Got a Gallery in the Wild

A raccoon that spat fire from his mouth like some kind of ninja.

And not only that, he was also capable of storing that fire inside a bottle.

I had no idea what exactly bottled fire was useful for, but such a peculiar ability had to have some use.

More than anything, I liked his personality.

‘That’s the most important thing.’

Not only was he docile, but he was also polite, to the point that it was impossible to hate him.

So much so that even Sloth, who was extremely territorial, had done nothing more than give him a pat on the back.

That alone was enough to understand what a good guy that raccoon was.

And that made me like him even more.

‘Should I let him stay here?’

At least one thing was certain.

That guy knew how to handle fire.

And, as always, I would continue needing fire for many things in the future.

If a raccoon capable of controlling fire helped me, maybe I could do things that had been impossible until now.

Even though I still didn’t know what it was useful for, I could also obtain more of that bottled fire.

Besides, if he had fallen through the chimney, it was probably because he was attracted to the flames.

Maybe we could come to an agreement.

I would provide shelter.

And he would use his abilities.

So I made the offer immediately, combining words with gestures and signs.

“Kiee.”

However, the raccoon rejected my offer.

It was already surprising that he had understood what I was saying.

But he even raised a paw to clearly express his refusal.

No matter how extraordinary his ability was, if he had come all the way here, it was obvious that he didn’t have a safe home.

And in this hellish forest, a safe shelter was something extremely valuable.

So I asked why he was refusing.

Then he picked up a small branch lying beside the firewood.

Sshk— Sshk—

And began drawing on the ground.

I carefully watched the drawing.

He had exceptional intelligence.

And, apparently, artistic talent as well.

‘Between the sloth and this guy, is drawing a basic skill for the animals of the Forest of Four Seasons?’

I would swear he drew better than I did.

While I was thinking that, the drawing was completed.

It showed three raccoons.

At first glance, they looked like a family.

Did raccoons live in groups?

“Kiee!”

“Ah. Is that you?”

The raccoon pointed at the largest individual in the drawing.

If they were humans, he would be the head of the household.

In other words, the father.

The other two appeared to be his mate and his child.

‘Then there’s nothing I can do.’

For both animals and people, the head of the family was an important figure.

I nodded to show that I understood the situation.

I would have liked to give him some food as a friendly gesture.

But unfortunately, I wasn’t exactly well supplied either.

And the only thing I had was rather dry smoked meat.

It didn’t seem appropriate.

“Kieee. Kieee.”

“Huh? You want fire?”

“Kieeh.”

“If you want it, take it.”

Instead of food, he asked for fire.

And I agreed without any problem.

After all, I could start a fire whenever I wanted.

It couldn’t even be considered a valuable resource.

After receiving my permission, the raccoon respectfully lowered his head.

Then he brought the branch he had used for drawing close to the chimney.

Whoosh!

The tip of the branch immediately ignited.

To me, it was just a little twig.

But in his hands, it looked like a real torch.

Normally, it would have burned up quickly.

However, for some reason, it burned slowly like a candle.

The raccoon looked at the torch and smiled in satisfaction.

“!Kieee!”

“Yeah. Take care. Stay safe. And if you change your mind, come back here.”

And so, holding that torch, he set off on his journey.

It was a shame.

But we would probably meet again someday.

He might not look very strong.

But he was intelligent.

And someone like that always found a way to survive.

‘Unlike certain individuals, this one at least has manners.’

Some had stolen all my fasting pills and then tried to compensate me with a few bananas.

If possible, I would like to keep associating with him.

Though first I would have to figure out what exactly that fire inside the bottle was.

I watched him until he completely disappeared from sight.

Then I entered the gallery.

Title) I Found a Raccoon That Controls Fire.

WildGrills

(Photo of the raccoon bowing his head in greeting)

(Photo of the raccoon collecting fire from the chimney)

(Photo of the raccoon spitting fire from his mouth)

(Photo of the fire inside the bottle)

(Video of the raccoon walking away with a torch in one hand)

I went out for a while, and when I came back I found this raccoon inside my house.

