Chapter 185: Beautiful Flower Bud
(Thoughts and prayers go to the victims and families of the Russian invasion (of the war in Syria, and other places in the world), hope the war end soon and everyone will stay safe, no matter what color of skin you have)
「There are no slimes aroundー?」
After rushing out from the mansion, I walk on the straight path in front of the mansion and look around for any nearby slimes in the surroundings.
There is nothing but the peaceful nature scenery spreading out around me, I can’t even see the shadow of a slime.
As for slimes, they are monsters that are relatively be found anywhere.
They can be found near the river, grassland, and also in the mountains. Sometimes they can also be found in the fields and Koryatt village’s residential district, no one knew where they came from.
Consequently, I don’t know exactly where do I have to go to find them, but if I use Teleport then I can look for them in a wide area.
I was able to encounter slimes in the middle of our journey, so I should be able to find them around the road that connects the Kingdom of Aldonia and the city of Kikka right? Aleutia and the others manage to catch several of them before, so there might be a lot of slimes if it’s that place.
So I thought, and I vividly recall the scenery of the road back then in my mind.
A grassland with a good view, and a mountain in the distance. And the width of the road was only enough to allow carriages to pass by each other.
「Teleport!」
The moment when the light from my magic power wrapped me and I feel a floating sensation in my body, I am no longer on the straight road in front of the mansion but the road I had passed using the carriage before.
There are not even shadows of people in the surrounding area. There’s only the grassland and the curved dirt road continuing endlessly.
When I look above, the white clouds are floating peacefully, the torn parts of the clouds look as if they’re a brush-stretched white ink in the sky.
In the distance, there is a light brown bird-like creature flying and letting out 「Hyurururu」 sounds.
I don’t feel like walking immediately after arriving here, so I sit down on the sloped part, away from the road.
A gentle breeze blows, shaking my bangs. It’s a different sort of calmness from the plains in the surroundings of Koryatt village.
「This place is also not bad」
I lie down on my back and look upward while muttering.
Though I threw down my back on the ground forcefully, the grasses growing on the ground are absorbing the force behind it.
When I take a deep breath, the smell of the earth is similar to the smell in Koryatt village.
If you look at the grasses, they are the same types that grow on the Koryatt village’s grassy fields.
It seems like the soil from Koryatt village to this area is the same.
「It’s also nice going outside of Koryatt village at leisure like this once in a whileー」
The continents in this world are wider than I think. With the level of civilization and the existence of monsters of this world, it would probably be quite difficult for people to build a town.
So, there are a lot of countryside villages and places where it’s still abundant in nature except for places like Koryatt village.
But since I have the Teleport magic, it’s not a bad idea to occasionally use Teleport to some other place and relax.
I slowly close my eyes while thinking about that kind of thing.
As the wind blows, the grasses in the fields are making pleasant rustling sounds as they swayed.
There are no sounds from people, at times, I can only hear the sounds of animals and birds.
It’s just that when I lie down alone in these vast grassy fields like this, it makes me think that I’m the only person in this world.
「Hyurururuー」
Even the sounds of birds flying in the sky like this are making me like I became a part of nature.
「Hyurururuー」
Is the bird approaching me? The bird’s cry is getting louder and louder.
Just what kind of bird is that?
When I open my eyes slightly due to curiosity, I saw something that look like a dull, glowing claw.
「Owaaah!?」
Rolling to the side in a fluster, the claw mowed down and passed the grass at the place where my head used to be.
I was horrified seeing the grass being torn to pieces by such a sharp thing.
And when I look up overhead, there was a brown bird with a sharp blade growing from its body fluttering about.
That thing is, could it be the Slash Hawk Irvine and the others warned me about during the journey? And I heard that it would do a nosedive from the sky and stab its blade to its target.
I used to think that it would be terrible if I were to be attacked when I basked under the sun, but I never thought that I will be attacked like this.
Just when I think about such a thing, the Slash Hawk-like monster dove toward me with its claws pointed to me.
If I were to stay like this, I feel like it will keep on attacking me.
I won’t be able to have a comfortable nap if it keeps on swooping down at me like this, and I won’t even be able to find a slime.
