I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 95

Nothing in this world lasts forever. That holds true even for nations that seem indestructible.

Countless nations have risen and fallen throughout history, their legacies either inherited or completely wiped out.

As long as people live, conflicts big and small are bound to arise, and as those fractures widen, collapse becomes inevitable.

This world was no different. Innumerable kingdoms and empires have existed only to vanish into history.

Although I wasn’t particularly interested in history, being in a different world naturally sparked a bit of curiosity in me.

└ Wild Grylls) I’m back. What is written over there?

└ Allfather: Oh, oh! You have returned! Grylls-ssi, you have discovered an extraordinary record!

└ Wild Grylls) Is it really that big of a deal?

└ Allfather: I have only managed to decipher half of that page so far, but it is none other than a record from the Balkan Kingdom! Do you have any idea how incredible this is?

└ Wild Grylls) Nope.

└ Hey. You said you knew arithmetic. Doesn’t that mean you received a basic education?

└ You received a basic education and you don’t know the Balkan Kingdom?

└ Wild Grylls) I keep telling you guys, I came from another world.

Even if I had received an education, the past nations I knew were strictly ones like Joseon, Goryeo, Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje.

Looking a bit broader, maybe countries like Mongolia, Nazi Germany, Britain, and so on.

If I went even further back, maybe Rome, but that was the extent of it. I never had much interest in history.

’And even what I do know is just stuff I stumbled upon while browsing the internet.’

Occasionally, there were countries with an unusually high number of ’memes’. Britain was a prime example.

Whenever something happened in world history, pointing the finger at Britain usually got you the right answer—the "notorious imperialist bastard" meme.

While Britain indeed committed all sorts of atrocities, there was a nation that made such a reputation look like child’s play.

Nazi Germany, which treated genocide like an industrial operation. The ultimate embodiment of madness.

That was pretty much where my knowledge ended. I knew nothing about the history of this world.

└ Wild Grylls) So I guess the Balkan Kingdom was basically some freakin’ insane kingdom?

└ Allfather: Hoho. I feel an urge to cast Meteor right this instant.

└ Wild Grylls) Huh?

└ Allfather: It was not simply a "freakin’ insane kingdom." It was a realm that reached the absolute pinnacle of magic, specifically Necromancy.

└ And it’s the kingdom where the Immortal King was born.

└ All the relevant records disappeared when it fell, but to think they’re sitting right there in the Forest of the Four Seasons lol

└ But why did he go to the Forest of the Four Seasons? I’m curious.

History lovers began posting comments one after another.

Knowing nothing about it, I couldn’t understand what they were making such a fuss about.

I wondered if I should search for it, but I couldn’t risk missing the conversation.

’I don’t even know who the Immortal King is.’

All I could recall was that he was vanquished by the Mage King, Kadir.

Besides that, I knew nothing. Nor did I feel any particular need to know.

└ Wild Grylls) I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Basically, there was a powerful nation long ago, and it got destroyed because of the Immortal King, right?

└ Allfather: Roughly speaking, yes.

└ Wild Grylls) And the Immortal King was vanquished by the Mage King.

└ Allfather: That is also correct.

└ Wild Grylls) So when did the Balkan Kingdom fall?

└ Allfather: In terms of timeframe, it fell about 30 years ago.

└ It was total chaos back then. People fleeing everywhere, absolute madness.

└ My dad was a paladin, and we received a KIA notification.

└ Hang in there.

└ Wasn’t the Previous Hero there too?

└ As far as I know, Kadir was only able to vanquish him because the Previous Hero sacrificed himself heroically.

Thirty years ago was not that long ago. Its lingering effects were bound to run deep.

Even World War II took place roughly 100 years ago in terms of era.

The Korean War, the worst war in Korea’s history, was even more recent—around 80 years ago.

In essence, the current generation had directly suffered from the Immortal King. To these people, the Immortal King must still be a source of immense terror.

└ Wild Grylls) Did the Immortal King destroy an entire nation or something?

└ Allfather: He turned every single citizen of the kingdom into undead. It was the worst calamity in history, nearly swallowing the whole world.

└ Because of that single incident, the Holy Kingdom strictly banned Necromancy.

└ It wasn’t just banned; didn’t they classify it as heresy altogether?

└ Rather than heresy, they classified them outright as evil. But it is a bit of a shame. Necromancy was really great for replacing manual labor.

└ There was plenty of controversy from the start anyway. In the Central Plains, Necromancy was banned right from the beginning. They said it was disrespecting the deceased.

└ Disrespecting or not, the living have gotta live;;

└ Fuck, you wanna try farming with your bare hands? You have no idea how convenient it was whenever a necromancer was in the village.

