Solo Camping in the Winter Wilderness
The expansion construction on Legol’s outskirts is progressing smoothly.
The shovel-tipped spade invented by Lord Chaos is apparently proving useful. Well, it would be tough without tools like this. It was a relatively early invention to be released to the world.
People are surprisingly creatures who, once they’re convinced “this must be the best,” will fixate on even half-baked things. If they don’t know the optimal answer, they’ll continue using tools in incomplete, inefficient forms.
Japan also used flat hoe-like implements until proper shovels were introduced. If some stubborn site foreman says “we’ve always done it this way,” that’s the end of it. That’s how it is.
However, thanks to the new tools, various tasks are proceeding smoothly.
Underground work seems particularly easy now. Sewage pipes are beginning to be buried, and the city’s foundation is taking shape.
Watching these primitive construction sites is quite interesting too.
That said, this work naturally slows down as winter approaches. Even criminal slaves have morale. The nation is wise enough not to work slaves to complete exhaustion.
So during this time of year, the construction sites are often just minimally staffed with guards, looking desolate.
They can’t afford the luxury of working while burning fuel for warmth. Well, that’s normal.
“Ooh… so cold… let’s get back to the guild quickly.”
Winter has come again.
The boring season when guildsmen have nothing to do.
The reason Legol guildsmen become idle is simple. No monsters appear near the Baroa Forest. That’s all.
If they came out nearby, we could get relatively good quality prey, but the encounter rate is seriously low. Everyone tries winter hunting at least once, but the results are generally as expected. You take a walk through the damn cold forest with no prey and that’s it. That’s probably similar to the Baroa Forest exploration tour I did with Bridget last year.
Even guild members stay quiet during this season.
They gather with family and companions in heated great halls to do indoor work, or… well, that’s about all they do.
I hear even nobles are similar during winter since they have free time. Some enthusiasts gather in the royal capital for socializing, but the principle of huddling together in groups to share heating remains the same.
But getting tired of seeing the same faces every single day is natural.
At least I get pretty fed up with it. I want some alone time regularly. Sure, I get lonely sometimes too, but that’s a separate matter.
“Several days of camping in Baroa Forest…?”
“I’ll come back when the food runs out. Well, it’s the usual thing.”
While I do long-term camping in summer, I do similar things in winter too.
It’s not like I’m hunting prey or have something specific to gather. I purely want to immerse myself in the quiet winter forest and camp leisurely.
“You’re quite unusual… Since it’s the cold season, please take care of your health.”
“Yeah, thanks Milène-san. What would you like as a souvenir?”
“As long as Mongrel-san returns safely, that’s enough for me.”
She doesn’t want anything in particular. Milène-san is such an unselfish person.
“Oh, Mongrel-senpai is going to the forest?”
“Yeah Raina, going to the forest for a long period.”
“What are you targeting?”
“No, I’m not targeting anything. Just spending time leisurely in the winter forest.”
“Eh…?”
Now, now. Don’t look at people with those eyes that question their sanity, Raina.
“In the quiet forest with no monsters or animals… making a campfire, gazing at it… sleeping in a tent… spending that kind of time is actually quite nice, you know?”
“…No… what’s good about that…?”
Unfortunately, this kind of hobby is completely misunderstood in this world, without exception.
Why would you deliberately go to such a harsh place to do harsh things…? That’s probably what they think. I can’t blame them since it’s actually true.
…Well, it’s what you’d call a man’s romance.
Having a lot of luggage isn’t a problem. Rather, since I won’t encounter monsters, I can bring things I normally wouldn’t use. Naturally I bring a wood stove set, cooking utensils, seasonings, and even a fishing rod without a reel just in case. I’m going purely with the intention of having fun.
Well, even though it’s another world, this luxury is possible because of my superhuman strength. I wonder how many kilos this luggage weighs if I measured it… I definitely don’t want to think about it too much.
“Let’s try going deeper…”
Carrying heavy luggage, I head toward the depths of Baroa Forest.
