Got a Gallery in the Wild

The Holy Knight riding a giraffe.

Just hearing that name was an incredibly strange combination.

It was like coming across a zebra in the middle of a city.

Whatever the case, the important thing was that I’d finally found another person.

And that person was on the verge of starving to death.

‘I-I have to make some porridge or something! No matter what, I have to feed him!’

If someone who hadn’t eaten for several days suddenly ate a large amount of food, it could put tremendous strain on their stomach.

In other words, it would make them sick.

That’s why I had to give him something easy to digest, like porridge.

But where was I supposed to get porridge all of a sudden?

He looked so miserable that he seemed about to die.

After hesitating for a few moments, I ran toward the cave.

Maybe the honey I’d collected yesterday could serve as a substitute.

And even if it wasn’t enough, at least it would buy me some time.

Meanwhile, I could prepare some fish porridge.

Drip.

I poured a little honey into the Holy Knight’s mouth, his eyes barely remaining open.

As he tasted that sweetness for the first time in a long while, his lips slowly began to move.

It was honey capable of making skin smooth in just a single day.

Surely it would have some kind of effect.

‘After that…’

Now it was time to prepare the fish porridge.

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult.

After my parents passed away, I got seriously sick once and had to make porridge for myself.

Now I didn’t have rice, but fish instead, though there shouldn’t be much difference.

“Whine…”

While I was at it, I’d have to make some porridge for the giraffe too.

The moment the Holy Knight collapsed, the giraffe also lay down while letting out a worried whine.

Even so, it seemed to be in better condition than he was.

At least it still had enough strength to keep its head raised.

Bubble.

While the porridge cooked, I constantly checked on the Holy Knight’s condition.

This man was probably Ludwig.

After all, he’d arrived riding a giraffe.

‘He’s in terrible condition.’

I didn’t know how many days he’d gone without eating, but his cheeks were completely sunken.

On top of that, his armor was in ruins.

Just looking at it, I could imagine everything he’d gone through.

According to the Head Moderator, he was an extremely powerful man.

And yet he’d barely managed to survive.

It made me realize once again just how ruthless and dangerous the Four Seasons Forest truly was.

Shhhhhh.

What finally convinced me that he really was Ludwig was the sword.

When I infused it with mana, that green-colored galaxy appeared.

It was, without a doubt, the sword I’d given him.

And apparently, he’d made heavy use of it.

‘This isn’t the time to think about that.’

If his armor was in such terrible condition, what did the rest of his body look like?

I went into the cave and took out an elixir.

I had to treat his injuries.

After a great deal of effort, I managed to remove that heavy armor.

At first, I struggled to figure out how to take it apart, but somehow I managed to remove it completely.

“Ugh…!”

And the moment I did.

An unbearable stench hit me head-on.

He clearly hadn’t bathed for several days.

A strong sour odor, similar to vinegar, clung to his entire body.

Once he got better, I’d have to bathe him.

Of course, once he was out of danger.

‘Thanks to the armor, the injuries on his body don’t seem that serious. Thank goodness.’

Perhaps thanks to the thick armor, there weren’t any major visible wounds at first glance.

Even so, just to be safe, I poured a little elixir into his mouth.

It seemed he still retained a little consciousness, because he swallowed the liquid without any trouble.

I administered about half of it orally.

The other half would be better applied directly to the wounds.

With that in mind, I removed not only the breastplate but also the armored leggings and boots.

And that was when.

“……”

Up until the leggings, there was nothing out of the ordinary apart from the intense sour smell.

But when I reached his feet.

The stench stopped mattering entirely.

He was still wearing the left boot.

The right one, however, was already gone.

‘What the hell is this…?’

Across his entire right foot, where the boot was missing, maggots writhed nonstop.

And then there was the skin.

It had all turned black, as though it had completely died.

‘There are burn marks too…’

It looked like they’d cauterized the wound with fire as first aid.

But even that hadn’t prevented the maggots from infesting it.

They’d probably only used the fire to disinfect it.

If Ludwig was still alive, it was thanks to that improvised first aid.

I stood frozen for a few seconds before pouring on the rest of the elixir.

Maybe the elixir could heal him.

Ssssss…!

The moment the elixir touched the wound, the maggots began writhing before dying.

