Chapter 44: Trail Markers
“Kyii”
“Kyi-kyii!”
The nearby bushes shook, and he saw several of the same type of monsters running away.
“That was…”
Ren took out a memo of small boards tied together with string from his small box. He flipped through it to check.
《Small-Fang Rat》
- Rat-type monsters.
- Acts in packs. Has sharp fangs.
- Weak alone, but somewhat dangerous to newcomers in packs.
- Be careful, as multiple may lurk in bushes.
“This must be it… It seemed like they were in a pack. Were they targeting me? …That was close… Uwah, scary!”
The Small-Fang Rats seemed timid, dispersing immediately after being repelled by the shield, but at first they had bared their fangs threateningly. They probably would have attacked if they thought he was weak.
Ren shuddered imagining what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten the small box shield out in time. If the small box shield hadn’t been ready, or if he had slipped and fallen, the Small-Fang Rat pack might have swarmed him.
Ren looked around while straining his ears. The wind rustled through the trees. Bird calls echoed from afar. He faintly heard what sounded like a branch cracking somewhere. The Small-Fang Rat pack seemed to have completely moved away.
He took a deep breath in. Then exhaled with a “haaa.”
“…I have to be careful.”
Ren’s eyes looking toward the depths of the forest held a mixture of tension, anxiety, and a little excitement.
As Ren tried to continue forward on the path in the forest, he noticed that the path continuing from the entrance forked into two.
Suddenly uneasy, he turned to look back.
The path from the entrance for a while was illuminated by dappled sunlight, a well-trodden path stretching straight ahead. However, the left and right forked paths were narrow, unreliable lines where overgrown grass had been trampled down, with the ground exposed in places from something passing through repeatedly.
The right path was relatively bright, but large tree roots undulated and rose up to block the way in places.
The left path was somewhat dark with dense trees, but the ground was more firmly packed down.
Ren thought for a moment and decided to take the left path.
He figured that being more packed down meant it was a more frequently used path.
“…Ah, that’s right!”
About to take a step, he stopped. Turning to look back at the path he came from, he produced the “small box.”
“Small… as small as possible…”
He made a small box small enough to be completely hidden when gripped tight in his palm. After making it glow once to check, he extinguished the light.
“Yeah.”
After nodding, he dropped the small box at the edge of the path with a plop, and used earth magic to bury it into the ground.
With a light covering of dirt on the surface, it was unnoticeable at a glance.
He tried making it glow as a test. In the brightness of the dappled sunlight, the faint glow wasn’t noticeable, but as he gradually increased the brightness to about that of a lamp, it showed its presence.