Pseudo Resident’s Illegal Stay in Another World
chapter-73

༺ Lumberjacks in the Lumber Yard (3) ༻

The World Tree.

To qualify as the world tree, a tree must have high enough branches, enough to even touch the skies.

I’d also heard a few times about the World Tree in Alfheim, the homeland of the elves.

The tree’s branches really soared high into the sky, and the roots extended deep into the ground, going so far as to reach the underworld.

In the old days of Korea, the biggest and oldest tree in the village was usually called the Dangsan tree and would be worshiped as the village guardian.

So I was, to a certain degree, able to understand the desire to worship a giant tree.

Of course, in this braggart world where cats could turn into lions, the prestige of the tree must have been somewhat exaggerated.

However, it must be a giant and magnificent tree since it’s called by the name of World Tree and is also worshipped by the race of elves. I wanted to witness with my own eyes just how majestic this tree was.

However, even the Dangsan tree had a certain superstition attached to it. It was said that something unlucky would happen if you picked its leaves or broke its branches recklessly.

Fuck, I couldn’t believe this. She even dared to set fire to the great deity known as the World Tree? Elfriede was far crazier than I ever imagined her to be.

“I’m not really sure, but I heard rumors about a white-haired elf having been seen in another city, Kalkata.”

I ended the conversation with the intent to hide my relationship with Elfriede as much as possible.

Why? Because it would probably lead to a situation where this bald elf would get interested in me and start asking many bothersome questions.

“Kalkata, I’ve heard of this city. It’s the city where the labyrinth of the underworld was first discovered, right? The city is famous for its entrance to hell… Indeed, there’s a chance that they are really roaming around there.”

The bald elf, Khalidur, murmured to himself as if he had been enlightened and came to a conclusion on his own.

I thought that was the end of this awkward conversation, but why was Khalidur still watching me while I was trying to finish organizing the dishes?

“What else do you want from me?”

“This is just this monk’s personal curiosity. Do you mind if I touch that necklace of yours?”

Sometimes I could feel Khalidur staring at me with a piercing gaze. So I had already guessed that he was interested in my necklace, Pluto’s Eye.

In fact, the medal-sized, pointy-sea-urchin-shaped necklace attracted people’s attention in many ways.

Should I say that the synergy was doubled because my physique and appearance stood out like a sore thumb and I was also wearing this strange necklace on top of that?

Still, since this was an epic relic that could be sold at a fairly high price, I wondered if it was okay to let others touch it like that.

Epic relics usually were worth dozens of gold coins, so even if I combined everything I had, they wouldn’t be as expensive as this necklace. Maybe, even my own life was cheaper than this necklace. Damn it, what if he ran away with it after getting his hands on this.

After seeing the obvious doubt in my eyes, this baldy said a few more words to me.

“You don’t have to take it off your neck to let me touch it. I’ll just put my hands on that pointy thing that looks like a star. This monk isn’t bragging, but I have a natural talent for feeling the existence of spells.”

If I didn’t have to completely let go of the necklace to let him touch it, then I think there was nothing much to worry about.

So I roughly finished organizing the dishes, straightened my back, got up, and let this baldy touch the necklace by putting it on his hand.

But why was this bald monk, Khalidur, suddenly trembling violently after obtaining the necklace?

“Uoohhhh.”

A groan broke out from his mouth under his shaggy beard as if he had just been electrocuted. What happened? Why the heck was this baldy trembling like this?

“Uoohhhh!”

He soon screamed and even threw away the necklace from his hand. I felt a little offended because my stuff was treated like dirt.

“Why are you suddenly having a seizure? Is there any problem?”

“Huh, it seems that the object itself refuses to let this monk touch it. It is as if this thing was specially made for someone.”

“Hmm—”

I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, but was it safe to think of the necklace as an item that specifically belonged to me?

I had considered selling it in exchange for gold coins if it didn’t work out later. But if this necklace could only be worn by me, then I wasn’t sure if anyone would be willing to buy it, even then, it would be at quite the low price.

“I’ve heard that people from the wilderness have excellent mental power. It’s actually more than I imagined. Indeed, we can really call them natural warriors.”

Anyways, that’s how my conversation with this ridiculous and crazy monk ended. Since it was already late at night and my stomach was full, it was better for me to sleep and preserve my stamina.

Unfortunately, all we had was the single small tent I brought with me.

“Paper! Holy shh! I won!”

We played rock-paper-scissors, and only the winner, Luna, could sleep inside the tent.

The rest of us had no choice but to sleep with blankets near the campfire. Fortunately, the woodland was warmer than expected, so we had no problem staying outdoors.

* * * * * *

The next morning.

I woke up thanks to Luna, whose pink hair was gently shaking above my head, tickling it. I thought I had died and met an angel for a moment.

“Morning, Hassan.”

“Damn, I feel like I just closed my eyes and it’s morning already.”

I spent the whole night feeling uneasy at the possibility of getting attacked again by those tree monsters and I ended up barely sleeping, making my body feel quite heavy as a result.

