Now, daylight was present as the two set off to the nearest town.

“Only a few Shroomboars are present.”

As the Guide had said yesterday to the childish Hero, he had surveyed the surrounding area and found little to no dangers what so ever.

“Shroomboars?” Obviously confused, the Hero tilted his head as if to question the sanity of the Guide in front of him.

“Could you please stop looking at me like that, it's rude. Also you're in a different world remember? The hamburg you ate was also a part of a Shroomboar.”

“What?? Seriously? Those ugly things are that delicious?” The Hero then pointed to the boars with manes that look to be infested with various fungi, completely disregarding the Guide's warnings on etiquette.

“Haa...Only the boars that grow edible fungi are what can be eaten. Oh why not let this be our first lesson.”

“Huh? Fighting against boars? Seriously?”

“Yes. Now go and get me some fungi.”

“Eh… but I don’t know which ones are poisonous or not.”

“The ones with bright colors are what’s considered poisonous”

“Ehh… that doesn’t explain much... but alright, be sure to follow my request once I finish this ok?” With a slight confident look on his face the Hero then rushed towards the nearest boar.

“I forgot to mention. Those boars, can use magic.”

“Huh? WHAT!? SAY THAT EARLIER!” The Hero could only cry as he gets launched in the air by one of the boars using [Wind] magic..

Using that opportunity however, the Hero managed to find footing on the towering trees’ trunk as this place was after all a forest.

Launching himself forward while making genius use of the momentum, the Hero struck the boar with his hand and finally managed to get one of the fungi present on the boar’s back.

“I did it! And now I feel sick…. Urk”

“I told you not to get the bright colored ones! Now let go of it.” The Guide quickly rushed to the clumsy Hero and made sure to separate him from the poisonous mushroom.

“Ehh~”

“Stop pouting like a child and stay still.” Taking off his gloves, the Guide then casted a [Healing] spell over the Hero as the latter could only flinch.

“…” The Hero then had a noticeable pained expression as the Guide, unaware of that fact, continuously poured the [Healing] spell towards the Hero’s hand.

“Also wear your gloves, we don’t touch foreign things without the least bit of protection.” After finishing the treatment, the Guide then threw some gloves at the Hero’s face as he was supposed to wear it in the first place.

“But-“ Taking the gloves off his face, the Hero proceeded to complain and clearly show his displeasure, but was soon cut off by the nagging Guide.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“No 'buts'. After this, get the right fungi this time or else no lunch for you.”

“That’s unfair…” The Hero could only do as the Guide had instructed and obediently wear the gloves.

“The meat is not actually from the boar you know? As the boar is infested by the fungi, their meat had already turned hard and inedible.”

“Huh then… are they from the mushrooms itself??”

“Oh you actually do have some sliver of intelligence huh” Clearly impressed, the Guide once again re-evaluated his impressions on the easy going Hero.

“You go on about being 'rude this' and 'rude that' when in fact you’re the one that’s rude…” The Hero then said in a sulking manner as he looked over to the Guide that is completely unaware of his own biases.

“Oh, I was just genuinely surprised. Really.” The Guide then shrugged and buried the thought on the back of his head as he paid no heed to the Hero's comment.

“At least praise me for it..”

“Stop sulking. That was praise, in essence at least.”

“How is being surprised about someone’s state of intelligence counted as praise??”

“Well that depends on how you take it to heart then.”

“Boo…”

Swoosh sway

Hearing the nearby winds, the Guide’s brows turned into a slight furrow as he then stood up and took the poisonous mushroom storing it away somewhere in the huge luggage that he always carries.

“….Change of plans we’ll eat in town, so we best get going. It’s about to be night time soon.” With a serious look on his face, the Guide then turned to the sulking Hero and helped him up by offering a hand.

“Huh, why the sudden change of heart?” Taking the Guide's hand the Hero could only ask, obviously confused by the Guide's sudden seriousness that is now all the more present on his face.

“Creatures tend to be more violent when its night out you see.”

“Why though?”

“Because mana is more abundant at nightfall.”

“Oh mana… yeah I do remember the Head Mage saying something about that. Also, we were fine yesterday though?”

“That’s because we were still near the Kingdom’s protective barrier, now that we are far from it we are no longer fit to stay out in the forest. It is too risky.”

“Hm I see.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Are we there yet?”

“As much as I want to say ‘stop asking, you are noisy’ for the zillionth time. Fortunately for you we are indeed, finally here."

“Woah, really?! Alright! Now I can eat!”

“This is the first town towards the Demon King’s castle, welcome to Αρχή”

“What?”

“Αρχή”

“….Yeah never mind”

“Do you perhaps not recognize the word?”

“Yep, it sounds alien to me”

“Alien?”

“Uh… like the screeches of a drowning bird”

“….I see, then we will start with getting you familiar with this world’s language.”

“How exactly?”

“How else? Learning.”

“Figured you’d say that…”

Walking ahead of the Hero, the Guide entered the town and began to plan their next move. “Let’s hurry up and find an inn to stay at first, then I will go find some reference materials…”

The Guide then suddenly felt an intense emotion the moment he passed through the gates of the town.

It was heavy and hard to understand as flashes of memory seemed to have flickered past his sight.

“Heyyy~~ guide?? You still with us?”

“Oh… ah, yes.” With the Hero's loud voice, the Guide immediately snapped out of his thoughts and could only reply in a slight daze as he soon started to catch up to the over excited Hero.

“Come on I’m starving.” The Hero then waved for the Guide, that was a few miles away from him, to hurry up.

--Trivia--

Baby boars are called Shroomlets but they are not infested with Shrooms yet, as when they come of age is when they are more suitable hosts to the Shrooms.

The Shrooms in turn act as a predator repellant, so Shroomlets are very vulnerable (as they don't have Shrooms yet) and has to constantly hide inside the fungi infested manes of the Shroomboars.

P.S Shroomlets are considered a delicacy as they rarely appear, but they are also considered valuable because their meat are said to be really tender and filled with juicy fat.