I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 226

"Bullshit. Total bullshit."

The Emperor of the Messiah Empire, Arnold, spat out vulgar curses.

It was a relief that no one was around, for anyone who saw it would have been appalled.

"Just when El Dorado seemed to be settling down, now Alfheim is causing trouble."

Arnold had also watched Elia’s speech posted on the Gallery.

With upvotes flooding in wabak-bak, it was pinned right on the Recommended Posts, so there was no way he could miss it.

Upon seeing it, Arnold’s reaction could only be negative.

In an already precarious situation, she had driven the final nail in the coffin.

’The only silver lining is that it won’t be an immediate threat to the empire....’

There were two countries sharing a border with Alfheim.

One was El Dorado, which had recently suffered an ordeal, and the other was Mountain, the kingdom of dwarves.

In truth, it was also closely adjacent to the Forest of the Four Seasons, but it was better to gloss over that.

For Queen Elia wouldn’t be crazy enough to push her army into the Forest of the Four Seasons.

’Judging from how she referred to the World Tree as a gift from God, the likelihood of her invading El Dorado is slim.’

Arnold thoroughly analyzed Elia’s speech.

Although it appeared to be an impromptu speech, analyzing her intonation, pacing, and gestures revealed that the chances of it being spontaneous were overwhelmingly slim.

If this had truly been delivered on the spot, it wasn’t just natural talent—it was a talent bordering on a calamity.

Not only had she united the elves, who were previously no better than a broken family, but she had even won over the hearts of the banished ones.

Though it was still merely a rumor from the Gallery, there were talks that even the Dark Elves favored Elia.

’I can’t just dismiss it as a mere rumor either.’

To be precise, it was a case of hating Alfheim, but liking the queen.

Because Queen Elia had strictly restricted discrimination.

Furthermore, she had achieved tremendous economic growth over the past few years.

An unpredictable nutjob who happened to be highly competent was something one couldn’t help but guard against.

’I’ve decided to send an envoy, but... I just don’t know.’

Declaring expansionism in a situation like this was one thing, but there was even the Forest of the Four Seasons to consider.

A dragon capable of Polymorph had appeared in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Since it was the Forest of the Four Seasons, one could just let it slide with a "so be it." The problem was the dragon’s actions.

A dragon, a creature widely perceived as evil, had burned down a sapling of the World Tree.

Using this as a pretext, the World Tree’s status became even more firmly established. Elia’s subsequent speech was a bonus.

Just how would the elves react? Arnold’s anxiety deepened.

’For now, I need to figure out the movements of the elves within the empire.’

Recently, the strange antics of the elves had been on the rise.

Even if those antics consisted of nothing more than planting trees, a problem was still a problem.

Although he didn’t quite know what the Elf Queen was plotting, he had no choice but to keep watching for the time being.

’Information is key. If only I had something like Orichalcum....’

With Orichalcum, long-distance communication would be possible.

But unfortunately, Grylls was currently the only way to obtain Orichalcum.

Since Arnold hadn’t built a friendly relationship with Grylls, he couldn’t just abruptly ask for it out of nowhere.

Besides, he didn’t want to use that jewel-like handle. He truly, absolutely didn’t want to.

"Huu... I have no choice."

Arnold decided to summon Count Gorgon.

Obtaining Orichalcum through him was his only option.

Since he knew nothing at all, he had to scrape up every bit of information he could.

’I envy Father. But what is he doing right now?’

Arnold suddenly found himself missing Robert.

Currently, Robert had completely washed his hands of politics and retreated to a mountain.

Since he said he wanted to feel the mountain air, Arnold couldn’t stop him either.

In that case, what was Robert, who had retreated into the mountain, doing right now?

"Hmm. Sweet potatoes are surprisingly vulnerable to the cold? I didn’t know this."

He was enjoying a solo life as a nature boy.

He built his house by himself, piped in stream water like Grylls, and finally, even set up a campfire.

Compared to his days as emperor, it was beyond shabby, but for the first time in a long while, he was able to feel true ’freedom.’

As the old saying goes, people right before or after quitting their jobs have the most peace of mind.

’Should I ask that person for some soil?’

Robert was living with all his burdens thrown off.

The day Vanir returned and our full-scale exploration began.

