Chapter 9 : It’s Easy to Fit Things Together

“Can you restore the forest to its original state?”

Neras’s eyes went round.

Her face was so small that her eyes were practically all I could see.

“H-how?”

I pointed behind me with my thumb.

The fairy’s enormous eyes quickly narrowed.

Because this side had no mural at all. It was just a stone wall.

Our business was beyond the wall.

“This way. It’s the direction of the forest, right?”

“That is… one moment.”

Neras raised her index finger and tilted her head.

After gauging the direction, she soon nodded with certainty.

Knock, knock.

I clenched my fist and tapped the wall.

The sound was clearer and crisper than I expected.

It did not have the dullness of knocking on an ordinary stone wall.

“The sound…!”

“Right. It looks like a dead end, but the space behind this is actually empty.”

“I had no idea. The others in the village probably don’t know either! How did you know?”

Neras blinked several times.

“It is only natural that you noticed why Rah was sick, since you are a pharmacist, but…”

For some reason, her tone sounded suspicious.

Maybe I had acted like I knew too much.

Still, it’s something you can figure out if you just look a little.

I got down on one knee.

Near the wall, in front of the densely clustered Fourtail Grass.

“Here. This place is unusually overgrown compared to the others.”

Beneath it were flattened leaves, as if something had passed over them.

On top of that, a thick patch of new Fourtail Grass had grown.

When I brushed aside the densely packed leaves with my hand, a fairly large hole was revealed.

“When did a hole like this appear!”

“Who knows… What’s certain is that something passed through here.”

I pointed at the trail of flattened Fourtail Grass leading from the far side of the well.

The trace passed by the place where Rah was lying and continued all the way to the hole in the wall.

Neras’s eyes went round again.

Should I show her clearer evidence?

I swept my hand over the cut surface of the hole.

Powder from the corroded stone crumbled onto my fingertips.

“It would have been nice if it had simply passed through, but since that wasn’t the case, something strange must have happened to the forest.”

Neras swallowed hard.

Wer shouted in a voice that made it hard to find even a hint of tension.

“As expected, your eye for detail is no ordinary thing!”

Wer stroked my head carelessly with the sole of his tiny foot.

A few strands of hair caught on his small but sharp claws and were dragged along.

“Ow, ow.”

The sensation of long hair being pulled was unfamiliar.

In my life, there had been times when I shaved my hair short, but never a time when I grew it out this long.

“You may be a little frail, but you do know how to use your head.”

Was that an insult or a compliment?

Either way, I wished he would let go of my hair.

This was enough praise.

I was not someone who could use his brain that well.

If you know the answer, it’s easy to fit the process together.

I had simply examined the surroundings based on a story I knew well.

It was not much work for me.

“Why don’t you get off my head now?”

“You keep touching this body’s head at every opportunity, yet you will not let me touch yours even once?”

“You’ve already stroked it plenty…”

Wer turned his head away without answering.

He could not be that young, so what was with this sulking?

I shook my head.

“Um…”

Neras was looking at us with eyes wavering back and forth.

“Now that we know the whole story, the village will handle the problem beyond this point.”

“What? Why?”

“We cannot keep leaving matters of the forest to you, an outsider.”

The small fairy spoke dignifiedly, even while stiffening her shoulders.

“Even you do not know what kind of danger may be lurking beyond this wall, do you, Ritark?”

“Well…”

I trailed off vaguely.

Because I knew what was beyond this wall.

Neras seemed to gain confidence from my evasive tone and puffed out her chest.

“You do not need to push yourself. We wind fairies are quite strong. And you, Ritark…”

Neras’s gaze swept over me again.

“You are someone who makes medicine, so you must be better at rear support.”

Even if she tried to pretend otherwise, what she wanted to say was obvious.

At a guess, she was telling the weak person to stay back.

“How rude! What an outrageous remark, forgetting the grace you received.”

“Is it a gesture of gratitude to push our benefactor into danger?”