It’s the same one that came before.

Apparently, he fell through the chimney.

So I tried to figure out what abilities he had, and it turns out he controls fire incredibly well ;;

Does some kind of raccoon with fire-related abilities exist?

If anyone knows something, tell me.

Oh, and I wanted to recruit him as a companion, but he said he was the head of a family and turned me down.

What a shame.

└ HeavenlyDemon: He is quite a peculiar creature. He even performs things that would be difficult through Taoist arts.

└ Swordmaster: This is the first time I’ve seen a raccoon like this. He looks like a dragon or something similar. He spits fire from his mouth ;;

└ WildGrills: He swallowed fire and then expelled it from his mouth. Could a mage do something like that too?

└ Swordmaster: Well… I don’t know.

└ StarlightPrincess: If someone did that, they would completely burn their mouth and tongue.

└ WildGrills: Even swallowing the fire?

└ StarlightPrincess: We’re not talking about a circus performance. There is absolutely no reason to swallow fire ;;

└ The strange thing is swallowing the fire in the first place, man ;;

└ Aren’t there monsters that eat fire?

└ Yes, but raccoons aren’t one of those hahaha.

└ AllFather: How curious. If it were water, I would understand, but a raccoon related to fire…

└ WildGrills: Do raccoons shoot water from their mouths?

└ AllFather: Not exactly. But they have the habit of washing their food with water. Perhaps this one does the opposite and cooks its food with fire before eating it.

└ WildGrills: Oh ;;

└ AllFather: But what exactly is that fire inside the bottle? It has piqued my interest.

└ WildGrills: It’s hard to believe, but the raccoon gathered the fire and put it inside the bottle. He did it exactly as if he were scooping up water with his hands.

└ AllFather: Hmm. I would like to investigate it personally, but I’m afraid I don’t have the time right now. Would you mind waiting two days?

└ WildGrills: Of course. It’s not urgent.

└ AllFather: Thank you.

└ Don’t tell me that’s an essence too.

└ You never know. Maybe it’s nothing special hahaha.

└ By the way, do raccoons live in groups?

└ As far as I understand, it depends on the individual.

Everyone seemed fascinated by the raccoon.

More than anything, nobody seemed to find the part about him eating fire easy to believe.

Well, considering this was the Forest of Four Seasons, it was probably better to just accept it without thinking too much about it.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’ll show up very often anyway.’

He was a raccoon I hadn’t seen all this time and had only appeared when winter arrived.

During the other seasons, he probably stayed within or near his territory.

But when winter came, food in the surrounding area must have become scarce, forcing him to venture farther away.

Could such a small creature really continue surviving in this forest?

I couldn’t help but worry a little.

‘He has a special ability. I’m sure he’ll manage somehow.’

He might even be better adapted to the Forest of Four Seasons than I was.

In any case, the raccoon had already left, so I counted the remaining Ice Flowers.

I still had about two left.

They seemed like they might be useful for something later.

And besides, if I kept searching the surrounding area, I would probably find more.

‘Should I postpone the cold resistance thing?’

If I tried mixing and consuming them without StarlightPrincess’s help, something serious could happen.

But at the same time, leaving them there unused also felt like a waste.

‘I could mix them with a Mandrake and give them to SunForEver…’

I checked how much Elixir I had left.

After all the experiments with the Mandrakes, I still had about three and a half bottles remaining.

That was just the bare minimum.

After all, Wonmo, the sloth, and I could all end up injured at the same time.

‘Actually, it would fit perfectly with that.’

The fire the raccoon had stored inside the bottle.

What if I mixed it with an Ice Flower?

But it was still nothing more than a guess.

I needed an expert’s opinion.

The problem was that even AllFather was busy right now.

‘I’ll have another opportunity later.’

I still had time.

There was no need to rush.

Besides, right now I needed to focus on training my control over the cold.

And that wasn’t even counting the fact that, once winter ended, the amount of work would increase exponentially.

‘The bricks, cement, and sand will go here…’

I began preparing everything for when warm weather returned.

