I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 847

No matter how much I peel it back, this damn forest is always full of new surprises.

Besides, the area Wonmo found wasn’t across the river—meaning it wasn’t the grasslands either.

It was strictly within our own territory, and not even that far away.

’There’s the Ash Zone right nearby, the Water Region, all kinds of things, but...’

I knelt down and ran my hand through the thick pile of sawdust on the ground.

Living in the Forest of the Four Seasons, I’d encountered all sorts of bizarre biomes, but a place blanketed in sawdust was a new one.

’As far as I know, sawdust is practically man-made.’

Sawdust is the byproduct of processing lumber.

So I couldn’t be entirely sure if this really was sawdust.

It could just be the detritus of finely shredded, decayed leaves that had piled up over time.

Which gave us all the more reason to investigate.

"Be careful. We don’t know what might pop out."

"Yes! Understood! Wonmo-ssi! Let’s go over there!"

"Kyuu!"

Regardless of my warning, Miren and Wonmo were already busy exploring the new area.

Even I was brimming with curiosity, so I couldn’t really blame them.

Still, I made sure to remind them to stay on their guard just in case.

Allfather: Sawdust normally decomposes on its own after a long time. Looking at the color and the fact that it’s still here, wouldn’t it be recently made?

Princess Chaenggu: Could there be a carpenter over there or something?

Don’t Abandon the Hero: Maybe it’s the gods!

Princess Chaenggu: Are there carpenters among the gods? I checked GalWiki and didn’t see any?

Don’t Abandon the Hero: I don’t know! Probably! Carpentry is a very important profession!

I smirked at Asella’s irresponsible answer, but quickly sobered up.

Just as Allfather said, sawdust naturally decomposes over time.

Which meant that this massive accumulation could only point to one of two things.

Either the area we stepped into had unusual preservation properties, or something was constantly producing this sawdust.

"Dolsoe. On alert."

"Understood."

At my command, the steadfast Dolsoe assumed a defensive posture.

He’d already realized this place was unusual, keeping a sharp eye on our surroundings.

"Sniff, sniff. It smells fresh here!"

"A fresh smell?"

"A delicious smell!"

While we were slowly scanning the area, it seemed Wonmo had caught onto something.

Thankfully, Wonmo had matured a bit and didn’t immediately dig into it, looking back at me instead.

It was a silent ask for permission, but I shook my head and walked over.

"Wonmo. We don’t know what kind of place this is, so Dad will dig it up. Okay?"

"Aww... Wonmo wants to dig too."

"Dad just gets sad if Wonmo gets hurt. Miren, I know you’re excited, but be careful."

"Yes, sir!"

Maybe because he’d taken a beating from the fog monsters before,

unlike the whining Wonmo, he listened to me obediently.

Soon, I began digging through the sawdust in search of the ’fresh smell’ Wonmo had caught.

Digging with my bare hands was too risky, so I used a tool.

"This counts as a blunt weapon, right? What’s it called?"

"Mistilteinn."

"Come to think of it, didn’t you mention rare minerals naturally form near your house?"

"If you mean Mithril, yeah. There’s a cave nearby, too."

Ah. For reference, you might recall the snowy mountain we crossed while looking for the kidnapped Elia.

Those metal scraps I got after so much suffering in the Himalayas—Mount Everest, to be exact.

I suspected they were Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, and when the dwarf actually appraised them, he confirmed that’s what they were.

’Unless the Sword of the Heavenly Demon takes serious damage, I won’t have much use for them.’

In any case, the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron was stored safely in a chest back at my shelter.

I had no immediate need for it, nor did I have any plans to craft weapons.

Thunk—

"Hm?"

While rummaging through the thick pile of sawdust with Mistilteinn, I hit something.

Not knowing what it was yet, I cleared away the surrounding sawdust first.

It must have been pretty large, because just digging it out took quite a while.

"This is..."

"Oh! I’ve seen something similar back in Large Field!"

Before long, the object’s identity was revealed.

Once all the sawdust was cleared away, a machine emerged.

A hefty frame reinforced with iron plating.

A feeding hopper so massive it would take several grown men linking arms to encircle it.

Peeking inside the hopper, a massive rotating shaft came into view.

Thick metal blades set tightly along the axle waited inside.

