I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 299

Asella, who had received a glass of World Tree Fruit Wine from Grylls.

Originally, she had offered that fruit wine as a gift to Reyna, but unexpectedly Reyna declined it.

She said her body couldn’t tolerate alcohol, making even a single glass extremely dangerous. She was the type whose face turned bright red after just one drink.

Asella had no intention of forcing her, so she willingly passed it on to another knight.

However, that knight brought shocking news the next day.

’A knight who originally could only use Aura mastered an Aura Blade on the spot...’

Though she harbored faint doubts, it had actually happened.

Just like evolving an ordinary goblin into a hobgoblin, it had raised their realm by a whole tier.

However, that knight believed it was simply because he had achieved enlightenment, not because of the World Tree fruit.

Because logically, it made no sense. Raising one’s realm by a whole stage just from drinking a single glass of delicious fruit wine?

If such a thing existed, nations, let alone individuals, would have tried by any means to seek it out.

’The difference between an Aura user and an Aura Blade user is immense.’

Those who mastered the Aura Blade were few in number.

For a seasoned knight had to undergo over ten years of training and real combat to master it.

Its performance was equally worthy of its repute. It could bring the phrase ’slicing rocks like tofu’ into reality.

Even nations had their military might determined by their numbers and prowess.

Even Ash in the neighboring country was treated as a ’one-woman army’.

’Grylls-nim’s fruit wine... can drastically elevate that military power.’

No matter how advanced magic and technology became, the ones planting the flag at the end were ultimately infantry.

Furthermore, since the World Tree Fruit Wine would yield great effectiveness even for mages, its versatility was remarkably high.

A single glass. With just a single glass, a nation’s military power could be bolstered.

’If this spreads far and wide, the balance barely held together will completely shatter.’

In particular, there was a need to closely monitor Mountain, the realm of dwarves.

’While the dwarfs treat it merely as alcohol ingredients...’

What if it fell into the hands of someone other than a dwarf—say, another nation or an alchemist?

They would craft items far superior to fruit wine. Without looking far, Starlight Lady alone could probably manage it.

’Monopolizing military power inevitably leads to corruption.’

This was a truth she had realized through the Pope.

If immense military force was handed to a single organization, especially a single person, it was extremely dangerous.

The situation that had erupted this time—that is, the event recently dubbed the ’Spring of Eldorado’—was the same.

The previous Pope had steadily gathered military authority into his hands, and ultimately transformed into the Demon King himself.

Even if humanity had built civilization, it was ultimately just another wilderness.

And in the wilderness, fists were closer than law.

Diplomacy be damned, it was only natural for the stronger side to hold the upper hand.

While Grylls offered it purely out of ’goodwill’, there was no telling if other fixed handles would accept that goodwill in its pure sense.

’Grylls-nim is... too dangerous. He possesses the power to completely shatter the balance.’

Above all, all supply of materials originated from Grylls’s hands.

Therefore, for the sake of world peace and balance, banning Grylls would be the right course.

Not a temporary ban, but making it impossible for him to ever connect to the Gallery again.

Unlike anonymous users, once a fixed handle received a ban, connecting to the Gallery became impossible.

’However... I cannot do that. That would be betraying a debt of gratitude.’

While Asella was kind, she was no pushover; and though she separated public and private matters, she never forgot a favor.

Because whatever the case, the one who had saved the gradually decaying Holy Kingdom was Grylls.

Decisively, since he had even revealed the ’existence of God’ to the world, she could not treat him harshly.

Rather, it was the opposite. She wanted to help Grylls in various ways.

Passing through these dilemmas, Asella reached her judgment.

’If Grylls-nim shows signs of causing trouble, I must step in quietly.’

She would quietly watch or assist his activities, and moderate things so he wouldn’t cause a major catastrophe.

Whatever else happened, she had no intention of banning him; and even if she had to, she would strip away other features instead.

’Even taking away just the trade feature would impose a huge restriction.’

Of course, she planned to leave even that alone as long as Grylls didn’t cross the line.

Crucially, as long as Grylls was brought out of the Forest of the Four Seasons, everything would be resolved.

Because Grylls’s ability to disrupt the balance was precisely because he was in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

’After taking him out of the Forest of the Four Seasons, I must take responsibility. From what I hear, he seems like someone with nowhere else to go.’