I thoroughly checked the areas I had previously explored first.

The first day was the Mandrake colony and the Kangaroo Cave.

Arriving at the Mandrake colony was bewildering enough, but the real highlight was the Kangaroo Cave.

"Puo-ooo!!!"

"Puo-oo!!!"

"...."The source of this chapter is novelping(.)com.

Kangaroos executing wrestling moves on each other.

A cheering audience watching those kangaroos.

And finally, outsiders participating in a tournament-style format.

Not a single thing was anywhere close to ’normal,’ leaving Ludwig in total confusion for a while.

Even if he had grown accustomed to the Forest of the Four Seasons, that was strictly confined to life at the Shelter.

Naturally, there was still a lot he didn’t know about the structure of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

"How is it?"

"...#%##."

[He says it’s a madhouse.]

Cain translating Ludwig’s words. Cain was acting as an interpreter.

I agreed with Ludwig’s sentiment. When I first saw it, I cursed too, wondering what kind of absurd place this was.

With gorillas that practiced martial arts and spoke human language running around, kangaroos were child’s play.

Right now, giant crabs and giant crayfish were starring in a Kaiju film down by the lake.

And if you went up the river, a vast ocean stretched out.

Not a single part of it was normal. That was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

’They say there are places far worse than this all over, so just what kind of place is this?’

What was even more ridiculous was that this was a relatively safe area.

Vanir had mentioned that there were even places crawling with bugs the size of her claws.

’It’s sickening just imagining it.’

It’s a relief the bugs over there haven’t crossed over here.

It’s probably because the climate doesn’t suit them. Or maybe there’s another reason.

After finishing a whole day of exploration like that, the next morning dawned.

Today, the plan was to head down the river to the lakeside. A place where combat might break out.

’Since Ludwig has mostly recovered, it’s time for him to fight too.’

Though he limped slightly, he had completely gotten used to his Mithril ankle.

However, long-distance travel was difficult for him, so he had no choice but to ride on Largo.

Still, since he was a man of extraordinary skill, there wouldn’t be any major issues.

"Today’s lunch is grilled crab, so just so you know."

"Kkyu!"

"Pbi-ik?"

When lunch was decided as grilled crab, Wonmo hopped up and down with joy, while Tyranno tilted his head in confusion.

Lackey was the same way. His expression said he’d eat it for now, but asked what it even was.

’Come to think of it, Lackey and Tyranno have never eaten grilled crab before.’

I could just feed it to them this time. I wanted to eat it after a long time, too.

Soon, having finished all preparations, we headed down along the river stream.

The fiercely flowing stream gradually slowed down, and its width widened significantly.

Ludwig looked around as if he hadn’t known such a place existed.

Puaaa-ak!!! Cheombeong!!

For the first time in a while, I could see a fish as colossal as a whale.

Just as I was about to brush it off casually since I was used to it by now—

[Hmm? Why is that here?]

Cain expressed his doubt, seemingly recognizing the identity of that fish.

I had just passed it off thinking, "Oh, it’s a huge whale-sized fish~", but apparently that wasn’t the case.

"Do you know what that is?"

[It is a Torino, an extremely rare fish. They say even fully grown it only reaches 30cm, so this is strange.]

"Is there something special if you catch it?"

[Legend has it that it accumulates 100 years worth of mana. At that size, it must be 1,000 years worth.]

"...."

Let’s not get greedy. You can’t even catch that with a fishing rod.

Nor could I jump in myself. Because sharks actually inhabited this river as well.

Other things aside, I decided not to enter rivers or oceans if possible. Since I didn’t want to die.

Unless one could part the sea like Moses, it was impossible.

Kwaang! Kwang!

It was right around the time we arrived at the lakeside.

Just like last time, we could see the giant crab and giant crayfish still fighting furiously.

"Mister, it’s your first time seeing something that huge too, right?"

"...."

Even when I asked Ludwig, he said nothing. He just stood still and watched.

But seeing him chuckle softly soon after, he seemed to have taken it lightly.

Hweeeeee-ing!

Just then, debris flew toward us from the Kaijus. It flew so fast there seemed to be no time to dodge.

But who was Ludwig? The moment he saw it flying toward us, he drew his sword immediately.