’Looks like a woodchipper for crushing whole logs.’

The kind of machine you’d occasionally see at mountain construction sites.

Beyond construction sites, machines like this were also used to process livestock feed.

’Then was all this sawdust shredded by this machine?’

If so, who operated it?

Hoping for the best, I searched around for a power button.

It only looked complicated on the outside; the operation itself was straightforward, so I found it quickly.

Whirrrrr—New chapters come out on novеlping.com first.

To my surprise, the woodchipper buried beneath the sawdust ran perfectly.

Unless machinery is regularly maintained, it’s bound to rust or break down.

It had surely been abandoned for centuries, so I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

"Miren. Do you know how to handle machinery?"

"Didn’t you just turn it on?"

"No, I mean I want to check if there are signs of recent maintenance."

"Aha. If that’s what you mean."

Most residents of Large Field were adept at machine maintenance.

Miren had basic maintenance skills as well, so this shouldn’t be too hard for him.

I shut off the machine’s power, and we conducted a thorough inspection.

"Um... It’s not that there are maintenance marks, it’s just completely fine?"

"Completely fine?"

"Yeah. It’s not like parts were recently replaced either. There are only old traces of wear."

I didn’t understand at first, but then I remembered the frilled lizard habitat.

Not the excavator, but the robot inside the lizard’s cave.

I remembered Kkobong-i jumping right into the driver’s seat and giving all sorts of demonstrations.

Allfather: Perhaps rare minerals were used so it could endure for a long time?

Starlight Lady: That seems quite likely, right?

Just as the fixed nicks said, rare minerals were probably used.

But that only accounted for the outer iron plating, not the intricate internal wiring or cables.

"How did the wiring look?"

"There were traces where they’d been severed and reattached. But none of the parts were swapped out."

"You mean the severed parts reconnected on their own?"

"That’s how it looks to me."

Even human tendons require surgery to reconnect once severed.

I’d brushed it off before, but hearing Miren say it made it all the more astonishing.

Icon Merchant Guild Master: It doesn’t appear to be an item meant to be bought and sold.

Thousand Silks Firm: Because if it lasts too long, you can’t sell new products?

Icon Merchant Guild Master: Precisely. Ten years ago, there was a merchant guild that released an exceptionally durable product, and rumors say they went completely bankrupt because no one bought a new one for ten years.

The two merchant guilds that regularly sponsored me exchanged banter.

They weren’t wrong. There had to be some flaws for repairmen to make a living, after all.

Of course, if you only made defective products, that was just shoddy craftsmanship.

Their analogy was mostly a joke, but what stood before us was a completely different story.

Heavenly Demon: If an object has no flaws whatsoever, does that not mean someone to maintain it is unnecessary?

Smart Demon: Don’t go around saying shit like that. Someone’s gonna stab you;;

Passing Dwarf: Oh boy. If my buddies heard that, they would’ve cussed you the fuck out haha

Starlight Lady: Even if it looks like that, problems will arise eventually, so one must still take care.

Yoo So-wol got ripped to shreds after saying just one thing.

Perhaps stung by the blunt criticism, she didn’t post another comment.

Sword Matstar: Come on now. She’s young, she might not know. Don’t rag on her too hard.

Starlight Lady: How surprising. I thought you’d join in and roast her together.

Smart Demon: Fr, like you weren’t hounding her like a rat earlier heh

Sword Matstar: Remembering she’s still young brings out my generous side haha

Heavenly Demon: This seat has no need for such mercy.

Sword Matstar: Look at you getting all embarrassed heh

Heavenly Demon: (Image of a frog about to throw a punch)

King Reor: Look how dynamic that is;;

Don’t Abandon the Hero: That trashy frog picture never changes!

Well, in truth, Yoo So-wol was indeed on the younger side.

By Earth standards, she’d be at the age where she was busy enjoying college life.

I chuckled at the fixed nicks bickering among themselves, then checked the machine a bit more.

I knew now that it could self-repair over time, but the next question was who.

There had to be someone around here who had operated this woodchipper.

"Let’s leave the machine for now and search for other things."

"Yes, sir!"

"Dad. Dad."

"Yeah?"

Just then, Wonmo tugged on my pant leg and spoke.

Looking down at Wonmo staring up at me, an urge to pet him to my heart’s content welled up.

