“Shit...” I growled through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to kick something. No matter how pissed I was at myself and my apparently non-existent sense of direction, it wasn’t worth the pain. Instead, I sat down and hugged Sage to calm myself down.

* You were poisoned

‘Yeah, yeah, more like fricking cursed...or something. Don’t you have some weave in there that would help me, oh great Lattice?’

Well, turns out not. If the World Rune Lattice had any, it didn’t feel generous enough to slip them in between my General Weaves. Going through them several times, the closest I came to any that would help me get my bearings were the [Equilibrium] and, in the very tight space around me, [Spatial Domain], both of which I’d already had.

“There’s just no helping me, huh?”

I was a lost cause, no doubt, bound to wander this accursed forest until my last breath - a thought that gave me pause:

‘W-wait a minute! What if...what if this forest is cursed, like really cursed?’

What if it wasn’t my sense of direction at fault but some magic lying on the forest that made me turn around without me noticing? What if...well, the curse would make sense. The reason the bug sent me here was because this place was like a cell, only way bigger. No matter which way I would go, I would always come back here, the center of the curse.

A cold shiver ran through my body as I looked at the crumbling walls around me. Suddenly, this whole place gave off a much more intense, eerie feeling - almost like it was being haunted.

‘Shit.’

Was that why the old man slept with a knife under his pillow? Did he think I was a ghost? Would a knife do him any good against one? If so, what was the deal with the bun? An offering so that the ghost what - would leave him be the next time he passes by?

The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded.

‘Oh, the old man.’

Seriously, how did I not see that? So, stupid. If this forest was cursed, how did he get through it? What trick did he use? Was it an item? While hard to admit, the answer was way simpler than that. There was no curse, and the old merchant had merely traveled along the path through the ordinary forest - well, one full of colossal trees, massive beasts, and the ever-present moss.

No, the whole debacle with my expedition for water lay on my shoulders alone.

‘Pathetic, I know.’

Was it such a disaster, though?

I found the water, and even better, closer than I expected. Besides, in my defense, despite knowing about the brook, my ears only picked up the rustle of the treetops high above me and the chirping of birds. Sure, vexing, but that little stream of running water was just out of my earshot.

And the mossbear - I ran into the danger that the old man and the mares were talking about and survived. That had to count for something, right?

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Oh, oh, oh a-and...the name, the name of this place.

Although, given the state of the ruins around me, it must have been a long time since these moss-covered walls functioned as an inn.

‘Esulmor Edge,’ I mulled over the words, trying to figure out what they meant. However, that turned out to be as pointless as hoping I’d never lose my direction again. The ruins did not stand on the edge of anything, and the name Esulmor rang no bells.

Anyway, seeing at last the silver lining of things, I stopped whining and stood up ready to deal with the ever-growing beast in my stomach.

* 3rd glyph engraved on Hunger Fortitude (⦿)

While the further usefulness of the [Thrifty Drinker] now lay in question, the opposite was true of that weave. Quenching my hunger might prove harder than finding the water. Because of the moss growing all over the place, there were no blueberries or raspberries to be found. All I came across in my wanderings through the forest besides moss and heaps of vines were some prickly bushes and a few walnut trees. In fact, the whole forest was eerily empty of any creatures larger than bugs and squirrels.

Not that I intended to hunt any.

In fact, just the thought of eating raw meat turned my stomach upside down. On reflection, I should have put more effort into cracking the nuts lying under the walnut trees - or at least brought a couple back with me. But again, easier said than done. I had no pockets, and while the fuzzy husks were easy to peel off, getting through the shells with just my fingers and teeth proved to be quite painful, if not outright impossible.

‘Moss Eater, then?’

Well, I was hungry, but still not hungry enough to taste the green delicacy tickling me between my toes.

Instead, I found the wall over which I had spied on the old man and, rather foolishly hoping to find the place where I had spent the night, I set off into the forest again.

“Don’t worry, Sage. I got this,” I said to my tail as it waggled worriedly in front of my face as if asking if I was sure about this whole new expedition.

Of course, I sure was not.

But to avoid getting lost again, I marked my way very thoroughly - like stripping off a circle of moss on every tree I passed by.

“Ha, what did I tell you, Sage?” I couldn’t help but snort out triumphantly. Before long, much to my own surprise, a walnut tree came into view. Was that the one I woke up at? Probably not. As much as I’d like to say it was, the place didn’t strike me as familiar.

In the end, that didn’t matter.

* 4th glyph engraved on Hunger Fortitude (⦿)

Spurred on by a notification tingling the inner side of my skull, I promptly set out to scour the ground for fallen nuts. There weren’t many, but soon, much thanks to the [Spatial Domain], I had a pile of a dozen nuts peeled from their husks in front of me and the same problem as before to crack.

‘How do squirrels open them without nutcrackers?’ I whined, throwing the drool-covered nut to the ground in frustration after several failed attempts to open it with my teeth. Of course, that did not crack it open either. However, the rattling of the chains caused by the sudden movement cut into my ears as a mockery of my stupidity.

Having no nutcrackers?

‘Bullshit!’

I had three strapped to my limbs.

Not bothering to lament over my lack of sense, I placed one nut on the rather bulky lock of the shackles on my right leg and smacked it with the one on my left hand. The cracking sound of the shell was like music to my ears.

‘Finally!’

Driven by the hungry beast in my stomach, I devoured the dozen or so collected nuts in no time. A second sweep around the walnut tree area yielded only half of the first, leaving me gazing wistfully at the tree’s laden crown after devouring all the slightly bitter, salty, but otherwise juicy nuts I could find on the ground.

There were hundreds of them up there.