Seogeok! Seogeok!You are reading on novelp⁠ing.com, the official source.

Ludwig cleanly sliced it into four equal pieces.

The fragments passed by us and tumbled across the ground.

"F-First, let’s hurry and pick up the crab! There are plenty of crayfish here too!"

"Understood."

While the monsters fought, we hurriedly scooped up the crabs and crayfish.

Debris flew over from time to time, but Ludwig’s superb swordsmanship handled it easily.

[Hmm. I, too, would like to test my strength against that beast.]

"Stop talking nonsense."

I ignored Cain’s nonsense along the way.

Thus, after finishing our exploration and resupply, we returned to the Shelter.

Originally, I intended to get only crabs, but I managed to get crayfish too.

’Did the crayfish’s territory expand a bit?’

I couldn’t be sure about that. Even the Mandrakes were engaged in territorial disputes, after all.

You might wonder how Mandrakes could fight over territory, but they really were fighting amongst themselves.

Although their colors were slightly different, since they looked human-like, I just called them Mandrakes.

’I should take a closer look later.’

Back then, I just briefly explained it and headed straight for the Kangaroo Cave.

But today, it would be better to take a proper look after eating lunch.

While at it, it would also be good to teach Ludwig how to harvest Mandrakes.

"Is it delicious?"

"Am-nyam-nyam! Nyam-nyam-nyam!"

"Ageujak! Odok! Eudeudeuk!"

Wonmo and Tyranno greedily devouring the grilled crab and grilled crayfish.

While Wonmo focused mostly on the meat, Tyranno just chewed them up whole.

Since I baked them in the oven, it was closer to steamed, but as long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered.

’Plus, I cleaned and prepped them thoroughly out of concern for parasites.’

The taste was truly fantastic. Surprisingly, there was no fishy odor at all.

I even made candied sweet potatoes for dessert and took a brief rest.

I intended to browse the Gallery until my stomach settled down.

’Come to think of it, things were noisy this morning because of the Elf Queen.’

The Elf Queen’s national address. That single speech set the Gallery ablaze.

From what I gathered roughly, it was practically close to a declaration of war or something.

To me, it didn’t seem like a real war was about to break out, but rather that she presented the direction of the nation.

The problem was that the direction closely resembled imperialist-era Britain.

As if the recent incidents caused by the elves weren’t enough, now came their declaration of expansion.

’Is there any impact this could have on me?’

Right as I logged into the Gallery while thinking about that—

Ttiring! Ttiring! Ttiring! Ttiring!

Notifications alerting me of incoming messages rang out in rapid succession.

Usually, notifications only rang once. Most of them were sent by Heavenly Demon anyway.

But ringing repeatedly like this meant that multiple named users had contacted me.

I wondered what on earth was going on for this many named users to send me messages.

’Let’s Grow Trees, Princess Chaenggu... I Will Become a Duke? They’re all people I know.’

At first, I didn’t think much of it and replied to them one by one.

First was Let’s Grow Trees. The person I exchanged cores with last time.

After a brief chat with Let’s Grow Trees, I got straight to the point.

[Wild Grylls: So, what did you contact me about?]

[Let’s Grow Trees: Could you perhaps spare some Orichalcum? If you give me some, I can give you World Tree cigars and even underwear! And I can give you another sapling while I’m at it!]

[Wild Grylls: ...Underwear?]

Let’s Grow Trees requested Orichalcum.

Since I didn’t have any on hand right now, I postponed it for the moment.

[Princess Chaenggu: Do you have any Orichalcum? I ran out of what I need for relaying magic.]

Princess Chaenggu as well.

[I Will Become a Duke: Excuse me, but do you happen to have any Orichalcum? If you do, I will trade for it with an item of equal value.]

I Will Become a Duke was the same.

As I grew even more puzzled looking at this, another message flew in.

[Passing Dwarf: Hey. Can you give me just one Orichalcum?]

[Wild Grylls: Why you too? No, wait. Before that, let me ask one thing. Does Orichalcum have some hidden ability or something?]

[Passing Dwarf: ? No? I just wanted to put it in my brewing vat?]

[Wild Grylls: Ah, shit. What is going on. Anyway, got it.]

What on earth was this?