What He Met in the Forest

“............”

Three days after his escape through the downpour, Darakerus was trudging through the forest, pushing his way through the undergrowth.

This forest, called ‘Karumuetto Forest’, bordered the great city of Zenalini, but it was a vast great demon realm rumored to stretch all the way to the far-off ‘Plateau of Behemoths’.

That said, its outer reaches, at least, weren't home to any especially strong monsters, so they were a good place for young adventurers and apothecaries to earn their keep...... and Darakerus had set foot in this forest plenty of times himself.

Still, even in a familiar forest, three days was three days.

Driven by a single-minded desire to escape those damn baldies, Darakerus had just walked and walked without a thought for what came next.

As a result...... he was now completely...... lost.

Guuuuuu......

“............”

Right then his stomach wailed in protest, and Darakerus couldn't help stopping in his tracks.

“I'm starvin'......”

He hadn't eaten anything decent since he started running.

Some fruit he'd never seen before that he happened to find, and also, some kind of grass.

Other than that, all he'd put in his mouth was the rainwater pooled on the big leaves of a plant called fuki.

He'd found a hollow in a big tree and slept there last night, but he was worn out all the same.

He was in the worst possible condition.

“Ain't there, like, somethin' around here......?”

Glancing all around, Darakerus happened to spot a plant he recognized.

Its light-blue leaves were sparkling in the sunlight filtering through the canopy.

Normally, it grew deeper in the forest, and it was, like, some grass that sells high.

Its name was, if he remembered right......

“C, Cy...... eh, who cares what it's called......”

Darakerus plucked a light-blue leaf and popped it into his mouth.

“Ugh......”

And he couldn't help grimacing.

It was, far too bitter.

Still.

“But...... this is prob'ly what they make medicine from, right? So...... it ain't poison......”

With that, he devoured the grass he'd pegged as a medicinal herb, one whole plant of it.

His mouth and stomach felt seriously minty, but at least it took the edge off his hunger.

“............”

Next, every muscle in his body started complaining of fatigue.

He was 39 this year...... he wasn't that young anymore.

On top of that, his unhealthy lifestyle had worn his body down even more.

“I ran this far, into the forest...... those guys ain't gonna come after me no more......”

So, with that excuse to himself...... Darakerus sat down on the ground and looked up.

Through the gaps in the leaves, he could see the early summer blue sky.

The rain had stopped long ago, and the sunlight filtering through was warm......

“............What now, I wonder......”

But inside, Darakerus was anything but calm; he was full of worry.

First off, right now he was lost.

If he didn't manage to find a place where people lived, he'd eventually die.

Furthermore, he could no longer return to the great city of Zenalini, where he'd lived for years.

That damn baldy never did say outright who he worked for, but...... no doubt about it, with that savagery, he had to be a member of the ‘Dongozugozu Society’.

The Dongozugozu Society was an underground organization that ran the underworld of not just Zenalini but this whole region as if it owned the place.

No honor, no nothing, possessed by violence, they were a bunch of lunatics.

And Darakerus had gone and caught the attention of that crowd.

Even if he was lucky enough to make it out of the forest...... there was no going back to town anymore.

Never mind Zenalini, he wouldn't be safe in the nearby villages either.

......What should he do?

How far, should he run?

Darakerus's chest tightened with anxiety.

But.

“............Eh, it'll work out somehow.”

Darakerus let out a breath, spat out his usual line, slowly hauled his heavy backside up, and started walking onward for now.

‘It'll work out somehow’ is a magic phrase.

It covers up your worries about the future, puts off your problems...... and yet, it keeps your feet moving forward.

Darakerus's whole life up to now had always gone hand in hand with those words......

Once again, Darakerus pushed through the undergrowth and set off through the dappled sunlight.

◇ ◇ ◇

“It worked out, somehow, didn't it!”

Darakerus let out that cry of triumph after walking for about 1 hour more.

He had...... found a house.

It stood all alone in the middle of a small meadow that opened up out of nowhere in the forest.

Its form resembled a mushroom...... a conical roof covered in something like red tiles sat atop cylindrical walls plastered with white earth.

It was a two-story house, utterly adorable, as if it had jumped right out of a picture book.

Still, short clover-like plants grew thick around it with no path through them, and moss covered about half the roof.

Cobwebs hung under the eaves, the walls were slightly stained, and no smoke rose from the small, protruding chimney.

In other words, no one had looked after it for quite a while.

It was likely an empty house.

For your average lost traveler, that would probably be a letdown.

No residents to help.

No residents to guide them to town.

It wasn't hard to imagine that fact plunging someone lost into despair.

“He, hehehe...... My luck, it's turnin' around, hey!”

But for Darakerus, who was far from town and needed a place to hide, it was different!

A vacant, unoccupied house...... in other words, a hideout he could use however he pleased!

Right now, it was exactly the property he needed most!

