Chapter 43: Forest Monsters

The inside of the forest was filled with a much denser scent of green than it appeared from outside. With every step forward, his nerves sharpened wondering if something lurked beneath the damp fallen leaves. Though walking slowly, he somehow felt his breath growing ragged.

After walking for several minutes, he found a three-leaf clover glittering with reflected sunlight at the base of a tree stump.

“…Silver Herb, maybe?”

It was a medicinal herb used in ointments for cuts and scrapes. Its characteristic feature was said to be the silver shine visible along the leaf edges.

It hadn’t been in the “Basic Gathering Medicinal Herb Diagrams” he first saw at the guild archives, but it was described in text in other materials. He crouched down and cut it from the base with his knife. While wrapping the cut end in damp cloth as he gathered it, he suddenly felt something move at the edge of his vision.

Startled, he turned his eyes, but saw nothing.

Keeping his gaze fixed, he stored the gathered Silver Leaf in a hemp sack along with the damp cloth. Holding his breath and watching, he saw damp fallen leaves shift with a squirm.

“Something’s there!”

Ren stood up warily. While putting his hand to his bow, he gathered mana with his other hand.

“Wind!”

A gust of wind blew from Ren’s fingertips, sweeping away the fallen leaves. From beneath the leaves, a green, translucent object appeared and squirmed into view.

“A Leaf Slime…”

According to the guild materials, it was written as a monster that clung to fallen leaves and branches, difficult to distinguish from the ground. Though weak, it apparently stuck to clothes and shoes in a sticky manner. Its magic stone was extremely small and apparently had almost no value.

“The materials said to aim for the core to defeat slime-types… but where is the core…”

Though it seemed unlikely he could sell the magic stone even if he defeated it, he was somewhat interested since it was his first time seeing a slime. A knife would probably get sticky and cause trouble later, so he picked up a branch and readied himself.

Staring intently, he saw something glowing faintly near the center of the slime.

“Is it here?”

He thrust the branch forward forcefully.

Squish

When he stabbed the wooden branch into the glowing area, the slime’s form collapsed and spread out like water.

“…Did I do it…?”

It was so anticlimactic that he poked it several more times with the branch just to be sure. As he rustled the branch around, a small translucent green stone rolled out. It was wrapped in faint light.

“…This must be the Leaf Slime’s magic stone.”

He started to reach out, then thought better of it and produced the small box, placing it over the magic stone. The magic stone rolled into the box with a clatter.

“Haa…”

Ren let out a large breath and lowered his shoulders. The Leaf Slime had apparently been weak, but he truly felt that monsters lurked everywhere in the forest.

Rustle

At the sound, Ren’s shoulders jumped. Holding his breath, he slowly moved his gaze and saw a stout monster peeking at him from the shadow of the bushes.

“Kyii!”

“Eek!!”

It bared its large front teeth threateningly. Ren gasped and stepped back. Then, slipping through the bushes, the monster charged at him. It was about knee-height to Ren, looking like a giant rat.

“…! Small box!”

He instantly produced a flat small box before him like a shield.

Thud!

“Squeak!”

The rat-type monsterS bounced off the wall of the small box, let out a growl, changed direction, and rushed back into the bushes with tremendous speed.