Chapter 175

The Arena (1)

A new morning dawned. The weather was clear and sunny.

There were no strange phenomena—no swarms of insects running rampant, no rain, and no scenery that defied imagination.

So much had happened lately that the mere fact that everything was ordinary somehow brought me comfort.

Not that it matters.

The weather might be bright and sunny, but my mood wasn’t.

This was the Forest of Four Seasons, after all. Normal weather meant nothing here.

I looked up at the clear sky and sighed.

There was no telling when that sky might stab me spectacularly in the back again.

I would only be training indoors for now, so it didn’t particularly matter, but I was still a little worried.

Is there no way to predict the weather?

I wasn’t asking to predict snow, pollen, or yellow dust.

There was only one thing I wanted. I wished I could at least predict when it would rain.

One might say there were plenty of ways to predict rain. There were, but the question was whether they worked in the Forest of Four Seasons.

At least there aren’t any storm clouds today.

Storm clouds were probably the most reliable warning sign.

There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky right now, but there was no telling when they might begin creeping in.

Let’s stick to the plan for now.

Training in the morning and outside activities in the afternoon.

I began my training as usual.

Controlling cold energy through my cultivation technique, practicing swordsmanship, exercising to build up my body, and so on.

└ It’s practically a festival. Commoners can just have fun and drink, lol.

　└ There’ll probably be tons of booze. That’s the only reason I’m going, lol.

└ Just don’t get drunk and cause trouble. Since it’s a succession ceremony, you might receive a harsher punishment.

└ Wasn’t there some bastard who threatened to carry out a terrorist attack during a festival before?

　└ Yeah, the head manager immediately exposed his address. Turned out he was an academy student, lol.

Title: I’m jealous of the Messiah Empire.

Succession ceremonies rarely proceed smoothly. This generation seems pretty decent.

└ What good is being decent if he ends up ruining everything? Lol.

　└ Honestly, the crown prince hasn’t really shown us anything yet.

　└ Upvote if you think the crown prince will go begging Ash like a dog the moment something goes wrong with the country, lol.

　└ I’m the crown prince, and even I upvoted this.

└ AbsolutelySupremeArnoldIsTheBest: Stop talking bullshit;;

Title: The succession ceremony is tomorrow

They’ll give us plenty of food, right?

The Gallery was bustling with all kinds of trending topics.

There was the sky whale, the flying magic tower, the succession ceremony, the protests in Eldorado, and more.

Since people from all over the world gathered in one place, it was extremely chaotic.

Well, there was no way to sort everything into separate regional sections, so it couldn’t be helped.

The head manager was merely a manager, not an administrator who managed the entire site.

Come to think of it, there must be an administrator who manages the Gallery itself, rather than just one of its moderators.

I had grown so accustomed to it that I occasionally forgot.

Who exactly was the administrator who managed and controlled the Gallery itself?

No one currently knew much about the Gallery’s origins.

It was unclear who had created it or when it had first appeared, so apparently, there weren’t even any serious scholars researching it.

At the very least, it must have appeared after writing was invented, right? They said it was almost impossible for an illiterate person to use the Gallery.

Thinking about pointless things, I began preparing a meal.

Today’s lunch was the wild boar I had previously caught. I had stored it in the icebox.

“Here. You eat some too.”

“Ooh-ooh! Thank!”

“You can even say thank you now.”

When I gave some wild boar meat to Kkobong, whose punishment(?) had ended, he expressed his gratitude.

His language skills were improving by leaps and bounds.

He had already been capable of speaking in the first place, and it seemed he also possessed considerable natural talent.

Even though I hadn’t taught him separately, he could already understand my words and their meanings.

“You two can’t talk, can you?”

“……”

“Kkyuu?”

The fast sloth stared silently at me, while Wonmo tilted his head.

That gorilla was the unusual one. There was nothing strange about these two.

At least, that was what I decided to believe.

Anyway, with lunch finished, I began preparing for our exploration.

I’d better keep the ambergris here.

I had originally stored the sky whale’s ambergris in my spatial backpack.

I would have preferred to continue carrying it there, but an unexpected problem had occurred.

“Ooooooh!”

“Huh? Wait, what?! Where are you going?!”

Kkobong had nearly flown off into the sky.

