Chapter 3 "Entering The Mountain"

 I walked through the roadless wilderness.

In the end, it took a long time, but I ate the troll's corpse without leaving any bones, but discarded the excrement and other inedible material.

　...I could have eaten them if I wanted to, but honestly, I didn't want to.

　Troll meat was better than goblin meat, but it tasted bad.

In my hand I held a club, and at my waist I wore a kukri.

With no place to hide, I simply walked straight up the mountain.

There was something about the goblin that stuck in my memory.

He appeared in front of me with his men in tow.

　The place where Rothfeldt had fallen was far from the mountain and out of their living area.

　They were on their way to hunt when they got a whiff of something tasty.

　Goblins eat humans, but humans don't smell this good.

　Considering there was nothing around, could the smell be coming from me?

That's a strong possibility, but I don't have a lot of information.

　I'll have to look into myself when I get a chance.

　I heard that there is a place called the Royal Library in the capital, and if I have a chance to go there, I will take a peek.

　After thinking that far, I suddenly realized.

　Am I going to live here?

　I asked myself.

　Why did I kill myself?

　Because it was hard to live.

Ask myself.

　Why don't I kill myself?

　I don't know if I have no reason to die, and I don't know if this is a good place for me or not at the moment.

　If I may add, I would like to see this world with my newly acquired life, albeit by accident.

　Maybe I'll be glad to be alive rather than living a suicidal life.

　That's not a problem for now. Let's live a second life here.

　It's a life that's pretty bleak and I don't know how long it will last.

Nothing much happened after that, and after half a day of walking in silence, the mountain of my destination came into view.

　The Tierdras Mountains.

　Located in the northern part of the Vasari continent, the mountains stretch across the continent.

　The elevation varies from 1,000 meters to as high as 3,000 meters.

Goblins, orcs, trolls, and other subspecies, as well as dwarves and other miners, have established settlements and towns in the mountainous areas.

　They do not coexist, but seem to live separately in certain areas.

Although they do not get along well with each other, they do not get along so badly that they are at war with each other, and they probably trade goods with each other.

　Incidentally, there is a huge wooden tower at the end of the road, where they check people coming in and out and warn them against intruders.

　In short, it is a barrier.

If one approaches carelessly, he or she will be shot with arrows, and reinforcements will be called for to chase him or her around.

　There are similar things on the human side, so it is not surprising that they are there.

　After passing through this area, you will find a paved mountain road, and if you follow the road, you will find small villages scattered around.

　Further on, you will see a huge mountain, Mount Shudras, and the goblin castle town of Shudras.

　The destination is Shudras Castle, a castle carved out of Mount Shudras.

　I am thinking of taking the treasures from the treasure hall there.

Shudras Castle has rarely been attacked because of its location, and the interior is not so well guarded, so it should not be too difficult to steal it once I get inside.

While I was trying to figure out where I would exchange the money for cash after taking it, I came across a barrier.

　I moved to a place a little further away so as not to be noticed. I looked around for a place to hide and found a good-sized rock, so I moved to the shade of it.

　I sit down and take a breath. When I looked up at the sky, the sun was setting and night was about to fall.

　It's almost night.

　Goblins have good night vision.

　Although not so good during the day, their nighttime scouting ability is high, and there is even an ironclad rule that says to avoid fighting goblins in dark places.

　First, let's think about getting out.

　The way is as follows...

　1. Forced breakthrough.

If it is just a matter of breaking through, it is possible.

I can only see a future where I will be chased around and killed.

　　Rejected.

2. Go through unnoticed.

　　It's the best move, considering what happens later, but the question is how exactly to do it.

　　There are always one or two sentinels standing in front of the gate, so it is difficult to pass through without being noticed.

And then there is the matter of the archers in the tower. If they notice me, they will shoot at me without question.

Then, should I put a fire on it to get their attention?

The tower is made of wood, so fire I would work.

Even if I could get through, the inside would be heavily guarded.

　　Rejected.

　3. Passing through in disguise.

　　This seems to work.

Wear rags to disguise my physique. Smear mud on my face and disguise myself as an orc.

The subhuman language, which is hard to pronounce, will work to my advantage only this time.

　　Orcs and trolls don't speak very fluently.

　　I can't think of anything else, so I'm going to adopt it.

If that fails, I'll go with a compromise between 1 and 2.

Set the place on fire and force my way through.

　　After that, let's aim at the barrier to the territory in the remote place.

　Let's do it before dawn, when the sky is beginning to turn white.

Since it is starting to brighten, night vision will be less effective, and they will be less concentrated.

　The sentinels work two shifts, morning and evening, so the end of the shift would be near, and they would be a little more relaxed.

　After a rough plan was decided, I had some time to spare, so....

