TLBP 21

CHAPTER 21………………………………

I carefully made my way around the rocky cliffs and the rugged ravine together with the raccoon, Leaf.

“—What does a Gye-myeong Stone look like? Explain it again.”

I asked the raccoon to confirm our target. He held his hands apart to show the small size and described the stone.

“—Like I said earlier, it’s about the size of a fist, it sparkles like crazy, and when stones hit each other, it makes the sound of a rooster crowing.”

“—That doesn’t sound very easy to find.”

I frowned. On the surface, “a sparkling stone” was a decent hint.

The problem was that the rocky cliffs were filled with stones of every color imaginable.

They ranged from tiny pebbles to boulders, but all of them shone beautifully, as if they were gemstones or raw crystals.

“I’m not really into ores, so I don’t know much about them… but couldn’t these sell for a pretty high price?”

I picked up a stone and examined it closely. Rather than a pebble, it looked more like a purple crystal cluster.

“Purple crystal… amethyst?”

In my previous life, if I’d found something like this while hiking, I probably would’ve picked one up out of curiosity. But here, these crystals were scattered everywhere, so they didn’t seem rare at all.

Tap, tap—there was the sound of hard objects striking each other.

Leaf squatted on the rocky ground, knocking stones together one by one and listening carefully.

“—You find it by tapping them like this. Among them, there’ll be one that sounds like a rooster.”

“—A stone that sounds like a rooster…”

I had no idea what that was supposed to feel like, but I had no choice except to follow Leaf’s lead and start knocking stones together myself.

“—Hmm. A stone that sounds like a rooster… a stone that makes a rooster sound…”

After some time spent repeating that mind-numbing labor, I began to wonder if something wasn’t wrong.

“—Are you sure there really is a stone that makes a rooster sound?”

“—I’m telling you there is. Usually one shows up around now, but for some reason it’s not… We should get out of here before the madman notices us. Did Belzer eat them all…?”

Leaf twitched his ears anxiously and stared into the cliffs and the ravine.

It looked like the possibility of an intruder appearing at any moment was really getting to him.

Leaving the tense raccoon alone, I continued my work.

“This stone’s pretty light.”

Even though all the stones sparkled the same way, their weights varied wildly.

Some were incredibly heavy, nothing like pebbles at all, while others—like the one in my hand—felt hollow and light.

I knocked the light stone against another. At that moment, a loud ziiiing sound rang out, tickling my ears.

“That’s a weird sound.”

It seemed the impact was resonating loudly inside the hollow stone.

“—You found it. You’re lucky.”

The raccoon hopped over toward me. He took the light stone from my hand and smiled happily.

“—Let’s get out of here now. It didn’t even take half a day—ended sooner than I thought.”

“—Wait, that was a rooster sound?”

“—Of course.”

Leaf struck the presumed Gye-myeong Stone against another rock. The ziiiing sound rang out again—no matter how I listened, it didn’t sound like a rooster.

“—If that ziiiing sound isn’t a rooster, then what is? Don’t tell me you don’t even know what a rooster is?”

“—No, uh… yeah. Roosters go ziiiing. That’s how they sound.”

I scratched my chin and answered as if I knew what I was talking about.

Apparently, the roosters here were structurally a bit different from the ones I knew.

Leaf put the Gye-myeong Stone into the vine-woven bag tied around my waist. I was pretty dumbfounded, but figured, “good enough,” and turned to leave.

That was when Leaf suddenly grabbed my shoulder. Caught off guard, I lost my balance and fell flat on my backside.

“—What the hell was that for?!”

I raised my shoulder in protest toward the raccoon.

With an anxious expression, Leaf pointed at the ground near my feet.

“—Something flew in.”

“—What is this?”

A thick, long thorn was embedded right where I’d been about to step. It looked like it had flown in like an arrow.

Judging by its shape, I guessed the direction it had come from—most likely from the top of the cliff.

When I looked up, a bizarre beast covered in densely packed purple spikes was staring down at me.

“—It’s Belzer after all… We’ve been spotted.”

Leaf’s voice trembled as he confirmed the creature’s identity.

