I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 233

Acorn bomb. Hearing it by name makes it sound like a small, cute little explosive.

But even a blank round can inflict heavy damage at point-blank range.

"Kuaack!"

That was exactly my situation right now. A small explosion had detonated right next to my head.

There was no direct structural damage, but a loud ringing echoed in my ears.

In effect, hearing in one ear was temporarily paralyzed.

Drip-

I even felt something warm trickling from my ear. Definitely blood.

Hearing an explosive blast of that scale directly, it was only natural for the eardrum to be damaged.

Fortunately, I knew eardrums could recover naturally if treated properly.

On the flip side, if treatment was delayed, I’d mercilessly have to live with permanent hearing impairment.

’What kind of crazy creature packs acorn bombs?’

Barely suppressing the tinnitus and dizziness, I tracked the squirrel with my eyes.

Shifting back and forth like a rabbit hole from a fairy tale, it was absurdly tricky to deal with.

But sitting idly like this wasn’t an option. I had to respond immediately.

Stumble-

"Ugh!"

Coupled with the ringing ears, severe dizziness made it hard to even maintain balance.

Squeezing my eyes shut and snapping them open, I looked forward.

I couldn’t see where the squirrel was hiding at all.

’If another acorn bomb like the one before comes flying....’

Taking a direct hit would be the end of me. Small as it is, an explosion is an explosion.

If my hearing were fine, I could tell where it was flying from, but even that was tough now.

’Just what kind of creature is this?’

Swiiish!

Thankfully, from my good right ear, I heard the sound of wind being sliced.

The moment I heard that sound, I raised my shield.

Explosions are a problem when you’re completely defenseless; with a shield, it should be manageable.

KABOOM!!

Just as I expected. There was a bit of impact, but minimal damage.

The issue was the shockwave. The vibration from the explosion jarred my eardrum.

"Ughhh...!"

Already dizzy, the added shockwave brought a wave of nausea.

I had felt plenty of pain during fierce battles before. But dizziness like this was a first.

There’s a limit to holding it in by brute force. I had to settle this quickly, one way or another.

Tap, tap-

Speed Sloth tapped my shoulder and pointed to the left.

Meaning the attack was coming from there. I turned my head.

The moment I turned my head, the squirrel was attempting to whip me with its thick tail.

I couldn’t just keep defending. Especially since its attacks followed a straight line.

Meaning it was easy to evade. So I lightly shifted my body.

Even twisting my body was tough due to the vertigo, but I managed a hair-breadth dodge.

’Now, like this....’

All that was left was to counterattack. I took action immediately.

But there was one detail I overlooked: this was the squirrel’s home turf.

It naturally possessed home-field advantage. What did that mean?

Boing!

The squirrel used the tree behind me as a foothold and shot right back at me.

I was thoroughly taken aback seeing that, but thankfully managed to block it somehow by raising my shield.

THWACK!

Though, of course, I had to absorb the aftermath myself.

My shield arm was gradually starting to throb with pain.

In the meantime, the squirrel rapidly ducked back into a tree hole.

Now it would pop out from somewhere else again. Utterly troublesome.

’No choice then.’

I had resolved not to use crude brute-force methods, but there was no helping it.

Besides, since the little bastard was using such an infuriating fighting style, a stubborn surge of rage made me determined to crush it.

If it was exploiting its home-field advantage, couldn’t I just strip that advantage away?

VRRRRRR!!!

I channeled as much aura as possible into the Sword of the Heavenly Demon.

Aura surged up high as if to pierce the sky. I refrained from using frost energy.

What I did next was simple. So far, the squirrel had been ducking into tree holes that glittered.

’Then why not just chop down all those trees?’—an action based on that simple, clear-cut thought.

"Huuup!"

Holding my breath for a split second, I swung my sword to the left.

Then, spinning my body in a full turn, I slashed horizontally.

SHRRRRRED!

Was it because I dumped a stupid amount of aura into it?

Regardless of whether the trees contained Golden Acorns or not, the aura sliced through them cleanly.The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.

