Chapter 56

The next day, while the trio who had drunk too much were still unable to move, Yuri, Sora, and Diarg, who had woken up early, started a fire in the stove and began to prepare breakfast efficiently.

Tō and Mū walked along the embankment, enjoying the fine view.

"There's nothing, Tō-chan."

"Yeah, there's nothing."

The wilderness stretching across the river was covered with blood-sucking grass as far as the eye could see.

Mū, looking at the strange scenery, muttered curiously.

"There's only blue and brown. It's weird."

In the clear morning air, the blue sky was cloudless.

A straight line divided the horizon, with brown and blue clearly split.

"Who drew that? God?"

"Yeah, it must be God."

While stroking the child's hair, Tō thought for a moment before answering.

The world was created by the Creator God, so there's no doubt about that.

The strange scenery is due to the "Gloomy Great Hole" created by the Destroyer God, which is also correct.

In any case, everything is within the hands of the gods.

"Good morning, young one."

"Good morning, you're up, young one."

There were already visitors on the embankment: the twin Tapa and Tari of the Green Feather Clan.

After greeting Mū, the twins nodded to Tō and then returned their gaze to the sky.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning, what are you looking at?"

The sky above, bathed in dazzling sunlight, was cloudless.

After a moment of silence, one of the twins spoke.

"…There won't be any rain until the weekend."

"Oh, you were reading the wind."

"Wind Reading" is a rare magical skill, a lower branch skill of the Wind Spirit Tree, which can read temperature, humidity, wind direction, and speed.

It is mainly used to check the weather, but it is also incredibly useful in daily life, so retired users are in high demand in various fields.

After finishing their explanation, the twins pointed to the riverbank.

There, Sora was waving her arms energetically, indicating that breakfast was ready.

"Oh, it must be breakfast! Tō-chan."

Realizing the girl's gesture, Mū shouted and ran off.

She tumbled down the embankment after a few steps.

Tō and the twins exchanged glances and then slowly headed to the breakfast table.

After eating some bread porridge and the alcohol wearing off a bit, the topic turned to a demonstration of bridge building by Rorulf and the others.

"Alright, let's start!"

Leading the way was Diarg, armed with a red iron armor and helmet.

He held a round shield made of cast iron in front of him and carried a club made of wild boar bone.

A little behind were the three brothers.

They wore red hippo leather armor and cast iron helmets with nose guards, each holding their preferred weapons.

In a diagonal rear position were the twins.

Both wore fabric clothing; Tapa, the older brother, wore a red chest plate and held a longbow, while Tari, the younger brother, held a small dagger.

As the shield bearer approached the riverbank, four eerie red and black patterns emerged.

Crouching, Diarg used his shield to block the frog's leap and skillfully used his club to secure space around his feet.

For a while, the four frogs and one human were entangled.

The shield bearer, familiar with the monsters' movements, calmly continued to parry attacks without showing any signs of faltering.

This fighting style itself was not particularly problematic, but what was strange was the behavior of the members behind.

They held their weapons but showed no signs of moving.

"Is it okay?"

"Tō-chan, are they slacking off? Hey, try harder!"

"No, it's a strategy. Look, they're moving."

Seizing the right moment, the third brother suddenly thrust his spear from a low position, just above the ground.

The red poison frog, pierced by the spear, finally seemed to notice the others and attacked alone.

The second brother, who had been waiting, swung his long axe with a whoosh, striking the frog's side.

At the same time, the first brother, who had circled behind, attacked the frog's slimy back with two one-handed axes.

The frog, spewing blood mixed with poison, fell to the ground easily.

Merciless follow-up attacks were delivered, and the first frog was quickly killed.

The process was repeated, and the brothers dispatched the monsters without any issues.

When only two frogs remained, a red dorsal fin emerged from the water.

An arrow shot through the air, intercepting it.

The blood fish retaliated with water bullets, but Tapa, who could shoot three arrows almost simultaneously, left no room for the frog to provide support.

With the help of Tari, the wind user, the arrows' power increased.

In the end, the fish, now a pincushion, lay on the river surface without ever firing a water bullet.

The battle on the riverbank quietly came to an end.

Diarg, who had easily dodged the last frog, was joined by Rorulf and the others, who had just finished off the third frog.

"Got it!"

"Take this, my anger!"

"Here, I'll take it."

The third brother was the fastest.

A spear wrapped in purple lightning shot out at incredible speed, piercing the frog's heart and blowing it away.

A step behind, the two-handed axe was swung and the two one-handed axes were brought down from above, shattering the riverbank stones and scattering them.

The eldest and second brothers, hit by the debris, stopped moving for a moment.

Without a word, they placed their weapons on the ground and suddenly punched the third brother, who was trying to escape.

They then glared at each other and thrust their fists at each other.

"What are you trying to steal my prey for?"

"Shut up, that was clearly mine!"

"You didn't look good doing it!"

"That's my line, big brother!"

Suddenly starting to fight over trivial matters, Mū clapped her hands in delight.

Yuril, with his usual gentle smile, looked at the mischievous children with a kind gaze.

Sora, uninterested in the sibling quarrel, asked Tō about something that caught her attention.

"Huh? It ended normally. Oh, did they defeat the obstructive monsters and are now going to build the bridge?"

"Look, it seems there's more to come."

In front of Tō, Diarg was already crossing the river, stepping on a row of stone piles that had appeared in the river.

He moved rhythmically, skillfully using the momentum.

When he reached a stone pile in the middle of the river, the young man from the Brown Horn Clan planted his feet firmly.

In front of Diarg was a low, unfinished stone pile.

Beyond that, there was nothing.

Just as it seemed he would jump, the man silently thrust his shield into the air.

The next moment, the low stone pile began to shake and clearly rise.

Several stones, unable to withstand the movement, rolled into the water, creating a series of water columns.

"Wow, the mountain grew by itself!"

"Did you see that, Tō-chan? It swelled up like this."

Seeing the stone pile clearly change, Sora and the others couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"That's amazing, Mū wants to do that too. Can you?"

"That's probably a shield bearer's martial skill. It creates a wall of earth."

"Yes, it's called <Rock Pile Formation>. He was gathering his fighting spirit for that. I was surprised to see it used like that."

Impressed, Tō and the others were approached by Rorulf and the others, who had finished their fist talk.

Looking closely, the wounds from their fight were already healing.

They probably had the <Healing Promotion> skill.

"That's about it. What do you think?"

"Good thinking. With that, you can safely build the mountain."

"Haha, I'm proud of that. But using <Rock Pile Formation> is pretty standard here. Look."

Rorulf threw a small, reddish-brown stone block the size of a palm.

It felt like sand had been compacted.

"That's hematite sand. It tends to accumulate at the bottom of this river. We've been using <Rock Pile Formation> to dig it up for a long time."

"Hmm, so this is the material for hematite. It's heavier than I expected."

"Right, and that's the main topic. This hematite sand is actually a certain monster's favorite food."

"Oh, that's why you asked for my help."

"Thanks for understanding. They're called river slimes around here. They seem to gather and dissolve the stone piles because of the hematite sand."

"Carelessly sticking weapons in can cause our favorite weapons to dissolve, which is a big problem."

"That's terrible."

"Right. But they don't appear all the time, do they?"

While looking at the newly formed stone pile, Tō asked about something that puzzled him.

If Rorulf's story was true, at least one should be visible, but there was no sign of it.

The eldest brother nodded and turned to the young man of the Green Feather Clan.

"How was it? Tari."

"…It will be stable until the weekend. It will collapse after that."

"I see. Actually, river slimes appear when it rains. Could you come around the weekend? I'm sorry."