I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 196

What is the most annoying thing to a farmer?

Creatures that interfere with farming.

Droughts, floods, typhoons, and the like. Since natural disasters were considered the will of God, everyone could at least weep together in harmony.

However, the bastards that ruined farming never let you know when they’d show up, but because you could prepare for them, farmers treated them as a so-called ’total pain in the ass.’

On top of that, this was a fantasy world. A region where all sorts of monsters spawned.

It wasn’t uncommon for monsters that formed packs—like goblins, orcs, and gnolls—to raid farmlands.

They were also notorious for being quite intelligent, earning the undivided hatred of farmers.

Title) Look what my uncle caught yesterday

(Photo of a farmer smiling while holding up a hobgoblin head)

It’s a freaking Hobgoblin, man.

Normally he’d have to commission adventurers, but he got pissed off and caught it himself.

Are hobgoblins usually this easy to catch? He says he killed it with a sickle.

└ Definitely not. Normally, a hobgoblin takes a knight to hunt;;

└ What was your uncle’s former job by any chance?

└ I heard he was training to be a knight, got fed up, and stormed off. He became a farmer after that.

└ Ah, then it makes sense, lol.

└ Makes sense my ass, lol. That still doesn’t make any sense.

└ Historically, when rebellions broke out, the ones leading the military might weren’t knights, but farmers.

└ Don’t underestimate farmers. Their stamina is seriously insane;;

Title) At least goblins can be subjugated.

These locusts and sparrows, these motherfuckers are hopeless. You just gotta take it with your eyes wide open, sh*t.

└ Locusts aside, wouldn’t a scarecrow work for sparrows?

└ Locusts are the real deal calamity. They’re literally described as plagues in the scriptures.

└ Hell, the Demon God who fought Goddess Aris was deeply tied to locusts, lol.

└ The problem is that extermination is impossible...

Locust swarms, the calamity among calamities, aside, sparrows at least could be thoroughly eradicated.

Erecting scarecrows was the classic defense. Of course, that alone couldn’t stop them completely.

But did that mean they couldn’t be wiped out entirely? Not necessarily.

It was possible if you hunted them indiscriminately. In fact, someone in history actually did it.

The man who uttered the famous line that would go down in history: ’That bird is a harmful bird.’

’And the result was tens of millions starving to death.’

The ecosystem was a scary thing because you never knew how it would shift if you tampered with it.

So no amount of caution was ever excessive.

But even so...

Seeing the wheat reduced to bare stalks made his heart heavy.

The thought kept crossing his mind: Since this is the Forest of the Four Seasons, should I give it a try too?

It had been picked completely clean. Now all that remained were the stalks.

Ujeok- ujeok

Let’s correct that. Largo was chewing up even the stalks.

The wheat grains were already all gone, and he hadn’t planned to use the stalks separately anyway, so Grylls decided to just let it be.

’He didn’t call it a harmful bird for nothing.’

Having all the wheat grains stolen right in front of his eyes was as empty a feeling as it gets.

But there was an even bigger problem. He couldn’t even fathom where a swarm of sparrows that size had come from.

Normally he only heard occasional chirping, but they had flooded the place in an instant.

’No wonder there didn’t seem to be that many bugs.’

Except for the last time when bugs swarmed, Grylls had thought the number of insects was strangely low even on regular days.

Seeing these birds now, he could roughly understand the reason.

What if these birds vanished entirely? Then a swarm of insects would launch an assault.

What was even more goosebump-inducing was that despite having that many birds around, insect swarms still raged every summer.

"$%%%#"

"What are we going to do? I don’t know either."

That was that, but farming was farming.

Grylls gave an irresponsible answer to Ludwig’s question asking what he was going to do.

This was a sight even Grylls was seeing for the first time. Setting up a scarecrow would be meaningless.

Even though they were right next to them, the birds had devoured everything as if it were nothing.

Even the timeframe was so brief that there wasn’t even time to confront them.

’What do I really do?’

This was something even a farmer with 30 years of experience couldn’t solve.

If it had been a swarm of locusts instead, they were pests, so they could have been prevented with repellent.

Hadn’t he been steadily receiving repellent from the merchant guild recently?

But these were birds. Birds that devoured both crops and bugs.

’It’s also astonishing that they descended the moment the wheat grew.’

As expected of the Forest of the Four Seasons. Things that defied expectations were scattered everywhere.

This wasn’t something he and Ludwig could solve on their own. He needed the Gallery’s help.

Before that, though, he should record a video first. There were things to check as well.

"Ahjussi. Let’s do it like this."

"#%#"

The plan Grylls devised was as follows: For now, let’s harvest the moment the wheat grows.

If those bastards swarmed, he would show off his big, beautiful Aura and sweep them all away.

Padadadadak!

"Kuaaaak!"

"Eueoooorgh!"

It failed miserably. Predicting that the wheat would grow and the birds would pounce was accurate.

The problem was what came next.

The moment Grylls swung his sword infused with Aura, the birds scattered in unison.

