I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 197

First a swarm of sparrows, and now moles. Grylls thought farming was truly tough. He felt angry too.

Ludwig seemed to share the feeling, as he immediately set out to track down the mole the moment the sweet potatoes were stolen.

The method tried first was scattering sweet potato seeds and snatching the mole with his hands when it came.

Grylls asked why he didn’t just stab it with a sword, but Ludwig said it was hard.

It was an extremely swift creature, and in a situation where he couldn’t use mana, his hands seemed better.

Kwaaaaak!

"Euaaaak!"

"Crazy!"

Surprisingly, snatching the mole with bare hands was a success.

The problem was that the mole’s strength was so immense that Ludwig was almost dragged underground.

Fortunately, he managed to break free somehow, but he wasn’t intact.

Deolleong-

"...."

"...."

Seeing his arm dangling, his shoulder seemed to be dislocated.

Still, having experience with dislocations, Ludwig popped it right back into place. Just in case, Grylls even gave him an Elixir.

Let’s not mess with moles in the future. It seemed better to just think of another countermeasure.

Title) Don’t touch moles recklessly, guys... Ludwig popped his arm out. - Wild Grylls

(Photo of the traces left by the mole’s theft)

(Photo of Ludwig’s gloomy back)

We changed routes to emergency crops after getting robbed by sparrows... My mind went blank after seeing moles rob us right away.

So this ahjussi got pissed off and tried to catch a mole with his bare hands.

It grabbed the ahjussi’s arm in an instant and tried to drag him straight into the ground...

I freaked out and pulled him off, and his shoulder got dislocated and it was total chaos.

Sparrows are at least outside, but these mole motherfuckers are underground, so catching them is tough too...

└ Heavenly Demon) Are you uninjured, my friend?

└ Wild Grylls) Nothing much happened to me.

└ Sword Matstar) For that man’s arm to pop out, it must have pulled ridiculously hard... That’s really scary.

└ First sparrows, now moles lol. It’s basically telling you not to farm.

└ Grylls-ya. Just buy bread from the auction house and eat that lol.

└ Passing Dwarf) Hey. Come to think of it, what happened to my wheat? Couldn’t harvest it?

└ Wild Grylls) ? Didn’t you say barley earlier? Why change your story?

└ Passing Dwarf) Come to think of it, I can make it with wheat too. Can you give me some?

└ Wild Grylls) I can give you some. I’ll give it to you later.

└ Passing Dwarf) Thx thx.

└ That bastard seems to care more about alcohol than Grylls, lol.

└ Alcohol-crazed dwarf sh*t, lol.

└ Passing Dwarf) That guy survives fine while complaining he’s hurt. Me, I have a body that can’t go without alcohol.

└ Wild Grylls) (Photo of severe scar) What the f**k?

└ Passing Dwarf) ...Is what I shouldn’t say, right?

└ Talk about an instant 180 flip, holy sh*t, lmao.

└ Every time I see these two talk, it’s fucking hilarious, seriously lmao.

└ Grow Big and Tall) Moles are... tricky. There’s no choice but to figure out the tunnels and catch them directly.

└ Wild Grylls) There are no machines or chemicals either, right?

└ Grow Big and Tall) There are chemicals, but they might affect Wonmo as well.

└ Wild Grylls) Tsk... Understood.

In the end, the mole capture method had to be postponed.

That said, he couldn’t just offer crops to moles like he had done with the sparrow swarm.

At least the sparrow swarm raided openly with ’force’, but the moles stole like petty thieves.

In the former case, he could grit his teeth and plan for what comes after.

But in the latter case, they were treating him like a chump. He had to block them somehow.

"Ahjussi."

"...?"

"Let’s overturn this entire plot of land."

Without a trap, catching moles was impossible.

Therefore, the only way was to dig up the entire ground and line the outer lining with bricks.

No matter how well moles dig, they shouldn’t be able to break hard stone.

If they broke through even this, he’d have to figure out another plan.

Anyway, what was the conclusion? Time for hard labor.

Paak! Pak!

"Aigo. My lower back."

"#%%#"

He didn’t know how many times he had shoveled today. His back was starting to ache.

Ludwig’s back seemed to hurt just as much, given his grimacing face.

For a man who usually maintained a stoic expression to be struggling like that...

’Still, can’t give up.’

’If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it’... no, if you can’t avoid it, you have to face it head-on.

Grylls wanted to enjoy it if he could, too. But this wasn’t civilization; it was the wild.

The moment you enjoyed yourself, your lifeline could fly away, so there was no choice but to constantly prepare.

