Got a Gallery in the Wild

The fact that Ludwig had obtained a mithril prosthetic was good news.

But what he needed most at that moment was rest.

And why?

Because the moment he unleashed that impressive kick with his new mithril prosthetic, he collapsed on the spot.

I didn’t know whether it was due to sudden exhaustion or simply because he’d reached his limit.

In any case, I carried him back into the cave and carefully laid him down.

“%$#%^”

“Quiet. Before I break that leg.”

I assumed he was trying to apologize for causing me so much trouble.

I gave him a little honey to help him recover his strength.

I would’ve liked to give him some fasting pills, but his stomach still hadn’t fully recovered.

First, he’d have to stabilize with fish porridge, and then I could give him the pills.

The Sloth would probably glare daggers at me, but if I explained the situation properly, he’d most likely understand.

Title) Ludwig Got a New Foot

WildGrills

(Photo of Ludwig with a mithril foot)

But it turns out it’s a mithril foot.

He was suddenly dragged all by himself toward the mithril vein and ended up getting a new foot.

He’s still limping, but it seems to work pretty well.

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) What an elegant prosthetic. Did you carve it yourself, my dear?

ㄴ WildGrills) No. At first, it was a huge chunk of mithril stuck to him. I kept breaking it apart with the pickaxe, and it ended up like this.

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) Fascinating. One thinks they’ve seen everything this world has to offer, yet something completely unexpected always appears.

ㄴ WildGrills) I’m surprised too. What the hell is this thing?

ㄴ Swordmaster) Normally, it’s very difficult to fit a prosthetic immediately after an amputation. Didn’t he show any signs of pain?

ㄴ WildGrills) No. In fact, he kicked with it and then passed out.

ㄴ Swordmaster) That doesn’t sound very normal either…

ㄴ DwarfPassingBy) What? Is that really a mithril prosthetic?

ㄴ WildGrills) Yeah. You’d never seen one either? Neither had I.

ㄴ DwarfPassingBy) Mithril is already absurdly rare on its own, and that thing is made from a single piece! That guy should never leave for the outside world.

ㄴ WildGrills) Why?

ㄴ DwarfPassingBy) Because someone might cut off his leg just to steal it.

ㄴ WildGrills) Is there really someone crazy enough to do that?

ㄴ SunForEver) Does someone like that exist? One of our people once embedded a diamond into his forehead. Then he walked through a poor neighborhood, and someone ripped it out by force. LOL.

ㄴ Yeah, I know that story. LOL.

ㄴ It was legendary. But why did that Dark Elf go to a poor neighborhood in the first place?

ㄴ I think he was doing humanitarian work. Besides the diamond, he was carrying a huge amount of money too.

ㄴ WildGrills) The world is full of lunatics…

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Ah! He already has a new foot! What a relief! It’ll take time to get used to it, but I’m sure he’ll be fine!

ㄴ WildGrills) We’ll see about that. He’s still limping.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Even so, he’ll still be stronger than you, Mr. Grills!

ㄴ WildGrills) Me? Weaker than someone who can’t use mana and is missing a foot?

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Yes! You’ll see for yourself if you ever fight him someday!

ㄴ WildGrills) First I’ll let him recover completely.

ㄴ Wasn’t Ludwig pretty strong?

ㄴ Yeah. He’s not on Ash’s or the Hero’s level, but he’s still incredibly strong.

ㄴ Honestly, I think even if you cut off one of his arms, he’d still be able to beat Grills. LOL.

ㄴ AllFather) I was busy with something urgent and could only watch, but this is beyond my limits. What the hell happened?

ㄴ WildGrills) No idea. Do you have any theories?

ㄴ AllFather) Hmm. You previously said that mithril vein was a lifeform, didn’t you? Perhaps it was attracted by the mana leaking from the amputated area.

ㄴ WildGrills) You mean it literally stuck to him like a magnet?

ㄴ AllFather) It’s only a hypothesis. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it as well.

ㄴ Just accept it and move on. Trying to understand this forest is a waste of time.

ㄴ If there’s already a talking gorilla, what’s so strange about this? LOL.

ㄴ You’ve been in the Forest of the Four Seasons for a month already, and you still haven’t gotten used to it.

ㄴ Has it really only been a month? I could’ve sworn it had already been six.