└ Necromancers are gloomy creeps, you never know what they’re up to.

└ That’s just prejudice. Casting magic on corpses to determine the cause of death was also Necromancy.

└ Wild Grylls) shiver Is that actually possible?

└ Allfather: It remains an unsolved mystery to this day. However, we might find the answer from the book Grylls-ssi discovered.

I still didn’t really get it. It sounded completely like a story from another world.

Perhaps it was because I had been stuck in the Forest of the Four Seasons for so long that my sense of reality had dulled.

Or maybe it was because this was just an internet Gallery. It didn’t resonate with me deeply.

Balkan Kingdom, Immortal King, or whatever—none of it mattered to me.

└ Wild Grylls) I’ll take pictures of each page and post them, so could you decipher them? Rather than history, please focus on how this person survived in the forest.

└ Allfather: Oh my! Thank you so much! How could I ever repay you for this honor...!

└ Wild Grylls) You just need to tell me the parts related to survival.

As I mentioned before, survival was my top priority. I turned the pages of the book and snapped photos of them one by one.

Uploading all of this to the Gallery would take time. That was why I had returned to my shelter so quickly.The source of this chapter is novelрing.com.

’Should I just give the books to Allfather?’

I wondered how long it would take to upload everything, but I decided to upload all of it anyway.

Even though Allfather was smart, he might still struggle to decipher it on his own.

If I posted them publicly like this, I could get relatively objective information.

If someone proved to be of great help, I was willing to give them a Mature Mandrake.

’I should ignore the anonymous users’ comments, though.’

Since all kinds of people gathered here, I planned to ignore the comments from anonymous users as much as possible.

They might give a strange decipherment for no reason and confuse me.

’Still, I’ll give the physical books to Allfather.’

Apart from uploading them to the Gallery, I intended to hand them over to Allfather.

Keeping them served no purpose for me, and Allfather was the most trustworthy person here.

Regardless of academic value or whatever, survival-related information was my top priority.

’This guy is incredible too. Stubbornly clinging to life and even keeping a journal.’

I paused while taking photos of the book pages and turned my head toward the sack containing the bones.

What kind of person was he to stubbornly survive in this hellish forest and even write a diary?

Hoping there would be useful tips inside the journal, I took photos page by page with great care.

Thanks to how well-preserved they were despite their age, there were hardly any illegible characters.

’Oh. What kind of plant is this?’

At first, the pages were mostly filled with text, but as I moved on to the other books, there were also drawings.

Some of them seemed like they would be helpful for my survival.

There were drawings of various flora and fauna, as well as sketches of specific locations.

Since these were things I needed right now, I poured even more care into taking the photos.

"Ow. My neck."

I spent most of the afternoon just snapping photos of the books.

Even so, it took relatively little time because I didn’t need to hold a camera in one hand.

I just had to flip the pages and take photos with my eyes. The resolution was so good that the letters wouldn’t be distorted.

Visual acuity equaled resolution. And I had great vision. Therefore, it was high definition.

’Now I should upload everything to the Gallery.’

I uploaded the contents of the books I had photographed to the Gallery.

Why go through all this trouble? Wouldn’t it be easier to just leave it to Allfather?

I did it to ensure objective interpretation, though people who didn’t get it probably wouldn’t understand my reasoning.

I just felt like I had to do it. Strangely enough.

’I should post each volume separately to make them easier to distinguish.’

There was no limit to the number of photos that could be uploaded to the Gallery.

However, operating the Gallery wasn’t free of mana cost, so there was a practical limit.

A tiny amount of mana was consumed with every upload.

The greater the number of photos and the longer the duration of videos, the more mana was consumed.

Title: First volume of the books I found

Wild Grylls

(Photo of book contents)

(Photo of book contents)

(Photo of book contents)

⋮

(Photo of last page of book)

Just posted all the contents of the book.

Anyone who deciphers survival-related information will receive one Mature Mandrake, so keep that in mind.

FYI, I’m only listening to fixed handles, so be aware. I’ll post more book contents later.

I posted like this and uploaded all the other books as well.

Though it was pure manual labor, finishing it left me feeling subtly proud.

Now that I had gone through all the book contents, I initiated a trade request with Allfather.

When I initiated the trade, Allfather accepted it in less than three seconds.

Hello, Allfather-nim.

Have you seen the posts I uploaded?

Allfather

I am currently reading them with a rock-hard erection.

;;

He’s always like this, so let’s just move past it.

If I get awkward about it, I might end up looking like the weird one.

Anyway, regarding the books I obtained, donating them...?