The elixir also had antiparasitic properties.

And apparently, that included maggots.

Now that they were gone, all that remained was the healing.

‘Why… is it still the same?’

However, the foot showed no signs of recovery whatsoever.

It remained completely black.

As I watched it, I remembered something StarlightPrincess had told me.

The elixir was an extraordinary remedy.

But it wasn’t omnipotent.

There were exactly two things that not even an elixir could cure.

The first was disease.

It could alleviate the symptoms caused by an infection, but it couldn’t eliminate the disease itself.

The second was restoring life to a being or tissue that had already died.

The elixir merely accelerated regeneration to its absolute limit.

It couldn’t bring back something that was already dead.

‘When she said it couldn’t even cure baldness, I just thought it was funny…’

But seeing a situation like this with my own eyes was completely different.

The necrotic tissue couldn’t be restored.

It was practically a piece of dead flesh attached to the body.

It was a situation where amputation even had to be considered.

But I wasn’t an expert.

Bubble.

‘…For now, I’d better feed him the porridge first.’

While I was wondering what to do, the porridge finished cooking.

Whatever the case, I’d already done all the emergency treatment that was within my power.

Right now, the priority was helping him recover his strength.

“You eat too.”

“……Lick.”

I also gave the giraffe some fish porridge.

It must have been starving, because it first licked it cautiously before calmly beginning to eat.

Then I slowly fed Ludwig.

Thanks to the elixir, he seemed to have regained some strength, as even his eyes began moving from side to side.

“#%$#”

“Stop talking and eat.”

I couldn’t understand a single word he was saying, so I just kept feeding him.

Ludwig also seemed to understand his condition and obediently accepted every spoonful.

That’s how he finished an entire bowl of fish porridge.

Deep down, I wanted to take him straight into the cave, but I held back.

Given the condition of his foot, I might have to amputate it right here.

“Grrr…”

“……”

The nerve of him.

Now he was even sleeping peacefully.

I let out an incredulous laugh for a moment, but then I thought about everything he must have gone through.

I have to say, I’ve been incredibly lucky.

Unbelievably lucky.

Among life’s basic necessities, I’d already secured shelter thanks to the cave, and on top of that, I could use the Gallery.

Meanwhile, Ludwig had been forced to survive in this hellish place using nothing but what he carried with him.

And on top of that, he’d appeared in the grassland.

Unlike this place, food wasn’t plentiful there.

To get food, hunting was essential.

Even finding water must have been difficult.

‘Because wherever there was water, there would also be other beasts.’

I didn’t know how he’d managed to tame the giraffe, but that animal wasn’t ordinary either.

While watching Ludwig sleep to recover his strength, I opened the Gallery.

I had to share this good news with everyone.

Title) The Holy Knight Riding a Giraffe

WildGrills

(Photo of Ludwig sleeping on the ground)

(Photo of the giraffe sleeping after eating)

I found the Holy Knight riding a giraffe.

He’s in terrible shape.

For now, I’ve done everything I could for him, but his foot is in pretty bad condition, so I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

Finding another person is definitely good news, but I don’t know whether I should be happy about it.

I just hope I don’t end up having to bury a corpse.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) You’ve finally found him. I’m glad you won’t have to be alone anymore.

ㄴWildGrills) I hope so too. I just hope he’s a good person.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) He is. Even just looking at the photo, you can tell he’s an honorable man.

ㄴWildGrills) He just looks like a homeless guy to me. And he smells awful.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) I can’t deny that.

ㄴLOL. She can’t even argue with you.

ㄴHe really does look like a beggar. Hahaha.

ㄴWhat’s that animal? Why is its neck so long?

ㄴWhat kind of creature is that? ;;

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) M-My God!! Is that really Sir Ludwig?! Isn’t he an impostor?!

ㄴWildGrills) I don’t know either. But he’s still carrying the sword I gave him, so there’s a very high chance it’s really him.

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) Thank you so much! I’d like to repay you right now, but I don’t have the means. Even if it takes time, I’ll return the favor one way or another.

ㄴWildGrills) There’s no need to repay me. By the way, the condition of his foot is very serious. It might have to be amputated.

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) W-What?! What are you talking about?!

ㄴWildGrills) (Photo of the completely blackened foot.) As you can see, it’s like this. Earlier it was even full of maggots, but I got rid of them all with the elixir.