CRACK! CRUNCH! SNAP!

The aftermath went exactly as I anticipated. The towering trees collapsed all at once like dominoes.

Even as the trees collapsed, I didn’t let down my guard.

Since the squirrel might use the chaos to ambush me.

RUMBLE! CRASH!

No such thing happened. Before long, all the trees lay fallen.

"Squeeek!"

Right as one particular tree crashed down, the squirrel popped out of the tree hole with a pop!

Unable to withstand the recoil of the tree collapsing, its body had been flung out.

Without hesitation, I dashed toward the squirrel.

If not now, the opportunity would never come again.

GRAB!

"Squeee!"

"Gotcha! You little rat!"

While the squirrel was still dazed, I snatched it up in my hand.

Startled, the squirrel thrusted and flailed wildly, but it was completely futile.

"Kyyyyah!"

In a final desperate effort, it bit my hand, but unfortunately it didn’t mean much.

Because currently, I was wearing the World Tree Gloves.

In the end, after flailing for a while, it seemed to give up and went completely limp.

Though captured via crude brute force, a victory is a victory.

’First, I need to heal my ear.’

The dizziness had subsided somewhat, but my hearing had yet to return.

Since blood was even flowing from my ear, that was only natural. Winning in this state was a miracle in itself.

[Hey there! Are you alright!]

Just then, Cain’s voice reached my semi-functional ear.

Turning my head, the rest of the party came rushing over. Looks like they came after hearing the commotion.

Looking at the fallen trees surrounding the area, the party approached me.

[We rushed over immediately after hearing the explosion. What happened?]

"Ah. Well... I’ll explain later. Ludwig-ssi?"

"What is it?"

"Hold onto this guy for a bit. Watch out, it bites."

Handing the squirrel over to Ludwig, I started treating myself first.

Pouring a bit of Elixir into my ear and waiting a short while, my hearing gradually restored.

Though not 100% fully recovered, it was no longer completely deaf like before.

"Phew. Thank you. So, what happened was...."

I explained everything that had transpired.

Starting from getting misunderstood and fighting the squirrel, to knocking down all the trees.

The fight itself was brief, but there were numerous crises. Teleportation in particular was the trickiest.

If not for Bbareumbo’s assistance, I would have been knocked out cold by the Iron Mountain Lean right from the start.

[Teleportation? This fellow?]

"Yeah. I don’t know the mechanics, but each tree hole seems to have something like that."

[Hey, junior. Could you let me take a closer look at that squirrel for a second?]

As if Cain knew something, he asked Ludwig to show him the squirrel.

Ludwig held out the squirrel to Cain. Depleted of energy, the squirrel hung limp.

After inspecting the squirrel from various angles for quite a while, Cain spoke in an astonished voice.

[Remarkable. Though a distant relative, its appearance bears a striking resemblance to Ratatoskr.]

"Ratatoskr?"

[Famous as the squirrel that tends the World Tree. Though its bloodline has thinned considerably, this squirrel is undeniably its descendant.]

I had heard of Ratatoskr too. A creature from Norse mythology.

I didn’t know the exact details, but hearing that this squirrel was tied to mythology was quite surprising.

[The World Tree... outside its domain is one thing, but within its domain, it emits terrifying mana fluctuations. Enough to warp space itself. Space distorted like that is famous for being as complex as a maze, yet remarkably, Ratatoskr navigate it easily. Thus, Ratatoskr act as guides and gardeners within the domain.]

"Then what is this guy?"

[Well. Perhaps it manages the forest...]

"Hmm... Killing it would be problematic, wouldn’t it?"

To my question, Cain also showed an ambiguous reaction.

But one person—or rather, one animal—was different.

Tap, tap-

Bbareumbo tapped my shoulder. As if he had something to say.

"Huh? What is it?"

"...."

Turning my head, Bbareumbo shook his head side to side. Meaning ’don’t kill it.’

It was slightly surprising that the usually quiet guy expressed an opinion, but there must be a reason.

"Can I ask why? I don’t know this place."