It roughly resembled the shape of a school of fish in the ocean scattering to avoid a predator.

Doing that in the air, right on land rather than the sea, was enough to drive a man insane.

What happened after that, you ask? The birds swarmed over Grylls and Ludwig.

Fortunately, they didn’t peck with their beaks or anything, but simply pushed them down in that state.

No. Rather than pushing them down, the expression ’dragged them down’ would be more fitting.

In the end, far from harvesting, he couldn’t even catch a single bird.

"...."

"...."Find the original chapter at novelping(.)com.

The state Grylls and Ludwig were in was atrocious.

Bird feathers were stuck all over their bodies, and they even had minor scratches.

He only hoped they wouldn’t catch any diseases from those birds.

"Kkyuu?"

"...Yeah. Thanks."

To soothe a troubled mind, nothing was better than Wonmo.

Grylls let out a sigh as he looked at the wheat that had become bare once again.

He had wondered why things were going smoothly for once, but it wasn’t the case at all.

Fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons, even tending a garden patch was extremely difficult.

Title) You know what’s scarier than a locust swarm? - Wild Grylls

(Video of birds picking the wheat clean)

(Video of birds swarming Grylls, with screams heard)

(Photo of the bare wheat stalks)

(Photo of Ludwig sitting with a bewildered expression)

It’s a swarm of sparrows from the Forest of the Four Seasons.

These bastards can’t even be handled with repellent, so it’s even more f**king annoying.

So I tried to catch them, but they grabbed me and Ludwig and threw us aside;;

In the end, we got robbed blind with our eyes wide open. Is there anyone who can do something about this?

└ Heavenly Demon) A marvelous sight. They truly resemble a swarm of locusts.

└ Sword Matstar) Do birds flock together like that when they’re not even migratory? This is my first time seeing this.

└ They do flock together, but they don’t move in massive hordes like that. That’s literally just a locust swarm;;

└ Now even the birds have evolved in a weird direction;;

└ What species are those birds? They look like sparrows on the outside?

└ Allfather) They are indeed sparrows. However, they do not form flocks in that manner.

└ Wild Grylls) It’s been a while, Allfather-nim. You said you were busy.

└ Allfather) My busy matters have been wrapped up to a degree. Though if it fails, I’ll be busy again.

└ Wild Grylls) By any chance, is there a way to repel those birds?

└ Allfather) Usually, such issues are resolved when there is a predator... Do you have a predator?

└ Wild Grylls) (Photo of cute Wonmo) Will he do?

└ Allfather) There are things that can be resolved with cuteness and things that cannot.

└ Wild Grylls) Bummer.

└ What do you mean bummer, lol.

└ If Wonmo was a bit bigger, maybe, but he’s way too small, lol.

└ Grow Big and Tall) Usually, sparrows aren’t numerous enough to be an issue so people brush it off, but that... I’m not so sure. Even if you catch birds, it’s not like it’s any good.

└ Wild Grylls) Because the bugs will increase?

└ Grow Big and Tall) You know well. How about setting up scarecrows?

└ Wild Grylls) Would you like to watch the video just one more time?

└ Grow Big and Tall) No, not just scarecrows, but sprinkling carnivorous animal blood on them. Wouldn’t they avoid it just from the smell?

"Oh?"

That actually made a lot of sense.

In the end, those birds were just sparrows forming a flock.

If they perceived predators were around, there was a high chance they would back off.

’The problem is where to get that blood...’

A presence here that could be called a predator?

There was only the cute and adorable Wonmo. However, Wonmo was still far too young.

Unless his size grew two or three times larger than now, he was currently at an age where he needed care.

└ Wild Grylls) Who are the natural enemies of sparrows?

└ Grow Big and Tall) Snakes are a classic example. Besides them, raptors like eagles and falcons are natural enemies too.

└ Sparrows are at the bottom of the food chain, so any large beast eats them.

└ They’re guys who shiver in fear even when just a snake shows up.

Swiswiswik-

Speak of the devil, as the saying goes.

While browsing the Gallery, he could see a snake slithering up a tree.

Fitting for an inhabitant of the Forest of the Four Seasons, its size was quite massive.

Just its body length alone seemed to easily be around 3 meters.

Seureureuk-

The snake slithered stealthily toward the bird perched on the branch.

The bird noticed the approach belatedly and tried to flee, but the snake was far too fast.

"Chwaaaa!"

Kwadeuk!

The moment the bird was about to flap its wings, the snake thrust its head forward with the speed of a bullet.

It struggled desperately to avoid being eaten, but it was already too late.

In the end, the bird became a meal for the snake and slid into its stomach.

’...But why aren’t they running away?’

There was one puzzling thing.

Even though their ultimate natural enemy, a snake, had appeared, the birds didn’t run away.

On the contrary, every single bird was glaring sharply at the snake. The atmosphere was strange.

"...#%#"

"...I know, right."

Ludwig seemed to have felt something similar to Grylls.

