Whoever had done this was now firmly on the speed-sloth's shit list.

With that thought, I posted on the forum. Not the handprints, but the footprints. The handprints could wait. Finding the culprit was the urgent issue right now.

Quite apart from the speed-sloth losing its entire supply of staple food, I was taking this seriously too. Whether they'd deliberately waited for us to leave or the timing had simply been bad, all this had happened in the short time we'd been gone.

'Now I can't even leave home whenever I want.'

Should I have put up an iron fence too? I wasn't sure. Maybe what I needed wasn't a fence, but an actual door. It was something I needed to start considering.

Anyone know who these footprints belong to?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of animal footprints)

(Photo of animal footprints)

(Photo of the speed-sloth from behind, radiating devastation and fury)

(Photo of Roundfur beside it, cautiously watching its mood)

Went exploring today and came back to find my fasting pills gone.

I think these footprints belong to the thieves. Anyone recognize them? Asking because there's a bunch of different prints.

└Heavenly Demon They look more like handprints than footprints. Incidentally, I can feel the speed-sloth's fury through the photograph alone.

└Sword Masta Right? Roundfur walking on eggshells beside it is cute too. Does he know something awful happened?

└Wild Grylls Roundfur's surprisingly quick on the uptake. Heavenly Demon, if it's not too much trouble, could I ask for some more fasting pills?

└Heavenly Demon Certainly, but it will take time. Those pills use rare medicinal herbs, so supplies are limited.

As soon as I read that reply, I checked on the speed-sloth. It was still staring at the spot where the fasting pills had been.

For a human, would this be like losing a whole stockpile of meat dishes? Now you'd have to live on vegetables and greens, without any meat.

Putting it that way, I'd be pissed too. Besides, this wasn't just the speed-sloth's problem.

'Trespassing on my territory wasn't enough. They had to steal my stuff too.'

Embarrassing as it was, I tended to relieve myself nearby whenever nature called. I wanted to mark my territory at least a little that way. Before that, I'd covered it with dirt.

But since I had to stay here for a long time, establishing my own territory was a necessity.

└Starlight Lady Stealing someone's meals! What nasty creatures. What will you do if you find them?

└Wild Grylls I don't have enough time to find them today. I'll have to look tomorrow.

└Slutty Princess Is the uniform safe, though?

└Wild Grylls It was lying on the ground.

└Slutty Princess ...

└Rejected lmaooo

└Even animals pass on Slutty's uniform lol

└The design is kinda crap lol

└Never mind the design, that deer emblem lol

└Allfather Hmm. Judging by the footprints, they appear to belong to apes.

└Wild Grylls Apes?

└Allfather Yes. I don't know the exact species, but they're definitely ape prints.

└Wild Grylls Then they're probably gorillas. Do gorillas invade other animals' territory?

└Allfather Not usually... As I mentioned before, they're not particularly aggressive, so aside from fighting among themselves, they rarely fight outsiders.

In other words, there was a good chance some sort of change had occurred in the gorillas too. Whether it was their aggression or something else, it wasn't good news for me.

'Looks like there were several of them, not just one...'

There were plenty of footprints, and a closer look showed differences in their shapes. After roughly sorting them out, I counted about four or five individuals. Even one would be more than I could handle, yet an entire group had broken in.

This wasn't something I could let slide. I absolutely had to make an example of them.

'But how?'

I didn't know exactly where the gorillas lived or when they'd come back. They might loot the place every time my animal friends and I left.

It seemed my only option was to set a trap and wait. Entering their territory was far too dangerous.

'I never thought they'd make the first move like this.'

I might trespass on their territory, but I'd never imagined other animals would rob my home. As I'd said earlier, I should have realized when that raccoon openly stole my fasting pills.

The animals in this forest seemed to be evolving in directions far beyond anything I expected.

└All Hail the Sun What will you do if you catch the thieves? Just kill them?