There was no problem if I tied the backpack to him with a rope like a balloon, but if I secured it around his waist or had him wear it on his back, he simply floated into the air.

I had no idea how that worked, but if he drifted too high and the rope snapped, it would cause a major accident.

That was why I decided to store the ambergris in a different backpack.

I’ll thoroughly apply repellent and seal the fireplace so the smell can’t escape.

Finally, all I needed to do was cover the cave entrance with cloth.

If the entire cave started floating after all that… Well, that would quite literally be a disaster.

“Let’s go.”

“Kkyuu!”

“……”

And so, I set out to explore with my dependable animal companions.

After checking several times to make sure his glasses were fine, Kkobong hurried after us.

Wonmo usually took the lead, but today, we were going to scout a place we had already visited, so the order was different.

We were heading toward the former owlbear cave, where I suspected a large number of kangaroos had gathered.

It had once been Wonmo’s home.

What in the world are the kangaroos doing that keeps them so inactive?

Unlike the gorillas, who divided their roles and worked together, I hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of the kangaroos since our first encounter.

Perhaps they had a habit of remaining within their own territory, or maybe there was another reason.

Since the gorillas lived nearby, perhaps the kangaroos were keeping them in check.

Considering that the gorillas had stopped intruding into my shelter after the incident with the gorilla chief, that possibility seemed quite credible.

Peace is certainly preferable, but…

There was a saying: if you wanted peace, you had to prepare for war.

I had no idea who might invade, when they might come, where they might come from, or how they might do it. I therefore needed to scout the area and investigate.

At least the gorillas’ chief was gentle, so I didn’t have to worry too much about them. The kangaroos, however, were an unknown.

Moreover, considering how one had put Wonmo in a headlock the moment it saw him, they were far from gentle.

Even though it knew Wonmo was only a cub, it had shown no sign of going easy on him.

We should be almost there.

It had been a long time since I last visited, but I still knew the way.

Each region had a particular landmark. In the case of the kangaroo cave, it was the “boundary.”

Since it stood at the boundary between the forest and the jungle, it wasn’t difficult to find.

While walking along the path, I spotted the familiar cave—or rather, its entrance—and immediately concealed myself.

“Shh.”

“Kkyuu?”

When I held a hand out behind me, Wonmo tilted his head in puzzlement.

Fortunately, he seemed to understand me and cautiously moved behind me.

Kkobong also took the hint and hid behind me.

Are those two kangaroos the only ones guarding the entrance?

Two kangaroos stood watch at the mouth of the cave.

One might wonder how mere beasts could stand guard, but most of the animals here were highly intelligent.

The gorillas even spoke and behaved like humans, so there was no reason to assume the kangaroos were any different.

But those muscles…

The kangaroos guarding the entrance were incredibly intimidating just to look at.

Their upper-body muscles were especially striking. Even from a distance, their heavily muscled physiques were impossible to miss.

Of course, they still fell short compared to Kkobong. But considering the difference in size between their species, they were remarkably impressive.

What in the world were those kangaroos protecting so fiercely that they wouldn’t even go inside?

Come to think of it, didn’t that cave have an opening in its ceiling?

I was thinking that I could look inside through the ceiling when—

Hop. Hop. Hop.

A kangaroo came hopping toward the entrance.

It soon stopped in front of the guards.

The guard kangaroos examined it from head to toe, as though checking whether it was carrying anything suspicious.

The most remarkable part was that they even thoroughly searched its pouch, one of a kangaroo’s defining features.

“Phooong.”

“Phoooong.”

Once the inspection was complete, they allowed it inside without issue.

I stared at the scene in disbelief. It looked like a security check at the entrance to a nightclub.

What in the world was going on inside that they even searched members of their own species?

Climbing onto the roof of the cave would probably be best…

Where should I start climbing?

As I considered that question—

Tap, tap.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around.

Kkobong pointed at himself.

He seemed to be saying that I should leave this matter to him.

“…You want me to leave it to you?”

Nod.

When I asked skeptically, Kkobong nodded confidently.

Perhaps it was because of the colossal blunder he had made with the Flame Demon last time, but I found it difficult to trust him.

If he does it again…

I’ll throw him out for good.

Deciding to trust him one last time, I moved aside.

Kkobong began moving cautiously. Just before stepping out into the open, he deliberately revealed his presence.

“Phoong?!”

“Phoooong.”