Embracing those with nowhere to go had been a virtue of religious devotees since ancient times.

Especially since Grylls had elevated the prestige of their declining religion, he was someone who ought to be treated as an ’honored guest’.

Having accomplished what even she, the Hero, could not do, repaying him was only natural.

Asella chatted with Grylls without realizing in the slightest what ’certain meaning’ that held.

And then,

[Wild Grylls: Nobody can stop me lol]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: No way!! If you really do that, I’m going to come find you myself!!]

She came to learn the shocking fact that Grylls could not be banned.

The reason was unknown. When she tried to ban him at Grylls’s request, some strange line of text popped up.

[Inaccessible permission.]This chapter was copied from nоvelping.com without permission.

With that message appearing, banning him was impossible. Asella was flustered.

At least within the confines of the Gallery, the phrasing ’absolute power’ suited the Orange Badge.

Deleting posts she disliked like a tyrant didn’t matter, and even if public opinion soured, it had no effect.

Because the Orange Badge rarely ever changed. Most replacements occurred when that person died.

Yet a person had appeared whom even that Orange Badge couldn’t touch. Moreover, one with the influence to cause massive chaos in the world.

’W-What on earth is going on?’

Asella was bewildered.

Was he unbannable because he was in the Forest of the Four Seasons, or because Grylls was special?

Or if not that, was it due to an entirely different reason? She couldn’t grasp it at all.

Because it was an occurrence that didn’t just stray from common sense, but outright denied it.

At the same time, she was terrified. Even if trading was restricted, using the ’auction house’ was freely available.

If Grylls got upset and indiscriminately threw all sorts of items onto the auction house?

The world would face monumental chaos. Even calling it a disaster fell short.

[Wild Grylls: Can you not delete the posts I put up either?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: That is possible...! Back then, you posted your arm bitten by a Mad Dog! I deleted that because it was way too grotesque!]

[Wild Grylls: Damn, close one]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: It’s not a "bummer"! You just thought of something weird, didn’t you!]

[Wild Grylls: Busted lol]

"Ugh..."

Asella grew anxious. The hierarchy had completely flipped.

No, rather than flipped, it should be viewed as becoming ’equal’.

She couldn’t stop Grylls, and Grylls couldn’t completely ignore the power of the Orange Badge either.

It was identical to holding a form of immunity. She had no choice but to trust in Grylls’s morality.

’Is it a consolation that Grylls-nim is closer to being a good-natured person...?’

The problem was that the power he possessed was far too strong.

While he was bestowing goodwill in his own way, all kinds of factions would swarm to claim that goodwill.

Looking at Grylls acting like a mischievous trickster, Asella sent a message silently.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Surely you won’t list all sorts of items on the auction house just because I can’t ban you, right?!]

[Wild Grylls: Why, is a war gonna break out? Even if I troll, it’ll only be inside the Gallery.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Thank god... Wait, no it’s not! Don’t troll either!]

[Wild Grylls: Then I’ll put a Mythricon ingot up on the auction house lol]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I told you no!!!]

[Wild Grylls: Hahaha]

Asella realized while conversing with Grylls.

That this man was doing this simply for the pleasure of teasing her.

Though he spoke like that, in reality he would act no differently from usual.

How did she know? It was simple. He wasn’t hiding anything; he was just behaving shamelessly.

[Wild Grylls: Just a joke, I’ll just act as usual. If Orange Badge-nim imposes a trade restriction anyway, it’d be inconvenient for me.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: What a relief...!]

[Wild Grylls: Don’t worry too much and rest easy. I have plenty of work to do anyway, so I can’t troll.]

Indeed, Grylls’s main job was what mattered.

The moment he ignored his main work to browse the Gallery, his life would be in danger.

’Surprisingly, the balance... might be fine after all?’

With his own hands full, Grylls had no luxury to pay attention elsewhere.

Even if he traded, he would only acquire things that helped with survival and escape.

What he posted on the auction house was closer to ’cleaning up leftovers’, not for trolling.

’It’s a relief that Grylls-nim is a good person.’

If he had been a demon seeking pure pleasure... the mere thought was horrifying.

As if letting out a sigh of relief, Asella exhaled and tried to exit the Gallery.

No. She intended to exit.

[First-come, first-served 3 people Mythricon.]

"?!"