After that, they dug deep into the ground and erected walls all around the perimeter.

Just in case, they built double layers. So that it could absolutely never be breached.

Once all preparations were finished, he scattered sweet potato seeds again.

Ssuuuuuk!This story is hosted at novelping dot com.

Before long, sweet potato vines grew.

Kagagak!

The sound of moles scratching against the bricks from underground could be heard clearly.

Both the sparrow swarm and the moles—it was truly amazing how they noticed the instant things grew.

Did they have some special sensor, or was it because they came from the outside?

At any rate, now that he knew moles couldn’t pierce bricks, all that remained was the harvest.

Kwaak!

But before that, let’s catch this damn mole first.

Grylls approached the spot where the sound came from and thrust the Sword of the Heavenly Demon into the ground.

Didn’t feel the sensation of piercing flesh? Then he stabbed several more times.

Pook!

Before long, the sensation of piercing flesh transmitted through his hand.

Simultaneously, the sound of the mole digging through the brick stopped completely.

It seemed so focused on digging through the bricks that it didn’t even notice a sword being thrust into the ground.

’Let’s see what your mug looks like.’

Grylls grabbed a shovel and dug up the dirt. He was curious as to what the mole looked like.

Ludwig seemed to feel similarly, helping by picking up a shovel instead of asking questions.

"...Is this really a mole?"

"...."

Pulling the dead mole out from underground, its size was terrifying.

Moles were originally known to be about the size of two fists put together, but not this one.

It was roughly equal in size to a medium-sized dog. Similar to the Golden Frog he had caught at the very beginning.

What had it eaten to grow this big? First, he should take an ID photo.

"Please hold this."

Grylls handed the giant mole over to Ludwig and took a photo.

Ludwig also struck a posing stance for the photo, and Grylls gave him a thumbs up.

Title) Caught a mole - Wild Gryllji

(Photo of Ludwig holding the giant mole while giving a thumbs up)

By the way, are moles normally this huge?

└ Heavenly Demon) How big are moles normally?

└ Sword Matstar) From what I know, they’re extremely small. That one is abnormal.

└ What kind of mole is the size of a human torso, lol.

└ To think that thing was rummaging underground, holy sh*t, lol.

└ Somehow Grylls’s posts feel like they’ve turned into a farmer’s diary, lol.

└ Then what is Ludwig?

└ A serf?

└ Don’t Abandon the Hero) Ludwig-nim is not a serf!

└ Orange Badge throwing a fit, lol.

└ Orange Badge, what are you up to these days?

└ Don’t Abandon the Hero) I’m heading to the El Dorado capital right now! It feels like something is about to blow up!

└ Isn’t the El Dorado capital dangerous right now?

└ Yeah, paladins are roaming around, it’s no joke.

└ Didn’t someone say a few people got dragged away?

└ It’s probably best not to go if you can help it.

Having caught the pest, it was now time to harvest the sweet potatoes.

As for the mole... well, Wonmo would probably eat it happily.

Just in case there were parasites or something, he should feed him an Elixir too.

"Alright. One. Two!"

Ssuuuuuk!

Pulling on the sweet potato vines, large sweet potatoes popped out in bunches.

Would you believe it if every single sweet potato was the size of my forearm?

Bumper crop doesn’t even begin to describe this. It seemed there would be no worries about food for the time being.

’We should eat them all before winter comes.’

Grow Big and Tall had warned him. Sweet potatoes were extremely vulnerable to the cold.

Unlike potatoes, they couldn’t withstand the cold and were prone to rotting, and this was true even after harvesting.

They would have to eat them all before winter arrived, or as soon as winter hit.

’I should eat a few as roasted sweet potatoes.’

Nothing was quite the delicacy like roasted sweet potatoes eaten in winter.

Coincidentally, there was a fireplace inside the cave, so it would be easy.

Grylls brushed off the dirt on the sweet potatoes and stored them in sacks.

As much as he wanted to plant other things, he was far too exhausted.

"All done."

"Done? Then help me out."

"Want rest."

"Wanna keep talking back?"

"Bad guy. Really bad guy."

Still, work had to be done. Grylls built a ceiling using the logs Lackey had crafted.

It wasn’t just a matter of placing the logs; hammering was required as well.

The dwarf hadn’t said it was difficult work for nothing. Still, it had to be done.

’There are plenty of nails in the auction house, anyway.’

Surprisingly, the price of nails was ridiculously expensive.

It was probably because factories hadn’t been introduced, so everything was handmade.

