Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The Woodcutters at the Lumberyard

Tzzeek!

I couldn’t help but be astonished as Stomp’s trunk cracked and split as if its grain had shattered. Did I just cleave this monster in one swing?

Certainly, my strength stats had increased by two points yesterday, but even considering that, the power I just exerted was undeniably immense.

“Nnnghhh…!”

“Ha, Hassan!”

Turning my head at the scream from behind, I saw Luna dangling upside down with her ankle caught by a tree. Her pink hair was swaying all around.

Two Stomps had grabbed her arms and legs, pulling in opposite directions as if planning to split her in two.

“You, you bastards!”

If we keep this up, Luna might end up torn apart like in the judgment of Solomon, split into Lu and Na.

With adrenaline rushing to my head in an instant, I swung my axe sideways, cleanly splitting the annoying tree-monster in half.

Kwa-jik!

Even though I did it, it was astonishing how these thick trunks shattered like corn cobs. d*mn, I’ve really become strong!

Truthfully, I’ve always been confident in my axe skills.

Ever since I accompanied my hot-tempered father to the gravesites for clearing and through my military days dedicated to vegetation clearing, right up to chopping wood for Elfpride’s bath fuel, wielding an axe has always been my job.

Hooong, Hooong.

Kwa-jjik.

Each time the enormous axe flew around, branches and splinters went flying in all directions. Finally, Luna tumbled to the ground and rolled.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Chi, I thought I’d be torn apart! But Hassan, you’re amazing! You cleaved the Stomp in one hit! How do you do it!?”

“I don’t know either!”

Anyway, now that I’ve saved Luna, the only ones left are Rene and the bald elf.

Aiming at the trunk of the Stomp that was restraining the baldie, I drove the axe down. With a sound of “Czjeek,” the Stomp split vertically along its grain.

“Thank you for saving me!”

By then, the bald elf, who looked gaunt like an ascetic with all the hardships, adjusted his clothes and clenched his fists.

“Fiends in the shape of trees, receive the wrath of Albrheim!”

Hooong, Pak!

The bald elf then punched the tree trunk. However, punching a tree trunk was clearly ineffective, and once again, he was caught and restrained by bizarre roots and branches.

“Please, someone save me! My mana has all been absorbed, and I lack the strength to do anything…!”

d*mn you, kid. Saving you had no meaning!

Therefore, I turned my eyes from the bald elf and decided to save Rene instead. Rene had already been severely beaten by the roots and was in a pitiful state.

“Aah, Ahh, that’s not allowed…!”

…I think it might be alright to watch a little longer.

“Hassan, what are you doing? Hurry and save her already!”

Just at that moment, Luna’s voice from behind made me suddenly snap back to reality. It was the moment I was about to take a breath to swing my axe.

Mmuuuuh…

Na-mu-ddeut.

All the trees, including the Stomps entwining Rene, stopped their actions and began slowly retreating.

As I tensed up at the sudden situation,

Ssuek.

Joseph, the lumberjack, who had somehow appeared with another axe in hand, explained beside me.

“They’re being called by their queen. Those d*mn Stomp bastards usually offer all the nutrients they absorb from the earth to their queen. Hmm, anyway, we managed to hold them off temporarily. They’ll likely be quiet for about half a day.”

Let’s head back to the office. I’ll inform you more about the details of the case,” Joseph mumbled, turning around, and went back inside the wooden house.

Luna and I helped Rene and the bald elf, who were sprawled on the ground like they had been dropped, back up and followed Joseph inside.

“Drink this deeply. This is Sequoia sap. Though it’s less sweet than honey, its aftertaste is refreshing, making it better for quenching thirst. It’s also effective for restoring the energy taken by the Stomps.”

The lumberjack brought us as many wooden goblets as there were people. The liquid inside, glittering with an amber hue, gave off a sweet smell like sugar water.

Hoolup!

It indeed tasted clean and sweet when I drank it.

It’s like the taste of maple syrup mixed with water if I were to compare it. The taste was a little different from what I had imagined, but it was drinkable enough.

As I’ve mentioned before, in this world, sweetness is quite a luxury.

“It tastes good.”

Luna seemed to enjoy it as she licked her lips and fished a small scroll and a pen from the pouch attached to her waist, scribbling “Sequoia Sap” with crooked letters.

“What are you writing?”

“It might be good as potion ingredients.”

Ah, so you’re studying in your own way. You’re a better student than I thought.

After drinking the sap in the wooden goblets and eating some tasteless biscuits to restore our strength, Joseph spoke again.

“As you’ve just experienced, the damage caused by these Stomps at this lumberyard is enormous. Those rooty bastards steal all the nutrients from my lumberyard without permission, causing the normal trees to become weak.”

At his explanation, Rene, with her sunken eyes now sparkling, asked.

