It was night. Earlier that day, I was literally thrown into a perilous forest that was teeming with monsters. Now I was resting up in a tree, a full twenty meters from the ground. The branch I was sitting on was so thick and sturdy that it supported my weight, as well as the weight of the backpack.
My clothes were hanging on a thin branch to dry, so I was only wearing underwear. People would have probably called me a pervert . . . but there was a method to my madness. Grand and Blue Grizzlies had chased me around for three hours after Rose tossed me into the forest. I found it odd that I couldn’t throw them off my trail no matter what I did, so I realized that they might be tracking my scent.
If it was my scent they were following, I thought it best to wash it off. After one hour of searching, I finally found something that looked like a waterfall and jumped in. Though I managed to shake the bears off my trail, I was also sopping wet. I wanted to dry my clothes somewhere safe, so I climbed a tall tree and that’s how I ended up here.
“So dark . . .”
It was several hours past sunset. Judging by how hungry I was, I figured it was about eight or nine in the evening. The sky was pitch-black—I couldn’t see a thing. I had no choice but to rely on the light of the moon, which was several times bigger than the one back on Earth. I heard a savage cry, possibly from a nocturnal monster prowling at night.
“Tch. Can’t even light a fire.”
Monsters would notice a fire. It might scare them off, but I didn’t want to take the risk. Especially considering that the only things in the backpack were dried food, a pen and paper, a leather canteen, and a knife with a blade that was only twenty centimeters long. There were no tools that would help me start a fire, and food took up most of the space! I was glad I didn’t have to starve, but this felt a little overboard.
“Yup, not good. Not good,” I mumbled without thinking.
What’s my next move?
My ultimate goal was to take down a Grand Grizzly. The issue was that no matter how confident I was in my strength, I still didn’t know how to harness that power. Training in martial arts meant diddly-squat against monsters.
What do I do?
“I can either use . . .”
. . . A knife, a pad, or a pen. I also had wet clothes. I put on my semidry pants for the time being and hung the knife on my waist.
“If you want to win, you must first know your enemy.”
First, I needed to come up with a plan and make the tree my home base. Luckily, there was a river nearby. I worried that it might be infested with parasites, but at that point all I could do was pray that they weren’t there. I wanted to boil water, but I had to wait until morning since starting a fire was out of the question.
“This doesn’t look good, but I’ll prove I can make it.”
I enveloped my tired body in weak healing magic. Before I fell asleep, I laid down on the thick branch and carved a message into it with the knife.
“Day one complete.”
I was alone, and I was going to have to fight by myself.
The next morning, I softened the dried food with water and put on the clothes I wore for training. I equipped myself with the canteen and the knife, then stayed low as I ran through the forest.
The pad and pen were in my pocket. I was ready to take them out at any time.
“Where am I?”
I carved markings into the trees and continued searching the area.
I just took a bath in the river, so I shouldn’t have to worry about my scent . . . if I’m lucky.
As far as I knew, there were many other monsters in that forest besides bears. I carefully searched the area that surrounded my base.
“Whoa! That’s . . .”
There were four deep ruts in a tree. It looked a big something or other had carved it up with their claws. An animal that size was likely the Grand Grizzly from the previous day.
Caution was required when searching the area. I was about to take a step forward when I heard something rustling in the tall grass in front of me.
“Huh?!”
Is it a monster?
I slowly brandished my knife and approached the tall grass as I frantically wiped away the sweat on my forehead. I was prepared to escape. If it was a dangerous creature, running away was the plan. With a hard gulp, I used my other hand to part the tall grass.
“Kyu,” something squeaked.
“Huh?” I was confused.
There was a black ball of fur on the ground.
Wait. It’s not a ball of fur, it’s a small animal!
It was something I’d never seen in Rose’s books—a monster who had distinctive black fur and small ears that stood up like antennae.
“It’s . . . a bunny rabbit.”
It looked like a rabbit, but its beautiful black fur and mysterious, gleaming red eyes made it look more like a very realistic stuffed animal.
The black rabbit gazed at me with its round, red eyes as it lay on the ground. It looked as if it was about to whimper again. Slightly perplexed, I cut through the tall grass and approached the rabbit. When I took a closer look, I noticed that its hind leg was covered in light red blood.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
“Kyu.” The rabbit nodded.
Does it understand human speech? Ya know what, I’m not gonna go there. Anything is possible in fantasy worlds after all.
I walked up to the rabbit and found its injury. There seemed to be a cut on his hind leg. It was probably attacked by another monster.
“Hold still.”
A gentle green light emitted from my hand. I applied it to the wound. After a few seconds, I removed my hand and the injury was gone without a trace. I couldn’t have done that if I hadn’t trained. It was basically the first time I had healed something else.
“All better. Be careful out there.”
After I patted the black rabbit’s head, I stood up and started walking away. It was so cute that I almost wanted to take it back to my base, but I couldn’t forget the mission: I had to hunt a Grand Grizzly. No time to be preoccupied with adorable rabbits. I told myself that leaving would be the best for us both.
However, the rabbit followed me. I silently took a step forward and the rabbit followed suit.
What’s going on?
“Now listen up. If you stick with me, you’re gonna be attacked by a Grand Grizzly! Do you happen to know where it is?” I asked.
“Kyu,” it responded.
Motioning me to follow it with its head, the rabbit ran off. Feeling like a character from Alice in Wonderland, I chased after it just to see what would happen.
“Kyuuuu!”
It hopped deeper into the forest without so much as making a sound. I noticed that its ears were as straight as a needle as they pointed ahead.
Do its ears have radars or something? That’s super adorable.
After following it for ten minutes, the rabbit suddenly stopped moving.
“What’s wrong?”
“Kyu kyu.” The rabbit climbed up my leg to my shoulder.
“Whoa! What’re you doing?”
Its black fur ticked the nape of my neck. The rabbit itself was surprisingly light.
This little guy is just too adorable.
The black rabbit stood on my shoulder. Its ears bent forward as if it were pointing at something.
“Kyu.”
“You want me to see what’s ahead?” I asked.
This rabbit can really understand what I say! Oh well. It’s a cutie, so I’m not gonna question it.
I parted some bushes before me with a rustle to reveal a dark cave and two Blue Grizz . . . lies?!
“What the—”
I covered my mouth.