a sincere desire to save him.
So I had hoped he would try to stop me at least once.
“First, if you bring me a few goblins, I can extract oil from them—”
“Let's do it while we're going.”
“While we're searching for the wolves?
That's too dangerous.
You might not know this, but wolves and even the Uma Tribe you encountered at night aren't even considered particularly dangerous monsters in the Labyrinth Forest.
They're just low-level trash monsters.”
I hadn't encountered anything around here except goblins.
Was I extremely lucky?
Or was this area simply a goblin spawning zone?
“Let's not worry about that.”
“The important thing is that I have to kill those bastards right now, and I'm still angry whenever I think about them.”
It was only less intense because I couldn't feel physical pain.
If I had actually felt the pain when those things bit into me, I probably would have completely lost my mind and charged forward without saying any of this.
If that had happened, I would have died far more times than I already had.
And I would have been much more consumed by madness.
Just thinking about it was terrifying.
“If you die, I'll die right there too, you know?”
“If you think you're about to die, run away.”
“Even if I don't have much ability, I should be able to buy you some time like yesterday, right?”
“…Fine.”
That was nice and simple.
It didn't feel like he was agreeing with me.
It was more like he had completely given up and was thinking,
‘Fine.
Do whatever you want.
I don't care anymore.’
But for me, that attitude wasn't particularly bad.
“Then I'll make a few simple things with what I have now.
Could you wait for a little while?”
“Sure.”
He wouldn't suddenly ask whether I was giving up just because I was waiting, right?
This game didn't seem that inflexible.
If that message appeared again, I would immediately quit the game, grab the person in charge by the collar, and curse them out.
…
In my dreams, of course!
The real me doesn't have that kind of courage!
“It's really nice having a technician around.”
“Everything I tried making by myself was terrible.”
“If you're still alive a month from now, I'll teach you then.”
“What kind of ominous line is that?”
“Don't say things that make it sound like you're going to die in a month.”
“Let's not say things like, ‘After this is over, I'll return to my hometown and confess my feelings to her…!’”
“If you say something like that, you'll die.”
You should never casually say those kinds of lines that people say right before dying in movies.
The things people commonly call ‘flags.’
There were even several different types.
If you weren't careful, you might suddenly find yourself walking straight toward the King of the Underworld.
Things like talking about what you'll do after the current situation is over.
Or saying something like, ‘Did we really defeat it?’
Those kinds of words that naturally come out when you're uncertain.
Wandering around wherever I wanted without knowing my limits, like I did, was honestly another great way to die early.
But this was a game.
“…Thinking about going to meet her makes my heart race.”
“Is this love?”
“Huh?!”
“Why are you reacting so seriously?”
“It was a joke.”
I really shouldn't make jokes.
If even Hephae, who seemed to have some level of affection toward me, reacted like that…
I should restrain myself from making jokes as much as possible from now on.
…
Damn it!
I'm embarrassed!
Even when the trainer threw a hundred jokes at me, I always responded with something like, ‘Haha, yes,’ and avoided awkward situations.
And now I had made such a stupid mistake!
Just because a somewhat pretty girl spoke a few words to me, I started making ridiculous jokes.
Ugh!
I'm sure I'll make countless more mistakes while talking with Hephae from now on.
Ugh!
I hate this!
“…Sob…”
“It's all because of those wolves.”
“I'll kill them.”
“Those damn wolves… I'll kill every single one of them!”
“Please don't say that out loud.
It's unpleasant for the person listening.”
“…Yes.”
Strange.
I had saved her life for a moment, so why was she still being so cold toward me?
Was it my fault?
What exactly was wrong?
My expression?
My tone?
My gestures?
My body language?
My breathing?
Which part had caused the problem?
Had I been making requests and talking to her while thinking only about myself?
Was there something wrong with how I acted when I saved her?
Should I have made her sign a consent form agreeing to be rescued before taking action?
Ugh!
My head hurts!
This is all because of those wolves.
Wherever you bastards are right now, you'd better wait there.
I'm coming to meet you.