"...."

Instead of words, Bbareumbo pointed somewhere. The area where all the trees had collapsed.

It felt as though he meant this squirrel was the one growing those trees.

Or speaking more broadly, closer to managing this entire forest.

[Squirrels are known as the gardeners of the forest. They plant acorns and various fruits all over.]This chapter is updated first at nov⁠elping.com.

"Really?"

[Indeed. Though closer to the purpose of storing food, of course. It’s just that they forget where they put them.]

"...."

So it’s just because it’s a bird-brained squirrel. Still, the phrase ’gardener of the forest’ suited it well.

Anyway, since Bbareumbo gave his input, I decided to spare the squirrel.

Before that, business is business. I entrusted the squirrel to Ludwig.

Following that, I headed toward where the trees fell.

Sparkle! Sparkle!

Can’t say no to Golden Acorns. I gathered the glittering golden acorns one by one.

This was my original goal, so shouldn’t I collect them?

’Wow, there’s so many. Should I make Acorn Jelly with these?’

Acorn Jelly made from Golden Acorns. Sounds delicious.

I’d need to fetch soy sauce and various vegetables from the Gallery or cultivate them myself.

Right as I was scooping up other ordinary acorns as well.

"Squeeeeeek! Squeek! Squeeeeeek!"

From the squirrel’s perspective, did it feel like having its pocket picked right before its eyes?

The guy that had been hanging limply suddenly started thrashing around violently in Ludwig’s hand.

But the loser forfeits all. I spoke in a blunt voice.

"What, kiddo? That’s what you get for attacking first."

"Squeeeek! Squeek!"

"You. Thief. Thief must die."

Animal language translation really fell to Lackey. Hearing Lackey’s translation, I nodded.

To the squirrel, I probably looked like a thief. I actually was trying to take its acorns.

"You attacked first. I was just passing through."

"Squeeeek! Squeek!"

"Guy who peeked inside tree hole. Cannot believe those words."

"Ummm...."

Stated like that, I had no comeback. My eyes darted around.

"So?"

"Squeek?"

"So what can you do? Besides squirming in that hand, what can you do?"

So I countered shamelessly. Whereupon the squirrel froze rock-hard as if struck with shock.

Soon after, its eyes welled up, and it began to sob softly.

"Squeeeek... squeek...."

"Bad guy. Are you even an animal."

"Uh...."

"Lower than a beast. Master."

"Shut it."

Seeing such a small, cute squirrel cry made my heart ache.

In fact, we were the ones who committed the territorial invasion in the first place.

We even completely destroyed its living habitat, didn’t we?

Even if the wild dictates that the loser forfeits all, I felt this was going a bit too far.

"Sigh. Fine. I won’t take everything. But I’m taking one, okay?"

"Squeeeek... squeeek...."

"No way. Trees planted to court females. You ruined whole plan."

"...."

"Real trash."

"Just wait until we get home, Lackey. Then what should I do for you?"

As I asked carefully, the squirrel stared intently at me with tearful eyes.

Then it looked toward the tumbled trees and quietly opened its mouth.

"Squeek. Squeek."

"Plant trees. Trees finer than those."

"Plant trees?"

"Squeeeek. Squeek."

"Then will forgive. Can take all acorns."

"Hmm...."

Hearing those words, one person instantly came to mind.

The problem was....

’Is it really okay to plant that here?’

After all, even the dragon Vanir torched one with her breath.

But trading a World Tree Sapling for Golden Acorns... isn’t that a more than profitable bargain?

Furthermore, World Tree Saplings take a long time to grow.

If not a World Tree Sapling, I could just give it another tree.

"Alright. I’ll plant trees for you. Give me a second."

I immediately logged into the Gallery to get a sapling from Let’s Grow Trees.

[Let’s Grow Trees: A World Tree Sapling! I can send it right over! How many do you need?]

[Wild Grylls: Is it really okay for you to give those out so freely?]

[Let’s Grow Trees: I’m totally fine!]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;]

Is it really fine...