Naturally, the deeper you go into Baroa Forest, the stronger the presence of monsters becomes, but in winter, strangely, the deeper you go, the warmer it gets. The winter monsters disappear, heading toward the warm places in the depths.
This time, I won’t go as far as those warm depths, but I plan to advance to just before that point. It’s about twice the distance from the third work hut where Ulrika and I stayed before. There, I’m sure no one will be around, and I can have a nice quiet camp.
The temperate zone has the danger of encountering super dangerous monsters, so absolutely don’t go there.
“Oh, there’s a river here. Nice, I’ll set up here.”
Though it’s actually something you shouldn’t do, I decided to pitch my tent along the river.
There’s the danger of being swept away and dying when the water rises, but I’m strong so I won’t die. It’s convenient so I’ll set up here. Good kids and bad kids alike shouldn’t imitate this setup.
“The water’s clean too. Found a good spot. I’d like to come again next time, but I’ll definitely forget where this is…”
Grumbling to myself, I pitch the tent, assemble the wood stove, and secure the chimney with rope.
Taking out the luggage from my backpack one by one and arranging it, finally I’m left with a completely flat backpack that’s just leather and frame… hm?
“This hardness, isn’t this my friend the chakram?”
When I thought I had thoroughly searched the backpack, I excavated throwing weapons I’d forgotten about for a long time. Three of them, no less.
They’re slightly warped from continuously bearing the weight of the luggage, which is rather pitiful. I’ll bend them back the other way to fix them… this task is also part of this trip’s agenda.
…Well, this time it’s just a solo camp for relaxing without any particular purpose.
It’s not a mission and there’s no objective. I’ll spend part of this boring winter time in solitary contemplation.
The food will mostly be what I brought with me.
Meat and bread. The bread is hard and dry, but has decent preservation qualities, so in this cold it should last until the final day.
If I make a campfire and slowly re-toast the bread, mysteriously it seems to gain sweetness and become easier to eat… I think. Probably. Since the original is unpalatable, I feel like there’s a huge correction factor at work.
“Ah, delicious.”
Drinking kelp tea while eating bread sandwiched with meat. It’s a pretty good time.
If I’m being greedy, I’d like to add leafy vegetables to the sandwich too, but it’s winter. There’s almost nothing decent available.
“Awesome, unlimited firewood.”
After digesting, it’s firewood gathering time. Taking advantage of having no one around, I don’t hold back on body strengthening and chop down trees in the area one after another.
Fresh wood and insufficiently dried firewood drops efficiency as fuel by about thirty percent by my experience, but the wood stove compensates for that to some extent, so it’s acceptable.
Anyway, I chop and chop and chop massive amounts. No humans harvest timber around here, so I can do whatever I want.
I could even build a log house if I wanted to. I won’t though.
“…With this much fuel, a bath or… could it work…? No, impossible… it’s impossible, right…?”
And when I’m doing whatever I want alone like this, as always, I start thinking weird things.
This time, it’s about a bath. Taking advantage of having a clean river nearby and abundant fuel, I’m scheming to build a bath.
“…First dig a big hole in the ground near the river and put water in it. Put a barrel-like bathtub made of interlocked wood pieces in there… then continuously throw in heated stones. At the end, a bamboo mat or something…? No, I should separate the place for throwing in heated stones with wooden fencing or something from the start…”
If I’m going to build it, it’s better to have river water, fire, big stones, and fuel for replenishing all gathered nearby. …This looks like it’ll be quite a big job. But it’s an open-air bath after all. It’s worth trying to build.
“…Well, anyway, it’s logging time. Alright, let’s log like crazy.”
When I know no one’s watching, I can go all out. Even felling large trees won’t take much effort.
Rather, gathering big stones for heating might be more troublesome…
“Even if it works out well, the cold after the bath is definitely going to be hell.”
Grumbling about that, I actually quite like the time I spend doing these things.
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