The Mithricon sword. Passing Dwarf had told me to be as careful as possible about giving one away. Originally, I had planned to hand it over only after someone proved they had reached the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons.

But then some middle-aged guy went about verifying himself in a bizarre way.

Apparently, he was quite famous, since some people recognized him: the teacher of the Hero who was currently on the run after being branded a turncoat.

The revelation that someone like him had been assigned to the investigation team set the forum buzzing.

'The admin seemed to know him too.'

More than anything, I couldn't stop thinking about how shocked the admin had seemed. Even the exclamation marks that usually ended every sentence had vanished.

And that wasn't all. The admin had even sent me a private request.

Don't Abandon the Hero

Um... Grylls!

Could I ask you a favor!

What kind of favor?

Don't Abandon the Hero

The gift you promised anyone who verified they were part of the investigation team!

Could you give it to Ludwig, the man who just posted!

I can vouch for him!

Do you know him?

Don't Abandon the Hero:

Yes! I know him very well!

Well, if it's a favor for you, admin...

Don't Abandon the Hero

Thank you!

The next time you do something ban-worthy, I'll give you a free pass!

And so we'd struck a deal of sorts. I could simply make another sword, so it wasn't a losing proposition for me.

What mattered most was that the investigation team survived after entering the forest and made it to me.

You might say I ought to give them an Elixir too, in that case, but that was a different matter.

Starlight Lady had worked hard to make those Elixirs. I'd acquired them through a trade, but they still carried her goodwill.

Casually handing that goodwill to someone else might upset her. That was just how people felt about these things.

'They're an investigation team. They'll have brought a variety of medicines and such.'

Even if they weren't on par with Elixirs, they would have brought excellent remedies. All that remained now was to wait for them to arrive.

No one knew how long that would take. Space was erratic here. And the forest was about the size of a small country, so with bad luck, we might never meet at all.

'They might settle down somewhere suitable, like I did.'

If they could use the forum, locating them would be dozens of times easier. But everyone knew that using the forum inside the Forest of Four Seasons was impossible.

Eldorado seemed certain it would work, but who knew? Maybe I was special.

'Have they gone in by now?'

I checked the posts by the man who had introduced himself as Ludwig. He hadn't posted anything since receiving the sword. It was like he'd taken it and run.

I'd have liked him to post proof when he entered the Forest of Four Seasons, but there was nothing like that either. Maybe he really was just an older guy who'd accepted the gift and headed straight in.

'If the forum worked, he would've posted... That's a shame.'

It hadn't been five minutes. A whole hour had passed, yet there were still no new posts. The forum seemed curious about Ludwig's whereabouts too, but there was no obvious way to find out.

There was, at least, an indirect way: asking the admin.

The admin could check the real-time locations of anonymous users as well as registered ones. It was a privilege and a right exclusive to the admin, and it could give me some idea.

'I should ask.'

The admin seemed to know him, and this mattered to me too. I immediately sent a message, hoping the admin was on the forum.

Admin.

Do you happen to know where the registered user LudwigVanErold is?

Is he still outside the Forest of Four Seasons?

Don't Abandon the Hero

He's still in front of the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons!

I sent him a message, but he hasn't replied!

Do you think something's happened?

Don't Abandon the Hero

I don't know either!

I think we'll have to wait and see!

Had something happened? That was what came to mind after hearing the admin's explanation.

Even people on the forum said this was an investigation team in name only, and really more of a purge. Send them into the Forest of Four Seasons, and there was a very high chance they would be declared "missing."

'Or is he just an older guy who doesn't know how to send messages?'

It wasn't entirely implausible, but that wasn't certain either. I could only start making real plans once the investigation team entered the Forest of Four Seasons.

'No. What plans?'

Space changed however it pleased here. What could I count on besides luck? If they were lucky, they might land in my part of the forest. If not, they could end up on the opposite side.

Besides, according to the admin, I was currently in the center of the Forest of Four Seasons. The odds of running into them were abysmal, but all I could do was hope.

'Let's make some charcoal first.'

Until they entered the Forest of Four Seasons, there was almost nothing I could do. I had work of my own, so I planned to focus on that for now.

'Let's see. A charcoal kiln...'

The charcoal I'd gotten from campfires so far amounted to next to nothing. It hadn't even been enough to fill a small container. That said it all.

Every sword or tool I made consumed a large quantity of charcoal. I needed some way of producing it in bulk.

I knew nothing about this sort of thing, but I knew someone who did.

Starlight Lady

The most important thing in making charcoal is cutting off oxygen.

Cutting off oxygen?

Starlight Lady

Yes.

Charcoal is made through incomplete combustion, which requires cutting off oxygen.

Would you like a detailed explanation?

No.

I'm good.

Thank you very much, though.

Starlight Lady

You're welcome.

Feel free to ask me anything about alchemy.

That person was Starlight Lady, a genius at alchemy and the registered user who had previously taught me about smoking food.

You might ask whether I should have consulted Allfather too, but that seemed to be a different field, so I'd asked Starlight Lady. Passing Dwarf specialized in metallurgy—in other words, metals—so I hadn't even considered asking him.

'So I need to cut off oxygen...'

Cutting off oxygen would cause incomplete combustion, which would let me make charcoal. As I mulled that over, the oven caught my eye.

More specifically, the mud smeared between its stones. It had hardened and now served as an adhesive.

'That's it!'

Inspiration struck. I immediately began gathering wood.

