Chapter 92

Chapter 92. Finding the Item

In the middle of a dense forest filled with trees that stretched high toward the sky stood a small, cozy cabin.

In front of it, beneath the bright sunlight filtering through the leaves, someone was leisurely eating cookies at a table.

It was Eset, my senior.

The Great Witch of Madness and Indomitability.

As soon as I entered the game, I found myself facing her once again.

Our first meeting had been rather confusing, but since this was already the second time, I was starting to get used to it.

"Good morning, junior!"

"Where are we this time, Senior?"

"Where else? This is the arena where you'll take the item-finding test."

"...Haah..."

The requirements for becoming a hero.

Defeat monsters.

Find items for people.

Do jobs in their place.

I had somehow cleared the monster-defeating part through my fight with One-Horn, so naturally, item finding came next.

Of course, my fight with One-Horn had looked more like a defeat than a victory.

Still, everyone who watched the battle insisted that I had won.

So I decided to just think of it as a victory too.

"What items do I have to find?"

Eset happily answered.

"Two drops of dew resting on the seed leaves of a young sprout growing beneath a hundred-year-old ancient tree. One tear shed by a newly born life. And one pair of parents protecting their offspring."

I stared at her.

"...You really are trash, Senior."

"Ahaha! Do you think I met such a bizarre ending for no reason?"

Wow.

Seriously...

This was exactly the kind of quest I hated most.

If someone told me to bring them an item and I could simply buy it from the auction house, that was actually a pretty decent quest.

But quests where you had to pour endless time and effort into searching for something, only to find it if you were lucky?

Those were garbage.

This wasn't some idle gacha game.

Why did I have to depend on luck just to obtain an item?

Why did I have to look at a 0.8% drop rate and think, Oh? That's actually possible.

Why?!

"Why are you complaining?! I'm doing all this for your sake! Have you ever suffered because you listened to me? Huh? Did eating the Cookie of Hope hurt you?!"

"...Tch."

"Hey! How dare you click your tongue at me so casually! Apologize!"

"...Sor..."

"Just lowering your head isn't an apology, you brat! Apologize properly!"

She was somehow even more troublesome than the quest she had just given me.

So annoying.

Still...

If the things she wanted me to find really were meant to help me, I could somewhat guess their meaning.

A young sprout growing beneath a tree that had stood there for a very long time represented indomitability.

The tear of a newborn life probably represented possibility.

As for a pair of parents protecting their offspring...

What was that?

Were they hungry or something?

"Can't you at least give me a hint? Every single one of these items has some ridiculous condition attached to it. Telling me to find them without any hints is a little..."

"Hmm! You're right! For the first item, the dew, you should find the hundred-year-old tree first. The older the trees in this forest are, the taller they become. So just find a really tall one!"

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you seriously calling that a hint?"

"Oh my~ Keep complaining like that and when you finally find the sprout, there might not even be any dew left~"

Was she telling me to stop whining and simply accept it?

What kind of gamer wouldn't complain after running into a mandatory side quest that clearly existed only to increase playtime?

I wasn't Buddha or Jesus.

If someone slapped my left cheek, I was the type of person who would raise my fist toward their right cheek.

Well...

At the very least, I'd imagine doing it.

"As for the second item! Search carefully!"

"Hey...!"

"Ahaha! The creatures living in this forest don't cry easily! You're going to have a hard time!"

"What even lives in this forest?"

"All kinds of things~"

Wow...

Seriously.

I couldn't even beat her in a fight.

What was I supposed to do with this woman?

There was no answer.

The hint for the third item would probably be something like, Just do your best~

So I decided I'd heard enough hints and started searching.

Rustle, rustle.

Stepping across the soft grass covering the ground, I wandered around the cabin without much thought.

There was always the possibility this would be one of those Blue Bird stories where the precious thing I'd been searching for had actually been beside me all along.

So I decided to thoroughly search the nearby area first.

...I really can't get motivated.

If this were a quest about fighting, destroying things, political schemes, assassinations, or stealing something, it might be troublesome and annoying, but at least I'd have fun.

But quests like, Please collect a few of these items~

I hated them no matter how amazing the reward was.

And of all things, they had made this kind of quest part of my Hero Advancement Quest.

What a pain.

"...Junior? I think you've already walked around this place about ten times."

"You're imagining things, Senior."

There weren't any especially tall trees around the cabin.

I didn't know exactly how tall a tree in this forest could grow over a hundred years, but I was certain none of the trees here were particularly huge.

So the Blue Bird wasn't here after all...

"...Senior, don't you have any spare items inside that cabin? If you do, let's just use those instead."

