Chapter 6: Living Infrastructure part 3

It’s been almost half a year since I came to this world.

I, Kusunoki Hinami, had not set one foot outside my home.

“Haa~”

I sighed while eating salad on the table inside the house.

I wonder if it was a sigh, or if I’m just tired.

“I want some meat…There’s only vegetables and fruits…” (***holy crap, Hinami’s been eating salad for 6 months… ∑(O_O;) )

I could easily get vegetable and fruit seeds, and am growing them in the fields. Because of that, I am living a vegetarian life, so I can manage to live.

For seasonings, I have salt, sugar, pepper and olive oil. This is my current diet. I’m a splendid vegetarian right now.

By the way, I heard from god using the exchange diary that I’d need to hunt animals from the forest for meat. But because I’m scared of monsters I’ve never seen before… I haven’t taken a single step into the forest.

Ah, right. This morning, wheat seeds became available to exchange, so I’m planning on planting them in the field later. I decided to not worry about the fact that I didn’t have anything to bake bread in for now.

And now, half a year later, my house and garden have become even better.

First, the interior of the house. I added a room and a rooftop, and divided the space into a bedroom and a living room. On the rooftop, I am raising herbs for seasoning and hanging out laundry to dry.

As for the herbs, they are lined up beautifully in pots that can be exchanged with points. Because I can immediately harvest them using <Angel’s Sanctuary> I’m not growing too many of them.

Currently I have three kinds, kosho, satoult and oli. By the way, I can make olive oil from the fruits of oli.

Also, I made flowerbeds for herbs in the garden. Currently I have only ‘health grasses’ and ‘red grasses,’ two kinds. I searched deep in the garden, but those were the only kinds I could find.

So I ended with an unfortunate situation where I could only get points from high potions.

Also, about the seeds I can exchange with points. I learned that there is a random assortment of six kinds of seeds. When I exchanged it with points, I got seeds for carrots, pumpkins, potatoes, cucumbers, broccolis and tomatoes. But because it’s random, the same seed may not be included the next time I exchange.

“Yeah. Let’s do my best today…!”

I opened the treasure chest in the basement and put on the armor and equipped the sword.

Perhaps it might be good idea to start exploring a little around the house? I started thinking. I had been continually thinking about it and hesitating at the last moment since a month ago. However, today for sure, I’ll take a step into the forest. That said, I didn’t see any monsters nor hear monster sounds from the garden so hopefully they wouldn’t be close…

By the way, a bit of information about this forest where my house is. After consulting the map god gave me, it looks like it takes about less than half a day to get to a nearby town…I guess? The distance seems to be something close to that. 

I’m curious about the town, but I don’t have the courage to travel through the forest for half a day.

In addition, I haven’t seen any people. If it’s only a half a day’s distance away, I would have thought moree people should have come around here, but…

I went out to the garden, taking deep breaths.

Today is the first forest exploration day.

“Alright, I have the high potions I made. The plan will be to run away and escape if there is anything…! Okay!!”

With that, I took a step out from my home which was being protected by <God’s Miniature Garden.>

Nn, looks like it’s alright for now.

To be honest, I was scared that it looked like a beautiful forest only because of <God’s Miniature Garden> but then would become a dark and scary forest once I was out.

Thankfully, the forest had the same beautiful scenery I had always looked at. Maybe this is a nice forest without monsters.

“…Ah! That’s blue grass…!?”

I took only 10 steps outside the garden before making a great discovery. There were many ‘blue grasses’ which was one of the ingredients for making mana potions. There was a thick vegetation behind them so I couldn’t see other grasses, but the blue grasses were growing firmly.

I crouched down and started picking up the blue grasses, storing them in my backpack I had brought. I carefully plucked them from the root so that I could plant and cultivate then in my garden.

As I proceeded further into the forest, I then came across ‘orange grasses.’

“Th-These are…the herbs needed for garnet potions!”

With these, I could make 2 new kinds of potions.

The forest was beautiful and without monsters so far. It might have been better to go out to the forest sooner. But no use worrying about the past. For now, let’s explore a lot and make up for lost time.