But this wasn’t the time, so I held back and asked.

"What is it?"

"The fresh smell I smelled wasn’t that."

"It wasn’t?"

"Yeah. There’s something else."

What else could there possibly be?

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Vibrations broke out from the sawdust we’d dug up while searching for the machine.

The entire ground wasn’t shaking; it was localized to the thick pile of sawdust beside the woodchipper.

Still, any vibration was a sign of danger, so I quickly readied my gear.

"Miren. Don’t space out, ready your magic."

"Wh-what? Ah, yes!"

Miren was caught off guard for a second before immediately preparing a spell.This chapter was copied from novelping(.)com without permission.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Soon, the towering mound of sawdust surged upward, then began to slide down.

And what emerged from within was none other than...

"Gurgle."

"...A crab?"

It was a crab.

A normal-looking crab, except it was a little—no, a lot bigger.

Seeing the crab suddenly brought to mind the lakeshore downstream along the river.

The crabs that used to live there had mostly vanished after losing a turf war against the crayfish.

’Did those crabs migrate all the way over here?’

If that was the case, they were hostile.

At that thought, I transitioned from mere caution into full combat readiness.

"Gurgle."

As if gearing up for a fight, the car-sized crab raised its massive pincers.

Just as I was about to strike, it did something bizarre.

Click-clack— clack—

"...Where is it going?"

"I-I have no idea."

As if completely uninterested in us, the creature scuttled sideways toward somewhere.

Without even shaking off the sawdust caked all over its body, it headed toward the dense thicket of trees.

Crunch!

With a casual squeeze of its massive claw, it snapped a tree in half.

I wondered if it was going to throw it into the chipper, but this was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Rustle— rustle—

Instead of the claw holding the tree, the giant crab rummaged through the sawdust with its free pincer.

Presently, it pulled out a tiny object from the sawdust.

The true identity of that object was none other than...

Click!

A lighter.

It sounds totally insane, but it pulled out a lighter and began torching the tip of the tree trunk.

’A lighter that’s small even in my hand, manipulated with claws that huge?’

And that wasn’t all.

Now that the tip of the tree was lit, the crab gripped the bottom end with its mouthparts.

And what did it do next?

"Huuuuff—"

After taking a long, deep drag—

Bubble, bubble, bubble—

"Gurgle."

With a satisfied rumble, it blew out bubbles instead of smoke.

To top it off, the burning end of the tree flared bright red as the crab drew on it.

Watching it puff away like a human smoking a cigarette completely stunned me.

Vrrrrm!

Having enjoyed its smoke, the only thing left was disposing of the butt(?).

The giant crab skillfully fired up the machine and tossed the half-burned tree into it.

The tree was shredded to pieces, spewing out showers of sawdust—which the crab dumped right over its own head.

"Gurgle."

Don’t bother me. I’m going to sleep.

Leaving behind that distinct impression, the giant crab buried itself back into the sawdust.

Before I could find words for the sheer absurdity that had just unfolded, Miren spoke from beside me.

"What on earth was that?"

"I don’t know either."

Fortunately, when I said I didn’t know, Miren just let it go.

The problem was, that wasn’t the end of it.

"Kyuaaah!"

"Gurrrrgle!"

A fight broke out between Wonmo and another crab that had been sleeping in the sawdust.

The weird thing was, this crab was much smaller than the one from earlier.

And furthermore.

Sword Matstar: Oh? That little guy knows some swordsmanship? Did it practice with a rapier or something?

Heavenly Demon: What agile footwork.

Allfather: Fascinating. To display such movement so soon after awakening.

Clutching a dagger in its pincer, it was fencing like a duelist.

Think this is bullshit? My descriptive skills might be lacking, but I swear it’s the truth.

I’d occasionally watched fencing athletes in the Olympics, and its movements were eerily similar.

Bouncing lightly on its feet while closing the distance in a flash, parrying with a twist of its blade to counterattack...

Starlight Lady: (Video of a crab holding a paring knife facing off against a human) Is this the original source of that video?

No.

At least that one wasn’t agile like this Sword Master crab.

"Kyueeeh! Dad! That guy is too strong!"

Wonmo actually lost.

Truly fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons, where the smaller they were, the stronger they got.

"Were they always that strong?"

"I told you, I don’t know either."