[Wild Grylls: Anyway, I’m thinking of giving them to you.]

[Allfather: What! Such precious books...!]

Are you really willing to give them to me?

I can’t preserve them myself, nor can I decipher them.

[Wild Grylls: In return, just let me know immediately if there’s any text related to survival.]

[Allfather: That is an easy task.]

Are you not curious about the Balkan Kingdom or the Immortal King?

[Wild Grylls: Didn’t you say he was just a king who raised an army of skeletons and started a war?]

[Allfather: Hoho. That summary is so perfect that I am left speechless.]

You simply have no interest, do you?

[Wild Grylls: I’ve got my own hands full just trying to survive.]

[Allfather: I see. Understood.]This chapter was taken from novelping dot com without permission.

I shall inform you of how this individual managed to survive.

Thank you.

[Wild Grylls: Ah, before that, may I ask one more thing?]

[Allfather: Go ahead.]

I am curious about this person’s name.

I wanted to know at least his name. Having a name vs not having one made a big difference.

Fortunately, his name seemed to have been written on the first page of the book, as Allfather answered right away.

[Allfather: The last royal scribe of the Balkan Kingdom, Rice Craone.]

He is Rice Craone.

Rice Craone.

Understood.

Now that I had handed the books over to Allfather, only one thing remained.

Burying the skeleton inside the sack in a sunny spot.

I picked up a shovel, a hammer, and the sack containing the skeleton, then set off.

’A cross... No, wait. A stone marker would be better than a cross.’

A cross combined with an ancestral ritual? What kind of weird hybrid was that?

It was better to just grab a reasonably flat stone and plant it in the ground.

Pa-ak! Pak!

I began digging the dirt with the shovel.

I dug the grave just long enough to fit the skeleton completely.

Finally, I just had to place the sack containing the skeleton into the grave and cover it with earth.

’Fascinating. All the bones are still connected.’

The skeleton maintained its intact shape, much like a model seen in a science lab.

Normally they should have fallen apart, but this one held its form.

Lacking relevant knowledge, I wondered if this was normal, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

After carefully setting the skeleton into the grave, I covered it with earth.

Pa-ak! Ddak! Dda-ak! Ddak!

Next, I drove a flat stone into the head of the grave. Tapping it with a hammer to firmly secure it was an added touch.

Preparations were complete. I purchased a reasonably priced bottle of liquor from the Auction House.

For the record, it was Central Plains liquor. At least it had an Eastern flair that felt familiar.

Pouring beer just... somehow didn’t suit my style.

Jol-jol-jol-jol—

Pouring liquor over the cross and the grave, I soothed his spirit.

Then came two deep bows. Though somewhat crude, it should be polite enough.

What mattered wasn’t formality, but sincerity. That was what I believed.

’Ah. Right. His name.’

I almost forgot to engrave his name on the stone. That was a close call.

I laid back the stone I had driven into the top of the grave.

Then, buying ink and a brush from the Auction House, I carefully wrote upon it.

Naturally, the text was in Hangul. Hangul was the only script I knew.

The last royal scribe of the Balkan Kingdom. Rice Craone. Lies here.

This inscription should be enough.

I waited for the ink to dry before securing it atop the grave once more.

My respect for the deceased was complete. Meaning I had brought things to a close at last.

Turning my back to head toward the cave—the only thing left was his belongings... but I had no need for them.

I hadn’t even touched the pendant the skeleton was wearing around its neck until the very end. I buried it right along with him.

In other words, just as this subtle funeral was completely wrapping up—

[Gracias.]

A voice that felt somewhat eerie resounded from behind me.

At the same time, a chilling sensation swept over me, making my goosebumps stand on end.

Startled out of my wits, I hastily turned around to look at the grave.

And...

"..."

There was nothing there. So much so that I wondered if the voice I just heard was an illusion.

Only a silent atmosphere and the grave where I had just held the ritual welcomed me.

’...Am I seriously hearing hallucinations now?’

Wiping my dry face with my hands, I headed back to the cave.

I didn’t know if my vitality had drained so quickly despite having eaten eel earlier.

’I should just take a nap.’

Strangely, fatigue seemed to have built up heavily in my body.

While Grylls was taking a nap.

└ Hey. If my decipherment of that is right, shit’s about to blow up?

└ What’s in there?

└ It says the Holy Kingdom slaughtered the citizens of the Balkan Kingdom to create the Immortal King;;;

└ ???

└ WTF, what the hell is that supposed to mean??

└ The Holy Kingdom? No, why the hell would they do that?

An unexpected revelation was continuing to unfold.