"Nope~ Nothing~"

"What a shame."

There was no helping it.

I had to leave the area around the cabin and travel deeper into the forest.

I didn't feel like doing it, but that was simply how this type of quest worked.

Maybe Flow could help.

Even if they were the same type of tree, the flow of time within them should differ depending on how long they had lived.

So I touched every tree I passed, trying to build up a comparison.

This one felt like this.

That one felt different.

Comparing them one by one, I slowly moved through the forest.

The rough texture of bark against my hand wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Seriously... What exactly am I supposed to... do... here?"

While walking through the forest and touching every tree I passed, I suddenly froze.

There was a pure white mouse in front of me.

The mouse was nibbling on something.

But rather than the sound of chewing peanuts or nuts...

I heard the sound of raw flesh being torn apart.

"Squeak?"

"Oh my god..."

Its mouth looked like the opening of a leech, filled with countless tiny teeth.

It twitched while holding a huge chunk of meat carefully between its two little paws.

Three or four thread-like tongues flicked out of its mouth.

Stop.

Please.

Just stop.

The grotesque mouse-like creature turned toward me.

Its completely black eyes had no visible whites.

And while staring directly at me, it licked the horribly mangled corpse of a horse with those thin tongues.

Ugh!

Disgusting!

There was a strange thing about mice.

When you saw one in a photo or video, you might think,

Aw, that's cute.

But when one suddenly appeared in front of you in real life without warning...

AAAAH! Disgusting!

Apparently, whoever designed this monster disliked that gap so much that they decided to make it disgusting from the very beginning.

"Don't tell me... everything living in this forest looks like that."

"SQUEEEAK!!!"

Still, despite its disgusting and horrifying appearance, I didn't feel particularly afraid.

Nor did I feel the need to run away.

I had survived a fight against One-Horn just yesterday.

Sure, this thing looked horrible, but I didn't feel like I would lose against it.

...Maybe I'd gotten stronger.

But what if this mouse is the only living animal in this forest?

What if this thing is actually one of the parents I'm supposed to find...?

And if this mouse was actually a newborn...

That would be troublesome in a completely different way.

"All right! Enjoy your meal! I'm leaving!"

I waved goodbye.

It had certainly been an unforgettable first meeting.

But let's say our relationship ended here.

Leaving the mouse behind, I continued deeper into the forest.

The distance was already becoming intimidating when I thought about having to walk all the way back later.

But that was a problem for future me.

Rustle, rustle.

"...Why are you following me?"

The twisted mouse was slowly following behind me with a horse leg clenched between its teeth.

I had clearly said goodbye.

Now it was making my farewell feel awkward.

Were we simply going in the same direction?

For now, it was only following me.

Still, there was always a chance it would suddenly decide to hunt me and jump at my back.

So I remained cautious.

With the horrible-looking mouse following behind me like a pet, I continued walking for quite some time.

Eventually, I discovered a huge depression in the ground.

"Whoa... It's enormous..."

"Squeak...!"

I glanced down at the mouse.

"What's with you? Why are you acting like you're part of my party?"

The pit was so enormous that it was difficult to judge its true size.

And filling almost the entire pit was an unbelievably massive tree.

Its trunk was incredibly thick.

After enduring countless years, it had twisted so badly that it no longer grew straight upward.

Instead, its enormous body spiraled and leaned diagonally.

Even though the sunlight outside was strong, only pale green rays managed to slip through the vast canopy.

The pit was so deep and dark that those rays barely reached the bottom.

At least some light was entering from other directions right now, making the place look like early dawn.

But once the sun set...

I doubted I'd be able to see anything down there.

"Squeaky, you're really going to follow me down there? I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Squeak?"

Could a plant with enough vitality to produce a new sprout really exist in a place where almost no light reached?

It seemed like that gigantic tree's equally gigantic roots would steal every bit of nutrition from the soil.

Still, this was the largest tree I'd seen so far.

So I decided to go down and investigate.

"Squeak! Squeak, squeak!"

"Ow, you're loud. I'm going down~"

Descending into the pit was practically an extreme sport on its own.

The wall was almost vertical.

I leaned backward and slid down it.

As I descended, my speed gradually increased until it became difficult to control.

My heart began pounding.

Compared to when I'd climbed the tower yesterday, this speed was much, much slower.

Yet my heart was still racing.

The sensations must have been too realistic, making me nervous.

Thud!

Thud!

"...That little bastard is persistent."

The mouse had hesitated at the edge for a while before finally following me down.

Apparently, it had lost its footing on the way.

Now it was violently tumbling down the slope.

If it survived, we'd meet again.

Ignoring it for now, I reached the bottom first.