I brushed the dirt off my backside and stood up.

Belzer, the forest madman, curled his body tightly, turning himself into what looked like a giant purple ball.

Wondering what he was about to do, I watched—only to see him roll straight down the steep rocky slope.

“—Wow. Is he Sonic or something?”

I never imagined he’d just roll down a slope that steep.

In an instant, he reached Leaf and me. A thick, deep voice soon followed.

“—Well, well. Look who it is. Liar Leaf, huh? Sniff.”

Belzer stood up on his hind legs and planted himself confidently in front of me.

He was about a head taller than me. His body was bloated and taut like a fat pig, and he easily looked like he weighed several hundred kilos—maybe even close to a ton.

He kept sniffing loudly; maybe even the inside of his nose was fat.

“Can I win if we fight?”

I calmly assessed the gap between our abilities. He was obviously bigger, but in terms of numbers, Leaf and I had the advantage.

“Those spikes are annoying, but nothing beats a gang-up.”

I decided it was worth trying. Unfortunately, Leaf was shaking like a leaf and hid behind me.

“—Ah, h-hello, Belzer. Long time no see. Haha…”

“—Leaf, what brings you here? And I heard a rooster sound. Did you find a Gye-myeong Stone? Sniff.”

Belzer kept craning his head, trying to peer at the raccoon hiding behind me.

Leaf scurried around my body, using me as a shield to avoid Belzer’s gaze.

A bizarre game of tag unfolded with me in the middle. I could only raise an eyebrow, feeling awkward.

“—G-Gye-myeong Stone? I don’t know anything about that.”

“—Don’t be ridiculous. I clearly heard the ziiiing rooster sound. You’re not trying to steal stones from my cliff, are you? Huh? You thieving raccoon bitch—what are you trying to steal this time? Sniff.”

Belzer’s sharp forepaw finally grabbed Leaf by the scruff of the neck.

Because of the difference in size, Leaf dangled like a stolen kitten, flailing his limbs.

“—H-Hey, stealing? It’s not like that at all. R-right?”

Leaf looked at me and forced an awkward smile. That was when Belzer’s gaze finally shifted to me.

He tilted his head, as if thinking, Who’s this guy?

“—Who are you? Never seen you before. Sniff.”

“—Me? I’m—”

“—H-He’s my friend!”

Leaf cut in before I could answer. I was about to correct him, since I didn’t remember becoming his friend—

“—Bwahahaha!”

Belzer burst into thunderous laughter. His voice was so loud that the entire cliff and ravine echoed.

He laughed for a long while, then started wheezing for breath.

“—Pfft, you have a friend, Leaf? Don’t lie. A liar and thief like you couldn’t possibly have a friend. Sniff. Hey, you—are you really friends with this thing? You’d better answer carefully.”

Belzer shoved Leaf toward me.

Leaf’s eyes wavered anxiously. He opened his mouth silently, as if trying to say something.

But with a raccoon’s mouth, I couldn’t tell what he was trying to say.

“—We’re not friends. We met less than a day ago.”

“—I knew it. Another lie. Sniff.”

Belzer bared his fangs while staring at the raccoon in his grasp. His growling canines looked razor-sharp.

“—I was just thinking it was about time we met again. You stole my shiny stones from my nest. And now you’re trying to steal my favorite food—the Gye-myeong Stone? Sniff.”

“—W-We just picked up stones that were lying on the ground! Things on the ground don’t have owners!”

“—If it’s on the ground, that means it’s mine. Sniff. This entire rocky cliff belongs to me! You can’t take even a single stone without permission. Hand over the Gye-myeong Stone. Now.”

At Belzer’s threatening growl, Leaf’s shoulders shrank in fear.

“This won’t work. He’s completely lost the will to fight.”

Leaf trembled with his tail tucked between his legs. He looked so pitiful it was almost sad.

“So I might have to fight alone.”

Belzer was bigger than me and covered head to toe in dangerous spikes.

Even if I won, I’d probably end up with my whole body pierced by thorns—victory at a heavy cost.

“I shouldn’t rush in just because my blood’s boiling.”

