Got a Gallery in the Wild

Contrary to what Ludwig had said, the mimic was incredibly fast.

Not only did it have arms and legs, but it also ran on all fours. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

Even Ludwig let out a resigned laugh, as though he had never seen anything like it.

“Why?! Why is it only chasing me?!”

“Kuaaaaaah!!”

To make matters worse, it completely ignored the rest of the group and chased only me.

Was it because I had woken it up while it was sleeping?

Or because I was the only one with a large amount of mana?

Maybe it was both.

“Mister! Do something!”

At first, Ludwig had run away with me, but the moment the mimic decided to chase only me, he calmly stopped to rest.

At my desperate shout, he stared intently at the four-limbed mimic.

Then he picked up a piece of orichalcum from the ground.

And threw it.

Thunk!

The piece of orichalcum struck one of the mimic’s legs squarely.

It lost its balance and began to stagger.

It was my chance.

Slash!

While it stumbled, I turned around and swung my sword in a horizontal slash.

As I had already said, the mimic ran on all fours.

So that slash cleanly severed both of its arms, causing it to collapse onto the ground.

All that remained was to finish it off.

There was a chance that enormous tongue would try to catch me, so I decided to finish it using aura.

Thrust!

I drove my aura-coated sword through the small opening in the chest.

Startled, the mimic suddenly shot out its tongue.

It seemed that, despite its terrifying appearance, this would end easily.

“…Glup.”

“Huh?”

“Glup. Glup.”

That bastard.

It was swallowing my aura as if it were nothing!

It wasn’t absorbing it like a Guardian or a sponge, but it was still devouring it.

It was quite a bewildering situation.

Fortunately, I had already experienced something similar before.

So I didn’t hesitate for a single moment to use ice.

Crack! Crack!

The inside of the mimic began to freeze.

The speed at which it devoured the aura gradually slowed down.

Eventually, its entire body froze solid and stopped moving.

“Huff…”

I had been worried that even ice wouldn’t work, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.

Realizing everything was over, the rest of the group began to approach.

Everyone seemed fascinated by the mimic with arms and legs and started inspecting it from different angles.

Clack!

“Kyuak!”

“Peep!”

Even though it was frozen to its core, the mimic shook violently.

Apparently, it was still alive.

We would have to make sure to finish it off once and for all.

Besides, we still had to find out why it was glowing.

To do that, we would have to stab directly into its interior with a real sword, not aura.

“Tyran. Can you use your breath?”

“Peep!”

“Mister, you know what to do once the ice melts, right?”

Ludwig answered simply by gripping his Mithrilcon Sword.

With that, everything was ready.

I asked Lackey to hold the mimic’s mouth tightly shut.

Just in case it regained its mobility the moment the ice melted.

“Tyran. Now!”

“Peep!”

Fwoosh!

A small dragon’s breath shot from Tyran’s mouth.

Every now and then, while playing with Wonmo, I had already seen little flames come out of his mouth.

That was when I realized that, even as a hatchling, he was still a dragon.

It was only natural that he could use his breath from such a young age.

Ssssss.

As the ice melted, the mimic began twisting more and more violently.

Fortunately, Lackey was holding it down with all his strength.

Otherwise, it would have started thrashing wildly.

“Now!”

Once the inside had thawed enough, Ludwig and I thrust our swords in at the same time.

We didn’t just stab it.

We completely churned up its insides.

“Cuaaagh…”

Only then did the mimic finally stop moving altogether.

Its enormous tongue hung limply.

It was obvious that it had died.

Its unexpected appearance had cost us some time, but defeating it hadn’t been especially difficult.

“So what do we do now?”

“#%?”

“Isn’t it supposed to spit it out on its own?”

As I made a gesture of pulling something out of a mouth, I asked Ludwig.

I meant whether, when a mimic died, it automatically spat out everything it had swallowed.

Apparently, he understood exactly what I meant and patiently explained it to me.

“#%#$%.”

Unlike me, he made a gesture of putting his hand into a mouth.

It had to be taken out manually.

With no other choice, I looked back at the mimic.

Its tongue hung limply, covered in a thick layer of slime.

And if the outside was like that, the inside was surely even worse.

Just imagining it disgusted me.

I looked at Ludwig again.

“…Rock, paper, scissors?”

I asked while discreetly raising my fist.

I didn’t know whether that game existed in this world.

Had Ludwig understood what I was trying to do?

