Only I can Return After the Class Transfer Translation

16. Self-Made

“Even though we jumped to the same place as yesterday…”
“Nothing seems to have changed.”

We take on vigilant attitude and survey the area. As mamono can attack at any moment, we need to stay cautious.

“For now…let’s aim to get Hiyama-san to Lv five.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“Usually we have to defend against surprise attacks from mamono, how about attacking them instead?”

Hiyama-san seems to have her priorities backwards.

“Maybe we should take permanent residence here? Regardless of whether we search for a way to return to our original world or for human habitation here, isn’t it better for us to get stronger? This way, we can all fight off Taniizumi and the others.”
“…that’s true. By the way, Hanebashi-kun, did you give your breakfast to the other kids today as well? Are you… sure you’re not hungry?”

Giku! She saw where I was distributing the food?! How should I explain this?

“I-I’m fine.”
“If you don’t eat, you’re going to eventually collapse.”
“Really, I’m fine. Just look at my complexion. Can you still say that with how I look?”

In fact, I eat well every day. It should be obvious just by looking at my face.

“You look pretty pale though.”
“Eh? Haven’t I been looking like this for some time now?”

Himeno-san examines my complexion in worry. Don’t worry, everything’s fine, everything’s fine. My impatience is just making me look bad.

“Ah? It’s not that bad though?”
“Mn…?”
“So, it’s fine. Besides, if anything happens, Shigenobu will nag me to eat.”
“Well, that’s how Yukinari is. He won’t be reckless, so let him be.”
“I see…you really won’t be reckless?”
“Of course.”

With the support from Shigenobu, Hiyama-san turns away from me. I’m fine, so I’d like for everyone else to focus on their own meals. Like that, I was able to fool them.

Thus, we start walking through the forest.

“Going too deep is dangerous, so let’s go at a steady pace.”
“Of course. Though, there might not be any mamono left after Taniizumi and the others having hunted here.”
“Taniizumi-kun and the others should have only hunted a small portion of the forest’s population…is what I’m hoping.”

While chatting, a horn rat appears again. Its name is Green Horn Rat. Yeah…it’s a color only seen on dangerous creatures. A rat with a green horn… isn’t very appetizing. Is it abundant because it’s a rat? Is it a distinct faction?

“We already have enough horn rats, so there’s no need to bring the body back.”
“Even if you cook it, it won’t taste good.”

With those words, we quickly defeat the Horn Rat the same way we did yesterday and move on. The fights were difficult at first, but just by raising our Lv 2 or 3 times, they’ve become splendidly easy. 

“If there’s a river somewhere, we should move our base camp there. Being able to fish would be nice.”
“Our water comes from a well.”
“It might be dangerous if a mamono appears from the river, but if we’re mindful of that possibility, it should be fine.”

That’s right. No matter how many barriers we have, we have to stay wary of mamono. There’s no taking it easy.

In the first place, is this world just a forest? I don’t think we’re in a world of only forests and mamono. Some have climbed the trees and tried looking around, but so far, nobody has seen anything of note. Well, that’s just the opinion of the player group. I am think such as we walk when three large green walking mushrooms called Grass Green Myconid appear. So much green! 

Tei!

Hiyama-san draws her sword and slashes. Her vertical slice, zubaa, splits a mamono in two and it stops moving. Was giving the first strike effective? The Grass Green Myconid are unable to keep up with her movements. 

“I’ll go too!” 

I horizontally cut at a Grass Green Myconid, however, it’s as if I’m cutting fiber. As though the mamono was struck by something, it gets blown a bit away before landing.

The Grass Green Myconid shakes in fury and opens up its body in order to spread its spores. Will getting infected turn me into a mushroom human…1

“Hiyama-san was able to defeat it easily, but I couldn’t… is it a strengthened mamono?”
“Maybe it’s easier to split it vertically since it’s a mushroom?”
“Ah, I see!”

Shigenobu slashes vertically at another Grass Green Myconid. The mamono avoids the attack with a quick backstep, but fails to consider the number of opponents it is facing. Hiyama-san circles around behind it and slashes vertically. Just one left!

“Alright! Let’s go!”

I vertically slash down onto the crown of the Grass Green Myconid… swinging my obsidian sword at the umbrella-like head. I don’t feel my attack getting caught by fiber, and it’s easily split in two.

“Victory!”

Lifting our blades, we rejoice at having defeated the mamono. The experience and points… are proportional to lack of strength of the mamono.

“What should we do with the bodies of these mamono?”
“We can’t eat it… Taniizumi and the others brought one back once, but it was dangerous, so I avoided it.”

As expected of mushrooms, there is a high chance of them having strange poisons.

“Powering up from eating it…would be nice.”
“So they’re dangerous. They aren’t good as a raw materials either… Let’s just send them back for Hagisawa.”
“I doubt it’s good for anything other than poison.”
“Send me some just in case.”
“Okay.”

I gather the bodies of the Grass Green Myconid and activate the teleportation. I can call up a steady good image. Although, if I mess up and hit Hagisawa who’s standing by, that would be terrible.

Fu, I just had a thought…”
“What’s up?”
“We don’t need to rely on our abilities to make things, right?”

Something like the Metal Turtle shell Shigenobu made this morning. Depending on the process, it might be possible to substitute on manufacturing.

“Thinking about it.”
“Looks like Hagisawa has the same idea.”

I watch Hagisawa look over the corpses of the mushrooms. It tears pretty nicely, and the skin is tougher than I thought. If dried, it could be used as a bag. I don’t know what effect the spores have, but it might be useful to throw at mamono.

“Can I ask you about it later?”
“Sure. Thinking about it, our abilities aren’t everything.”
“It would be great if we discover something by doing this.”

…         

It feels like we’ve started traveling again.

“Just… how far does this forest go?”

As we go deeper, there seems to be an illusion that the tree trunks are growing thicker. It feels like a forest that has been around since antiquity… 

“Taniizumi and the others have only been exploring for two weeks.”
“I hope there’s an exit somewhere”
“Yeah… a village would be good too.”

While we’re talking, we pass by a rocky protrusion. So, even in the forest there are places like this. 

“That’s right, Taniizumi and the others have brought back ores before. Could they have got it from a place like this?”
“I guess? I feel like they’d use their abilities to force us to mine though.”

If this were a game, we’d be able to mine it with a pickax. How would it be in reality? I grab an exposed rock from the protrusion and pull. Hmm… from a glance, the rock in my hand only looks like a rock2.

“Obsidian might have been obtained from a place like this…”

Well, it’s something primitive people used for weapons. There might be some if we look around. But finding some in a place like this…

“Obsidian is a volcanic rock, right? Can it be found in the middle of a forest?”
“It’s really strange if you think about it.”
“Although a caldera or something would explain it, what’s suspicious is ―”

A mamono slides down the rockface before what’s being spoken can be finished. Something with an ore-like tail…a big lizard. A Sea Green Rock Lizard. There are so many green mamono today!


<Chapter 15
Chapter 17>

  1. 感染したらキノコ人間にされたらやだな……。
  2. 岩肌に露出している石を手で掴んで取り出してみる。うーん……パッと見は石にしか見えん。