Chapter 12 – Night Encounter

Ｒｅａｄ ｏｎ Ｋａｔ​Ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ​Ｃａｆｅ

“By the way, since you’re in the forest, I guess you were hunting rabbits?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. I need money…”

“Oh? How much do you need?”

“…W-Why are you asking all of a sudden?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, I asked cautiously, and Hosanna waved his hand dismissively.

“If it’s not too much, I might be able to help.”

“W-Well… I don’t really need that kind of help…”

I wasn’t shameless enough to ask for help from someone I’d just met today. Besides, even if it took time, it was something I could manage on my own, and I didn’t want to rely on others.

More importantly, who is this person offering to help someone they just met? Earlier, they even said it was strange that I didn’t know them. I didn’t need to keep engaging in this conversation anyway.

I glanced at Hosanna and subtly took a step back.

“W-well, anyway. I’ll be going now.”

“Huh? So suddenly?”

“I-I just remembered something I need to do… So, I’ll take my leave…!”

“Ah, wait—”

I heard Hosanna calling from behind, but I quickly turned around and disappeared into the forest. Then, I immediately crouched down and activated Stealth (Presence Concealment).

Even the sensitive wild rabbits couldn’t detect me when I used Stealth, so Hosanna wouldn’t be able to follow me. Still, it was better to get as far away as possible. If I stopped too soon and ran into him again, I’d have to answer why I ran away, and just imagining that was exhausting.

After running through the forest for a while, I finally stopped and leaned against a tree, panting. I must’ve run at least a kilometer, so Hosanna probably wouldn’t bother chasing me.

“…But how do I get back?”

I’d been so focused on running away that I ended up deep in the forest. Normally, I hunted in areas where the village was visible after just a short walk, so this was a bit of a dilemma.

Of course, I remembered the way back, so it wasn’t a problem, but after hunting, my body felt like it weighed a ton. Honestly, the thought of walking back home felt tedious.

If they were going to borrow game mechanics, they should’ve at least made something like a Town Return Scroll. Something I could use to instantly go home without having to walk.

“Ugh, let’s just hunt.”

I’d already wasted time because of Hosanna. If I wasted any more time, it’d be night by the time I got back to the village. So, I had to move quickly and hunt diligently now.

I gripped the cold, gleaming dagger (an ordinary dagger) in a reverse hold and moved in search of sacrificial lambs for my future.

–

After offering a brief moment of silence for the rabbit that disappeared with a pitiful cry, I picked up the magic stone.

“This makes… ten…!”

Ten magic stones in a single day. It was the first time I’d achieved this since I started hunting seriously. Humming a tune, I put the magic stone into my inventory when I suddenly realized how dark it had gotten.

Should I have stopped after five like usual instead of pushing for one more? But since I’d come all the way out here, it felt too inefficient to just catch five and leave like I usually did.

I’ve always had the habit of handling tasks all at once and efficiently, so if I didn’t do it that way, it would keep bothering me.

“I should hurry back before it gets any darker…?”

Anyway, realizing how late it was, I was about to head back when I muttered blankly while looking around the forest.

“…Which way do I go?”

The first floor, or the forest I called a dungeon, didn’t have any signposts. However, near the village, there were paths formed by people frequently coming and going, so if you paid a little attention, you could quickly find your way out.

But because I’d run around deeper into the forest to hunt, I had no idea where I was now.

“Gulp…”

This… means I’m lost, right? Swallowing my nervousness, I cautiously took a step forward. It’s said that staying put is the best way when you’re lost, but that’s only if someone is coming to find you.

And in this situation, no one was coming to find me. If this were the real world, I could’ve called the police or paramedics for help, but there was nothing like that here…!

If I ended up stranded in the forest alone until night…

“No, stay calm. There’s no need to panic. Surely I can get out before nightfall, right?”

Trying to soothe my rising anxiety with self-talk, I quickly racked my brain.

I needed to rely on my past memories. According to the survival series, which was popular among kids back then, if you’re stranded in a mountain or forest, the first thing to do is climb to a high point and assess the situation.

In the forest, the only high point would be a tree… I carefully examined the trees I hadn’t paid attention to before. They were all several times taller than me, but overall, they were all about the same height.

There wasn’t one that stood out as the tallest. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t try climbing one. At least I’d be able to see the forest more clearly from up there.

“…But how do I climb a tree?”

I stood in front of a suitable tree, but the next step was the problem.

