𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐: 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 (2)

Two days of rest in Erengrad and Oswald finished preparing to go to Troll Forest.

Since the Troll King was in the center of the Troll Forest, he prepared plenty of dried food and jerky, considering the time it would take to get to the center, and he also prepared cold-weather gear like a muffler. After all, it was a cold northern region, so if he didn’t bring cold-weather gear like a scarf, he could freeze to death with this weak body without magic.

Fully prepared, Oswald got on the saddle of the vulture he had purchased at the market. The vulture, a bird-like creature that looked like an ostrich.

Vultures that lived in the cold fields of the north had thick, rich feathers to withstand the cold. Despite running on two legs, they were as fast as horses and had the endurance of camels in the southern desert.

Dododododo!

The vulture ran quickly, making a unique sound, and the stalker seemed to be following at a similar speed, having also purchased a vulture.

As he did, Oswald thought that if he could use the stalker well, it might be of great help when taking the Troll King’s heart.

It was a distance that would take 5 days on foot, or about 2 to 3 days by vulture. This included the time it would take to rest.

“Euuuuuuuuuu.”

Thanks to the vulture running at a fast speed, Oswald was hit by a very cold wind all over his body. He was shivering from the cold. It was probably because he had a high endurance level; otherwise, he might have gotten frostbite.

After running for a long time, it gradually got dark. He had to find a suitable place to rest before the sun went down completely. The problem was that the current location was a wasteland, meaning there was nothing to block the wind.

Just in case, he had brought a portable tent. Oswald immediately combined the poles, set up the supports, and connected the tent to it to secure a space to avoid the dew and the cold wind.

He dug the ground in front of the tent and prepared to make a bonfire using the dry firewood he had brought with him. Fortunately, there were rags scattered everywhere, so it didn’t seem difficult to light a fire.

Oswald used a lighter to light the rags on fire and gradually spread the fire to the bonfire while blowing on it. Thanks to his continuous supply of rags so that the fire wouldn’t weaken, the dry firewood caught fire.

“That was hard.”

He threw a can of dried rabbit meat that he had prepared as food for the vulture from his magic backpack. Then the vulture pecked at it a few times to make it easier to swallow at once and then gulped it down.

Oswald, who confirmed that it was eating, also started eating. Since it was cold, he boiled soup to warm his stomach.

It could be dangerous to cook a dish that smelled so much in the wild, but monsters were hard to find in the territory of the empire. Monsters only roamed in places where humans rarely set foot, like Troll Forest, and it was actually hard to see them in open wastelands like this.

‘𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘬𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺?’

They were creatures that couldn’t be exterminated no matter how hard they tried to wipe them out like cockroaches, and they would revive again. The empire was the only one to frown upon them and designate them as targets for frequent subjugation.

Mercenaries were even given a reward of 5 silver for bringing a skaven corpse. It was 1 silver for a kobold. There was no use for them as byproducts, but it was a system implemented for the safety of the city.

Anyway, Oswald used the soup powder and water he had prepared in advance to make warm soup and ate it with jerky.

Feeling his body warm up to some extent, Oswald tied the vulture’s reins to the tent pole. This was because the tent would collapse if the vulture tried to run away, and he could naturally wake up.

“Hmmmm.”

The next day, Oswald safely greeted the morning. He cleaned up the bonfire, folded the tent, and put it neatly in his magic backpack. He threw a can of dried rabbit meat to the vulture for breakfast and got on it, chewing on jerky himself.

The vulture ran dododododo again, and after running like that for a long time over 2 days, he was finally able to arrive in front of Troll Forest.

Since he had to walk from here, Oswald untied the vulture’s saddle and reins.

“Go wherever you want.”

He thought the vulture would run away if he hit its butt, but surprisingly, it didn’t go and rubbed its beak against Oswald’s body.

Oswald couldn’t believe that they had become so close in just three days. Vultures were usually sold with an owner imprint, but Oswald didn’t know that, since he had mostly ridden raptors and horses in the game.

“Whew.”

He eventually put the saddle back on, put on the reins, and got on its back to enter Troll Forest.

He hadn’t even named it yet, but he thought it would be nice to give it a name since it was like this.

The eerie Troll Forest, the chirping of birds seemed to make it feel even more so. It was good that the grasshoppers were crying; otherwise, he would have been more nervous if he hadn’t even heard the grasshoppers.

‘𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮.’

The only time the grasshoppers that were crying well became quiet was when a natural enemy appeared. And the natural enemy for such grasshoppers meant a living creature larger than them, so if the grasshoppers became quiet, it meant that there was something nearby.

Of course, thanks to his heightened sensory level, there was a high possibility that he would intuitively notice if something was approaching, but even so, the more alarms, the better.

‘𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦.’

It seemed like it would be better to dig a trap and wait for it to rush in.

‘𝘖𝘩! 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩.’