Chapter 4

With a start, my eyes opened. It was still dark all around me. But there was a moon in the sky that had not been there before. Three in fact. A blue moon, a red moon, and a yellow moon. Each was different in size as they illuminated the forest below. I looked down at the forest bathed in moonlight. It wasn’t because I was cautious or had a bad feeling about anything. It’s this way I was sleeping, it was incredibly terrible. The tightrope made of vines was digging into my stomach…

But there was nothing I could do about it… It was not as if I could just move along from here. And so I take the billhook, that I had stabbed in the tree and started to cut off any branches that were in reach. These were quickly wrapped around my body to make an instant ghillie suit. It was at least better than being seen by anyone as I was before. Well, I suppose this was as good as it was going to get… I lean my back against the tree once again. There was really nothing else to do. I let out a sigh.

Staying awake just because I couldn’t sleep would have a negative impact on the following day. A yawn escapes me as I think this. It was probably because I was so tired, but the sleepiness had finally come. Without resisting, I surrendered myself completely and was off to dreamland before I knew it. I’m quite sure it was a dream where I had a chat with some regular customer during my night shift.

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“M….aaa…it’s morning…”

Light poured from between the trees and hit me in the face. The sky I could see through the cracks of the forest roof was blue and clear. Today would be sunny. It was preferable to rain, but walking in the coverless plains on a hot day was not going to be pleasant either. I would have liked a cloudy day. But what good would my whining do? I untied the rope and wound it around my waist. If I didn’t reach a town today, then I would be sleeping outdoors and in a tree again. I couldn’t throw it away.

I removed the branches used for camouflage and took in my surroundings. There did not seem to be any goblins about. This made me rather delighted as I prepared to climb down the tree. The billhook too, was tied around my waist with the rope and the spear was tossed from the tree as it would get in the way while I was climbing down. Slowly, my feet extend towards the ground, and all the while I can hear my backbone cracking. Hmm… It wasn’t the best sound, healthwise, but it was refreshing to hear.

Now that I was refreshed, I picked up my spear and head back for the wheel tracks.

Once I arrived, the walk continued much as it had yesterday. Only today, I was determined to make it all the way. But there was nothing in my stomach. I was hungry…if only I could arrive at the town before I fainted…

I wouldn’t be able to move if I stopped walking. I continued onward as if running from my own fatigue. And then I suddenly heard the clean sounds of something running. It was…water!

I went off the road and shoved my way through the bushes. What lay past them was a small river that was about 30 cm in width. I crawled to the river and washed my filthy hands until they were clean. After that, I scooped it up in my hands and drank it all in one gulp.

“…AHHH! Delicious!”

The sensation of cold water running down your throat. It was good. I drank the water until I was satisfied and lifted my face. This small river was flowing towards the east, but it seemed to be coming not from the west, but the southwest. I see, so this was the junction point with the wheel tracks. Lucky for me. I would be able to travel alongside the river for quite some time. Now, if only I had some food, then there would be no reason to complain.

I listened to the sounds of rushing water for several hours as I walked. Around this time, the sun had reached its peak and was on its route towards the horizon, I felt a strange presence. What? I prick up my ears. The sound of rushing water. The sound of the wind caressing the plains. The sound of faraway trees bending as they sway. And…a certain rustling and the sound of movement through the grass.

Something was here.

I slowly hold the spear in one hand and reach for the billhook with the other. The sound was coming from the south. It was from the other side of the river. In that case, I would put some distance between me and the river and hide the grass near the plains.

After a moment of waiting in the shadows, a dog… No, it was a wolf. It had a light brown and ash colored fur that moved in the wind as it lapped at the river water. Was this…an animal? Or a monster? I couldn’t tell. But the one thing I was sure of, was that this guy could be food. Meat had appeared right in front of me. I never thought the day would come where I would look at a wolf and think that meat had arrived. But these were desperate times. I was hungry. And so I would hunt.

I take my time observing it. Luckily, the wind was headed leeward. My stench of dirt would not reach its nose. But I should still be cautious, after all, this was a doggie. They had the keenest sense of smell. I wasn’t sure that something wouldn’t give away my position.

Spear in hand, I slowly, slowly, make my way through the tall grass. It was still preoccupied with rehydrating itself. I had a clean shot of its exposed head. I prayed that this wouldn’t just be luck, like with the goblin, as I thrust the spear out, aiming right between its eyes. In the same instant, the wolf raised its head and looked at me. The spear landed not between its eyes, but right in its throat. For a second I felt as if our eyes met.

A creature who lives in the wild, a person who was thrown into it.

It was a brief encounter. But I felt as if something had shot through me at that moment.

With its throat pierced, unable to let out a single cry, the wolf fell over; I slit its throat. And just like that, I plunged its body into the river and let the blood run out. The stream became a dark red. I would have to drink the water here for a while now… But I had meat. My spirits rose significantly at this first meal I had since my arrival. But I needed fire to eat it… I didn’t even have a lighter with me. I may have died under a pile of cigarettes, but I never smoked them. I suppose I would have to…

Prepare some wood and a stick.

I was somehow able to start a fire. I nearly lost the skin on my palms in the process, but, perhaps this was due to my new skill, because I was able to make a fire in spite of never doing it before. After draining the blood, I removed the skin from the cold meat with the billhook. It was not easy by any means, but my motto was that ‘potatoes were the only thing improved with skin.’

After about twenty minutes, I was able to remove the skin from the meat completely. Now I just needed to separate the parts, but I had absolutely no knowledge of how to go about that. The only thing I could do was to randomly chop off the limbs from the body…

A chopped off hind leg is now standing by the bonfire. The bonfire was made by the river to keep it from spreading, just in case. The wood cracked inside of the fire as fat oozed from the meat in large drops. I swallowed my saliva. Ahh, it smelled incredible now. Yes, it smelled like a wild beast, but it wasn’t raw at least. The knowledge I had from when I was a child who dreamed of hunting came in handy. My only regret was not learning how to butcher animals, but it wasn’t even that hard. The leftover parts were tied to a rope and sunk into the stream to keep it fresh.

Now, I think it was looking good. I could not wait any longer. I grabbed the shin of the leg and looked at it. It was in the shape of an oversized piece fried chicken. It was cooked perfectly. The trick with meat was to allow it to cook all the way through.

“Well then, let’s dig in!”

The first piece of meat I tore into in over one day was absolutely amazing.