ㄴHeroDontThrowAway) Ah… The condition is… quite… serious…

ㄴIf even the Head Moderator stopped using exclamation marks, just how bad is it?

ㄴThat’s not a foot anymore, it’s a chunk of meat. It needs to be amputated immediately.

ㄴWhat if he just leaves it like that?

ㄴIf the necrosis keeps spreading, he’ll end up with septicemia. Cut it off as soon as possible.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Hey. I’ll give you a bottle of liquor. Make him drink it. That way it’ll hurt less when you cut off his foot.

ㄴWildGrills) Do I really have to amputate it?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) If you leave it like that, he’s really going to die. Stop arguing and accept it.

ㄴWildGrills) Alright… Understood. ;;

Even the dwarf handed over a bottle of liquor without a second thought.

Alcohol dulled the senses.

He wanted me to use it as a kind of anesthetic.

In fact, it was a method many survivors resorted to in extreme situations.

No matter how tough someone was, no one could consciously endure the pain of having a body part amputated.

“Uuugh…”

Just as I received the liquor from the dwarf and was still thinking about what to do.

Barely thirty minutes had passed when Ludwig regained consciousness.

Perhaps the combination of honey and elixir had worked, because in such a short time he seemed to have recovered quite a bit of strength.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“……”

Ludwig slowly opened his eyes halfway and looked at me.

He looked miserable, but the intelligence shining in his eyes remained intact.

“#$%!@?”

As expected, I couldn’t understand a thing.

I pointed to my ears and shook my head.

Ludwig immediately understood and gave a slight nod.

‘Should I ask the Head Moderator to interpret?’

Among all the users I was close to, the only one from Eldorado was the Head Moderator.

But unlike HeavenlyDemon, he was extremely busy.

Besides, people were still after him.

In the end, we had no choice but to communicate through gestures.

And if that didn’t work, I could always upload a video to the Gallery and ask for help.

“……”

As an awkward silence settled between us, Ludwig lowered his gaze to his right foot.

That completely blackened foot.

The moment he saw it, he frowned.

He seemed to think for a few seconds before looking back at me.

“#%#%”

I still couldn’t understand a word.

But this time, he started using gestures.

First, he pretended to drink something.

Then he began swaying his head as though he were dizzy.

Since we’d just been talking about it, I immediately understood what he wanted.

“Here.”

I handed him the bottle of liquor DwarfPassingBy had given me.

Ludwig took it, easily removed the cork, and smelled its contents.

After confirming it was alcohol, he lowered his gaze to his foot with a grim expression.

“$%@$%?”

Then he started gesturing for me to help him.

He even mimed cutting something off in a single stroke with his hand.

I blinked several times before pointing at myself.

“You want me to cut it off?”

“%#%!@#?”

Ludwig answered with an expression that clearly said,

If not you, then who else would do it?

As absurd as it sounded.

He was right.

If he tried to do it himself, he could end up making a bad cut.

And above all, he was still far too weak.

He could hardly perform a clean amputation in a single stroke.

“Are you sure?”

“#%#^”

Even so, I still felt extremely uncomfortable.

He wasn’t a beast.

He was a flesh-and-blood human being.

Driven by instinctive reluctance, I asked him several times, but Ludwig never changed his mind.

In the end.

I had no choice but to perform the amputation myself.

Doing it directly on the ground wasn’t exactly hygienic, so I prepared everything as carefully as possible.

‘I seriously never imagined I’d end up doing something like this…’

And what would my surgical instrument be?

HeavenlyDemon’s sword.

The very same sword that had cleanly sliced through Mad Dog’s flesh and bones.

With it, cutting off that necrotic foot shouldn’t be difficult.

“Huff… Damn.”

The curse words slipped out on their own.

When I finished all the preparations, I looked at Ludwig.

He was ready as well.

He’d drunk every last drop of the liquor DwarfPassingBy had given him.

For a moment, I even thought he was going to die of alcohol poisoning before the operation.

“Then… shall I begin?”

At my question, Ludwig slowly nodded.

I hesitated for a few moments.

Then I placed HeavenlyDemon’s sword against the point where the amputation had to be made.

And then.

Slash!

I tightened my grip and began the operation.