I was content.
For the first time since I’ve been stranded in this unfamiliar world, I felt calm and reassured.
Even though there are a lot of unknowns, I’m no longer feeling confused and lost since I’ve managed to draw up my objective and the direction I’ll take from now on.
All I have to do now is to rest and slowly recover my body until a point where I can move around without trouble. Then what’s left is to leave this forest and take a look at this world from my own eyes.
When things are finally looking up for once, I briefly forgot.
About just how unforgiving and unreasonable the world can be.
Today marks a month and a half since I’ve been stuck in this world.
My body is steadily gaining its vigor, but a meat ball every couple of days isn’t nearly enough to satisfy my immediate hunger, much less to completely recover my strength. I’m constantly in a state of starvation, but since food is delivered at my feet literally, there was no need for me to exert my energy needlessly. Since I’m conserving my energy by being a NEET that leeches off my pet, even things are progressing slowly, I should be able to take some action soon.
Nevertheless, sitting around all day doing nothing is truly boring, though it really can’t be helped since I don’t want to waste my strength. To distract myself, I’ve been trying to get used to my new body. Moving rigorously around is out of the question, so I checked out my senses instead. As for the hearing functions on this body, it’s not all too impressive. No… If I compare this to a human’s hearing then certainly it’s at least three times more sensitive. But it’s pale in comparison to the olfactory organs. An insect’s sense of smell is truly marvelous, it’s not an exaggeration to call it a miracle of nature.
I have a pair of antennae on my head that look like that of a moth. And I can say that their function is also similar to one. A moth antennae is so sensitive to smell it’s borderline supernatural. They can detect as little as a single molecule of scent floating in one cubic yard of air. With a single smell molecule, they can sense a mate from three kilometers away, or as far as eleven kilometers away in some cases. Even though it’s not omnipotent since they aren’t sensitive to all kind of smell and detection from large distance mostly only applies to the hormone a female uses to summon males.
However still, if it’s within 500 meters then no living being will be able to escape my radar. As such, surprise attack against me is almost impossible. No matter how skilled one is at camouflage and stealth, I can sense every chemical substance produced in their body. If it’s a smell that I’ve marked, such as Ari-chan’s then I’ll even be able to sense it from two kilometer away.
Talk about Ari-chan, I’m starting to pick up its smell, it’s heading toward my place.
But something’s wrong. As it gets closer, I notice there’s the smell of human blood as usual, but it’s very weak. On the other hand, the smell of Ari-chan’s bodily fluids are exceptionally strong. Even the chemical substances inside the body that are hard to detect normally, I could sense them from a kilometer away. It’s as if the chemical substances are baring themselves out in the open.
A bad premonition looms its shadow over me as I drag my still heavy body to the cave’s entrance.
After shutting myself in the cave for a long time, though there were still light seeping in, the interior of the cave were only dimly lit to the point of being able to make out what’s right in front of you. The bright light outside appeared to be just a bit too intense for me as I instinctively move my arm to block the sun.
Even then it was only a moment, while my eyes adapt to the brightness I searched around with my antennae and found Ari-chan collapsed a few dozen meters away from the cave.
Ari-chan does not seem to be moving, one of its left leg is missing, there are various cracks on its shell and from there gooey liquids drip down the ground.
The only saving grace is that Ari-chan is still hanging on to life.
“Hey, hang in there, what in the world happened?”
…and so I tried to scream, but all that left my mouth were just some “giiguuiiiiii” incomprehensible sounds. It looks like a monster throat is different from a human’s after all. I also don’t have tongue or teeth.
Forgetting this world’s language, I can’t even speak Japanese now even if I wanted to.
Still, way to pick a time to act like an idiot, me. It’s not like it can answer even if it understands what I’m saying. Though there isn’t a need to since the situation is made clear just from a single glance. There are human blood splattered on its body, and various places on its shell look as if they were pierced by a stake. With a body full of holes like this, how is it staying alive? The life force of monsters is something else.
But I see… a failed hunt huh.
How could I forget, even though I should be the one who understand the most how much of a threat human can be. I don’t know how to judge a monster’s strength, but if my hunch is correct, Ari-chan isn’t very strong. If it fight 1v1 with the panther from before, there’s a good chance it will lose. In the first place ants are creatures that pride on their numbers and co-operation, for one to act solo like this guy is surely strange. Or is it simply the difference between this world and mine? Or Ari-chan could also be one that strayed away or had its colony destroyed.