“I’ve heard that Stomps are usually mild-mannered. What could possibly make them behave this way, attacking people and stealing nutrients? I almost died!”

“These Stomps used to coexist with us, lumberjacks, for decades. They’d give us wood, and in return, we’d take their useless lives.”

d*mn, I don’t see where the ‘coexistence’ part comes in. It just looks like exploitation of both lives and timber to me.

Whether Stomps were originally mild-mannered or not, it’s strange that they haven’t gone crazy after decades of such exploitation.

Joseph continued.

“But some day, the bastards began to change. They started sucking all the nutrients from the land like famished devils, and even began attacking people and beasts to absorb their strength. It’s all because of their queen.”

Joseph, tightly gripping his massive boulder-like fist and trembling, was asked by Luna.

“Queen? I’ve never heard of Stomps having a queen. While bees and ants might, Stomps having a queen?”

“Of course, Stomps don’t have a queen. ‘Queen’ is merely a designation we lumberjacks gave. Anyway, there’s a terrifying necromancer deep within this lumberyard, who drives the Stomps into a frenzy. Catch this fiend for us.”

At the word “necromancer,” I pictured some weirdos in a black robe. sh*t, if those bastards show up again, can we really deal with them without Hippolyte?

“Necromancer, you say. Could it be the work of the Pluto Cultists?”

Rene with a sliding sound drew her sword to inspect the blade, which reflected her eyes, and then mentioned potential issues.

“But it feels impractical to cut the Stomps down with swords. Starting fires is also not an option. Any ideas?”

“Ah, well, there are specially enchanted axes. Weapons specifically created for cutting down trees.”

Joseph pointed with his finger to the corner.

There on a rack, various axes were neatly stored. Among them was the battle axe I had swung.

Sweeeet.

Rising from her seat, Rene grabbed a small hand axe from the storage and scrutinized it closely, furrowing her brow.

“It’s truly enchanted. This must’ve been expensive.”

“Yes, these axes can only cut down trees, but because of that, they are unparalleled in their task of cutting down a single tree.”

“Only cuts trees?”

Rene lightly swiped the sharp edge of the axe against her palm. Contrary to my expectation that bl**d would spurt out, only a slight mark remained on her hand without any noticeable cut.

“It seems these axes really only cut trees.”

“Isn’t that how all enchantments work? They come with restrictions, and only function under those constraints. These axes are swords of unparalleled caliber when it comes to chopping down trees, but apart from that, they’re not much better than blunt clubs.”

Ah, now I understand the previously seamless splitting of the battle axes. It must be because of both my increased strength and the quality of the axe.

While I was nodding to myself regarding my earlier actions, the bald elf asked,

“So, the wild man cutting down the Stomps so effortlessly was also thanks to these enchantments?”

“No, not quite. My battle axe wasn’t enchanted. Indeed, among the people I’ve seen lately, his axe-wielding was the most impressive. Seems you’ve cut down some trees before? You’re a talented lumberjack.”

Joseph, marveling incredulously while smacking his lips, earned a nose sneer from Rene.

“Samaria’s wilderness is barren. Where could there possibly be trees to cut? It must be thanks to the experience of slicing so many human torsos.”

“Indeed, that’s a valid point. Anyway, it’s comforting to know there are skilled Samaritans among us. Somehow, please do get rid of that queen for us.”

We received a tip from Joseph about the hideout of the Stomps’ queen and the necromancer, then set off.

This lumberyard was so vast it occupied half of the forest, requiring us more than half a day to walk through the trees to reach the hideout.

If everything goes well, we might have to prepare for camping tonight. Of course, since we’ve already packed all necessary camping gear, that’s no problem at all.

“sh*t! Hyacinth flowers!”

At that moment, Luna ran off somewhere with a pitter-patter sound, her hands muddied as she carefully unearthed the roots of some white wildflowers.

“What are you doing?”

“Collecting herbs. Wow, there are so many mushrooms on the trees too. Things we don’t see around Sodomora! Each root could go for at least 10 coppers!”

It seemed that the lumberyard felt like a treasure trove to Luna.

While Luna was frantically collecting mushrooms and wildflowers scattered everywhere, the bald monk muttered a few words.

“It seems you’ve recently upgraded to Bronze-tier. When I was wearing my iron necklace, I used to earn money by digging up grass and herbs. I think I’ll indulge a little in some nostalgia.”

With that, he began putting mushrooms into his pocket as well.

After hearing the 10 copper per root, his eyes must have rolled back. A religious zealot consumed by greed.

At any rate, it seems iron-tier or bronze-tier adventurers alike still rely on herb collection as a side business.

“Hmph, herbs or whatever. Don’t delay too much.”

While Rene, mocking the herbs and mushrooms, stood with her arms crossed like a disapproving onlooker, the bushes rustled suddenly.