He stared at me before pointing at his eyes.

He didn’t have any detection ability.

I did.

Besides, I had been the one who insisted on coming here.

So I had to take responsibility.

“……”

I was left speechless.

In the end, I had no choice but to do it myself.

Frowning as much as I could, I shoved my hand into the mimic’s mouth.

A slimy, disgusting sensation covered my entire hand.

Not to mention that slippery tongue.

‘Please… let it be something good…’

If some strange piece of junk came out, I’d smash it to pieces on the spot.

Praying desperately that the reward would be worth the suffering, I kept searching.

And then.

My fingers touched something.

The moment I felt the object, I pulled it out without wasting a second.

“Hop!”

“……”

The instant I yanked it out, a shower of mimic slime splashed directly onto Ludwig’s face.

Let me make one thing clear—it wasn’t intentional.

It just happened.

After apologizing, I looked at the object I had found.

“…What’s this? A statue?”

Inside the mimic was a statue.

And it had been sculpted with an astonishing level of detail.

Although it was completely covered in slime, its features could still be clearly distinguished.

It was a rather absurd situation.

Gleam! Gleam!

And to top it all off.

The statue was glowing.

It wasn’t my imagination.

The question was.

What was so special about such a small statue that it contained such an immense amount of mana?

‘I’d better clean it first.’

Fortunately, we still had some water left.

First, I washed all the slime off it.

After rinsing it with water, I was finally able to see it clearly.

The first thing that caught my attention was its thick armor.

Just by looking at it, it was obvious that it depicted a knight.

It also had wings on its back and proudly carried a massive shield.

It wore a helmet that completely concealed its face, yet even that had been carved with extraordinary detail.

Both the wings and the shield had an extraordinary air about them.

“…Cain?”

As I examined the statue from different angles, Ludwig murmured that name.

When I looked at him, I saw that his eyes were wide open.

He seemed to recognize exactly who it was.

“Who did you say?”

“Cain.”

“Cain?”

When I asked again, he nodded.

Everything indicated that the figure represented by the statue was Cain.

Naturally, I had no idea who that was.

I’d have to ask in the Gallery.

‘Even so, why is this statue glowing so much?’

The same thing had happened with what had been hidden inside the Orichalcum Cave.

And now with the object inside the mimic as well.

No matter how you looked at it, that statue was anything but ordinary.

It would be best to take it with me.

I stored it in my Spatial Storage Backpack and started walking.

There was nothing left to do in that cave.

All that remained was to return to the shelter.

I didn’t even bother taking the mimic’s corpse.

If I wanted a chest, I could always buy one from the Gallery.

And I had already gotten everything I could out of it.

When we finally emerged from the cave.

We were greeted by a rather unusual sight.

“Cluck!”

“Peep! Peep!”

“……”

There was a chicken.

The same chicken we had encountered before.

Behind him, an enormous number of chicks were peeping together in a tightly packed group.

That alone was strange enough.

But what happened next was even more unbelievable.

“Cluck! Cluck!”

“Gruuung.”

“Cluck! Cluck-cluck!”

The enormous black chicken walked in circles around Largo.

As if he were courting her.

Meanwhile, Largo remained completely expressionless.

I couldn’t help but stare in astonishment.

‘Judging by the comb, it looks like a male… Don’t tell me Largo was female?’

And to make matters worse, they weren’t even the same species.

Did he simply not care as long as he liked her?

He had absolutely no prejudice.

I was left speechless.

“…Mister.”

“Mm.”

“Let’s go. Quickly.”

We fled without wasting any time.

Fortunately, Largo obeyed us far more than that chicken.

And so we left the Orichalcum Cave behind.

— Cock-a-doodle-doo!!

The rooster’s melancholy crow echoed throughout the forest.

**

After returning to the shelter, the first thing I did was carefully examine the statue.

In terms of size, it was similar to a scale model or a collectible figure.

It had been carved so precisely that it looked as though it could come to life at any moment.

Moreover, it had remained inside the mimic’s stomach for a very long time.

And even so, it didn’t have the slightest trace of damage. It undoubtedly concealed something.

‘It’s certain that it contains an enormous amount of mana, but…’

After thinking about it for a moment, I took a picture of the statue and uploaded it to the Gallery.

According to Ludwig, it was called Cain, so surely someone would know who he was.

Title) Does anyone know who Cain is?

WildGrills

(Photo of Cain’s statue)

I defeated a mimic monster and found this. According to Ludwig, it’s called Cain.

