Now that I’d dealt with the core, which had been little more than a nuisance, I started getting lunch ready. Not that there was much to it beyond heading up to the river to check for fish. If there weren’t any, I’d eat smoked meat; if there were, I’d eat fish. I wondered how many had been caught while I was locked in mortal combat with the guardian.

‘Two if I’m lucky?’

Roundfur had just woken up, so we all headed up to the river. The speed-sloth had come before, but this was my first time bringing Roundfur along too. Still, as long as he stuck close and stayed out of trouble, we should be fine.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

“Kyuu! Kyu-kyu!”

“Okay, okay. Just a moment.”

Luckily, there were two fish in the trap. Those red fish never ceased to amaze me. Not only were they huge, they tasted incredible. Even as I pulled up the trap, I kept a close watch on Roundfur in case he went into the river. The golden frog family would come springing out the moment he entered the water, so I had to be careful.

RUSTLE.

I had almost finished retrieving the trap when I heard the bushes rustle. I wondered if Roundfur had brushed against them, but he was right beside me. In other words, it was most likely another animal. I kept hauling in the trap, doing my best to act oblivious. Eventually, I pulled it all the way out, and as the fish thrashed vigorously inside...

RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

The bushes rustled much louder than before, unmistakably this time. I immediately grabbed my sword and shield and turned toward the sound. Roundfur must have sensed something was wrong too, because he bristled and went on alert.

“Keeen. Keek.”

“Eeen. Eeng.”

The animals emerging from the bushes looked quite familiar. Soaking wet, mostly dark gray bodies. Faces that were almost cute, yet distinctly wild. Long bodies and viciously overgrown claws.

“... Otters?”

Otters had appeared before us. Not just one, either, but several.

Their bright, cute appearance almost made me let my guard down a little. But where was I? The Forest of Four Seasons, where even the frogs were deadly. I tightened my wavering guard and watched the pack of otters. There looked to be about five or six.

‘Why are they so huge?’

Their size was on an entirely different level from the otters I knew. Part of it was that they were standing upright, but even so, they came up past my waist. With those vicious claws, and an entire pack of them at that, I couldn’t help being tense.

The fish flopped vigorously inside the trap, the only movement in our standoff. One of the otters turned its gaze toward them. It seemed to have its eye on my catch. Apparently, they’d come to steal the fish.

‘You thieving little bastards.’

Not a chance. I wasn’t handing them over. I activated my mana. The mana the guardian had absorbed was replenished now, thanks to the abundance of it in the Forest of Four Seasons.

“Keek? Keeek?”

“Keeeeen.”

As I gradually built up my threatening presence, the otters began taking up positions. Two stayed in the rear while the three in front lowered their bodies.

“Kyaaaaa!”

The otter I assumed was their leader bared its teeth at me in a threat. People usually thought of otters as cute, but this one must have been an American otter. With its teeth bared, forget cute—it looked every bit as ferocious as a carnivore. Well, fish were their staple food, so I supposed otters were carnivores.

‘The things I’ve encountered so far were alone, but these guys are a pack. I need to be more careful.’

One wrong move and they could gang up on me. There was no telling what would happen if their teeth or claws caught me.

“Speedy, protect Roundfur. I’ll be fine.”

“...”

The speed-sloth was the most dependable one here. At my request, it slowly climbed down from my back and onto Roundfur. I had my shield, so I would be fine, but Roundfur was still inexperienced. He needed the speed-sloth’s help.

“Kyaaaaa!”

The largest otter charged with its teeth bared, aiming straight for me. It closed in with speed that belied its oversized frame, then launched an attack with its vicious claws.

CLANG!

But it didn’t stand a chance. I had the shield All Hail the Sun had given me. The moment its attack ended, I swung my sword without hesitation.

WHOOSH!

“?!”

An alarming sound reached my ears, and I raised my shield again. It was a defense born more of instinct than thought.

TING! CLANG!

Something hard struck my shield. The impact wasn’t especially strong, but the important part was that something had flown at me. I checked the object that had dropped beneath my shield.

‘A rock?’

It was a rock. A hefty one the size of my fist.

I barely had time to wonder who had thrown it before the leader charged again. It leaped high into the air and lunged for my face. It seemed intent on shredding me with those sharp claws, but it was too late.

THUNK!