The kangaroos guarding the entrance immediately assumed defensive stances when Kkobong appeared.

One of them looked ready to rush inside at the slightest sign of trouble.

Kkobong continued staring at them before slowly raising both hands.

It was a silent gesture declaring that he meant them no harm.

The guard kangaroos relaxed slightly at the gesture.

I wondered whether a single gesture was really enough.

“Phoong.”

“Ooh-ooh. Ooh.”

“Phoooong. Phoong.”

“Ooh-ooh.”

Could animals understand each other even if they belonged to different species?

Kkobong and the kangaroos began conversing. I couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying.

Still, the conversation seemed to work. Before long, Kkobong looked in my direction.

Wave, wave.

He waved his arms as if telling me it was safe to come out.

Feeling uneasy, I slowly emerged from hiding. The kangaroos’ gazes immediately focused on me.

“Give that.”

“What?”

“Tasty thing. Give. Proof.”

Kkobong spoke to me. By “tasty thing,” he must have meant a fasting pill.

I always carried fasting pills in case of an emergency.

I had no idea what this was supposed to prove, but I decided to do as he said.

I could feel the fast sloth’s terrifying gaze boring into my back, but I did my best to ignore it.

“Phoong…”

The kangaroo accepted the fasting pill and alternated between staring suspiciously at it and at me.

Then it broke off roughly half the pill and handed it to its companion.

The other kangaroo examined it carefully and sniffed it, checking it from every angle.

“Nom.”

“Munch, munch.”

At last, the kangaroos put the fasting pill into their mouths.

Would it suit their tastes?

I wasn’t sure about carnivores, but most herbivores reacted as though it was delicious.

“Pho-oh?! Pho-oooooh?!”

“Phooooooong!”

Kangaroos were apparently no exception.

Their eyes widened, and they reacted with intense excitement.

“Phooo! Pho!”

“Pho!”

Had the bribe(?) worked that well?

The kangaroos gestured for us to hurry inside.

It seemed we didn’t even have to surrender our weapons or equipment.

With a complicated mixture of emotions, I entered the kangaroo cave.

And then…

“Oooooooooh!”

“Pho-ooooh! Pho-oooooh!”

I was confronted by a frenzy of entertainment that rivaled anything found in civilization.

Two kangaroos were fighting in the center while others surrounded them.

Every time the two fighters exchanged punches, the cheering(?) grew even louder.

I was staring blankly, wondering what in the world was happening, when I noticed something.

…Wait. Aren’t those bears?

The spectators weren’t all kangaroos.

There was an entire family of bears, a deer whose appearance seemed strangely familiar, and even small animals resembling raccoons.

There weren’t any gorillas yet, but I still couldn’t make sense of the situation.

“Oooooooooooooh!”

That was when the cheering became far louder than before.

I turned toward the center and witnessed something utterly unbelievable.

One kangaroo hoisted its fallen opponent into the air and shoved its head between the other kangaroo’s legs.

The kangaroo being forcibly lifted looked bewildered.

A moment later, it seemed to realize what was happening and looked down.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Instinctively sensing danger, it repeatedly struck its opponent’s head.

The kangaroo below might have collapsed under normal circumstances, but once the move had been properly locked in, it was difficult to break.

Then the kangaroo underneath slammed its opponent straight into the ground.

BOOOOM!

A move normally seen only in professional wrestling—a powerbomb—was executed perfectly.

At least professional wrestling took place in a ring designed to soften the impact. This cave had a solid floor.

The kangaroo that took the full force of the impact fell unconscious with its tongue hanging out.

The victor was now unmistakably clear.

“Pho-ooooooooong!”

The victorious kangaroo spread its arms and roared.

As if answering its roar, the spectators also spread their arms and roared.

The victorious kangaroo then strode off somewhere, pushing past the spectators(?).

Beyond them stood a group of kangaroos noticeably smaller than the others.

They were probably females. The victor took the female standing at the front of the group and led her away.

“Pho-oooooh!”

The kangaroo returned to the center and proudly proclaimed, “This female is mine!”

The other kangaroos responded with thunderous cheers, seemingly acknowledging its claim.

Watching the entire sequence unfold, I found myself wondering—

Is this how kangaroos normally behave?

It felt as though I had witnessed something poised halfway between civilization and the wild.