Chapter 59

Just for a moment, my lunch had vanished without a trace. And right in front of me was a beautiful, pure white foal. I could almost imagine how silky and pleasant its mane would feel if I stroked it.

Considering the circumstantial evidence, it seemed that this beautiful white horse was the thief of my lunch...

“Just when did you get here?”

I had been so focused on the bulletin board that I hadn’t noticed... or so I thought, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. The moment the horse glanced at me, the scenery around it distorted and disappeared.

“...!?”

But when I focused on the spot where it had disappeared, I could faintly see its outline. I realized the horse hadn’t moved a single step. Reading my expression, the horse, with an arrogant air as if to say, "How do you like that?" took the opposite action from when it had disappeared.

“...You have a stealth function... That’s terrifying.”

My words were a mix of surprise and admiration, which naturally slipped out.

“You wouldn’t have found me if your discovery level wasn’t high enough.”

The next words that came out were a complaint about the unreasonable discovery difficulty set by the game operators. This kind of thing wouldn’t be found even after a day or two of leveling up.

In response to my words, the horse, without showing any particular emotion, simply flicked its tail. It seemed my reaction was of no importance to the horse.

I deduced that this stealth function of the white horse, like the ice of the puppy Rikuru, was one of the characteristics of the individual young beasts. Still, it didn’t leave a particularly favorable impression. It showed neither hostility nor interest.

“Still, I’m hungry too, but I can make something, so it’s fine.”

It was easy to make. With plenty of ingredients, I took out a cooking kit, cut the ingredients roughly, and stir-fried them. The result was a stir-fried vegetable dish. The foal, which had been staring at me, quietly stood up and fixed its gaze on the dish.

“...You just ate, but you want more?”

The foal nodded, so I placed the plate in front of it. Watching it eat heartily, a curiosity struck me: Could I touch it now? I moved to the side and touched its body. It didn’t flinch at all, even when my whole hand made contact.

Petting... so smooth. Though not as fluffy as Rikuru, this touch was addictive. Especially when I ran my fingers through its long mane, the light reflected beautifully, making it look stunning.

“...Do you want to act with me?”

The white horse turned its head towards me and looked at me with its clear eyes. Ten seconds, twenty seconds—long silence. I was about to give up, thinking it wouldn’t work, when its head pushed into my stomach.

“You! Hey, stop pushing!?”

Caught off guard, I fell on my butt. In an unexpected fall, my legs spread out in a V-shape—essentially, a girl’s sitting position. The white horse placed its head on my lap.

“Hey... what’s this about?”

It only flicked its tail and closed its eyes completely. It seemed ready for a nap. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and with the horse’s head on my lap, I couldn’t cook. Still, the horse’s comfortable aura made me feel like I shouldn’t disturb it. Reluctantly, I ate some fruit from my inventory to stave off my hunger.

I spent the time until the horse woke up reading the bulletin board with one hand petting the horse’s mane and neck.

I hadn’t read half of it, but I picked out and skimmed through the interesting parts. A summary of unique MOBs and their drops found in this field.

【Tent Bug】—A large ladybug. The number of stars on its back indicates how many tents it drops.

【Spice Spider】—A spider-type MOB. It blows a breath that causes confusion and drops magical spices.

【Sweets Tree】—A human-faced tree MOB. The tree has various candies. It drops a Sweets Factory, a cooking tool for making sweets.

【Stove Bull】—A rampaging bull MOB. Its body is a stove, and its charge is astonishing. It drops an oven stove.

【Himatsubu Scissors】—A large shrimp. Its body is made of books, and it drops books with random content.

【Camping Goblin】—A goblin that drops a random camping tool. It is the strongest among the unique MOBs in this field.

That’s the gist of it. The naming is a bit punny, but I guess that’s the game operators’ sense of humor. The one I defeated yesterday was the Spice Spider. The Sweets Tree is in the southern area I plan to explore today, and the Himatsubu Scissors are found around the lake. The Camping Goblins are few in number and wander around, so encountering one would be lucky, but I don’t plan to fight them. My targets are the Sweets Tree and the Himatsubu Scissors.

On the bulletin board for the "Tekuteku Travelogue: Floating Continent Edition," there were screenshots of ancient murals and melancholic, crumbling stone tablets found in the field. Many people couldn’t read them and were making guesses. Some thought it was an ancient language, others thought it was a meaningless sequence of symbols or patterns. A few brave souls tried to learn the language during the limited period when it could be acquired, but they failed. That’s understandable; this can’t be read with level 1 language skills. I tried reading it with my "Training" skill changed to "Linguistics," but I could only read half of it.

“...‘This is a paradise for beasts. Where magical beasts and mythical beasts recognize and protect each other. Though of different species, they are the same beasts. The goddess’s wish is for this land to be fulfilled’... The rest is unreadable.”

This was a sentence from the stone tablet. The rest was unreadable due to worn-out parts and my insufficient level. I saved the screenshot to my file and looked up at the sky.