“Kiiuuuu….”
Ari-chan groans weakly and try to pass me something from its jaws.
A bitten off part of a male’s palm…
What are you…even in this kind of situation, are you some kind of loyal dog?
Really…. You idiot, if you’re an ant then act like one.
Giving out a heavy sigh while mumbling a couple of complaints in my mind, I start to perform a more detailed check on its body to make sure there weren’t any fatal wound.
Though I’m not sure if it’s safe to move Ari-chan body or not, I have no choice. Leaving it out in the open forest like this is too dangerous. Mustering all the strength I can, I put Ari-chan on my back and slowly head to the cave.
It was lighter than expected. I had imagined it to weight at least 60-80kg. Or is it because of my monster body’s strength?
After we arrived at my usual spot inside the cave, I let Ari-chan’s body rests next to me and we shared the small piece of meat it brought back together that evening.
I have no idea how to nurse a monster back to health, but since it’s a monster in a fantasy world, maybe it can regenerate back if it has enough rest? Even if that’s a long shot, I have no other hope to cling to.
Morning comes next day.
And then the next morning after that.
Ari-chan shows no signs of recovering.
In fact, its condition is getting worse. I can feel its life force slowly washes away as it lay unmoving.
What should I do?
Maybe just like what it did to me, I could try to provide nutrient while it rests?
Though I can move around now, my body still feel very heavy. I’m permanently in a state that feels like I’ve just finished a long distance marathon. Honestly, I have no confidence that I can hunt food. These two days while Ari-chan was resting inside the cave, I tried to look around for edible fruits but I couldn’t find any.
There were no animals nearby either. At best, a couple of rabbits passed by once in a while. But those wild rabbits was incredibly fast, even more so than the panthers. My weakened body could not chase after them. As for birds.... I can't fly.
There are a couple of monster panthers to the north and some more unidentified monsters in the other directions but fighting them was too risky.
If it’s like this, then there’s only one option left.
When banded together, human are strong. But if they’re alone, they should be easier to kill compare to monsters, and they aren't as speedy as wild animals. I suspect Ari-chan has been hunting them by targeting lone humans as well. Since I’m human myself, or at least I used to be, I should be able to find an opportunity to attack easier than Ari-chan, since I have a better understanding of human’s behavior.
I could sneak in and steal some food.
But if it proves to be impossible....
I will have the human themselves become our food.
What if even then Ari-chan won’t recover?
Well, if it happens then it happens.
I’ll probably cry.
But there’s nothing I can do about it other than trying what I can.
I will just die of hunger if I sit around doing nothing anyway. Sooner or later I’d have to find food by myself. Though I’d prefer to be more combat ready before I hunt, the world isn’t so kind as to wait until I’m at my best condition.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Leaving Ari-chan in the cave, I trace the trail it left behind by using my sense of smell. Since it already brought me food many times with 3 to 6 days intervals, it’s hard to believe that level of consistency was from hunting random travelers that pass by the forest, instead there’s a good chance of human settlements being somewhere nearby.
Even though 2 days have passed, my antennae can still detect the scent Ari-chan left on its way, it’s truly is nothing short of amazing. Guided by the smell, I follow the 5 meters wide river that I fell in which extends a long way to the west. On one side of the river is a great mountain range. The cave that the river carried me in was a cavity at the foot of this mountain.
After walking for about 15 kilometers, I recognize a familiar scenery.
This place… it’s the valley where we encountered and fought the monster for the first time. Walking west about 5 more kilometers there’s a mountain path that seems to go all the way to the other side of the mountain. I probably fell from up there when we were chased by those obstinate panthers.
I wonder what happened to those guys? Did they manage to escape the monsters? Or did they fell prey to those unpleasant jaws. Not that I have the luxury to go and confirm it, there’s neither time nor energy to spare. It has already been almost 2 months, I doubt there’s anything left for me to find anyway. A life of slavery awaits them even if they survived, but it’s still better than dying. That Teru bastard could use magic, so it’s highly likely that they managed to get away, or at least avoided a wipe-out.
Continue a little bit further, the river divided into 2 parts. One to the west and one heads down south west. Tracing the smell I followed the south west part, leaving the north mountain range further behind me.
Come to think of it, That guy said he lived in an elf village near the edge of the forest. Since he followed the mountain path to the north west, going over the mountain itself, I guess I can safely assume that the settlement Ari-chan hunted human from weren’t that elf village? I wouldn’t want to face a bunch of angry Elves shooting magic at me.