ㄴ That’s because so much has happened that it feels that way. LOL.

ㄴ One-month summary the truth about the Immortal King, the massive protests in Eldorado, the Messiah Empire’s succession ceremony, the resurgence of the Blood Cult, and the appearance of HeavenlyDemon. What else?

ㄴ DemonPrincess) Chayu has won four matches in a row!

ㄴ LOL. Do we have to include that too?

ㄴ It’s so unbelievable that it’s funny. LOL.

ㄴ Hey. I’ll cut off one of my legs too, so give me one of those.

ㄴ Then you’ll just end up disabled.

ㄴ But it’d look awesome. LOL.

As soon as I uploaded it to the Gallery, everyone erupted into an uproar.

Some even said they wanted one for themselves, but I completely ignored them.

What caught my attention the most was the Head Moderator’s provocation—or rather, his near-provocation.

He claimed that, no matter how weakened Ludwig was, someone like me still wouldn’t even be a match for him.

No matter how much I thought about it, that sounded exaggerated.

Although, when I thought about it carefully.

‘That man practically survived empty-handed, didn’t he?’

Yes, he had the Mithrilcon sword, but aside from that, he had nothing else.

Beyond mana, his physical strength must have been extraordinary.

“Zzzz…”

“……”

Even though he was sleeping peacefully now.

After unleashing that burst of mana a moment ago, he had even started snoring.

I wanted to wake him up, but he was sleeping so deeply that I decided to let him rest.

‘In any case, he’ll have to stay at the shelter for a while.’

Humans possess far greater endurance than most animals.

Moreover, their bodies are especially adapted for survival.

There’s a reason they’re known as the most adaptable species.

But precisely because all that capability is focused on survival, it’s as if they sacrifice other functions to achieve it.

In other words, it would take Ludwig quite a while to recover all his strength.

And he’d also need time to get used to the prosthetic.

At the very least, a week.

‘We’ll also have to see whether this food agrees with him.’

I could eat it without any problems because I was already used to it.

But even the fish in this place were anything but ordinary.

Not only did they constantly produce internal cores, but their meat also overflowed with energy.

The first time I ate them, I ended up writhing in pain for quite a while.

Of course, Ludwig had a well-trained body, so he’d probably endure it.

But you never knew.

‘Now that I think about it, what happened to the giraffe?’

The giraffe Ludwig had brought with him.

The last time I saw her, she was sleeping soundly.

She must have suffered a great deal while accompanying him too.

I wondered what she was doing now.

‘Will I have to build her another house?’

I’d already seen her in photos and videos, but seeing her in person was a completely different story.

Even lying on the ground, her body was much larger than mine.

And then there was that neck.

It was so long that it still looked completely unreal to me.

‘Even the way she sleeps is incredibly strange.’

She slept with her neck coiled up like a giant snake.

The problem was.

Where was she supposed to sleep?

If I left her outside, she’d be an easy target for any predator.

Besides, Ludwig seemed to care about her a great deal.

The least I could do was protect her.

‘I’ll have to build a house for both Lackey and her.’

It looked like it was time to undertake a pretty major construction project.

I looked around.

I needed a suitable area to build a place where both Lackey and the giraffe could live.

At first, I thought about using the path the chief gorilla had cleared.

But that was a thoroughfare.

‘In the end, I’ll have to cut down a few trees.’

If only for the giraffe’s sake, I’d need to build a fairly large structure.

I found an area surrounded by trees that could serve as supports and began designing the building.

It didn’t need to be very tall.

As long as there was enough space to sleep, that was more than enough.

During the day, they could go out and move around the forest freely.

‘Something like this…’

I started by carefully laying the bricks to form the foundation.

I was sure I’d make several mistakes before I finished.

It wasn’t the first time I’d built a kiln or a blast furnace.

But it was the first time I’d built an actual building.

So it would take time.

‘Now that I think about it, I’ll have to prepare it for winter too.’

Lackey had already experienced it.

But the giraffe would most likely be facing her first winter.

And as far as I knew, grasslands weren’t exactly famous for extreme cold.

‘That means I’ll also have to build her a fireplace. I’m basically building an entire house.’

I could let Lackey sleep inside the cave.

But the giraffe.

No chance.

Her neck was so long that it’d hit the ceiling.