“You are looking down on Ritark, are you not!”

Wer, who had been looking down on me himself just two days ago, was taking my side.

I was grateful.

It would be troublesome if I got pushed back here.

If the entire village stepped up and solved the problem, it was obvious that securing a supply of Fourtail Grass would become difficult.

Wouldn’t those old-fashioned fairies object?

“All right, that’s enough.”

I cut through the tense atmosphere between the two with my palm.

“If I hadn’t said anything at all, that’d be one thing, but don’t you know the saying, if you’ve drawn your sword, you might as well slice a radish?”

“What does that mean…? You do not have a sword, Ritark. And there are no radishes here.”

At this rate, I might develop a prejudice too.

A prejudice that fairies were stuffy and old-fashioned.

I quickly plucked one Fourtail Grass.

“Never mind. I’m making medicine. Medicine Crafting.”

Ding!

“Activating Medicine Crafting skill. Please select ingredients.”

Was it because I had no chance to hear it while riding the wagon?

It was a voice I was hearing again after only two days, yet strangely, it felt welcome.

I held the most basic of the basic ingredients I had brought from the healing shop together with the Fourtail Grass.

“One Fourtail Grass leaf and one sheet of Glosswood Paper.”

The skill effect briefly lit up the cave.

Where the intense light passed, there remained the plainest medicine I had made so far, a packet of powdered medicine that looked like something you could commonly see at a pharmacy.

Inside the square-folded paper was a bluish powder with fine grains.

“Appraisal.”

“Low-Grade Elixir of Luck Lv.2. Increases Luck stat by 2 for 10 minutes when consumed.”

Following the level of the Medicine Crafting skill, the elixir’s level had also risen by one stage.

However, since “low-grade” was attached to its name, the effect was disappointing.

It could not be helped.

It was because I had used the Fourtail Grass raw.

To make a proper elixir, the grass needed a refinement process of being crushed and dried.

I’m lucky there’s at least a lower-compatibility crafting formula.

I turned the other three fluffy leaves into Low-Grade Elixirs of Luck as well.

I patted my bag in satisfaction and looked forward.

The moment I did—

“Whoa, you scared me.”

Neras had suddenly approached right in front of my face.

Her pitch-black eyes were sparkling.

“How are you using instant-cast magic? Have you hidden a magic circle somewhere on your body?”

The fairy flew around my body in a dizzying manner, examining me.

Then at last, she abruptly reached out a hand.

Are you planning to lift my clothes or something?

I quickly stepped back two paces.

“…I just suddenly became able to do it one day.”

“Was it enlightenment? You do not look that old, yet you are amazing!”

In this world, using magic required a magic circle and an activation phrase.

Just like how Neras had placed her hand on the cave wall and lit it up.

If it was magic one had steadily practiced and become familiar with, it could be activated immediately without a medium or incantation.

However, even after spending time, there were many who never managed to use magic in their entire lives.

It was also a world where human mages were even rarer.

Wer lifted his chin smugly.

“Hmph. Do you still intend to keep blocking Ritark?”

“I apologize. I had no idea he was such an exceptional mage. There was no need for me to worry.”

It was not magic, but the power of a skill.

Still, there was not much difference on the surface.

It seemed to have been enough to persuade Neras.

I feel like I keep unintentionally building up a genius setting, but I suppose that’s better than looking like an idiot…

The Ritark I had possessed really was a genius, so I could probably just go along with it.

Let’s do that.

“Now, let’s go to the forest.”

Wer and Neras slipped out through the hole leading toward the forest.

Then they quickly poked their faces back in from that side.

“Hmm, Ritark! Can you cross over this way?”

“You are not that large, Ritark, so if you crouch, you should be able to pass through!”

“…I’m not sure.”

I did not want to try.

If I pointlessly pushed my body in and got stuck, there would be no humiliation quite like it.

I decided to obediently take a Strength Stick.