“sh*t, it’s a rabbit! Tonight’s dinner!”

Calm as she was, Rene screamed and disappeared off into the brush. Who would’ve thought the party leader could vanish like that.

Though I initially wondered if it would be fine, since nobody said anything, I kept digging mushrooms and filling up my pockets. Thanks to this, I now smell strongly of mushrooms.

Since each root is 10 coppers, I must have made about 2 silver coins.

Around when my pockets were close to bursting, I looked around to see what the others were up to.

Soon, in my view, I saw Luna digging around the base of roots like a puppy digging into the ground.

Pah-suhk, Pah-suhk-Pah-suhk.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“There might be something here.”

“What is there?”

“Look at this tree root; it’s slightly shaded. The surrounding area is also wetter. Occasionally, valuable ingredients can be found by digging in places like this.”

Seeing Luna digging reminded me of my father who acted as an illegal land digger when I was younger. He used to say that sunny mountains have many bees, and shaded mountains have many snakes.

“Eh, nothing there.”

Luna soon rose with a disinterested thud, shaking the dirt from her hands.

“What were you looking for?”

“Wildlings. They’re worth about 30 silver per one. Since they’re used as potion ingredients, finding even one would be a fantastic return.”

I have no idea what a Wildling is, but the thought of an animal worth 30 silver made me dizzy. An animal worth that much must be some legendary beast, right?

“Wild animals living in the forest. There should be some around here…”

Luna, staring at tree roots with the serious eyes of a detective tracking a suspect.

“Is it here?”

Sweeet, Ssuuuek, Sswe-ek.

Both Luna and I dug around various tree roots, but ultimately, we couldn’t find the mythical creature worth 30 silver.

As we wandered through the forest, sometimes walking and sometimes doing other tasks, before we knew it, the sun set and darkness enveloped the lumberyard. The thick canopy of trees blocked out even the moonlight, leading night to fall early.

“Hassan, this seems to be an abandoned rest stop! We can pitch our tent here!”

At the clearing between the trees with many stumps, we finished setting up camp. At this moment, Rene, holding a rabbit in her hands, reappeared.

“Boil the water!”

Dinner was a stew with rabbit meat.

The herbs and mushrooms we just dug up were put into the sap water and boiled together.

Boil-Boil.

Mixing these ingredients and boiling them resulted in a pretty appetizing smell.

As I was distributing the stew into our bowls, I suddenly remembered we had a vegetarian among us.

“Didn’t the monk say he doesn’t eat animals? Shall we leave out the meat?”

“Place it appropriately at the bottom. It’s no longer an animal as it’s already dead. So eating it is not problematic.”

d*mn, what a strange one.

Still, how could one live without eating meat? It’s absurd.

So we ate a simple stew.

Adding a bit of Habanero chili oil to the left-over deer stew from last time gave it a slightly spicy flavor, making it taste a lot like Samgyetang, which was incredibly delicious.

“Savage brother. Your cooking skills are unexpectedly excellent. I’ve heard men in Samaria handle domestic work. This seems to be true.”

The bald kid approached me while I was cleaning the bowls. Though I’ve noticed this before, his silent approach is truly hair-raising.

“What? Is there any problem?”

“I’m just curious. Have you ever met another elf besides me?”

“Other elves…?”

For a moment, Elpride’s face flashed in my mind.

“It just seems like you know elves. While making the soup, you didn’t remove this, right?”

Sweeet, he extended something toward me. It was indeed the spice I had removed from the stew.

I didn’t recognize it by name, but it smelled like shampoo, and Elfpride had been very picky about that kind of spice, not liking it.

Assuming the bald monk was similar since he’s also an elf, I removed it, but he apparently noticed it.

“Why does it matter?”

“I am here in Gaia Continent from Albrheim, pursuing a runaway criminal. It’s a truly heinous sinner. If you happen to come across such a person, I hope you’ll inform me.”

“What does that person look like?”

“A, it will be obvious even from afar. They were cursed at birth and have had their color taken away. Their whole body will be white, except for bright red eyes.”

Such an albino-like figure. That must be Elpride. Who would’ve thought Elpride was a fleeing criminal from her homeland.

She doesn’t often talk about her hometown, and since she travels as an adventurer, I vaguely anticipated there might be some reason.

“But they are exceptionally beautiful, capable of captivating people easily, so beware. While roses protect themselves with beautiful flowers and thorns, sinners disguise their thorns with beauty.”

“Can I ask what crime they committed?”

At my question, Kalidur, the bald monk, paused as if considering deeply. His faintly brown eyes were quite intense.

“They burned the World Tree.”

[Author’s Notes]

May is over! Somehow, I’ve succeeded in releasing a chapter every day this month!! Please continue to support me! Now we’re gradually heading into the main story… Hiccup!!

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