Since the destination had been decided, I walked down a narrow path in the middle of the thick forest. One that would lead me to the Falla mountain range, further away from Larneâs castle.
I wearily went south, determined to reach my goal.
It was peaceful as I didnât encounter any monsters.
But Iâll be troubled if it is peaceful now of all times.
Considering I needed to secure food, Iâd like to see at least one animal, if just to eat it.
Monster-san, you may come out, itâs okay~
Because youâll be invited to my stomachâŠâŠ
Come, into the sea of stomach acid.
Youâll be melting comfortably like you were in the middle of a dream.
âMonster~ monster~â
Although I sought monster desperately, I did not feel any sign of one nearby.
I had expected a monster would come on its own accord as long as I wasnât hiding because of my weak appearance.
â.âŠâ
Even though I said that, IÂ couldnât help but feel down.
This somehow became boring.
If you had to look at the same scenery over and over again, even if it was fresh in the beginning, YouâllI gradually grow tired of it.
Plus I couldnât even move forward with ease, the soil with all the rain, produced an unpleasant wet sound.
âmetcya metcyaâ
d.a.m.n it!
I headed to the town with a completely different feeling from before.
Come to think of it, I begin to think to myself as I continue to walk, Â My feet are short.
Each of my steps are small ):.
I then came to understand the blessing my wings truly were.
Aa, my mobility is decreasing rapidlyâŠ
The mountain is also still far away.
Iâm also getting a little hungry.
Uu, this will take more time than I thought.
I walk and walk and walk and walk.. you get the picture
The leaves and branches p.r.i.c.kled my feet as I continued to walk.
Yup, when I could fly in the sky I didnât have to worry about this, but now I have to move by foot, so I need shoes.
The stains could be removed using water magic.
However, walking with shoes is much more comfortable than walking barefoot.
I took another step into some more mud.
They also need to be waterproof
When I reach the town, Iâll make money to buy some shoes.
Thus I imagined what my life would be like once I arrived at the town, while absentmindedly walking.
I earnestly walked all night.
Finally on the second day of my journeyâŠâŠI could see the foot of the mountain.
Was I overly optimistic in judging the distanceâŠâŠ?
The distance is not short at all, rightâŠ? I almost never traveled by foot so I couldnât be sure.
Leaving that aside, Iâm hungry.
In truth, monster usually appear considerable number.
If this continue on Iâll be forced to eat soilâŠ..
NoâŠâŠmaybe it is not that bad.
(Pr: This is what we call desperation)
Iâm a gargoyle, built from ore and minerals.
SoilâŠâŠit belongs in the same category, right? This could go well⊠right?
If this is feasible, I wonât have to worry about food for the rest of my life!
Wait wait! The hunger made my thoughts go off in dangerous direction.
I shook my head, driving away the dangerous ideas that came to mind.
I thought I would be okay not eating for 5 days, butâŠâŠ
Not even two days have pa.s.sed and Iâve grown more weaker from hunger than I would have imagined; I despise this feeling.
(Pr: You and my uni self both)
I could withstand being struck by v
arious kind of magic, poison, flame, water, light, even darkness, but Iâve never experienced starvation before.
I felt so resigned being able to do nothing about it.
(TN: MC canât do anything about his helplessness in this situation, because heâs almost never experienced it before)
In this area, other than wyverns, there should also be lesser orcs.
I wonder why they wonât appear?
I wonder if Larneâs death caused this anomaly inside the forest?
Please monster-san~
Come out quickly~
I prayed for the appearance of monsters.
Itâs alright, I will meet one for sureâŠ
PleaseâŠâŠplease. Come!
âUwaaaaaaaaa!â
(Pr: This is a sound effect, thought I might clear it up because of what comes after)
âUaaaaa, itâs comiiiiiiiiiiiing!â
From the path ahead, the shrill screaming voice of a woman could be heard.
Has it come?! Have the monster I waited eagerly for finally come?!
I only heard a scream, so there is the possibility of it being a thief or a molester instead of monster.
(Pr: Because molesters are pretty common in the middle of monster infested forests, yep)
A sense of justice ran through my body as I began to think about the situation.
I hurriedly rushed towards the direction of the scream.
I rushed ahead and found a very young goblin and a slime being attacked by a wyvern from the sky.
ââŠâŠâŠâŠâ
Huh, woman? What woman?
That is a male, d.a.m.n it! A goblin at that; I made a serious mistake!
I wonder if my hearing is getting bad.