└Wild Grylls If they do it again, I'll have no choice. This is where I live.

└All Hail the Sun You've gotten ruthless. Didn't you agonize over the speed-sloth for ages?

└Wild Grylls It wasn't that I chose not to kill it. I couldn't kill it;;

└All Hail the Sun Oh. Right. Forgot about that.

└Speedy looks seriously pissed this time.

└Whoever did it is definitely dead lol

└Gorilla vs. speed-sloth. Now that's epic.

└Passing Dwarf Huh? What got stolen?

└Wild Grylls Fasting pills. Speedy's food. Also my emergency rations.

└Passing Dwarf Oh, yeah? Guess you'll have to put in a door now lol

└Wild Grylls Seriously considering it.

└Passing Dwarf Actually, don't bother. They'll just smash it anyway.

└Wild Grylls Good point. Ah, fuck.

└Destined to get robbed;;

└Guess you have to keep the place wide open lol

└Free giveaways at Grylls's house.

└Wild Grylls Shut up, you bastards.

└Grylls. The culprit always returns to the scene of the crime.

└Comment above is right. They might come again tomorrow.

└Wild Grylls So I have to wait until tomorrow either way. Okay then.

After chatting on the forum for a while, I looked around my camp. Apart from the cave, it was mostly wide-open space. I'd blocked it off with barricades, but smaller animals could easily get through.

'Like the dwarf said, even if I put up a door, they'd smash it.'

An iron fence could keep the small animals out, but even a door would struggle against the big ones. There were so many creatures at either extreme that I couldn't think of a suitable solution.

My best bet was to claim this area as my territory and make them afraid to wander in.

'Should I cheer Speedy up first?'

The speed-sloth was still staring blankly into space. It seemed more defeated than angry now. I started to put a hand on its shoulder, then stopped. Come to think of it, the little bastard still hadn't washed.

I quietly lowered my hand and offered some words of comfort instead.

"I'm angry too, Speedy."

"..."

"We've got enough food for today, so don't worry too much. But I can't promise we'll get those fasting pills back."

I could get more from Heavenly Demon, but it was probably best to consider the stolen pills gone for good. As Allfather had said, gorillas were herbivores. They might eat the lot.

"They might come back tomorrow, so just hang on for now. We can teach them a lesson then. Okay?"

"..."

"Lighten up a bit. You're making Roundfur nervous."

Only then did the speed-sloth look to the side, toward Roundfur. Roundfur flinched when their eyes met, but soon started nuzzling it with his cheek.

"Kyuu. Kyuuu."

"..."

Had Roundfur's adorable nuzzling softened its mood? The speed-sloth slowly raised a hand and rested it on Roundfur's head. Apparently it thought of him as a pet, or perhaps family, too.

I smiled fondly for a moment before turning my thoughts back to how to handle things from here.

'Traps... would be pointless. Is there anything like CCTV?'

There was an orichalcum vein nearby, after all. I wondered whether there was a spell for that. With broadcast magic already around, surely there had to be something like CCTV.

If I couldn't stop my home from being robbed, I at least wanted to see the culprit's face.

'Or I could scare them off with an alarm.'

That wasn't a bad idea. Wouldn't Slutty Princess know about this stuff?

I was just about to open the forum with that thought when it happened.

RUSTLE

"..."

I distinctly heard something brush against the grass outside. The instant I heard it, I stopped everything I'd been doing to open the forum.

Roundfur must have sensed something too. He stopped nuzzling, his eyes widening as he froze.

And finally, the speed-sloth... smoothly turned its head toward the cave entrance. So did I.

Silently, stealthily, I slipped a hand into my extradimensional bag and drew out my crossbow. I always carried it, just in case.

Picking it up off the floor would have made at least a little noise, but drawing it from the bag made none at all. Cocking it was no trouble either. I was stronger than before; this much was a piece of cake.

-Ooh! Oooh!

-Oooh!