No wonder they said she was an unfortunate animal because of her neck.

‘Out of all the animals that exist, it had to be a giraffe.’

But there wasn’t much else I could do.

After all, that giraffe seemed to have been a tremendous help to Ludwig’s survival.

And considering her strength, she might also be able to help me a great deal in the future.

“Kiee?”

It was then, while I was still laying bricks for the foundation.

I didn’t know whether he’d been drawn by the noise or was simply passing by.

But Dad Raccoon appeared.

He first looked at the giraffe sleeping with her neck coiled up, then turned to look at me.

His expression seemed to ask.

“And what’s this?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Say hello to her. From now on, she’ll be living here with us.”

“Kieee?”

“I don’t know either. For now, I just want to build her a house. By the way, did you bring me something?”

Dad Raccoon handed me what he was carrying between his paws.

At first glance, it looked like a completely ordinary yellow flower.

Something similar to a four-leaf clover.

I assumed it was some useful medicinal herb and gladly accepted it.

Then I took a fasting pill out of my pocket and gave it to him.

He grinned from ear to ear before running off.

He was probably taking it back to his baby.

I smiled in satisfaction and went back to work.

‘I’m only measuring the land, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.’

Normally, I’d apply cement between the bricks as I built.

But it was almost time to prepare dinner.

And now I had more than one mouth to feed.

I had two.

My role had become much more important.

‘He’d better make it up to me for all this.’

If he had even the slightest bit of conscience, he’d surely find a way to repay me.

After checking the site and finishing the basic design, I returned to the cave.

About an hour had passed.

During that time, Ludwig had slept like a log and was now awake.

I asked whether he’d rested well and, taking the opportunity, picked up my sword and shield.

“Sir. I heard you were an instructor for the Holy Knights. That’s what the Head Moderator and the others say.”

“#$%%^^?”

Yeah.

As expected, he didn’t understand a thing.

Though he seemed to have roughly grasped what I wanted.

I always practiced inside the cave.

So I’d do what I always did.

“Watch. I’ll show you how I train.”

“……”

Ludwig didn’t respond.

His expression seemed to say.

“Let’s see what you can do.”

As for martial skill, he was far above me.

Feeling rather nervous, I began showing him the routine I practiced every day.

‘I’ve trained consistently all this time. It should be fine, right?’

That was my naive thought.

***

Ludwig was the instructor who had trained countless Holy Knights.

And he also possessed an exceptional eye for talent.

After all, his greatest masterpiece had been the Hero himself.

So, upon seeing Grills’ “demonstration,” he immediately understood what he was trying to do.

He probably wanted to show him the martial arts he had practiced in order to receive some advice.

And not only that.

Ludwig was prepared to pass on the entire path he himself had walked.

After all, Grills hadn’t just saved his life.

He had also given him a new foot.

How could he not repay him?

‘Well…’

And Ludwig was genuinely impressed.

This was far from being a clumsy demonstration.

The basic movements were correct.

Very textbook.

But only up to that point.

‘How in the world has he managed to survive? Is it thanks to the shield?’

To Ludwig’s eyes.

It was an absolute mess.

Yes.

He was doing it correctly.

But at the same time.

He was strangely strong.

In martial arts, the important thing was to maintain balanced development in every aspect.

Only then could one respond properly to any situation.

But Grills was different.

His entire style was completely focused on offense and defense.

His footwork wasn’t bad either.

It was simply.

Simply strange.

Shhhhhh…

“What do you think?”

“……”

And to make matters worse, the size of that aura was something that could only be described as completely unnatural.

Ludwig no longer cared whether his technique was balanced or not.

He was utterly bewildered.

‘Could it be that living in the Forest of the Four Seasons causes people to evolve in absurd ways?’

Ludwig experienced a tremendous revelation.

And at the same time, he understood something else.

‘So this is where the three-eyed man was.’

At last, he understood how a two-eyed man would feel in a world full of three-eyed men.

At least the Heroine, Asella, was still a two-eyed woman.

She simply had ridiculously good eyesight.

But Grills was different.

He wasn’t just a three-eyed man.

It was as if he also had an extra arm and an extra leg.

‘…How the hell am I supposed to teach someone like this?’

For the first time in a long while.

Ludwig had absolutely no idea where to begin.