There was the path the gorilla chief had made earlier with a single punch. Fallen trees lay along it, forming the path itself, so finding wood wasn't difficult.

'I'll explore that path later.'

I gathered up the wood and stood it together as though building a campfire. Now all I had to do was light it... Except I didn't. I needed to coat it with mud to cut off the oxygen.

If I applied mud directly to the wood, it wouldn't stick well and would probably slide off.

'I'll make a rough frame out of branches.'

So I wrapped branches around it, especially ones with dry leaves still attached. Once they were all in place, I slathered mud over them to form a kiln.

That wasn't all. The fire needed to burn vigorously at first, so I made holes at intervals. I made one at the very top too. That was where I planned to put the fire in.

WHOOSH!

Finally, I put a burning branch in through the top and checked that the wood was burning properly. That was it.

Naturally, the top burned well, but what mattered was the bottom. That was why I'd made the extra holes. Once the bottom seemed to be burning properly too, I blocked every vent to cut off the oxygen.

"Cough! Cough! Ugh, that stings. Really stings. Maybe I shouldn't have checked?"

I'd opened a hole midway through to check that it was burning properly and only ended up inhaling smoke. Anyway, now that I'd confirmed it was burning, I could get on with something else.

'What's happening now?'

I opened the forum to check for developments. But Ludwig still hadn't posted. All that was circulating were baseless rumors about the investigation team.

Infighting had broken out among the investigators. Grylls's gift was so powerful that it had caused trouble. And so on.

Speculative posts were flying everywhere, but their credibility was close to zero.

'Why would they fight among themselves? Their survival rate is low enough here already.'

Please don't fight. Get along, come inside, and meet me.

Well, honestly, there was no guarantee they'd even make it in. I was better off keeping my hopes modest.

After browsing the forum a little, I closed it. Nothing particularly stood out.

'Wait. Come to think of it, even if they enter the forest, will they be able to get to me?'

Smoke occasionally rose high into the sky, but that would hardly be enough. Compasses didn't work in this damned forest, and even judging the terrain was difficult, so getting lost was easy.

I managed because I had some experience and only visited familiar places. New arrivals couldn't possibly have that kind of know-how.

'I should at least make some signposts.'

I'd put up signs so they could find out where I was. It was a little d*mbass, but effective. I immediately got my tools ready.

There were no signposts listed on the auction house, so I had no choice but to make them myself.

SCRITCH! SCRITCH! SCRITCH!

Wood was everywhere around me. I made the signposts from dry wood of a suitable size, crafting the slotted boards and poles separately, then fitting them together.

'I should paint them white so they're easy to spot, right?'

I bought paint from the auction house. That was expensive too.

In the middle of each arrow-shaped board, I drew a house: a trapezoid on top of a square, with windows inside the square. Something that would announce, "Someone lives here!"

They looked reasonably presentable. They stood somewhere between my chest and neck, so they ought to be easy to spot.

Made Some Signposts.

Wild Grylls

Made some signposts just in case the investigation team passes by. Going to put them up now.

Members of the investigation team! If you see these, follow the arrows! That's where I am!

└Heavenly Demon You've made them very neatly. Between these and the sword, you are remarkably skilled with your hands.

└Wild Grylls Thank you hehe

└Aren't you getting your hopes up a bit too much lmao

└Thought this bastard was joking, but he was serious lmao

└What are you gonna do if nobody comes into the Forest of Four Seasons?

└Wild Grylls Cling to Roundfur and sob.

└LMAOOOO

└LMAOOO

└That's kinda cute lmao

└What did Roundfur ever do to deserve that? lmao

└Wild Grylls He's my only source of comfort.

└Are you really lonely? Want me to come?

└Wild Grylls Seriously?

└Of course I'm lying lol

└Wild Grylls You bastard lol

└Don't Abandon the Hero If you really do meet him, please give him a warm welcome! Ludwig is a truly kind man!

└Wild Grylls Doesn't he have to enter the forest before I can do anything? Still no word that he's coming in...

└Don't Abandon the Hero That's true! Honestly, I hope he doesn't go in!

└Wild Grylls You're crushing my hopes.

└Don't Abandon the Hero I'm sorry, but I think shattered hopes are better than a human life being sacrificed for nothing!

└Wild Grylls Fuck, sob. Can't argue with that.

└I feel for you, Grylls... But the admin's right.

└You're the weird one. Normally, people die within days of entering the Forest of Four Seasons...

└Wild Grylls If you've got some skill, you've got a better chance of surviving. There was my predecessor too.

└Predecessor? You mean that skeleton?

└So you've finally accepted him as your predecessor lol

Even the admin had indirectly told me to abandon hope! But I wasn't giving up.

Of course, that didn't mean I wanted them to come in at the cost of their lives. I was just... preparing for the possibility of the investigators becoming "lost survivors."

'Are they still waiting outside the entrance?'

With that thought in mind, I made more signposts. I planned to put them along every route I'd traveled so far.

'I want to talk to another person too.'

After two weeks, loneliness was starting to creep in.

* * *

While Grylls was very kindly making and installing signposts...

THWUMP!

"Aaaaaaagh!!!"

A paladin went flying toward the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons, flailing his arms as though he really didn't want to go in.

He remained visible for only a moment. The instant he crossed the forest's "entrance," he vanished without a trace.

"Whew..."

Ludwig, the other paladin who had kicked him in the back, caught his breath. Then he slowly turned to face the openly hostile oversight team.