Does anyone know who he is?

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) What a strange statue. It looks like it could start moving at any moment.

ㄴ Swordmaster) A mimic? There are mimics in the Four Seasons Forest too?

ㄴ WildGrills) It was in the Orichalcum Cave. But do mimics have arms and legs? It was even crawling around.

ㄴ Swordmaster) I’ve never heard of such a horrifying mimic. ;;

ㄴ Since when do mimics have arms and legs? Is that even possible?

ㄴ Could it be an adult mimic or something?

ㄴ No. If it were an adult mimic, it would live somewhere much bigger than an ordinary chest.

ㄴ Like where?

ㄴ There have been cases where an entire cave turned out to be a mimic. They’re extremely rare, but they do exist.

ㄴ Then I won’t even be able to enter caves without worrying anymore. LOL.

ㄴ What if the house Grills lives in is also a mimic?

ㄴ WildGrills) Don’t say such unsettling things. ;;

ㄴ StarlightPrincess) If we’re talking about Cain, wasn’t he the first Holy Knight? That’s what I know.

ㄴ WildGrills) The first Holy Knight?

ㄴ StarlightPrincess) Yes. He was the shield of Goddess Aris. A figure who transcended legend and reached the realm of myth.

ㄴ WildGrills) Then there must be a lot of statues of him, right?

ㄴ StarlightPrincess) Yes. In fact, there should be a statue of Cain in the capital of Eldorado.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) I read that too! The title of Guardian was first held by Sir Cain! And more recently, by Sir Ludwig!

ㄴ But Ludwig is in the Four Seasons Forest now, isn’t he?

ㄴ Then who’s the current Guardian?

ㄴ No one. That’s why Eldorado is such a mess.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Someday, a new Guardian will appear!

So, in short, he was the first Holy Knight and also the first Guardian?

Ludwig had also held the title of Guardian of Eldorado in the past, so that alone was enough to understand the prestige that came with it.

‘So this man really was someone extraordinary.’

He shared the same title as a figure who had transcended legend and entered the realm of myth.

Come to think of it, if he hadn’t been someone of that caliber, a single revelation from him would never have thrown all of Eldorado into chaos.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) If it’s not useful to you, could you give it to me?!

ㄴ WildGrills) First I have to investigate it. It could be a dangerous object.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Dangerous!? It’s a statue carved in honor of Sir Cain! It would never harm anyone!

ㄴ WildGrills) But it’s already strange enough that something like this exists in the Four Seasons Forest. ;;

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Ah! That’s true too! Then would you give it to me once you’ve confirmed it’s safe?

ㄴ WildGrills) No. I plan to sell it.

ㄴ HeroDontThrowAway) Don’t do that!!!

ㄴ A statue like that would sell for a fortune. LOL.

ㄴ I’m sure collectors would fight over it.

ㄴ But who could have made that statue? Now I’m curious.

ㄴ And the fact that it was hidden inside the Orichalcum Cave is pretty strange too.

Well, if the opportunity arose, I’d probably end up giving it to the moderator.

After all, keeping it stored here didn’t seem to be of any use…

“……”

Or did it?

I turned to look at Ludwig.

At that moment, he was solemnly kneeling before the statue, praying.

I didn’t know exactly what he was praying for, but he was probably asking for protection over Eldorado.

‘I’d better leave it here.’

Faith was indispensable to a religious person.

And Ludwig was deeply devout.

Besides, faith strengthened one’s resolve, something that was extremely helpful for survival.

Although I had no intention of praying myself.

I had ended up hating the gods because I didn’t want to hate people.

‘Come on. Your country’s a complete mess. Give them a hand.’

Even so, I could at least say a few words for Ludwig’s sake.

Right now, countless people wished for Eldorado to return to normal.

When Ludwig finished praying, I said,

“Mister. Let’s get back to work.”

“……”

There was still work to be done.

***

Grills left the cave together with Ludwig and all the animals.

It was already time to prepare food, and there were still several things that needed to be checked carefully.

As a result, the only thing left inside the cave was Cain’s statue.

Up until that moment, the statue had shown no reaction whatsoever.

But then—

It slowly shifted.

To everyone’s surprise, a light began to shine from the eyes hidden behind the helmet.

[……At your call……]

It murmured a few words.

[……I shall answer……]

Click—

The very instant it finished speaking, the light went out as well.