Monkey calls came from outside the cave. I couldn't tell whether they belonged to small monkeys or gorillas. I'd have to see them to know.

I crept forward, keeping utterly silent. And apparently the anonymous user had been right about culprits always returning to the scene of the crime.

"Ooh! Ooh!"

"Oooh."

Two monkeys—no, gorillas—were saying something outside. One was beating its chest in apparent frustration, while the other seemed to be trying to stop it.

As creatures that understood the concept of theft, they seemed smarter than ordinary gorillas. But that didn't make them anything more than thieves to the speed-sloth and me.

Bastards who stole food in the wild deserved to die. They knew that risk when they stole it, didn't they?

I slowly raised the crossbow and aimed at a gorilla. They were still chattering away, apparently completely unaware that we'd returned.

I wanted to pull the trigger, but restrained myself with superhuman patience. My chances of hitting would improve if they came a little closer. It was still too soon.

SPLASH!

"Oooh!"

Had the fasting pills not been enough? One of the gorillas pulled a fish out of the metal tub. The fish was so big that even the gorilla had to wrap both arms around it.

The sight made my rage meter climb another notch.

The otters had all died trying to steal my fish. That gorilla would meet the same fate.

As I quietly took aim, the speed-sloth slipped into place beside me. It wasn't trying to move forward; it stayed right at my side. It felt like a spotter assisting a sniper.

"Ooh! Oooh!"

"Ooh."

Soon the gorillas turned around and started heading back, looking thoroughly pleased with themselves. I aimed at the one that had gotten greedy for my fish.

I held my breath, and just as my aim settled perfectly...

-Shoot.

I might have imagined it, but a voice I thought belonged to the speed-sloth rang inside my head. The moment I heard it, I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

TWANG!

The instant the string released, the bolt tore through the air, its tip headed straight for the gorilla's broad back.

THWACK!!

"Gwoooooar!!"

"Wooar?!"

FLAP-FLAP

The bolt buried itself squarely in the gorilla's back. It bellowed in pain, and the fish it had been holding flew into the air, thrashing wildly.

CREEEAK

I didn't stop there. I immediately drew another bolt and cocked the crossbow. Then I aimed at the gorilla again. The other one had already fled into the undergrowth.

The wounded gorilla was desperately trying to escape too. It seemed to have no attention to spare for the fish lying on the ground.

A human would have gone down from that single shot, but a beast was a beast, apparently. Still, there was a way to cripple even a beast's mobility.

THWACK!

"Wooooar!!"

Aim for the legs.

The bolt lodged cleanly in the gorilla's calf. I'd fired as soon as I reloaded, so that was pretty lucky. Or perhaps my aim had improved. Either way, things were going well.

As soon as the gorilla collapsed, I took up my sword and shield and stepped outside. The speed-sloth climbed onto my back, ready to fight at any moment.

"Wooar..."

The gorilla stretched a hand toward the bushes, desperate to escape. But its companion had already abandoned it. There was no one left to help.

I walked right up to it as it struggled to crawl away. It must have noticed my shadow falling over it, because it slowly turned to look at me.

"Oo... Wooar..."

The gorilla stared at me in terror. Then it spotted the speed-sloth clinging to my back, and its eyes went wide.

It looked as though it couldn't believe what it was seeing, as if to say, What are you doing here?

I didn't know what was going on, but it had definitely met the speed-sloth before.

"Uh... Uuugh..."

The gorilla pointed a finger at the speed-sloth, then passed out. Judging by the foam at its mouth, it hadn't been able to withstand the physical and mental shock.

Aside from the language barrier, its reactions seemed completely human. Had its intelligence really increased?

More than that, though, I found its reaction puzzling.

"Speedy."

"..."

"What did you do to these guys?"

Had it been the local bully? I wasn't sure.

'It certainly acts like one.'

The fact that it had shaken me down for food made the idea oddly plausible.