I’d never climbed a tree before. A kid born in a barren city didn’t have the opportunity to climb trees (though I’m not sure if kids born in the countryside climb trees either), so even though I knew I needed to climb, I didn’t know how.

In games, you just grab onto anything and climb up easily. I touched the rough tree trunk and tried to lift my leg to hook my foot on it.

It felt like it might work, but also like it might not. After hesitating for a moment, I made up my mind and used my foot on the trunk as a stepping stone to push off the ground and grab onto the tree.

“Ugh, ouch…!”

I looked like a cicada clinging to the tree, but at least I’d managed to get onto the tree. Now, I just needed to climb up, right? Using my clumsy footing, I firmly planted myself on the trunk and slowly moved upward.

“Huff, huff…!”

But, isn’t this way too hard? I’d only climbed about four steps, but my whole body was trembling. I’d already been feeling the strain with each step, but it seemed like I was using more strength than I thought.

Still, I’d already climbed too high to turn back now. I must’ve climbed at least to the height of my head from the ground… I guess I hadn’t climbed as high as I thought. Feeling once again how short I’d become, I looked up.

It seemed like I’d need to climb two or three times higher to reach the lowest branch. If I’d used this much strength just to get this far, climbing two or three times higher would be too much. It seemed better to climb down before something worse happened.

“…But how do I get down…?”

You might think that going down is just the reverse of climbing up.

But when I climbed up, I still had some stamina left, and now I was barely holding onto the tree trunk.

In short, I was screwed.

“…Help me.”

A pitiful voice escaped me, but it was drowned out by the sounds of the forest. As the wind blew and the trees and bushes swayed, a chilling sound echoed.

“Eek…”

During the day, I would’ve found the sound refreshing and pleasant, but now, as darkness began to fall, it felt like the background noise for a ghost to appear.

No, what ghost? Stop that imagination…! I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about ghosts.

But the more you try not to think about something, the more you end up thinking about it. My efforts to avoid thinking about ghosts only made me think about them more.

“Hic…”

When I was younger, it was popular among boys to watch scary and gory stuff. It wasn’t so much a trend as it was a childish way to show off, like, “I’m not scared of this!”, or “I can handle gore.”

I used to watch those kinds of pictures or play games without flinching, putting on a bold performance to earn the admiration of other kids. But as time passed, the things I’d seen started appearing in my dreams, making me lose sleep.

Like a woman with a horrifically disfigured face suddenly popping up, or ghosts with hollow eye sockets chasing me.

Fortunately, as I grew older, I gradually forgot those memories…

But in this situation, those forgotten memories started resurfacing on their own.

-Screeeech!

“Eek…!”

The sound of the wind blowing sounded like the scream of a ghost. I squeezed my eyes shut and clung tighter to the trunk. My face stung from the rough bark, but that pain wasn’t enough to make me let go.

But my limbs holding onto the trunk were different. They were already reaching their limit and slowly losing strength.

I tried to force more strength into them, but my body, which had already reached its limit, wouldn’t listen.

“Ahhh—?!”

For a moment, I felt a sense of weightlessness, followed by a strong impact spreading from my back throughout my body. I couldn’t breathe for a moment, and tears welled up.

At least I’d fallen onto grass, so it didn’t hurt too much, but I couldn’t move right away. As I gasped for breath, I heard a rustling sound.

“Huff… huh?”

Thump. Thump.

Hearing the steady sound of something approaching, I slowly turned my head. Not far away, a white-furred rabbit with glowing eyes was staring at me.

“…Hi?”

I awkwardly greeted it, but then another rabbit burst through the bushes beside it.

And then another. And another. And another… Before I knew it, I was looking at a swarm of rabbits with glowing eyes, like fireflies. I let out a hollow sigh.

“Hey… I’m not feeling too good right now, so could you just let me go—ahhh?!”

But despite my desperate plea, they started charging at me.

As I screamed at the sight, a clear voice rang out.

“Blaze.”

A blazing flame engulfed the charging rabbits. The bright light dispelled the darkness, and I stared blankly at the scene, forgetting to scream.

“I wondered why the rabbits were suddenly gathering, so I followed them… and it was you?”

“You’re…”

“Mari, right? We meet again.”

Hosanna, the one who shot the flames, raised his hand lightly and greeted me.

As if we’d just run into each other on a stroll.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Good thing the rabbits don’t have horns and it isn’t snowing, else a different kind of trauma is going to be there.

Heh.

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