“Now, you had best step back. It seems Ritark intends to break the wall.”

“Break the wall?”

Neras blinked several times.

She was trying not to show it, but I could not help seeing the thought on her face.

The question of whether that frail human could really break the wall.

“Right. If you don’t want to get hurt, move far away.”

I chewed the Strength-Boosting Stick.

I could clearly feel power blooming throughout my entire body.

Tap, tap, tap!

With a running start, I kicked the stone wall with all my strength.

Boooom!

The sound of the wall bursting echoed across the bottom of the well.

When the rising dust settled, the passage leading to the forest was clearly revealed.

“To think the wall collapsed this easily…!”

Neras looked back and forth between the collapsed wall and me several times.

I gave a light shrug and passed by her.

All it takes is a good dose of medicine.

We headed toward the forest.

Step, step.

The sound of our footsteps echoed through the passage.

The further we walked, the more uneven the ground became.

Tree roots that had broken through the ceiling began appearing here and there.

“At this rate, we truly will reach the forest.”

“That’s true, but… wait.”

I raised one hand and stopped the group.

“Why have you suddenly stopped?”

“There’s something ahead.”

A dark, murky lump pooled on the ground.

I knelt on one knee in front of it.

Srrk.

When I swept the edge of a leather pouch across the ground, sticky mucus smeared onto it.

Sizzle…

The speed at which the leather fabric corroded was no joke.

I quickly swung the pouch and shook off the black liquid.

“As expected, this is the work of a monster affected by Akedia.”

“Akedia? Do you mean the monster you defeated in the Root Mountain Range?”

“Yeah, that lazy bastard.”

A being from another world that governed sloth.

Akedia, the first disaster, had the power to accelerate other beings.

Of course, I had dealt with it before it could properly release its power.

However, the disaster had been sleeping underground for a long time.

If there were monsters living nearby, they could not help but have already been affected.

The aftermath of the disaster had traveled through the earth and eventually reached the Forest of Wind.

“If something like this is on the ground…”

I quickly threw myself to the side.

At the same time I moved, fist-sized blobs of mucus dropped down.

Sssss!

The lumps melted the place where I had been standing.

Before the hairs on my body could stand on end, the main body came down over them.

Splat!

With the sound of jelly being crushed, a slime fell from the ceiling.

It was huge enough to swallow most people whole.

The damp, gloomy-colored mass had no eyes.

But it had definitely “seen” us.

Shrrrk!

It rushed forward.

I was already rolling my body to the side.

“Wh-what sort of speed is that? From a mere slime…!”

Wer screamed and quickly flew upward.

It was a speed that could only shock someone.

An ordinary slime was nothing more than a trash mob that moved so slowly it made you yawn.

It’s definitely become harder to deal with, but…

It did not matter.

Everything had its pros and cons, didn’t it?

Splat!

Unable to handle its own speed, the slime smashed flat against the wall.

The mucus that splattered everywhere wriggled and gathered, returning to its original form.

“It will come again! At this rate, Ritark, who cannot fly, will…!”

“It’s fine. At this level, I can manage.”

“He says so. Let us watch.”

Wer nodded.

But beside him, Neras still paced in the air as if she could not feel at ease.

Click.

As if to show them, I opened my bag.

A fairly generous number of Health Recovery Potions and Strength-Boosting Sticks.

Even the Low-Grade Elixirs of Luck I had made this time were inside.

The medicines neatly packed within looked reassuring just by being there.

They were practically my bullets.

Tssss…

The giant mucus had already fully formed and was looking this way.

My heart pounded with tension.

I was not afraid.

I had even defeated a disaster. How could I tremble at a mere slime?

“Come on, let’s go at it. …After I take one medicine first.”

It was about time for the medicine’s effect to wear off.

I took out a Strength Stick that looked like yellow jerky and chewed it.

Shrrrk!

As if it had been waiting, the slime charged again.

[End of Chapter]