Seems like I misunderstood something, because what I heard was the tender voice of an immature child. (TN: the voice didnât change, I think)
Well, in front of me is the monster I eagerly waited upon.
No problem, I wonât give a d.a.m.n about something like a hearing disorder.
No matter how you look at it, I donât think it is a pervert/molester.
âHiiiiiiiiitsu!â
Even if it was not a heroine
I have to help goblin-kun first.
Iâm not a good person, I just donât want to see a corpse. (TN: tsundere detected)(Pr: The best kind of dere, catch me outside, if you disagree)
Anyhow, Iâll attack from goblin-kunâs rear.
One of the wyverns was nose diving towards the goblin.
âTsutsu!â (Pr: A scream I think?)
Hearing a goblin male scream was not pleasant at all, well the female one wouldnât be pleasant either.
I started casting barrier magic to protect the goblin.
Aiming at the front of the goblin, I invokedăwater barrieră.
A membrane of transparent water arose from the ground around goblin-kun.
ăwater barrieră produces an elastic membrane, so it can take some blunt force simply changing its shape under pressure.
It is useless against thrusts above a certain power level, but it has no problem withstanding the wyvernâs claw.
âIt is safe there, donât leave the membrane if you donât want to dieâ
âHuh, aâŠâŠ.â
The goblin become dumbfounded, he couldnât keep up with the changes in the situation.
In order to further protect goblin, I stood inside the barrier, in front of the wyvern.
âAnyway, you donât seem to be injured.â
âYouâŠâŠare?â(Goblin)
As itâs attack was obstructed by my water barrier, all of the wyverns stared at me.
Those eyes gave me a sharp, piercing look.
They seemed to be angry.
I usually would overlook it, butâŠâŠ
Now that I need to secure some food, Iâm not going to let it go.
Though, they donât seem to be interested in targeting me. (TN: âŠbut they are angry at you?) (Pr: I think he means they held him in contempt.)
Iâll deal with you quickly.
âBa.s.saba.s.sa, ba.s.saba.s.sa, ba.s.saâ
(TN:The  sound of wings flapping)
ââŠâŠâŠâŠâ
So noisy!
They unnecessarily flapped their wings, are they boasting or something?
So cheeky? just because theyâre low ranked dragons.
You, and the one from a few days ago, both ridiculing me, who become a ground war specialist, from high up in the sky?
Aa! they are provoking me.
âBe prepared.â
Now, how should I take care of them?
I could do them in easily using wide range magic, but Iâm afraid I would damage the oh so important meat.
While I was in the middle of brooding over it, the wyvern caught me off guard, suddenly flying down.
You stole the start, oi.
Close combat? Then it is convenient!
Wyverns specialize in approaching at high speeds and utilizing their mobility to attack.
But, even though theyâre fast in general, it only looked like they were slowly gliding to me.
âHorayoâ (TN: not sure the right word in english, this is like some delinquent anime? That âHora!â. Or the sound when the mc is going to beat up the villain lol) (Pr:Think Jojoâs bizarre adventure)
I brandished my right claw at the head of the approaching wyvern, and stopping its advance.
Completely incapable of reacting to my claw, the wyvern lost its neck and tumbled down to the ground dying.
Other wyvern, astonished by their companionâs abrupt death, spread their wings in a hurry, trying to escape.
No way Iâm letting you go
ăWater cut!ă
Two water blades were launched at high speeds, aimed at the necks of the two remaining wyvern.
The water blades cleanly their necks.
Left behind were the bodies of three headless wyvern, with the latter two crashing down from the sky.
Maybe it was a little cruel, sorry about that.
But once again, this is the flow of nature. (Tn: Probably smth like the the strong eating the weak?)
Well thinking about it, I didnât need 3 bodies. (Pr: Poor wyvern)
Well
Obtaining a sufficient food supply, is this the long-awaited meal time?
âUumuuâ
How shall I eat it?
Obviously I donât have something like cooking skill.
If possible I want to roast or stew it butâŠâŠ
Iâm not able to use fire magic.
Guguu~ my stomach is grumbling.
Sorry, endure a bit longer.
I donât want to make belly-san wait any longer.
As expected I have no choice but to forcibly eat it raw as I planned before.
For  the time being, letâs start with the stomach, the most tender partâŠâŠ
It doesnât seem that delicious but Iâll have it.
âWell then, itadakimasu~â
âWait a minute!!!â
As I Resolved myself to put the wyvern meat in my mouth, the young goblin that I had rescued, waking up from his stupor, interrupted me.