But then, I wonder, if my gratitude to god was not enough…?

About 15 minutes of walking later, I saw a large rock and sat down for a short break.

I filled about half my bag with blue grasses and orange grasses. I also stored a few mushrooms I had found on tree roots while strolling by. They look like mushrooms, but I’m planning on searching them up with the book. If they are edible, I’ll cultivate them back home for food.

Suddenly, from behind me, I heard a rustling sound.

“Kue—!!”

“Ah…!?”

I thought this was a safe forest…! My body stiffened up at the the sudden sound. Could this be the ‘monsters’ that god talked about…?

In response to the sound from the bush behind me, a cold sweat flowed down as I hastily stood up. I had my sword from the adventurer’s set, but I had never used it before.

Ahh, I should have trained a bit before coming to the forest…I regretted a little. However, my reflexes aren’t very good, so it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference…

For the time being, I have to carry out the plan. The plan of course, is to escape…

“If I dash to my home, it will be my vic…tory…huh?”

I turned my gaze to what I thought was a monster…to the ‘it’ that appeared.

“Chickens…?”

“Kueh!”

The things that suddenly appeared from the bush were not ‘monsters’ but two chickens.

I don’t know why there are chickens here, but if I can catch these two, then I’d have eggs on the table…I want meat too, but unfortunately, I don’t have the skills to butcher chickens. Even if it’s for eating food, killing them would be scary.

“Kue—! Kueh!!!”

“Kukuk!!”

“Don’t cry.… It’s a bit cute for some reason.”

Because I had been alone for so long, My heart felt a bit healed from the two moving birds. It’s lonely having no one to talk to, or should I say…It feels strange. So recently, I had been talking to myself quite a bit.

Feeling pleased at the two that suddenly started squawking wildly, I thought about how to capture the chickens. If they’re wild chickens, I wanted to invite them to my home.

Suddenly, the chickens ran towards and dashed past me in a flash..

“Eh!? Why so suddenly…”

At the same time, the bush shook greatly.

And then the thing that jumped a medium-sized dog…no wait, is it a wolf…?

However, that “wolf” did not have a cute face, but rather a face that squinted as if hunting for prey. There was also something ominous about it. Yes, like a ‘monster…’

Then, I stepped back in surprise.

“This is a ‘monster’…!?”

I don’t like it.

I’m scared…! I had no idea why the wolf glaring at me and when it would pounce at me. I took a few steps back to widen the distance. If I got caught by the wolf, I wouldn’t survive.

Fear ran through my body and paralyzed me as though I was having a night terror. Still, I had no choice but to take slow steps with my trembling legs.

“Grrrrrrr…”

For an moment, the wolf let out a low growl, put some strength into its legs and pounced at me.

“Noooooo!!!”

There was no time to be scared. I screamed to get my legs moving and turned around and started running. It took about 15 minutes to get here walking slowly while picking herbs. So, if I run desperately like now, I wonder how quickly I can return…?

The wolf was now standing where I had been standing before I started running. It seems that I barely managed to evade. If my judgement had been wrong for even a moment I might not have been alive now.

“Haa, haa… Kuu……”

I desperately ran through the forest. It felt as though I was running for many hours, but I couldn’t laugh because barely a minute had passed in truth. Now the distance between me and the wolf had shrunk and was just a stone’s throw away…about 5 meters. Considering the leap before, this distance shouldn’t be much, but maybe it’s not pouncing yet because it enjoys chasing me.

“Ah…!!”

Unused to the forest, I tripped on a tree root poking out of the ground and fell over. As I was thinking this was not good, the wolf came right up behind me.

I desperately stood up and immediately started running.

“Ow!”

Maybe because I was late to start running in time, my right arm, which was still on the ground, was cut by the wolf’s sharp claws. However, I couldn’t stop just because it hurt. Besides, it would be worse if other ‘monsters’ appeared from the smell of blood.

Soon, my home came into my sight.

