I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 575

Now that more than half a year had passed since I moved beyond mere survival to living in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

I had learned many things during that time, coming to understand its unique characteristics in my own way.

That small animals were more dangerous than big ones, and that creatures displaying "leisure" in this place were not to be underestimated.

Acting leisurely itself stems from the confidence that one will not be threatened.

A similar example was Bbareumbo, whom I encountered in the early days of survival. Realizing I posed no threat, he had approached me leisurely.

This humming lion was likely similar. Setting me aside, our group included two gorillas who had grown to Sun Wukong-level proportions.

The fact that even they were on guard meant that the unique "instinct" only animals possessed was screaming danger.

I wasn’t much different. Though in my case, it was closer to a judgment based on big data.

Flop—

The lion that approached the baobab tree openly flopped onto its back.

No matter how much it was the king of beasts, even a lion wouldn’t rest in such a defenseless posture.

At the very least, it would keep its head up to scan the surroundings, but the guy before my eyes didn’t even do that.

It was comfortably relaxing as if saying "come at me if you dare." I felt common sense crumbling.

’No. Common sense crumbled a long time ago.’

Anyway, given the advice of the gorilla brothers and its relaxed demeanor, this was clearly a beast that shouldn’t be poked lightly.

So just as I was about to walk past, the lion looked at us and gestured with its paw.

Wave—

A gesture telling us to come over. I wondered if I was seeing things, but it really was beckoning us.

Lions are highly social animals, and given the nature of the Forest of the Four Seasons, its intelligence would be high as well.

Therefore, beckoning us like that meant it likely had something to convey.

However, since there was a possibility of a trap, I asked the companions for their opinions.

[It seems best to go. By the looks of it, he appears to be a named entity of this region.]

As Cain said, since it was an extraordinary creature, approaching quietly seemed wise.

Even when we had gotten quite close, the lion still didn’t make a single hostile move.

"Pururuk—"

"Hmm? Largo?"

Instead, it was Largo who exhibited strange behavior.

He actually bowed his long neck downward, as if in an audience with a king.

Largo had immense pride and wouldn’t bow his head to just any animal.

Hadn’t Ludwig himself said he had to go through a bloody battle just to tame Largo?

I was reminded once more that this lion was extraordinary.

"Ooooh~"

"..."

Still, is there really nothing to be done about that peculiar hum?

I couldn’t tell if it was doing that on purpose or if that was its actual roar.

I had expected a lion’s signature fierce roar, but far from ferocious, it was almost comical.

While it made sense given that it had no intent to attack us from the start, the more I mulled it over, the stronger the feeling grew that it was one bizarre creature.

"So why did you call us over?"

"Grrrr. Grr."

What? Did I mishear?

It felt like he just purred like a house cat.

That purring song made him seem like an oversized cat, but he definitely wasn’t.

Because the shape of his mane was undeniably the symbol of the king of beasts.

"You have traveled far, outsiders."

Lackey’s ability to interpret even that purring song was truly impressive. Without him, life in the forest would have been excruciatingly tough.

Hearing Lackey’s translation, I stared intently at the lion.

It still maintained the most harmless expression in the world, which made the sense of dissonance all the greater.

└ Heavenly Demon) Such is the composure of the truly strong. Be careful.

└ Sword Matstar) Indeed, that kind of composure is quite profound.

└ Don’t Abandon the Hero) Since ancient times, lions have been the symbol of kings!

└ Princess Chaenggu) Seeing that lion reminds me of an annoying team. They always trip up strong teams whenever they get the chance.

└ King Reor) Same.

Everyone joined together in warning me to be cautious.

Taking their advice, I intended to stay on high alert regarding the lion’s extraordinary nature.

"You know we came from the outside?"

"Grrr."

"I manage this place, so it would be stranger if I didn’t know."

Managing this place. Just hearing those words confirmed that this lion was the ruler.This story is hosted at novelpi​ng.com.

I wasn’t sure if he ruled the entire grassland itself or was just in charge of a specific sector.

However, judging by the gorilla brothers’ reactions, the former was more likely.

Even Bbareumbo had sensed his combat prowess and alerted me first.

"Grrr."

"Do you plan to stay here?"

"We’re not staying, just exploring. We live somewhere else."

"Grrr. Grr."

"That is a relief. I was already suffering a headache because the region has turned strange."

The lion said so and let out a long yawn, looking exhausted.

The region turning strange... He was probably referring to the spatial distortion affecting both the inside and outside.

Given that animals never seen in grasslands had been roaming around, it was easy to infer.

"By any chance, have you seen a massive tree around here?"

"Grrr."

"It’s right here."

"No, not that one."

When the lion pointed at the baobab tree, I shook my head side to side.

I then explained the World Tree in detail. Even if it wasn’t a World Tree, that was fine.

Or a structure comparable to it, or a location completely unfitting for a grassland, and so forth.

"I’ll give you this, so can you help me out?"

Naturally, I couldn’t expect info for free, so I pulled food out of my Subspace Backpack.

It was jerky dried for long-term storage. Since it was crafted for the young ones, it would be easy to chew.

The lion sniffed the jerky, quietly popped it into his mouth, and chewed it like gum.

Seemingly satisfied with the taste, he nodded and opened his mouth.

-I don’t know why you are searching for that, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

"Is that... Huh?"

I was taken aback by the lion suddenly speaking human language.

What’s more, it wasn’t vocalized from his mouth, but echoed directly inside my head like telepathy.

Not just me, but the other companions shared confused expressions as well.

