14 To Live, Culture Shock
Time goes on and I turn 10.
By now I'm pretty much set on the basics of survival.
Farmwork, wild plants gathering, wood chopping, sewing, washing, cooking, cleaning and a bit of woodwork.
Even how to deal with excrement. Throw your waste in a hole dug in a forest, then do a heat treatment on it once it's full. Simply by setting it on fire. Due to the presence of inflammable gas, the flame pillar produced is quite a sight to behold, but it's stinky.
You must secure a wide open space for this as to not spread fire in the forest. You also want to plant plants with strong scents to mask the smell.
Think I heard they plant Sweet Osmanthus near riverside toilets during Edo era?
There were also manure merchants who would regularly collect and turn them into fertilizer for farm use.
But nothing like that in this world, the people here use animal waste on their fields.
The process is the same like in my previous world.
But said animal is a bizarre one, no I suppose it's only bizarre to the [Earthling] me.
It took me quite some time to get used to it. It's a common thing here of course, yet it presents as a sort of culture shock to me.
The body is about as big as horse, with dense thick fur like sheep.
You can extract milk from it like you do cow, the meat tastes like pork. And the cry sounds like...
Low groaning [Gao].
It's got a calm, obedient nature and big power. Its head is shaped like that of giraffe.
"This thing's way too jam packed!"
I almost retorted that out loud when I first found out about this animal. Chaos, it's a chimera.
However this tightly packed hybrid animal is highly versatile, one of it pretty much fills the role of almost every livestock.
Way too good there's no downside. That's frightening in a way! Absolute perfection. It's herbivorous, even random weed is OK to it, really no downside.
These animals are [Normal] in this world. They're called [Mahon].
As for me, I never let up on my daily work out and form training.
I mean, with my lack of [Strength], I only have myself to rely on in case of trouble.
I've gotta be capable of brushing off falling sparks. Thinking of all the times I got picked on up until this point. By those four.
Well that's not even half of my reason though.
It's mostly cause it's a routine from my past life.
I don't have anything else to do during free time...
"Would've jumped straight to fighting games if only they were around in this world."
I'm still not able to move on from my regret, in fact it's only getting stronger.
So... yeah... I move my body in order to forget.
And now I'm learning another new skill from my father.
Hunting in the forest. I was finally given the permission to at my age.
"We should have been able to start this earlier..."
"Does the topic still come up in the village? Can't be helped, dad. I don't really mind anyway."
No [Misfortune] has befallen this village. The very picture of peaceful.
But the distrust toward me has taken root in some villagers.
And some of those people serve as the village representatives.
By some I mean the parents of those four.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
"That's all the explanation I can give, you can learn the rest as we go."
"This is kinda nerve wrecking. Gotta give it my all."
"Don't wear yourself thin now. Even your dad spent one week running around everywhere just to get one game the first time. And it was a small one. That was a disaster."
Father lightly tapped my back while ridiculing himself.
Tension is coming off my body.
"Right yep. I've still got time."
There's quite a bit more time until my coming of age. Just gotta steadily keep at it. No need to hurry.
So I told myself as we went in the forest.
I had been coming and going into the swallow part of the forest to gather edible wild plants before, but we're going deeper this time.
The forest around this village is bright yet deep. It covers quite a wide area.
Why are we hunting when mahon exists? It's simple.
There's not enough livestock to slaughter them just for meat. Only those that are near death get turned into meat.
The other reason is wisdom. Knowing about forest animals and how to hunt them.
Coming across vicious beasts in a forest could spell death. You need ingenuity and techniques to avoid such fate.
How to act and be wary in the forest.
Survival of the fittest, a place where you bet your life. For the sake of etching this dreadfulness in one's mind.
That said, apparently there's no precedent of danger during hunting in this village.
"Halt. Go at it slowly and quietly."
As we moved forward while keeping our guard up, father whispered to signal that he found a game.
"Aim and shoot there."
Father pointed in the direction where our prey is.
I ploddingly but steadily set up my bow, careful not to make any sound.
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