That’d be dangerous.
No, seriously, I’d die.
There’s always a chance that he was lying though. Kidnapping and selling slaves hardly fit the image of Elves in my mind. Though since this is a different world, I can’t really use my old values to judge it.
After heading south west for about 5 kilometers, I detached from the river and head further south up a hill, while the river continues trailing south west. If there’s a human settlement, I should see it soon since they wouldn’t want to be too far from the water source.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
As expected, the trees start to thin out and I sense human smell from around 500 meters away. As I approach carefully while hiding myself behind trees, a couple of wooden houses and some human silhouettes enter my vision.
All the houses were open air basements, about 1.5 meters above the ground with only 1 floor. The 3 biggest ones are about as big as one 2LDK, while the 10 smaller ones are a bit smaller than 1LDK. These houses are concentrated around a clearing with only a few trees in-betweens. Next to a couple of houses, there are small patches of plants with vines clinging on wooden stakes. A bit further away from the dwellings are terraced platforms spreading down the hill’s slope.
I see, so there’s terraced farming in this world too.
The slope has been cut into platforms that look like a set of stairs. These terraced fields reduce erosion and surface runoff, on top of providing the needed area to grow crops. I don’t really know much else about farming though.
Is this a self-sufficient village? I don’t see any kind of man-made road leading out of the settlement. At best there are some animal trails that lead into the forest.
No… to call this a village might be an exaggeration, using my antennae I tried to search around for the presence of people but there’s only around 50 people here. 8 elders around late forties early fifties tending to the tomato look-alike vines, they looks much older than what a 50 years old man would look on Earth, perhaps it’s due to the difference in environment and food situation. About 5 children that are still in their teenage years or younger, and 40 grown man and women. It’s a couple of hours past noon, would there be some more off hunting in the forest? Putting the small number of people aside, isn’t there too few children? Considering this is a farming village of sort, I’d imagine there are more children to help with labors. There’s quite a gap between the children and adults too, perhaps most of the young adult left to find a better life in the city.
Now then, looking around the village there isn’t any worth mentioning when it comes to fighting potential. At best there are some worn out knives, a couple of wooden bows. The thing that most resemble a weapon would be a dozen wooden spears, each attached with a bronze spearhead. Are they handmade? The finishing on the wooden pole is rough and the spearheads are uneven. Were the large cracks on Ari-chan’s shell because of those? While they’re crude, I guess they did serve their purpose.
My antennae tried to search for the scent of livestocks.... but the only living thing other than human was a small number of newborn chicks.
The best thing that resembled meat was some slices of dried jerky in a couple of houses.
It's not enough
The vegetables are not yet ripe... I have no idea whether Ari-chan can eat grains or not.
I cannot wait any longer.
Ari-chan could die any moment now while I'm idling in this place.
I need to obtain food fast.
Even when I want to think it's because I have no choice, a faint sense of joy stirred up inside me.
Did I want this kind of development to happen?
Must be my imagination.
I shook off the uncomfortable notion and focused on the target at hand.
It’s not a good idea to stir up the whole group, I cannot take on the whole village.
Since there’s almost a kilometer distance between the dwelling and the river, someone has to fetch water sometimes. I keep a distance of 300 meters from the village and observe them while waiting for my chance.
Stalking innocence people and waiting for a chance to murder them.
Aren’t I a bonafide villain right now?
When I think of my future there’s nothing for me other than being subjugated like a vermin.
Can I cry?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Before long, I spot a woman holding a wooden barrel at the edge of the village. She looks like she was about to head to the direction of the river. However, a middle aged man about 40 years old stopped her and then they start to argue.
“---- --- --------!! -------------!!” –man
“----- -- ---------------------- -- ---------------“ –woman
The man seems to be frantically shouting something at her. He looks more worried than angry. The woman is about 30 years old? Or maybe younger, she isn’t at all beautiful but her face is gentle and easy to look at. Her skin is a bit tanned, as expected of a woman living in a farming village I guess? I’m not too sure whether she’s the daughter or wife of the middle aged man. I have no knowledge of the customs of this world after all. If they marry at a young age it’s not too strange even if you have a daughter that’s only around 15 years old younger than you.
At the man’s persistent pestering, the woman has a face that looks to be fed up with him. She tries to brush him off, pointing at the field.