Splash—

I then splashed some water from the leather bucket to get rid of my sleepiness. It worked quite well, finally making me feel completely awake.

The party leader, Renee, spoke up as she packed her camping equipment into her bag and ate a simple meal consisting of dried meat and small biscuits.

“I’m going to complete this task and go home today. From what Joseph said, it seems like this sorceress isn’t anything more than a bronze tier. We probably will manage to defeat her if we make a surprise even if it’s only us. ”

I thought she was trying to take care of it too roughly, but that was just how most things were done in this world.

Still, if it was coming from someone who had become a leader and tried leading people, it as probably a well-thought-out plan.

“Did you sleep well, Hassan?”

Luna yawned with her tiny mouth wide open. And maybe because she hadn’t realized it yet because of her sleepiness, her head hair was quite disheveled.

“No, I didn’t sleep well.”

“I slept well! Sleeping in the tent felt super good!”

“Uh, well, yeah.”

What a joke. Is she making fun of us?? But I don’t think Luna was such a snide or had malicious intentions when she spoke like that. She was simply telling me that she slept very well.

“Let’s go then. We’re almost there.”

The party members started to march again, following Renee’s instructions.

Everyone was holding an exclusive lumberjack’s axe given by Joseph. I had taken a rest, so I was in a better condition than the previous day, and this distance wasn’t much of an issue to me.

Crackle— Crackle—

“Good to see you, you bastards! How dare you humiliate me yesterday!”

As we approached the hideout where the sorceress was located, those wooden monsters, stompers, began to appear sporadically.

As soon as she saw them, Renee charged forward without deeming it necessary to weigh the situation or discuss the strategy. How could a tanker attack like that as soon as they saw their enemies? Damn it! She’s definitely the worst tanker I’ve ever seen.

Whoosh— Crash—!

Unlike yesterday’s struggle, Renee could easily cut down the stompers with an iron axe in her hand this time around.

“This axe is a little heavy but definitely worth using.”

In the end, was it because the axe was strengthened by incantation? It seemed to cost 20 silvers per shaft.

“Hassan, look at this! I’m cutting down the stompers!”

Luna also cut down the wooden monsters using the axe in her hand.

It was impossible to split them neatly into two, but she quickly knocked down a monster by swinging her arms several times over, akin to a proper woodcutter.

“I guess I’m actually powerful! My voodoo skills level definitely leveled up!”

I wondered what the connection between wielding an axe and thelevel of her voodoo skill was. It seemed like Luna’s voodoo skills have a comprehensive and broad meaning in many ways in her dictionary.

I guess she didn’t let herself be confined by her concept. She was the daughter of a goddess after all and she probably had a lot of potential.

Reeeee—

“Be quiet!”

Luna completely crushed the wriggling wooden monster, which then fell to the ground. She also did not forget to collect the sap by pushing an empty leather can to the monster’s body that was spilling sap as if spouting blood from its wounds.

“Why are you collecting these punks’ sap? Can you consume that, too?”

“You cannot consume their sap. But when it becomes solidified, you can use it as a glue replacement. Now I can remake my amulet mask!”

Speaking of the amulet mask… I remember that when I met Luna for the very first time she was wearing a giant wooden mask over her face. Her mask was unfortunately smashed to pieces when we fought with the bullies.

Since then, she hadn’t mentioned it anymore, so it slipped out of my mind. But she still seemed to be upset about losing that mask.

“Hey!, Fuck! Stop idling around and hurry up! Kill these stompers! Have you come here to play around or what?!”

After hearing Renee’s angry voice, I immediately took out the battle axe embedded on my back.

This was a cast iron axe that I especially borrowed from Joseph. It was just a heavy, sturdy axe with no incantation applied.

The tip was quite heavy, and when paired with the blade, it caused it to have a completely different center of gravity, giving me more strength when gripping the handle.

Crush— Crush—

At that moment, a stomper moved its rigid body and came toward Luna, who was collecting the sap.

Luna did not have time to respond to its sudden arrival, so I swung the axe in my hand as hard as possible and smashed it into the tree trunk.

I fully swung the axe in a lateral direction with all my strength.

Crash!

Then, the stomper’s body was smashed as if it was a thin wooden board, and its fragments flew in all direction.

“Damn it, I’m so fucking strong!”

Thanks to Luna, my ability exploded due to those bonus points, and my strength reached a whopping 5 points. I was twice as powerful as the average person now…

I think my dexterity blessing as well as my experience with handling an axe were also factors along with my extraordinary strength that made these stomper-bastards to be unable to withstand my blows and get completely crushed in an instant.

“I’ll kill you all, you tree bastards!”

After gaining momentum, my body repeatedly swung the giant axe from left to right and right to left. Every time I did that, the crashing sound from these stompers was loud and crisp, and it felt absolutely incredible.

“Woo…”

After swinging the heavy weapon non-stop and cutting down more than ten demons like that, the after-effect rebound came to me. I felt like I was running out of stamina and breath, while my head felt like it was spinning.

Still, I could sigh in relief without worrying because I had roughly handled all the trees that gathered around me.