Didn’t he fail to understand what Ludwig said? He probably meant something like ’I feel uneasy.’

Meanwhile, the snake began targeting other birds. Fitting its size, one didn’t seem enough.

Pudeudeudeok!

But before it could, the birds moved first.

Flapping their wings, the birds took flight without anyone knowing who started first.

Soon after, the place those birds headed toward was, as expected, the snake’s direction.

No matter how much strength they had in numbers, against a predator—and one with such a massive size difference—it ought to be tough for them.

"Shaaaa!"

"Jjaek! Jjaek!"

"Jjaekjjaek!"New chapters come out on novelp⁠ing.com first.

Indeed, the moment the snake opened its maw and charged, several birds flew right inside its open mouth.

Yet the birds didn’t give up and clung onto the snake.

Before long, just as they had done to Grylls and Ludwig, the birds completely covered the snake’s entire body.

Just as Grylls wondered if they were going to peck it to death like that...

Jjuaaaak!

The sound of something being pulled forcefully reached his ears.

At the same time, the birds covering the snake pulled away like magnets of the same pole repelling each other.

The moment he saw that, Grylls could roughly guess the future that was about to unfold.

Jwajajak! Jjwaak! Jjwak! Jjwak!

The snake was literally ’ripped’ into shreds.

Those snake fragments fell to the ground below with Tok! Tok! sounds.

Characteristically for a snake, it kept squirming even after being ripped apart all over, which made it all the more hideous.

"...."

"...."

Neither Grylls nor Ludwig could utter a word.

Seeing a snake instantly turned into s/n/a/k/e, who on earth could open their mouth?

It meant that if they had killed the birds, that snake could have been him.

"Kkyuuuu~"

Wonmo, seeing his chance, dashed frantically toward the snake pieces.

Whether he knew the head was dangerous or not, he started eating from the tail.

Here and there were dead birds too, but thankfully, Wonmo didn’t even spare them a glance.

"Jjaekjjaek."

"Jjaek. Jjaek."

The birds returned peacefully atop the tree branches as if nothing had happened.

Grylls watched the scene, then silently scattered wheat seeds over the field.

Pudeudeodeok!

"Jjaek! Jjaek! Jjaek!"

"Jjaekjjaek!"

The moment the wheat grew, the birds rushed down as if it were natural. Grylls did not stop them.

On the contrary, whenever he felt they had eaten everything, he scattered seeds again.

Pudeudeodeok!

Whether those bastards had a conscience or simply thought this was enough...

Once they ate a certain amount of grain, they began leaving one by one.

Thanks to that, as time went on, the number of birds began to diminish.

Ludwig quickly noticed this and assisted Grylls.

’Right. I’ll feed you guys till you’re full first. Just don’t harm us.’

Living in the Forest of the Four Seasons for a month taught him one thing.

Unless the other side harms you first, adopt a friendly stance.

Then at least his life wouldn’t be lost in vain.

"#$%#"

"I know. Me too."

Grylls couldn’t understand the words this time either. But he got the nuance.

It probably meant something like ’Is this how you’ve survived up until now?’

’I really hope those sparrows were migratory birds.’

He didn’t know if sparrows were migratory. He could only pray in his heart.

Because no matter how much humans struggled, it was meaningless in the face of nature’s power.

Thus, only after the birds ate their fill was he barely able to harvest the wheat.

Both the seeds and the amount of wheat itself weren’t bad, so the harvest itself was pretty good.

Umulmul-umul

The remaining wheat stalks were given to Largo. He ate them extremely well.

It felt like raising a cow rather than a giraffe.

"What should we plant next?"

"#%%^^"

Ludwig showed him through a drawing. He wanted to plant sweet potatoes.

Since sparrows robbed rice or wheat, he apparently decided to change routes to emergency crops.

Grylls felt similarly, so he made a request to Grow Big and Tall.

[Grow Big and Tall: I have seeds, but for sweet potatoes, slips would be better. Is that alright?]

[Wild Grylls: Even if I just scatter seeds, they’ll grow well on their own.]

[Grow Big and Tall: Understood. In return, could you give me a bit more soil?]

[Wild Grylls: Of course.]

Being a farmer, he possessed a wide variety of seeds.

Sweet potatoes were originally grown from slips, but well... they’d grow fine on their own.

Since they were growing underground this time, there was no fear of birds picking them clean.

Ssuuuuuk!

"Ooh!"

"Oh."

Not long after scattering the seeds, the plants grew rapidly.

Now all that was left was to dig up the sweet potatoes underneath...

Ssuuuuuk!

"?"

"?"

The stems that were growing so well suddenly began sinking into the ground.

Not just one, but the others as well.

Wondering if this too was part of their growth, they kept watching.

"...."

"...."

Far from sweet potatoes, only empty holes greeted them.

After seeing that, he realized. These had been stolen by moles.

He had only heard about it, but never thought he’d experience it in reality.

’There sure are a lot of thieves in this world.’

It seemed he would have to revamp the field separately as well.