"This is clearly..."

[This feels similar to when we conversed with that dragon.]

Regardless of everyone’s confusion, the lion simply chewed on the jerky while gazing at us.

The more time passed, the curiouser I got about the lion’s true nature. He was definitely no ordinary beast.

-If you want to go, just walk straight in that direction. Though I can’t say what lies along the path.

"...Thank you."

-If you’re thankful, I’d appreciate another piece of that tasty stuff.

I handed over another piece of jerky as the lion wished.

Then, just like when we first saw him, he hummed a tune through his nose, thoroughly pleased.

That humming was so melodious that even Maengkkongi, perched atop Wonmo’s head, grew interested.

Of course, since there were more important matters right now, I stopped him immediately. We couldn’t afford to cause trouble here.

-Farewell. If trouble arises, resolve it well on your own.

We moved along, receiving what was practically a send-off from the lion.

Without a compass, walking straight in one direction is quite difficult.

Especially so in a grassland, where trees are sparse and tall grass grows thick.

’I hope that since it’s a World Tree, it’ll be clearly visible even from afar.’

The lion might have lied, but for now, I planned to trust him.

Having even false information was better than moving with no information at all.

Whether you have a clear goal or not makes a world of difference.

And then.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Ah, damn it. What is this now?"

We got caught in a major traffic jam.

Why call it a traffic jam? Because a herd of buffaloes was completely blocking our path.

Each individual was the size of a house, practically sweeping across the grassland.

Trying to push past them risked getting trampled to death, and taking a detour would take far too much time.

"Tyranno. Can’t you do something about this?"

"Pbee-eek!"

Tyranno’s intimidation attempt was useless too. It didn’t seem to work against a herd of this size.

I had no choice but to turn back, leaving my regrets behind. There was nothing we could do until this buffalo herd fully passed through.

’What are they, a freight train? Why is the line so long?’

I planned to end today’s exploration here. Since we needed to prepare for winter soon, we had to wrap up grassland exploration altogether.

Thus, we returned to the baobab tree where the lion had been resting.Follow the newest chapters on novelрing.com.

I intended to use this baobab tree as a sort of landmark going forward.

-Hmm? You’re back already.

"A herd of buffaloes was blocking the way."

-Buffaloes? Those guys are moving?

When I told him about the buffaloes blocking the way, the lion tilted his head.

Apparently, the buffalo herd moving in the first place was an anomalous event.

When I nodded, the lion seemed deep in thought for a moment, then stood up from his spot.

-I should take a look. Thank you for the information.

"Well, for me..."

I was about to reply that I was just heading back anyway.

The lion gave a long cat-like stretch and began to move stealthily.

But I noticed something strange right there. He clearly took one step, yet moved forward three or four steps’ distance.

’...The Earth-Shrinking Art?’

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment as I watched the lion bound far into the distance.

A lion using the Earth-Shrinking Art. What on earth could his true identity be?

Questions piled up, but curiosity could be poison. Right now, returning to the Shelter took priority.

"...Let’s head back for now."

I led my equally dumbfounded companions back to the Shelter.

After crossing the grassland and returning to the Shelter, I realized something belatedly.

Namely, the temperature. The sensory temperature across the river in the grassland and at the Shelter was no different at all.

This meant that the weather was completely identical. Naturally, I couldn’t help but worry.

’What happens when winter comes?’

There are grasslands where snow falls, and grasslands split into dry and wet seasons.

And I guessed the grassland across the river was one divided into dry and wet seasons.

Roughly speaking, it was closest to an African savanna. A place like that would struggle to endure a harsh winter.

’This winter really is going to be the turning point.’

I raised my head and looked up at the sky. I could feel the temperature gradually dropping.

Soon enough, pure white trash would pour down from the sky. I wondered if it would fall on the grassland too.

"We’ll finish exploration either today or tomorrow."

I asked the companions to start preparing for winter as well.

Since winter preparation was something everyone was used to by now, they moved swiftly on their own.

While preparing for winter, I steadily scouted across the river.

Because if beasts were to cross over from across the river, it would be a huge pain.

’I just hope those elephant-like monsters don’t cross over.’

Thus, time passed, and a fierce winter approached.

As winter arrived, fluffy white snow began falling from the sky.

"I had a hunch, but..."

It was the same for the grassland across the river.

The entire vast field was blanked in pure white snow.

Along with animals shivering uncontrollably in the cold.

As bad feelings always prove right, a terrible disaster had arrived upon the grassland.

’Why on earth?’

Just contacting the World Tree once had completely altered the spatial distortion.

No, rather than altered, it was closer to normalization. The spatial layout changing in real time was the strange thing to begin with.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad news. Since it was normalized, the possibility of escape must have increased drastically.

Just as I tried to brush it off by looking on the bright side, an unexpected post popped up on the Gallery.

Title) What’s with these buffaloes?

(Video of giant buffaloes migrating in a massive herd)

I’m an elf scout, and buffaloes are pouring out in swarms from the entrance of the Forest of the Four Seasons;;

└ Why are buffaloes that huge?

└ It’s the Forest of the Four Seasons. Is it even possible to stop that?

└ IDK, looks like big trouble right now.

The buffalo herd we saw earlier had barged right out of the Forest of the Four Seasons.

The moment I saw this, I realized one thing. Previously, Heavenly Demon mentioned seeing a zebra chasing a lion in the grassland, didn’t she?

What this implied was singular.

’...Does that mean there’s an exit in the grassland?’

The hope I harbored in my chest bloomed vibrantly.