I dusted off my clothes and slowly looked around the dark floor of the pit.

Unlike the depths of the sea, where the flames of my chains disappeared, this place didn't interfere with them.

So I wrapped chains around my hand and lit up my surroundings like a torch.

"Hmm... It's really dark. This place looks like something straight out of a dark fantasy game."

Honestly, if some gigantic monster suddenly emerged from a hidden corner and shoved me off a cliff, I'd probably just think,

I knew it.

There weren't actually any cliffs around here.

Still, the atmosphere was gloomy enough that even something that unreasonable would feel understandable.

"Squeak! SQUEEEAK!"

"Come on! I can't understand you! Speak like a person!"

"Squeak!"

The mouse limped toward me.

It seemed to have broken one of its legs while tumbling down.

Blood dripped from the injury.

A large tear had formed at the edge of its eye.

For some reason...

It looked a little pitiful.

If I had a potion, I might have given it one.

But I rarely suffered serious injuries.

And most normal wounds were healed by Mallangi anyway.

Because of that, I hadn't bothered carrying potions.

Besides...

What if this entire injured act was fake?

What if it was waiting for me to lower my guard so it could eat me?

Then there was no reason to be nice to it.

...Ah.

Still, maybe I should collect its tear.

What if that was actually one of the items I needed?

Right?

I wiped away the tears dripping from its eye and stored them in a bottle.

Nothing happened.

There wasn't any special reaction.

So it wasn't the quest item?

Damn.

"Stop following me and rest here."

"Squeak!"

I tilted my head at it.

"Are you looking up at me pitifully right now? Or are you glaring at me because you hate me? I seriously can't tell."

There was no helping it.

I'd leave Modagi here with the mouse and continue alone.

If the little thing ignored me and tried following again with those horrifying black eyes shining at me...

Then I'd help it cross the rainbow bridge.

At that moment, system messages appeared.

[You have entered the territory of the 'Small Tree of the Continent'!]

[While inside its territory, your strength will gradually be drained and turned into nutrients for the tree! Be careful!]

[Due to your astonishing resistance, you have escaped the effects of the tree's ability!]

So that was it.

As I approached the areas covered by its roots, I'd felt something constantly touching or interfering with me.

So this was the reason.

"...Hmm... Why does this thing look strangely familiar...?"

I tilted my head.

Still, finding the quest item came first.

I looked around, searching for anything resembling a young sprout.

If I searched the entire area and found nothing, I'd have to quickly move somewhere else.

And if that happened, I had no idea how long this quest would take.

So I'd better search carefully.

"This doesn't exactly look like soil where anything could grow..."

I had managed to avoid the effect thanks to my absurd resistance stat.

But the ground beneath my feet clearly hadn't.

The soil had been drained so badly that it was cracked apart like land suffering from a severe drought.

Usually, deep forests received little direct sunlight, so places like this tended to be damp.

But this place wasn't humid at all.

There wasn't even a single insect.

At this point, it might be safe to assume there simply wasn't anything here...

I suddenly stopped.

"...Wait. There's no reason I have to find one that's already here."

I removed the chains covering my hand and wrapped them around my waist.

Then I placed one hand on a nearby root.

My other hand touched the ground.

The term ancient tree could refer to an old tree.

But it could also mean a dead tree.

So all I needed to do was steal some energy from this tree...

And use it to grow one small sprout.

Whether dew would actually form on that sprout was another question.

But...

I could worry about that later.

Creak!

Crack!

Stealing life from something violently alive and moving probably belonged to Dorphin's territory.

But if the target was merely a plant...

It was something I could somehow interfere with.

When it came to Flow, even without the assistance provided by the game system, I had already experienced it in reality.

Because of that, I could perform actions that went beyond the proficiency level shown by the system.

If I also used the state of unity with Modagi that I'd experienced yesterday, the efficiency would probably improve even further.

However, I didn't know what effects this territory might have on someone other than me.

So calling Modagi over carelessly wasn't a good idea.

Then another message appeared.

[The Small Tree of the Continent has begun resisting your power!]

[Be careful!]

I blinked.

"Be careful? What, is this tree going to move by itself or something? Like a monster?"

Creak!

CRACK!

WHOOSH!

As if my words had activated some kind of switch, the roots spread across the ground began moving one after another.

They moved with clear intent.

Like enormous tentacles.

The overwhelming tree had equally overwhelming roots buried throughout the ground.

Their completely unrealistic size left me speechless.

I stared up at them.

"At this point... isn't this basically a raid boss?"

Yesterday, I fought One-Horn.

Today, I was apparently going to solo a raid boss.

Haah...