"Let's sleep."

　I lay down right there.

　Now, is sleep possible for this body?

　The answer is yes.

　However, I found out the troubling fact that the body, myself, is not capable of sleep.

　My body is relaxing, breathing in sleep.

　But my head is working.

　I heard something similar to this situation somewhere....

　It's a kinbaku.

　I felt somewhat sad.

　I had no choice, so I literally woke up my body.

　Let's do something to pass the time.

　For now, I'm going to do a little training.

　First, I used my roots to suck out the information from my brain earlier, but it is still not efficient to eat and suck it out one by one. If you only need information and not food, it would be better to suck it out with the root.

I knew when I stabbed the brain, but I felt that the brain itself was not absorbed when I stabbed it with only one root.

After all, was it unconscious and not digested but just aimed at the memory and sucked it out?

　If so, no need for an interrogation.

　So let's get to it.

Concentrate on the fingertips. Or more precisely, focus on the roots in my body.

　Focus.

　Turn.

　Turn.

　Turn...

　It doesn't come out...? No.

My fingertip is a little swollen.

　It looks like a pimple.

　Concentrate more.

　Focus, focus, focus.

　A few minutes later.

　The root came out from the fingertip.

　It was good that it came out, but it took too long.

　It would be quicker to cut it off and pull it out.

　But I think it is too early to give up. Let's practice a little more.

　I think I'm getting the hang of it.

　The second time was a little faster than the first time.

　Let's try a little harder.

　The sun was completely setting and night was falling, but thanks to the moonlight, I could see my hand without any problem.

　I practiced incessantly without getting tired of it.

　Root out, root back in. Put it out and put it back in.

　Repeat, repeat, repeat.

　And when I couldn't remember how many times I had done it, it got a lot faster.

　By the time the sun was about to rise, the time required was reduced to a few dozen seconds.

　Still a little slow. Let's practice again when there's time.

　The preparation itself did not take long.

　I turned the soil around my feet into mud with the water magic technique - Water I, and applied it to my face.

　I also made a puddle of water at my feet and used it as an instant mirror to check the condition of my makeup.

　After that, I spread out the rags I had brought with me and covered my head with them.　

　It was originally worn by a troll, so it was big enough.

　Let's go.

As I approach the barrier, the first thing I see is a goblin on the tower pointing a bow at me.

　I consciously ignore it. I walk without changing my speed.

"Orc? Where's the other?"

　A sentinel calls out. There is only one. Is his partner taking a nap?

　"I...sakimo doru yo iwaretta..."

　I still can't pronounce it properly.

　I'm not fluent in the subhuman language of orcs, so I shouldn't be suspicious....

　I'm still about 180ish tall, but that's small by Orc standards.

　The goblin tilts his head and looks at me.

　Was I naive to think I could fool him?

　The Sentinel only said, "I see," and went back to his work.

　I bail silently and walk past.

　After all, it was a big deal to be able to speak the language, even if imperfectly.

　They didn't seem to think that there were people who could speak subhuman languages.

　They seemed to think it was strange, but they let me through.

　As it is, I walk in silence and exhale inwardly.

　I look back a short distance from the barrier. The sentinel is absentmindedly keeping a watchful eye outside the gate.

　There is no sign that they are paying attention to me. The archers in the tower are looking outward in the same way.

I guess I've succeeded somehow.

　Walking along the road, I began to see several houses built of piled up stones.

　They were small, but they looked like a village.

　It was quiet, with no particular sounds of life, as if the residents had not yet woken up. I looked at the houses as I walked.

　There were not so many houses because it was far from the castle town, but instead, there were pastures and fields surrounded by fences near the houses.

　Looking through the fences, one could see animals resembling cows and goats sleeping and roaming around.

　I was a little tempted by the vegetables in the fields, but since I had made it this far without incident, I decided to hold off until I got to the castle town.

　I wonder how much food this body has to eat to get full.

Even though I've eaten enough meat from two trolls and a goblin, my hunger only subsides and I don't feel full.

Come to think of it, does fish have a satiety factor? So they can eat as much as they want.

　I wonder if my body is the same way?

　I wonder if I'm full just because I'm not aware of it...

　This too needs to be verified. The number of things I was concerned about was only increasing.

When I can settle down, I'll give myself a chance to thoroughly understand my capabilities.

　When I made up my mind to do so, I took a few more steps forward.

　Two days later.

　The road was paved to some extent, so it was not that difficult to move around, but it took a long time because of the mountain road and the distance.

Other than that, there were no problems, and on the way I passed several groups of goblins with trolls and orcs in tow, but I was able to travel the distance without incident, with only a passing glance.

"I could see them now."

　The castle town and Mount Shudras, the highest of the surrounding mountains, came into view.