“The goddess’s wish. If it’s like the fairy tale, the beings that protect the beasts are only mythical beasts, right? And in the fairy tale, magical beasts didn’t exist at first. Hmm, does this mean that in this field, magical beasts and mythical beasts don’t oppose each other? Or are they even cooperative? I don’t know.”

If the fairy tale I read before was abstract, then this content is also abstract. I think raising my Linguistics level will allow me to read other stone tablets and murals. Maybe I’ll discuss this with Claude tonight.

“Ah, I see. That’s why the Himatsubu Scissors are here. They’re telling us to read the book and come back. That’s a bit overdone. And the location where the stone tablet was found is near where the Himatsubu Scissors appear. It seems they are the target.”

In the afternoon, I’ll head straight to the lake. I might find something there. “Hey, stop napping and let’s go hunting in the afternoon.”

The white horse slowly got up and looked at me with a lazy gaze, as if saying, “Let me enjoy my nap a bit more.” I smiled wryly.

“It’s for dinner. Bear with it, and I’ll give you a knee pillow again.”

Then, it seemed to accept it and walked beside me. Though it’s a foal, its head is about as high as my side, and at this stage, it’s about the size of a large dog. It has a different presence from the cuddly Rikuru.

“...What should I call you?”

“...”

“You’re quiet. How about Kuchinashi? Oh, no! You didn’t like it! Sorry, sorry.”

The white horse headbutted me from behind to express its dissatisfaction. Naming is hard.

“Okay, then, Rui. How about Rui?”

When I said that, it stopped headbutting and took a haughty attitude but didn’t leave and walked in step with me. I’m not sure if it liked it, but I can assume it accepted it.

We walked to the southeast artificial canal and crossed the sluice bridge leading to the lake. The lake’s shore was a wide expanse of mudflats.

“With the mudflats, we can secure food without needing swimming gear.”

I took a step onto the mudflat, but the ground was unstable, and I had to take a moment to steady myself. Rui didn’t step onto the unstable ground.

“Rui can’t handle the mudflats. Wait here. I’ll go get ingredients for tonight’s meal.”

Rui nodded and started to nap, folding its legs. As usual, it went into stealth mode. This way, most people wouldn’t find it, and it would be safe.

I focused on the mudflats. When I moved a bit deeper, I could see large shrimp and clams. When I bent down to pick them up, they tried to pinch me with their large claws or shells.

“Dangerous... Are these treated as MOBs?”

I tried slashing at one with a knife, but it didn’t take damage. After equipping the proper senses, I got an attack judgment, but the shell just deflected it.

“Slow or stationary. So, for shrimp, I’ll go for the gaps in the shell...”

I pressed the tip of the knife into the gap and concentrated, then pushed hard. After a strong resistance, the shrimp disappeared, and it appeared in my inventory.

“Using a knife for MOB hunting. Who knew?”

But a dagger has some thickness. The ability to attack gaps so precisely is due to the knife’s thinness and sharpness. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks a Chinese cleaver is an executioner’s tool, and a large fish-cutting knife is like a sword or a saw.

I continued to insert the knife into the gaps of the clams and cut out the meat. Each one was a single target, so it wasn’t very efficient and took a lot of time. But after defeating about a hundred weak enemies, I received a system message.

“Cooking sense has reached level 10, and with 100 kills using a knife, a new skill has been unlocked.”

“I’ve never heard of a skill being unlocked outside of levels and events.”

A new skill was added to the three basic Cooking skills: Cooking, Processing, and Seasoning. Still, leveling up by attacking MOBs with a knife... what is this?

“[Understanding Ingredients]—For ten minutes, enemies will have a red marker. Attacking the marked spot increases damage.”

In other words, it’s a skill to find weaknesses. When I tried it, red marker lines appeared in the gaps of the surrounding shrimp shells. Unlike enchantments, it doesn’t apply a status correction, so it’s similar to the damage correction of weapon senses. A limited attack range with damage correction... it’s a clear lower-tier skill.

“Sigh. I didn’t meet the Himatsubu Scissors, so I’ll check the lake and head back.”

I removed the [Alchemy] sense from my equipment and switched to the [Swimming] sense. Removing the high-level Alchemy was a bit worrying, but I could cover it with the enchantment’s correction.

Underwater, the water plants swayed gently in the current. Swimming freely in the water, which had less resistance than a river, I found what looked like the edge of a building on the lake bottom. Just as I did, a black fish shadow darted past the edge of my vision, and I instinctively dodged.

(Danger! What was that?)

The fish shadow, which I turned to look at, was a large, black fish about 1.5 meters long. Its name was Yosho-Kuro Maguro.

(I’m sure this is the unique MOB of this lake.)

What to do? I want to investigate the building, but it will definitely interfere. I have to drive it away. I surfaced. The Kuro Maguro, which had chased me halfway, couldn’t go beyond a certain depth and turned back.

“Well, let’s come up with a strategy to defeat it.”

Worst case, I can escape to the surface, and it won’t chase me. I’ll try to challenge it.