Nevertheless, it will spray its blood if I were to use magic to kill it, and I would also feel sick. And the scent of blood might attract other monsters here, so let’s gently repulse it.
Having decided that, I raise my hand and cast Wind magic.
Circulating more magic power than usual, I bring forth a gust of wind.
The Slash Hawk’s body - that was heading straight toward me - is struck directly by the gust of wind.
Then, it finally lost to the force of the wind and flew surprisingly far.
「Ooh, what a surreal sight, seeing a bird lost to the force of the wind and got blown away」
I muttered while staring at the Slash Hawk that got blown away.
After the Slash Hawk was blown to a rather distant sky, it flaps its wings and manages to steady itself somehow. Even so, perhaps it’s due to the impact that its body is shaking, and it looks somewhat erratic as it flies.
If it were going to attack me again, then I will give that bird a stronger blast of wind, but guess there’s nothing I can do about it if it comes attacking again, so let’s just scare it away with a loud explosive sound.
As I stare at it while thinking like that, the Slash Hawk flew away while swaying just like that.
Seeing that, I heave a sigh of relief.
I probably shouldn’t have thought of this place as something that is the same as the too-peaceful Koryatt village, where there are few monsters around.
Outside of Koryatt village, I have to check the surroundings carefully when I want to spend the time leisurely.
◆
「I can’t find any slimeー」
I was walking down the road in the grassy plain while looking around for slimes, but I can’t find them anywhere.
In terms of how long I’ve been searching for slimes, it’s probably been nearly an hour?
The surrounding scenery is almost unchanged. It’s to the extent that I wonder if those faraway mountains have become closer. Even though I’ve walked since the morning, I don’t feel like those faraway mountains have become closer.
I continue to walk on the meandering road while gazing at the wide-open plains that spread endlessly.
Even though I can find them normally when I don’t need them, but I wonder why I can’t find them only when I’m looking for them. It feels the same as when I’m looking for something I’ve lost.
The slimes are probably running away for fear of the ‘Craving Sensor’ that I’ve been emitted. Even I felt like that.
I single-mindedly walk on the road while thinking of such things and looking around.
Immediately after, I found a greatly hollowed place in these wide, open plains.
It was as if a small meteorite or something had fallen in this place and created a crater, there are spiderweb-like cracks that are spreading around the place.
The ground is turned inside out and only that place looks tragic as if it was spoiling the atmosphere of the peaceful plains.
I thought, ‘just what happened here’ but when I look closely at it, I recognize it.
「……I see. This is the place where Roomba defeated the Slash Boa with a single blow」
This was a crater made by Roomba. No wonder it looks familiar.
So this place was from that time, huh? I was just walking down the road single-mindedly searching for slimes, but to think that it led me to this place.
I approach the small crater while feeling moved.
Looking closer at it, the crater is deeper and larger than I thought. So this is what they mean about Roomba’s absurd destructive strength.
A man with such strength, who usually looks foolish. I wonder how could he have such strength despite not using magic power to strengthen his body? Truly a mystery.
And road maintenance in this world is not as reliable as in my previous life.
So people probably won’t even bother to fix a crater on these plains. There are dangerous monsters such as Slash Boa and Slash Hawk prowling around here, so it’s going to be difficult to restore the terrain.
But, despite the beautiful grasses growing here, only this place has its ground hollowed that it’s so painful to look at. Should I use Earth magic to fill up the crater?
Just when I’m about to use Earth magic with such thought in mind, I saw something with a pink color in the middle of the crater.
「Hmm?」
Curious, I try to peer into the crater, and there was a pink flower bud there. Looks like it’s about to bloom soon.
I don’t know whether the flower’s seed was blown by the wind, or it arrived here because it got stuck and carried by animals, like birds or monsters.
However, that single flower managed to grow upright, overcoming such a harsh natural condition.
「……it’s a beautiful flower」
I muttered while gazing at the single flower bud in the middle of the crater.
After that, I use Water magic to provide the flower some water, instead of filling up the crater using Earth magic.
And I pray for this flower bud to bloom into a beautiful flower.
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