I lifted my shield and easily blocked the leader’s pounce. Rather than stopping at that, I swung the shield hard before it could get away. No matter how big an otter was, a shove like that was bound to send it flying.

“Kieeeeng!”

The leader flew off with a scream that didn’t suit its vicious appearance. I intended to finish off the other otters before it came back. Turning toward Roundfur and the speed-sloth, I was treated to quite a sight.

“Kyukyaaaaa!”

“Keeeeeng!”

One otter had already been sliced into three pieces and was spraying blood, while another was pinned beneath Roundfur. Every time it tried to resist, he pecked it with his beak and tore into it with his claws. A complete victory. The speed-sloth had apparently been putting in some serious work.

SWISH! SLASH!

It was even casually snatching incoming stones out of the air or slicing them apart with its claws. What an incredible performance. Wait—were the otters actually throwing rocks?

“Keeeng! Keeng!”

“Kyaaaang!”

They really were. The two that had stayed in the rear were busily hurling rocks. Did otters do that? Regardless, this was my chance. I rushed forward as the otter grenadiers prepared to throw. Startled, they hurled their rocks in a panic, but my shield blocked them all. Once I was right in front of them, I swept my aura-wreathed sword outward.

SWISH!

There wasn’t even a slicing sound—just the clean whistle of the blade cutting through the air. Heavenly Demon’s sword combined with aura could cut through just about anything.

THUD! THUMP!

Since they’d been standing upright, their upper and lower bodies separated cleanly. That took care of all the ranged rock throwers, and Roundfur had torn apart the one he’d pinned down too. All that remained was the leader I’d sent flying with my shield. It still hadn’t returned.

RUSTLE!

Speak of the devil. Far too late, the leader pushed through the bushes and reappeared. What good did that do? Its companions had already been either sliced apart or shredded.

“KIEEEEEEEEK!!!”

The leader roared as though it couldn’t believe the tragedy(?) before its eyes. Then it glared at me with bloodshot eyes and charged straight at me. Once again, its speed was startling for something so big, but it wasn’t much of a problem. An enraged beast’s attack was actually easier to dodge. I didn’t even need to block it with my shield.

SWISH!

The leader launched itself at me, lashing out with its claws. An attack driven by emotion. Before twisting aside to dodge, I held my sword point-down in its path. Its feet were already off the ground, leaving it no choice but to collide with the blade.

SHICK!

Just as I’d expected, the leader’s body passed straight through my inverted blade. It fell facedown onto the ground afterward, with the added bonus of being split lengthwise. Charging so quickly had been a fatal mistake. It had essentially killed itself.

‘That’s what you get for trying to steal someone else’s stuff.’

I snorted and started cleaning up. If I left the corpses here, the smell might attract other animals. I tossed the otters’ bodies into the river and roughly covered the spilled blood with dirt. Since most of them were already neatly chopped up, cleanup wasn’t difficult.

“Let’s go.”

“Kyuu!”

“We’ll have to clean your claws as soon as we get back.”

Both Roundfur and the speed-sloth had blood on their claws. The river was right in front of us, but the golden frogs alone made going back the better option. I returned to the hideout with the still-flopping fish.

All that remained was a pleasant lunch. I gave one fish to Roundfur. Naturally, I didn’t forget to remove the inner core buried in its guts.

“I’ll give you honey after you finish that, okay?”

“Om nom nom.”

He was apparently too busy eating to even hear me. I stroked his head and cleaned my own fish.

‘When am I ever going to use all these inner cores, anyway?’

They were steadily piling up in the Elixir bottle. I wasn’t sure I could use them all. I would start taking them one at a time in two days, but I was worried that might still be too much.

‘First, I should post on the forum.’

I ought to tell them about attacking the otters. Besides, there had been rock-throwing grenadiers, so I needed some answers. I’d anticipated this and taken pictures of the carnage, covering up the gruesome parts as appropriate.

Taught those thieving bastards a lesson

Wild Grylls

(Photos of otter corpses strewn about)

These bastards tried to rob me of my fish, so I personally taught them a lesson.

But do these otter fuckers normally throw rocks too? They had separate front and rear lines, which caught me a little off guard lol...

└Heavenly Demon: The otters I know do not look like that. I have never seen any so vicious-looking.

└Wild Grylls: I thought they were cute at first too, but nope.