He'd lie low here until the heat died down, and as for what came after...... eh, he'd think about it when he felt like it!

Why was a house built this deep in the forest?

That didn't matter to him, and it didn't even cross his mind.

He just wanted to take a nice long rest somewhere man-made that would keep the wind and rain off.

So, without the slightest caution, he walked right up to the house and pulled the front door's knob.

“Comin', in......”

With a creaking gii, the wooden door opened.

It wasn't locked...... or rather, it was broken.

Why was it broken?

Of course, Darakerus didn't care about that.

It probably just got old and broke.

That was about all he thought of it.

“Ooh......”

Once inside, Darakerus opened one more door into the living room, and gasped in spite of himself.

Because warm sunlight poured in through the windows of that room, which held a desk, chairs, shelves and more, all of obviously fine make...... and though dust lay on everything, it looked truly pleasant and easy to live in.

Further in, there was a handy-looking kitchen and even a fireplace.

If he remembered right, they were the so-called ‘magic-powered’ kind...... the good stuff, where water or fire came out when you poured in magic power.

The bookshelves were lined with so many expensive-looking books it made his head spin.

This was clearly a classier place than the cheap inns he'd always stayed at!

“Amazin'! This place, is amazin'! Some rich guy's hideout or somethin'!?”

Darakerus couldn't help trotting to the middle of the room, looking all around!

And then...... spotting a sofa covered in warm brown fabric nearby, he took a flying leap onto it.

Dust flew up with a bofun, but that soft seat was the best!

“Aaaaaaah......”

Darakerus went limp and narrowed his eyes.

Any will to get up was sucked right out of him, and pure bliss poured in to take its place.

It felt so good......

“This is the best......”

Darakerus had never sat in such a well-made sofa before.

This, sofa.

That, magnificent fireplace.

Everything!

“It's mine......”

It wasn't about running or hiding.

“This, house......”

I'm going to live, here.

“It's, mine!!”

I'll live here for the rest of my life!

Darakerus rewrote his all-but-nonexistent plan of action, just like that.

Without fighting the wave of exhaustion.

Wrapped in the soft sofa, he closed his eyes, ready to surrender to sleep......

“Ha...... HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”

Startled by the laughter suddenly ringing out from the entrance and the sound of the door being flung open, he jumped into a fighting stance!

“Finally, I've finally found it!! The exterior is exactly as written in that diary!!”

Did those damn baldies follow me!?

Darakerus braced himself at first, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

The voice belonged to a young man, and from what Darakerus could hear of him ranting to himself, he hadn't come here looking for Darakerus.

“That the barrier has vanished...... well, after nearly thirty years without maintenance, I suppose that's only to be expected......? Well, no matter!!”

Rattling on at top speed, the voice's owner barged right in and stomped down the short hallway.

“Hahaha, just you wait, Success...... I'll take everything back from you!! A little brother should know his place and live on scraps!! As my slave, I'll work you to the bone as much as I please, I SWEAAAR!!”

The noisy shouting and footsteps drew closer and closer to the living room where Darakerus was...... and gachari, with that sound, the doorknob turned.

And then.

“From here...... from this house, it begins!! Mine, Fret Full's!! Glorious comeback STORYYY!!”

BAAAAAN!!!

The man who flung open the living room door while shouting all that, Fret Full, was...... a short man somewhere in his twenties.

His blond hair was slicked back, big glasses framed sharp, nasty-looking eyes, and though this was the middle of a forest, he was decked out in an expensive-looking suit.

Looks like a snide little jerk with a lousy personality.

That was the snap judgment Darakerus made of Fret on first sight: unlike himself, this guy was rotten to the core, and almost certainly not someone he could ever get along with.

Meanwhile, as for Fret.

At the sight of Darakerus standing in a room that should have been empty, his mind went blank for a moment.

Wearing a tattered robe, with hair and beard overgrown and messy.

Lanky and tall, but gaunt, with no vitality in his eyes.

What is this filthy, slovenly vagrant.

One look at Darakerus and Fret was disgusted: unlike himself, this man was of little value to society, and not a person worth getting to know.

And then.

“Who the hell're you......”

“Who are you, wretch!!”

The two of them pointed at each other at the same moment, in much the same pose, and spat out much the same line.

【Plateau of Behemoths】

A super-dangerous zone, home to many monsters of absurdly huge size.

The setting of Arc 29.

【C, Cy...... eh, who cares what it's called......】

The light-blue grass whose name Darakerus couldn't remember is Cysh grass.

A medicinal herb used to make high-grade potions; whenever a patch of it is found, the nearby towns enjoy a big economic boom.

Appeared in Arc 6.

Incidentally, the Cysh grass in Arc 6 and the Cysh grass this time are about as different as the common dandelion and the Japanese dandelion, but since both are used to make potions, adventurers don't tell them apart.