As soon as winter ended, I planned to rebuild the furnace and the blast furnace.

And I hadn’t forgotten about the emergency exit either.

There was an enormous amount of work ahead.

‘How should I build it so another avalanche won’t carry it away?’

Avalanches would probably occur once every month.

And they weren’t even the only problem.

I had no idea what other natural disasters might happen.

I would need to survive at least fifteen more days before I could begin understanding the absurd rules of this forest.

‘I need to build something truly durable. What if I put up a small building?’

Now I had bricks and cement.

I could build a structure dedicated exclusively to the furnace and blast furnace.

It would take time.

But it would be far more durable.

Of course, if some completely illogical monster like the gorilla chief showed up, that would be a different story.

But there wasn’t much I could do about that.

As long as it could withstand natural disasters, that would be enough.

‘I need to make good use of the space, build a drainage system… What a headache.’

Maybe things would be different if I had gone to college.

But unfortunately, I only had a high school education.

Back then, I barely had enough money to survive from day to day.

At least I found some comfort in having learned a few things during military service.

I bought a large sheet of paper and drew the cave and its surroundings.

‘I suppose a rectangular structure would be the most practical.’

But for that, I would need to cut down many more trees.

As for the path the gorilla chief had opened, I planned to improve it later.

And so, while spending the entire day designing and planning, night eventually arrived.

When darkness fell, it began to snow.

However, it wasn’t a snowstorm.

Just a normal snowfall.

‘This must also mean the weather will improve soon.’

According to the journal left behind by my great senior, winter would end in two or three days.

Until then, I had to make the most of every moment.

With luck, I might even be able to go hunting.

I added more firewood to the fire and sat beside the sloth.

It seemed that, except when eating, he always remained in front of the fireplace.

‘It has its advantages, but I still hate winter.’

The most annoying thing was that the sun set very early and rose very late.

The fact that the other animals reduced their activity was an advantage.

But it affected me as well.

While watching the flames in the fireplace, I suddenly remembered something and stood up.

‘This isn’t the time to sit around. More snow could pile up during the night.’

So I went around spreading salt nearby.

I didn’t have calcium chloride, so I had no choice but to use ordinary salt.

Besides, the emergency exit was still only a project.

It was better to take precautions now.

After that, I finished all the preparations for the day.

The nights were long, and there wasn’t much else to do.

‘At least the gallery’s topics of conversation have changed.’

Thanks to the recent sporting events, almost all discussion related to Eldorado had disappeared.

In other words, it was about to be forgotten.

Maybe that didn’t matter much to me.

But for the people outside, it was probably not good news.

‘That’s their problem.’

I only had to wait for winter to end.

So I posted a farewell message in the gallery and let the time pass peacefully.

“Hey. Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“……”

“Well. Forget it.”

The sloth would continue staring at the fire in his own way.

Hoping that a snowstorm wouldn’t appear during the night, I closed my eyes.

I had no idea what awaited me in the future.

But one thing was certain.

It would be difficult.

It certainly wouldn’t be easy.

‘Maybe I should’ve forced the raccoon to stay.’

With that thought in mind, the next morning arrived.

“Kiee!”

“Huh…”

The moment I woke up, I found the raccoon waiting for me outside the cave.

And he hadn’t come alone.

He had brought his entire family.

A raccoon that appeared to be his mate.

And behind her, a small cub hiding shyly.

The entire family clearly gave off the impression of.

‘We just moved in here.’

“Kieee”

“……And what’s this?”

The raccoon father held something out to me.

At first glance, it looked like a balloon flower root or perhaps wild ginseng.

But the color was extraordinary.

It was completely white, as white as snow.

It seemed to be loudly proclaiming to the world.

‘I’m a spiritual herb.’

“Kiee! Kiee!”

Still stunned, I accepted the medicinal herb.

Then the raccoon bowed deeply at the waist.

His mate and cub did the same.

Especially the little cub, who greeted me shyly in an incredibly adorable way.

’…Did they come to hand out housewarming gifts?’

It seemed that, all of a sudden, I had gained some new neighbors.