“Just a little, more…! Ugh Ah…!!!”

“Grrrrrr……”

I might not make it this time.

The wolf pounced at me, knocking me to the ground.

As the wolf slashed my shoulder, a pain I never felt before shot through my body. Saliva dripped from the wolf’s mouth onto my neck, encasing me with a fear of being eaten. I couldn’t even scream.

Oh no…I’ll be eaten……!

Overcome with fear, I didn’t have room for tears.

Ah, god…I think I’m done for now.

“I’m sorry god…I couldn’t pay you back for anything…”

In the midst of my fear, the only thing I could say was that one last sentence for god.

Then, I shut my eyes tightly and braced myself for the oncoming pain.

However, what came to me was not pain.

Yes, it was god’s voice…

“Hina! Use <Rhapsody of Light>!!”

When god’s panicking voice echoed through my head, I remembered that I still had a skill. I wonder if I was stupid for forgetting that I had a defensive skill…

“Kuu…! <Rhapsody of Light>!!”

The voice I squeezed out echoed and danced through the forest.

In that moment, behind me…in front of the wolf, a shining magic shield appeared. The wolf was immediately blown away and sent flying to the tree that was behind me.

Ah… did I defeat it…?

“You can’t defeat it with defensive skills. Get back to your home before it gets up…!”

“Ah…! Y-Yes!”

Come to think of it, my skill was specialized for defense.

I thought it was because I was hit by a tree, but if that had been enough to defeat a monster I wouldn’t be having this much trouble. For now, I thanked god and started running to my home before the wolf could get up.

To be honest, my whole body hurt…but there’s no room to rest.

“Grrrrrr”

“Ah…!!”

Recovering, the wolf was getting up when I looked back.

However, my home was already right in front of me.

Only 3 more meters.

“I’m baaaaack…!”

I rolled into the garden and felt a huge relief.

This is the area inside my skill <God’s Miniature Garden> so monsters can’t come in. It should be so.

However, the wolf did not lower it’s speed as it came for me. It tried to jump at me and came flying at me from 10 meters away. However, that did not come true, and an invisible barrier refused to let the wolf in.

“…Amazing.”

“Kueh!!”

To my mumbling, there was a cute answer.

“Eh… a reply?”

When I turned around in surprise, there were the chickens I had seen earlier.

How did they come into <God’s Miniature Garden>? I was a little bothered…but if they’re here it means they’re not harmful to me.

“You ran away from the wolf and came to my garden…? Welcome!”

“Kue~”

“Kuk!”

When the two birds squawked as if in response, I loosened my expression.

And at that moment, pain shot up through my whole body. I was reminded of the pain from being attacked by the wolf.

I quickly took out a high potion from my bag and sprayed it over my body. In a blink of an eye, the numerous wounds on my body disappeared. I made it myself, but even I was surprised at its potency. I was only learning the effects just  now because I had never hurt before.

Just in case, I took another out from the bag and drank it down. There weren’t any more external injuries, but it would be if I had internal injuries.

“Huh…I thought it wouldn’t taste good…but it’s delicious!”

No, not just delicious, this is…yes.

“Green tea…?”

The high potions I drank tasted like green tea.

Tea inside a cute and small bottle with a heart symbol. Well, it is green so I guess it makes sense… does that mean I sprayed tea over myself to heal the wounds?

It felt a little strange, but now I can drink tea. I decided to end with that.

“……God?”

Then I noticed that I couldn’t hear god’s voice.

I shouted loudly but there was no response.

I wonder if he went out of his way to help when he was not supposed to intervene…?

“Thank you god…”

I looked up at the sky and said that.

I was saved by god again. I wonder how much I have to do to repay his kindness? Rather, will I even be able to repay it in my lifetime…?

I’m still weak, but I’ll try my best to collect lots of points to pay god back.

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T/N: In summation, Hinami lives as a monk for 6 months, escapes from an evil wolf, and gains two chicken (dinner) followers…I gotta say that Hinami’s reaction to the monster is one of the more realistic responses I’ve seen in these types of stories.