└Sword Masta: Are those really otters? What kind of otters look like that...?

└Wild Grylls: I think it’s because this is the Forest of Four Seasons.

└Passing Dwarf: Didn’t you catch the speed-sloth trying to steal your fish before? Why’d you leave it alone?

└Wild Grylls: Speedy tried to steal them. These assholes tried to take them by force.

└Passing Dwarf: Be honest. What if every one of them had been as strong as Speedy?

└Wild Grylls: I’d offer up the fish and run like hell lmaoooo

└Passing Dwarf: Don’t you have any pride?

└Wild Grylls: (Photo of the speed-sloth’s placid face) This fucker is stronger than me. My pride was crushed ages ago.

└Passing Dwarf: LMAOOOOOO

└Lmaoooo

└Yeah, that’d crush your pride lol

└Bro’s weaker than a sloth lmao

└Allfather: Otters have a habit of tossing pebbles. But this is the first I’ve heard of them throwing rocks in combat.

└Wild Grylls: So the Forest of Four Seasons is the weird part, right? They don’t normally do this?

└Allfather: They certainly are the thugs of the river. Despite their cute appearance, they even hunt crocodiles.

└Wild Grylls: Otters do...?

└Allfather: Being friendly toward humans is one thing, but they are still fearsome creatures.

└Think of Roundfur. That cute little guy could eat you.

└Don’t treat the wild like it’s some fucking joke.

└Even a deer’s hind kick can kill a human lmao

Oh. So otters were just strong as fuck. If I’d gone alone, I probably would have had to either give up the fish or die. Thank goodness I had Roundfur and the speed-sloth. That had been quite a dangerous situation.

‘Nothing’s ever easy, is it?’

Forest of Four Seasons or not, the wild was a very dangerous place. Sighing inwardly, I began cooking the fish I’d cleaned. It browned beautifully in the large cast-iron pan. The fish was so huge that even the pan had to be enormous.

Delicious lunch

Wild Grylls

(Video of a fish cooking to a golden brown)

My lunch today. My lunch that I never get sick of, no matter how much I eat.

└Heavenly Demon: That makes my mouth water. Does it taste that good?

└Wild Grylls: All I add is salt, and it’s really delicious. It’d probably taste even better if someone who actually knew how to cook made it.

└Heavenly Demon: If the opportunity arises, I would like to ask for one. Would that be all right?

└Wild Grylls: I can give you one right away if you want. But I wouldn’t want to lock us out of trading, so I’ll give it to you when we trade for fasting pills.

└Heavenly Demon: But before that, is that one fish not your food supply?

└Wild Grylls: It is, but you’re the one asking.

└Heavenly Demon: Never mind. I might needlessly compromise your survival. I withdraw my request.

└Sword Masta: Could you possibly put just one bite up on the auction house?

└Wild Grylls: I’ll just send you one when I catch more later...

└Sword Masta: But then trading will be difficult when you need it. Please just list one bite.

└Wild Grylls: That feels a bit too much like selling my conscience. I’ll just give you some later.

└Passing Dwarf: I tried it before, and that stuff’s fucking delicious. Though you get a fever as soon as you eat it.

└Isn’t that bad?

└Passing Dwarf: Nah, you’re bursting with energy the next day. I still am lol

└The more I look, the more I want some. Can’t you list it on the auction house?

└You can’t list living things. And it’s not like Grylls is going to cook it for you.

└Can’t he kill it and list it right away?

└Time still passes in the auction house, dude...

Everyone seemed jealous. I thought I understood the feeling. Every so often, videos would pop up on YouTube of people cooking things they’d caught in the wild. They were strangely engrossing, and I’d found myself browsing through them without even realizing it.

‘All I do is fry it, but the fish is so big.’

Still, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It was practically impossible to give a bite to each of several people. Once I made a trade, I couldn’t make another for twenty-four hours, which caused all sorts of problems.

‘I should take this chance to ask the admin.’

I immediately made a post asking, and...

└Don’t Abandon the Hero: No! Lifting the restriction for everyone would be one thing, but giving just one person special treatment is unfair!

└Wild Grylls: What about Heavenly Demon, then?

└Don’t Abandon the Hero: She’s a moderator! Are you going to become a moderator too, Grylls?

└Wild Grylls: Uh...

Once again, I was reminded that our admin was a young stick-in-the-mud.