Belzer, relying on nothing but his loud voice and massive body, reminded me of the giant wolf Kublai.

And that constant sniff, sniff at the end of every sentence was especially irritating.

I held back my anger.

“—Spit it out already. Sniff!”

Belzer shook the raccoon in his grip mercilessly. Leaf let out a strange, pained sound.

“—Ghk— I-I don’t have it! I-It’s in that bag!”

Unable to endure the pain, Leaf finally gave away the stone’s location. Belzer dropped the raccoon.

Leaf collapsed onto the ground, rubbing the back of his neck with teary eyes.

“—The Gye-myeong Stone is in that vine bundle? Let me see it.”

After sniffing loudly, Belzer strode toward me.

*

Belzer the forest madman was a tyrant no one dared to mess with in the area.

All the animals pointed at him in fear, and he took pride in that.

To be an object of terror—what a beautiful ring to it.

Having received not one but two talents from the World Tree, he was surely destined to become the master of the forest.

And the disappearance of the Queen Snake, the former ruler of the southern forest, was a golden opportunity.

Belzer grew more and more violent and savage. Other beasts fled at the mere sight of him—except for one.

“That damn raccoon, Leaf. He really humiliated me.”

Belzer recalled the time he’d barely escaped from Leaf’s pitfall trap.

He hadn’t eaten for days—how exhausting it had been.

He also remembered, vividly, the faces of the animals who’d mocked him while looking down into the pit.

Someday, when he became the master of the forest and claimed the World Tree, he swore he’d get his revenge on every last one of them.

And as for Leaf, the one who had humiliated him—he’d tear him apart and eat him alive.

Belzer didn’t normally eat meat, since he fed on stones, but he swore he’d chew through Leaf’s big liver with his own teeth.

After that, he searched the entire forest for the raccoon, but Leaf seemed to have vanished completely. Months passed.

Catching him now, in his own territory, had to be fate—pure, heavenly luck.

Still, the white-furred beast beside Leaf bothered him greatly.

“This one’s pretty strong.”

A veteran of countless fights, Belzer could tell at a glance.

A thick, powerful scent of wildness clung to the white-furred beast.

The smell of an animal that, once blood rushed to its head, would throw itself into a fight to the death without looking back.

Not a schemer like Leaf, but a beast that had clawed and bitten its way out of carnage.

“If I fight this one, I won’t come out unscathed either.”

He glimpsed sharp claws hidden beneath the beast’s forepaws.

They were as sharp as his own spikes, curved like hooks—one scratch and flesh would surely be torn away.

More than anything, that upright, fearless posture—showing no fear of him at all—irritated Belzer.

To assert his ferocity, Belzer exaggerated his cruelty toward Leaf even more.

“—Sniff. Where’d you hide it?! Huh?!”

“—I-It’s in that bag.”

Asked about the Gye-myeong Stone, Leaf pointed to the vine bundle tied at the white-furred beast’s waist.

Using vines like that—was he imitating humans? Or that witch?

Such un-beastlike behavior made Belzer frown.

Obviously something the raccoon had made.

Belzer strode forward and deliberately puffed himself up in front of the beast.

The proud spikes growing from his body bristled outward.

“—The Gye-myeong Stone is in that vine bundle? Sniff. Let me see what’s inside.”

His words were arrogant enough to start a fight, but Belzer couldn’t back down.

In this forest, being looked down on meant a humiliating death.

“—My property is in that bag, isn’t it? Sniff. The Gye-myeong Stone you picked up here. Hand it over, and I’ll let you go peacefully—can’t say the same for the raccoon.”

“—I don’t really like that idea.”

“—What? What did you say?”

Belzer doubted his ears.

The white-furred beast curled the corner of his mouth into a grin.

“—Things lying on the ground don’t belong to anyone. Whoever picks them up first owns them. It’s in my hands now, so it’s mine. All of it. Including that stupid raccoon over there.”

The beast’s long fangs gleamed from his stretched smile.

“—He’s not my friend, but he is my emergency rations. In the forest, food’s more important than friends.”

His fangs looked exceptionally long and sharp.