Still, he had plenty of money, so he could buy a sufficient quantity of nails.

As much as he wanted to forge nails himself... there wasn’t enough time.

’Come to think of it, did the dwarf say that if I wanted to craft a sword by hand, I should start by making nails?’

Putting that aside, building the ceiling and roof was the priority.This story is hosted at novelping . com.

He received help from everyone—Ludwig, Lackey, and even Largo.

One might ask what kind of help Largo, a giraffe, could provide, setting the other two aside.

"Largo-ya. Can you pass me that timber over there?"

"Kkuung."

Surprisingly, he was a tremendous help. He acted as a natural crane.

It was possible because the giraffe’s innate strength was so immense.

Ttaak! Ttak! Ttak!

Securing it firmly with hammer strikes, stacking logs again, repeating the process.

If the ceiling collapsed, it would be a major disaster, so he didn’t forget to build it sturdily.

The roof was the same. He hadn’t realized building at a sloped angle was this difficult.

"All finished!"

Still, he was glad he wasn’t alone. Grylls couldn’t hide his pride as he looked at the completed house.

Frankly speaking, the outward appearance was just rectangular, so it wasn’t great.

But in the wild, who cared about design? It was all about practicality.

"Do you like it?"

"Ooh! Good!"

"Kkuung."

Laying mats on the floor, both Lackey and Largo were delighted.

Grylls taught Lackey how to use the fireplace in preparation for winter.

Lackey also knew the terror of winter, so he listened attentively to Grylls’s explanation.

"Come to think of it, how did you survive winter? You didn’t even know how to make a fire."

"Just endured."

"Uh... right."

This guy’s body wasn’t just sturdy, it was remarkably tough. Otherwise, he would have died long ago.

Still, he’d be able to spend a warm winter from now on.

After thoroughly checking for any flaws, Grylls stepped outside.

Perhaps because he had spent the entire day doing manual labor, evening was already approaching.

[Wild Grylls: Here’s the wheat harvested today. By the way, can you give me cooking oil?]

[Passing Dwarf: I can. What are you gonna eat with it?]

[Wild Grylls: Yep. Also, if you give me barley seeds, I’ll harvest them right away and give them to you.]

[Passing Dwarf: Ok]

He traded with the dwarf in the middle of it all. Agreeing to hand over wheat and barley.

And he received cooking oil in exchange. There was something he wanted to make with this.

"Ahjussi. Please peel the sweet potatoes. I need to make food for Wonmo."

"#%#%"

He asked Ludwig to peel the sweet potatoes.

In the meantime, he fed his animal friends and set about preparing his own meal.

Since he harvested sweet potatoes today, he planned to eat a special dish.

’Honey should work as a substitute, right?’

Namely, Candied Sweet Potatoes. Since he didn’t have sugar, he used honey instead.

First, chop the sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces and drain the moisture completely.

Then fry them in the oil received from the dwarf.

Once they seemed cooked to a nice golden brown, remove the sweet potatoes and wipe the pan clean.

Normally, grain syrup or sugar should be added and heated, but he substituted honey.

’As long as it’s sweet, it shouldn’t matter, right?’

Changing the recipe to one’s own whim was one of the reasons dishes got ruined, but since the taste was similar, shouldn’t it be fine?

Thus, tossing the sweet potatoes and honey together, Forest of the Four Seasons Special Candied Sweet Potatoes were complete.

"Here. Let’s eat."

"#@%"

Eating only candied sweet potatoes would get sickening, so he prepared fish as well.

Now he wasn’t just eating a main dish, but had side dishes too.

As much as he wanted to harvest rice too, let’s postpone that for later.

"Delicious, right?"

Ludwig nodded at Grylls’s question.

Perhaps because it was candied sweet potatoes made with Forest of the Four Seasons honey, the speed of his fingers moving was no joke.

Lest he eat them all, Grylls didn’t stop his chopsticks either.

"Wonmo-ya. Eat this."

"Kkyuuu!"

"Lackey, Largo, you guys eat too."

"Ooh!"

Here and there, he fed the candied sweet potatoes to his animal friends too. And...

"Kkyuaaa!"

"One more! One more!"

"Kkuooorgh!"

"You bastards! This is our food! Get away!"

A war broke out.

Sweetness + sweetness—what kind of outcome that would bring, he realized today.

It seemed he ought to refrain from candied sweet potatoes as much as possible.

Someone once said: If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.

"Hey, human! Don’t eat it secretly all by yourself and help me out!"

"...."

He couldn’t enjoy this at all.