Until a certain title caught her eye the instant she refreshed. She immediately checked the author.

Wild Grylls. The nightmare she feared had erupted in less than a minute.

’T-This person...!’

Suppressing a rush of betrayal, Asella urgently opened the post.

Just as the firmly forged trust in her heart was about to crumble to pieces—

Title) First-come, first-served 3 people Mythricon

Wild Grylls

(Photo of "Nobody can stop me")

Psych, lied lol

└ Heavenly Demon) Quite an attention-grabbing title. Were you that bored?

└ Wild Grylls) A little bit? What are you doing, Heavenly Demon-nim?New chapters come out on novelping dot com first.

└ Heavenly Demon) I am wandering aimlessly.

└ Sword Matstar) That title clickbait sure is something.

└ Ah damn it. Got my hopes up for nothing.

└ Look at this bastard deliberately trolling lol

└ Even knowing it’s trolling, there’s no way you can’t click it hahaha

└ Real lol

└ How could anyone not take that bait hahaha

It was a bait post. A massive clickbait that could be considered trolling if anything.

Asella felt utterly drained looking at the post.

To pull a prank like this of all things, she felt slightly miffed.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Free trading privilege revoked for 1 hour!]

[Wild Grylls: Ah. Hey. sry sry sry sry spare me just this once.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Don’t play pranks like that ever again! My heart almost dropped!]

Asella chuckled softly.

It felt as though the heavy atmosphere had lightened in an instant.

She wondered if Grylls had played the joke knowing this would happen.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: If you keep doing that, I’m going to come over there and hit you!]

[Wild Grylls: Oh?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Ah. Wait. Cancel that! Cancel!]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Grylls-nim? Grylls-nim?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Don’t go make a post!]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: I’m really going to restrict your free trading privileges!!!]

Asella’s messages echoed uselessly.

Of course.

"Ah. She’s hilarious, this one."

Grylls quietly enjoyed Asella’s extraordinarily delightful reactions.

Seeing intense reactions pop up every time he poked her felt downright cute.

’Still, I really don’t get why it’s acting like this.’

Well whatever, the fact that I had things to do remained unchanged.

After all, the most important thing was escape. For now, since it was raining heavily outside, I was holed up at home.

Grylls browsed the Gallery while waiting for the rain to stop until he spotted a post that caught his eye.

[FUCK real-time gallery bro is fucked]

It was an extremely common type of post.

Usually, posts like that aren’t actually major emergencies.

However, because the upvote count was high and there were plenty of comments, my curiosity was piqued.

Title) Fuck real-time gallery bro is fucked

(Photo of swarming monsters)

What do I do about this? Monsters are coming like crazy, I’m seriously fucked.

└ Where is this?

└ Mercedes Duchy. It’s a breadbasket region so monsters appear a lot, but lately it’s weird;;

└ Hang in there. With that scale, isn’t military dispatch coming?

└ They came and it’s still this shit show fuck, it’s been like this for a week.

└ If monsters have been raiding for a week, shouldn’t they declare a state of disaster?

└ They’re holding out well for now so they’re leaving it alone. Still, they say they’re keeping an eye on it?

└ Monster forces suddenly growing strong isn’t a very good sign though.

└ What are adventurers doing? Usually adventurers step up to wipe them out.

└ A few adventurers went and didn’t come back. Seems something happened.

’Other places are having a rough time too.’ Grylls thought so.

Monsters gathering power to invade was close to a ’natural disaster’.

He heard that if the scale grew larger, the army would intervene directly. Similar to public relief operations.

’Though over here, disasters break out every single day.’

Grylls smirked and flipped to the next post.

Title) Saw a weird person today

(Photo of a woman carrying a potted plant)

(Photo of a face hidden by a satgat)

Saw someone walking around carrying a weird potted plant in one hand. What’s up with her?

└ What’s that? A druid?

└ Looking at her clothes she seems to be from Central Plains, is there a culture like that there?

└ As if hahaha

└ Gotta just think there are all kinds of weirdos out there.

└ But why do I get the feeling she’s pretty even though her face is completely covered?

└ Look at her figure too, not just her face. It’s clearly all covered up but strangely accented hahaha

’...Don’t tell me that’s Heavenly Demon?’

I was able to realize in passing how Heavenly Demon lived her daily life.