At times like this, I really wish I could understand what they are talking about.
Not knowing the language is very inconvenient.
My best guess is that it’s about Ari-chan’s recent attacks on this village. After all it must’ve killed off a couple of villagers already. It’d be strange if they weren’t the least cautious. But since they drove off Ari-chan in a half dead state the other day, does the woman thinks that there’s no need to worry about it anymore?
It seemed that the man finally gave up and turned toward the field while grumbling something. The woman ignored him and starts to walk toward the river.
I follow her while trying to not make any sound.
It’s best to kill her as far away from the village as possible in case anything goes wrong. I decided to commit the act when she reaches the riverside. As for the road leading up to there, I couldn’t tell whether it was long or short.
My mind was devoid of any thought, I didn’t want to have any unnecessary questions like “does she have a family?” or “would anyone be sad when she’s gone?” interfere with my actions. In the end I even became unaware of how much time has passed or how long have we walked.
The forest today is strangely silent, any small rustling of the leaves has already been drowned out by the sound of my own heart beating loudly, so much that I was worried if she’d hear it and my presence would became exposed.
Finally she reached the river bank.
I wonder if there was a small part of me that hoped she wouldn’t arrive.
But that doesn’t matter now.
Carefully, I sneak up from behind her in silent. From before, while I was waiting for someone to leave the village, I chose a sturdy tree branch and broke it off. The dead and dried tree branch snapped and left sharp and uneven protruding points on one end. It’s not qualified as a weapon, but if I stab hard enough it should be able to pierce a person’s neck. She still hasn’t realized me yet even though I’m only 2 steps behind her. Gripping the branch tightly on my right hand, I leap at her and cover her mouth with my left…
“MMmm!!!” –woman
The woman left out a muffled scream as her body fell back due to the force of my grab. Her wooden barrel dropped with a “thud” on the river bank and water splashed on the ground and on to our feet. With a face stiffed with fear, she desperately tries to peel off my hand to no avail.
Yes, just like this, now all I have to do is to thrust the pointed end of this branch in her throat and finish her off as fast as I can. It’s all going according to plan.
Except for the fact that my right arm isn’t moving.
Is it really okay?
Is it really okay to kill this person?
A dead person won’t come back to life.
Once I kill her, that’s it, I won’t be able to take it back anymore.
Even though I’ve already gone past the point of regrets and return.
I know.
I know, but still…
Out of all the possible timings, in this situation, all the “what if?” start to spin around my head.
“MmmMMmmmmmmm!!” –Woman
Unaware of the confusion inside my head, the woman struggles even harder.
Damn it! Quiet down for a moment!
Feeling annoyed as her struggles adds even more confusion to me, I strengthen my grip.
Crack.
An unpleasant sound enters my ear.
It was such an unpleasant sound, my body is raising goosebumps all over.
Not just the sound, but the feeling of something snaps into two was transmitted directly through the bag of meat that my hand is gripping.
The woman twitches shortly, then her body became limp and fell down.
Looking at the unmoving woman next to my feet, I forget to breathe.
This is a lie right?
Just a moment before, I clearly felt her ragged breath and the warmth of a living person on my palm. And then the feeling of gripping live flesh and breaking the bone underneath that meat was so nauseating I wanted to throw up.
Was human always this fragile?
Unable to bear the urge to vomit that’s rising from my abdomen, I fell down to my knees with both hands on the ground and start to gasp heavily.
Even though I had no problem eating… what is the difference between now and then? Is it like the feeling of a human who has no problem eating chicken but cannot bear to watch one slaughtered first hand?
If I had tear glands like a human, would I be crying right now?
Even if I had, I would not allow myself to cry.
Or to regret.
Isn’t this what I planned to do from the start?
I would not forgive myself if I were to do something so spoiled like crying.
That’s right, laugh.
Laugh.
What else to do but to laugh.
“A..Agiaha….gihagiagigihahagigigigi”
What came out of my mouth, however, was not a laugh.
Only the grotesque sneer of a monster.
_____________________________________________________________________________
From that point on, I don’t remember much.
As if I was running inside a dream, I traced my way back to the cave, piggyback the woman’s corpse on my back…
No… not a woman
Just a sack of meat.
Carrying food on my back.
I ran and ran.
I did not look back, nor slowed down. Even though my legs felt like logs.
Tension filled my head, blocking out any unnecessary thought.
The only thing in my mind was ordering my feet to move.