Come to think of it, I forgot that I helped him.
âWhat is it, have you come to bother a personâs meal? Or do you wish for me to eat you instead of this meat?â
Since my meal was interrupted, I got a bit irritated.
(TN:The gargoyle is speaking like a delinquent, but the goblin is being polite.)
âHiii! No, I beg your pardon, please donât eat me. Wyvern meat canât be eaten if its poison hasnât been extracted first!â
âExtracting the poison?â
âY-yes. A wyvernâs internal organs contain poison, its internal organs need to be removed, while the rest of itâs body needs to be dried under the sun for one week before itâs edibleâ
âEh? seriously?! Then I must wait for a week?â
âYes, I couldnât believe you were going to eat it without even draining its blood at first.â
âIs that so, Iâm sorry then, thanks for informing me.â
I have lived a very long time, but in reality I know nothing about things that have nothing to do with fighting.
âNo, youâve saved my life. Iâm late to introduce myself, but my name is Daidalian, this slime here is called Baum. Thank you very much for helping me earlier even though it was dangerous.â
Goblin-kun gave a self-introduction, what a polite child.
âNevertheless, such things like stopping several wyverns is amazing, Itâs supposed to be the strongest monster around hereâ
âI have lived for 1500 years, this level of battle is nothing.â
âEh? No no no, sorry for my impoliteness, but thatâs impossible.â
He didnât believe me.
If I was in his position, I wouldnât believe something like a 1500 year old gargoyle would exist.
Intentionally lying on the other hand felt wrong, it is a nuisance, I think Iâll just leave it as a misunderstanding.
âBy the way, what are you going to do with these wyverns?â
What should I do.
I have no problem eating it since I should have some resistance to poison .
Hmm⊠I donât think Iâll eat it while aware of the poison though.
But honestly, I want to put something in my belly.
As expected, do I have to eat it without minding the poison?
âUu~n, there is poison in this meatâ.
âyesâŠâŠâ
âIt will need one week to eat it purge the poison.â
âyesâŠâŠâ
âEven so, I canât go a week without eating.â
âWhat if you die because of the poison!â
Such an outrageous thing to say.
It is only one day without eating and Iâm already like this.
If I have to wait for one whole week Iâll be die from starvation.
(Pr: B-but you have poison resistance, you just said it!)
âAno~ I have a suggestion, if it is okay with you, would you mind me dismantling it?â
âNo, but I have to wait one week all the sameâŠ.â
âThat is right, but if it is only to separate the poison, then by using a slime, Iâll able to extract the poison in a few hoursâ
âWhat!â
Hey, why you didnât tell me sooner!
If that was the case, I wouldâve treated you gentler.
âYesâŠit is just, the slime itself is in considerably weakened condition, it canât re-hydrate its body since there is no river around here and eventually itâll dry up completely.â
âI seeâŠ, in other words, you want me to re-hydrate it using water magic?â
âYesâŠ, could you please do this for me? Iâm sorry, if itâs a bit  of a shameless request coming from someone whoâs life youâve savedâ
âI donât mind.â
If that is compensation for having a meal, then it is cheap.
âTha, thank you very much! Good for you Baumâ (TN: If the one on the cover is our goblin, then weâve got a very VERY cute shota goblin. Fortunately he seemed to be dressed) (Pr: *Looks at cover* I imagined him greener)
Daidalian tightly hugged the slime he carried in his arms.
âBiâŠbigiiâŠâŠâ (slime sfx)
The goblin and slime seems to have a mutual understanding.
My telepathy is useless since I do not know the slime language.
From their story, they are the same as me who attained freedom after being released from demon lord Larneâs slavery magic.
That means that Daidalian protected the weak slime all the way from Larneâs castle until they reached this place.
Since there is no river around here, with the link of slavery magic being severed, the slime was left with no source of food to keep on living.
You have done well, as a slime and goblin pair with no battle ability,making it this far is commendable.
With Daidalian planning on dismantling the wyvern, I decided to immediately give water to the slime.
It felt good; I can finally have a meal.
You have the privilege of being served by I, who can use the top grade level 7 water magic ăTidal Reviveă.
Iâll give the worn-out you the finest quality water possible.
âBiâŠbigiâŠâŠâ
Seeing my expression, Baumu became vigilant, its body jiggling âpurupuru.â
It seemed to be saying 'stop, stop!â
Well it must be my misunderstanding. Itâs impossible to refuse this oneâs rare kindness.