“It’s really a violent way to wield an axe. The performance is very violent, but I think you are doing well with heavy metal. At this point, why don’t you handle a blunt instrument, for example, something more like a club, instead of a sword?”

Khalidur, the bald elf, had praised me for constantly knocking down the stompers. It might have been just empty talk, but for a person who was weak about getting praised, I felt somewhat flattered.

Was there really a weapon that suited me better than a sword?

Anyway, the number of stompers we had knocked down like that already reached about 20. The stompers that had been on the offensive before also started to retreat somewhere like last time.

“I’m not going to let them go!”

Renee increased her pace and ran after those monsters alone. Our party members were also running hard after her.

Not long after that, the stompers could be found hiding in a cave inside a rock cliff. At first glance, we could sense that it was a very suspicious cave.

As if someone was advertising it as a hideout of a wicked being, this situation started making us more and more suspicious.

“Let’s go in.”

Renee, the party leader, confidently led the way as if she had nothing to fear. As she managed to cut down the trees with the magic axe, I thought she had gained a lot of confidence in herself.

However, I was a little nervous as I had already confronted a sorceress before with Hippolyte.

“It’s very dark. The atmosphere is also creepy, so it feels like we’re walking on Niflheim. I want to finish this task quickly and leave.”

Khalidur muttered a few words as he walked through the fairly wide cave. As he said, the farther away we were from the entrance, the farther away we were from the light, and our sights could only meet the ever-stretching darkness that encompassed this cave.

“Should I light up the torch?”

When Renee tried to take the torch out of the thin package on her back, Luna opposed the idea and blocked her.

“Oh, no. You can’t do that. The sap from the stompers is all over the place, and it’s hardened. If you light up a fire, it will catch fire from all directions, and you won’t be able to breathe any longer.”

As Luna said, when I looked around, there was a lot of hard resin stuck all over the place. So, we couldn’t light a torch in the dark. Then there was only one way.

Without letting go of my axe, I squeezed my other hand to invoke my blessing. Then my palm began to emit a strange light source like a bright lantern.

“What? How did you do that?”

As the surroundings quickly brightened, Renee stuck out her tongue in amazement.

Of course, it was surprising to me as well. I still wasn’t used to the way my hands shone like this.

Slide—

Suddenly, that bald elf held my hand. It surprised me, and I almost screamed for real.

[Stats] Name: Khalidur

Level: ??

Condition: Decreased Sexual Desire》Extinct Hair Root 》 Lack of Protein》 The Seal of the World Tree》 Cold-Blooded》

I shook his hand off in surprise while yelling at him.

“This fucker! Why are you suddenly holding my hand?”

Was he into me or something? I’m meeting more and more people like him in this world lately. I can’t believe he is coming out like this all of a sudden. Damn you, bald bastard.

“Don’t hold my hand without permission like that!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t angry. In some cases, some of the high priests of Alfheim use their fists to express hostility like this; I thought it was the same for you, but it seems I was mistaken.”

Did he have to touch my hand to find out about that? Elves are really are a difficult bunch.Their way of thinking is simply to different to get used to..

I was highly annoyed due to this event. However, we could proceed through the dark as black cave thanks to my shining hand.

“Hassan, look over there. There are some traces on the ground.”

“You’re right. Is it that way?”

Broken branches and leaves seemed to be seen everywhere, and soon the sight of dead animals and human bodies that had already dried up without moisture welcomed us.

As we went further inside the cave, something that could be called a huge cavity or open space appeared.

The ceiling was high, and the walls quite wide, so my chest felt relieved now that I could breathe easily again. On the other hand, the tension rose to its peak because it felt like the final stage of our adventure.

“Be careful. We don’t know what will come out.”

Following Renee’s warning, the party members clenched the weapons in their hands. Soon, we heard a mysterious voice ringing through the wide cave.

“I wondered who dared to destroy my precious trees. It turned out to be Mars’ dogs.”

Then a woman dressed in black clothing swiftly appeared in front of us.

Her cloth was made of extremely thin materials, like the clothes worn by dancers. To make a better comparison, it looked exactly like what Luna usually wore.

However, rather than looking erotic like Luna, I could only strongly question whether it was okay for her to dress like that.

The reason was that her appearance looked too immature for her to be wearing usch revealing clothes.

Yet, the pointed ears protruding from her scarlet short bobbed hair vaguely explained her situation and choice of clothing.

She was a nymph. Having met Echo, the innkeeper’s wife, I now knew a little about Nymphs.

“I am the priest of Pluto, Paranoy. You guys—”

As the nymph sorceress tried to explain something—

Kick— Kick—

Something passed by me in a flash. It mercilessly reached her tiny nape and smacked her on the head.

“Kyaaak!”

Paranoy, the nymph sorceress, fell to the ground with a desperate scream leaking out of her throat.

Fuck, what just happened?

The rest of our party members couldn’t do anything but blink at the bald elf, Khalidur, who dusted off his palms after making that move.

“With this, we should be done with the request, right?”