Gumihou: General editing through the entire chapter. Certain scenes were oddly stilted…
Everyone practically bounced awake the next day.
Today was an exciting day. The long-awaited hunting day. More importantly, a no-Elland-san-peeking-at-us day.
After a huge breakfast for my familiars (I only had a bit of bread and soup), we set out for the nearby forest.
Once [1] outside the walls, Grandpa Gon said, “Hmm, I know an interesting hunting ground. Shall we pay a visit?”
“An interesting place?”
“Indeed, deep inside a forest, there’s a place where the ground rose higher than trees and even more thickly forested. There are many interesting monsters in that higher forest.”
“A higher land? You mean, a mountain?”
“Hmm, not quite a mountain. Umuu, the best description is… oh, it is like a flat space where food is arranged upon.”
“A… table?”
“Indeed, a table.”
“… that description doesn’t actually help…” I thought hard and finally said. “Is it something like a ‘Tabletop Mountain [2]’?” I saw them on a TV programme about the Guiana Highlands.
If this tabletop mountain is anything like the ones on earth… it would be filled with unique creatures and plants not found in other places…
“… …” just thinking about the extra monstrous things in a world already filled with lots of monsters…
“Denied.”
“What? Why!!?? Didn’t you hear? Interesting place!! Unique monsters!!”
“How far is it?”
“Umu, not far, just a short flight over…”
“Exactly. Denied.” [3]
“What? Just for that?”
Everyone was grumbling at me, but I’m standing firm. No means no.
“Because having Grandpa Gon fly in the sky will just cause a commotion in the world, [1] you should have thought of this earlier before we left Carelina so that I could inform the Adventurer’s Guild before we take off.”
“But, I won’t be spotted, I’ll fly really low…”
“Grandpa Gon, your full size is close to twenty storeys tall, you’re basically a flying fortress.”
“Grrr….”
“Hey, Grandpa Gon, could you come here for a bit? I heard there’s a lake in that place you mention?”
Fer’s voice sounded oddly mechanical and stiff as he said that.
“Ohh, there is, there is, there’s a clear lake right in the middle…”
[1a] “Ahah, did Master hear that? There’s a lake, which means there are probably fish. Unique and delicious fish~~~”
[1a] “Fish~~” I started to drool at the thought of fish… “Wait, why are we talking about fish?”
[1a] “Well, my Master likes fish a lot, right? I am thinking about Master.”
[1a] Kuuhhh, fish, it’s been a long time since I had any. I’m certainly tempted…
While I was conflicted between the thought of eating fish vs giving in to the illegal flight, I didn’t notice my two largest familiars whispering to each other in the background until I did.
“Hey, what are you two whispering over there?!” I was immediately suspicious.
“Nothing, Master,” said Fer.
“Indeed, it was nothing,” said Grandpa Gon.
“You two… are being really suspicious,” I said.
“That’s not important, what’s important is, we should leave now if we want to get back before dark.”
“What? What are you-” [1a] [1a]
“Grandpa Gon, now.”
“Now?! What now?!”
Suddenly, a light flashed around Grandpa Gon and he grow taller and taller.
“No!! What are you doing?!”
“It’s fine, Grandpa Gon is only going to grow up to half his usual size. That way, he won’t be so noticeable.”
“Not notic- what?! He’s still a big dragon!! A bigger dragon!!”
“Noisy, get on.”
Before I know it, I was tossed onto Grandpa Gon’s back. Fer hopped up behind me, followed by my two smaller familiars.
“”Yay~~!! New forest, new forest~ Sui will pew pew lots~~””
“”Awesome! Can’t wait to get some special meats!””
“You two…” betrayed! I felt betrayed!
“Right, grit your teeth, we’re taking off,” said Fer.
What else could I do but grit my teeth and cling to Grandpa Gon’s scales as the ground rapidly disappeared from under our feet?
“Oi, we’re here.”
What is here?
I don’t know. I don’t care.
I was clinging to Grandpa Gon’s scales with my eyes closed. Not really out of fear, but more out of exhaustion when Fer poked my head with his nose.
“Hey, stop it.”
I released my hold and more or less fell to the ground.
We left Carelina early in the morning. The sun was now directly overhead.
“What the heck? You say it wasn’t far…”
I looked around and had to gape at the trees I’m seeing.
“Wait, just how old is that tree…?”
The tree in question was massive, and there were lots of them. This was… more than a forest, it was a jungle.
“”Wow~~ the trees are really, really big, Aruji~~””
“”Hohoho, looks like we could get ourselves some interesting prey here~~!!””
Well, at least the littlest ones like it.
“This is the place?” I asked stupidly, looking at the densely forested area filled with protruding tree roots, snaking vines and misty shadows… it looked like a set for Jurassic Park, filled with CGI dinosaurs, or a manga drawing covered in gi gi gi gi or guwaaaaa, onomatopoeias.
A dangerous place indeed.
Naturally, my familiars did not care about things like ‘danger’.
Rather, danger = fun, for these battle crazies…
“Oi, let’s get started right away.”
“Oho, someone’s impatient.”
“”Ou! Let’s go, let’s go!!””
“”Sui will pew pew lots~~!!””
“”Bet I’ll get more.””
“”Sui will get more~!!””
“”Hoohhh? A race? Yeah, bring it!!””
“”Yay~~!!””
“… …” I don’t care anymore.
Wait, I care! I care very much since it looked like my party was ready to dump me here to go hunting.
“Wait, wait, wait! Are you just going to leave me here?!” In this super creepy forest?!
“Mm? I’ve put up a barrier,” said Fer.
“No, no, barriers are one thing, but it’s creepy to be alone, you know?!” I shrieked.
“Hey, Fer. Could your barrier defend against Behemoths [4]?”
I… seemed to have heard a forbidden word.
“What, what are you talking about? A B-behe…”
“Well, it’s just a possibility,” said Fer with a smirk.
“There was one when I was last here…” added Grandpa Gon unhelpfully.
“Wait, an actual Behemoth? A Behemoth in the wild?!” I am positively shrieking now. I should never have been distracted by thoughts of fish [1a]?!
“”Hear that Sui? An actual wild Behemoth, kekeke~~””
“”A Be-he-moss~?””
“It’s that thing at the bottom of Doran’s dungeons,” said Fer.
“”Uwaah~~ wild boss, fun~~””
Why are you two so excited?
It’s a Behemoth, you know?
An actual Behemoth in the wildddddd!!!!
[Gumihou: Hmm… trimmed off a lot of unnecessary things]
[1] Place them outside the walls immediately. There was a bit of back and forth later about Grandpa Gon flying and being reported to the Adventurer’s Guild. Which makes no sense because he could just drop a word with them on the way out. Strengthen the weak argument a little.
[1a] The ‘running out the city on Fer’s back’ scene is taken away due to [1]. Replace this scene with a ‘lots of fish’ scene. Since Fer should know that Mukouda is partial to fish, the thought of eating fish should distract him.
[2] Tabletop Mountain phenomenon actually exists – It’s probably a ‘tepui’, which are also known as ‘islands above the rainforest’ and are home to a large number of unique plants and animals not found anywhere else.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepui
[3] Give Mukouda some spine. Did not allow him to babble, just stand firm and ‘Deny’.
[4] The ‘Behemoth’ thing was supposed to be one of the things they whispered about, and talked about whispering about. However, it just makes the chapter draggy. Took it out.
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