Hey, you little devil! Go dig a hole over there. I'll tidy up things here.
I wiped the blood off Kaijinyi's body, closed his torn shirt...
Let out a sigh.
Then, quite cheerfully, I turned to sort through the things he left behind:
Equipment: Telescope (-1 Strength, Effect: Pulls up personal and others' data panels).
Compass (-1 Agility, Effect: Dispels effects of fog, being lost, mazes, obstacles, and blurred vision).
Glasses (-1 Magic, Effect: Translates any text based on the user's racial literacy level).
Just these three items had affixes.
As for the other weapons and such, I'm not used to them anyway, so I'll bury them later with Kaijinyi.
You ask me what I plan to do next?
Right now... I'm not really sure either. Just thinking... I should bury him first.
He was pretty pitiful,
A foreign land, far from home, lost on a strange path, dying in a foreign place.
If...
I don't bury him now...
... I'm afraid...
With this hot weather, he'll start stinking in a few days.
Just as I was about to say something else, I saw the little devil digging for a bit,
then running off to add more firewood, stubbornly boiling water,
Even though he knows it's not edible, he fiercely holds onto the courage to want to eat it!
He was carrying another armful of firewood, about to toss it into the flames,
When I noticed a piece with some colorful patterns... looked familiar.
Suddenly remembered,
Before he died, Kaijinyi was holding this, calling it some kind of teleportation stone or something.
Oh right! The treasure map...!!
Earlier, whatever he was saying, I didn't really understand it.
Anyway, it seemed really important. I snatched the treasure map from the little devil's hands, unfolded it, and looked...
Really, couldn't make much sense of it, but the red mark was very obvious.
Looks like the mark isn't too far from the beach where they landed...
Huh? Why is there a mountain range that looks just like the ridge where I live...
Weird. So that means,
The red mark is actually this close to where I live?
Then I'll go check out what the hell this thing is later,
What is this thing that these pirates were so obsessed with getting, even willing to die for?
At that moment,
My mind was completely on handling the remains, and the little devil's focus was entirely on adding wood and boiling water.
The two of us,
Completely failed to notice a vague, chubby figure high up in a tall palm tree nearby,
A pair of crimson eyes glaring,
Fixed intently on us...
Later, we packed our things, buried Kaijinyi,
The little devil reluctantly poured out the freshly boiled water, put out the roaring fire, hoisted the pot that hadn't stewed anything onto his back,
And came back with me to the ridge where we live.
Before heading back, I planned to 'pick up' a few wolf-type wild creatures on the way.
You ask me why I don't go for lion-tiger beasts instead?
Because,
Those things don't bite hard, but it's really itchy,
Besides covering me in slobber, they can't do anything.
I'm not afraid of pain.
But just think, bringing back a lion-tiger beast, getting bitten until I'm itching to death,
Couldn't eat properly, couldn't sleep soundly...
These wolf-type wild creatures are different, their bite force is at least three times, maybe more than three times, that of a lion-tiger beast.
You ask me how I know it's exactly three times or more? What measuring tool did I use?
Lean your ear closer, I'll tell you quietly.
Why aren't you coming closer!? You're scared too, huh?!
Then how could you even ask how I know, how would I know!
Damn, if I don't say it like that, how will the readers understand intuitively?
This story is from my, an illiterate's, first-person perspective. If I don't say it like that, what the hell would you understand?
Forget it! Not doing anything! Going home to sleep!
Pissed me off. I just stuffed the loot into my clothes,
Strode back deep into the mountain ridge —
Just had to pass through this not-too-long, not-too-short narrow path, just wide enough for one person. Inside this ridge, it's a whole different world —
Here,
It's about the size of three basketball courts... Turns head and glares!
...
...
Don't you have anything to ask... No, right?
Then I'll continue...
Here, there's very little vegetation or trees, but a large stretch of soft, grassy lawn. That's where we usually sleep.
You ask what about when it rains?
...
I have hands, feet, and a brain. Do you?
You do too?
You have one,
And you don't know to just go back into the ridge we just came from to take shelter from the rain?
Do you have no common sense at all?
And you can even light a fire inside to keep warm. There are countless small passages inside leading to various parts of the mountain range,
It's also a wind tunnel.
Here, there are no four seasons, only spring and autumn.
Not too cold, not too hot, perfect for sleeping —
After saying that,
I pulled over a smaller beast hide,
One that had been sunbathing for just the right two days,
Covered my navel, closed my eyes, and lay down.
You ask if I forgot something?
What did I forget?
I can barely keep my eyes open, asking with them closed.
You say it's something mentioned before burying Kaijinyi,
A major life decision to consider?
Was there?
The little devil and I didn't eat him, did we?
What could be more important than eating?
Then what was it?
You say you're the narrative voice and can't give hints?
Then besides messing with me, what else can you do?
Remember? I looked down and shook the little devil awake —
It actually fell asleep before me...
This thing sleeps like the dead. Good thing I'm tough, and it has that 'Passive Recovery' aura,
Otherwise,
With how deeply both of us sleep,
We'd have died here more than eight hundred times...
You ask me how I know it's more than eight hundred times? Did I count...
... You wait until I open my eyes.
The first thing I'll do is smack you,
Smack you so hard you fly away!
Far away from this island...
Wait!
It just hit me!!
Right, how could I forget this?
Gotta relieve myself before sleeping, otherwise waking up because you need to pee is the worst.
Immediately,
I dragged the little devil with me into the wide passage opposite, the one connecting to another big mountain.
We hadn't walked far,
When we reached a very open, super large hall supported by countless giant stone pillars,
And filled with many inexplicable 'carved flowers and engraved dragons' pillars.
There was also a super large stone gate here.
As soon as we approached the stone gate, with a low grinding sound, it slowly opened —
(The outside light slowly poured through the stone gate,
Dispelling the darkness that should have been hidden deep here,
Our vision gradually cleared,
An unexpected, breathtaking scene unfolded before our eyes,
A vast, endless 'golden ocean', shimmering and rising and falling, piled up like mountains.
The dazzling 'emerald waves' were actually endless jadeite and gems of all colors.
Countless precious ancient texts and scrolls, jewelry, jade artifacts, and divine weapons were scattered and hidden about like fine sand.)
I passed through this blinding place,
Came to a spot with a drainage channel,
Undid my pants, and started, splash splash splash —
You ask me why I'm standing to pee?
Nonsense, I'm a guy, of course I stand to pee!
I think you're really asking for it. Wait 'til I'm done, I'm gonna slap you silly!
You ask why the little devil is squatting?
How should I know?
It likes to squat,
Is happy to squat,
Why do you even care how someone else pees?
Are you hinting at something?
Are you trying to drive a wedge between me and the little devil?
You ask me where this place is?
Can you stop asking about my knowledge blind spots?
I only know this has been my bathroom since I was little.
Oh right,
Isn't it strange...
Every time after I finish...
Of course, whether big or small business, shortly after, all this 'stinky stuff' just disappears without a trace.
Isn't that magical?
Isn't that right, you little devil?
What?
Speak clearly, little devil?
You say this place looks a bit like something?
Oh,
Like the location marked on the treasure map...
How is it similar?
It's just a big garbage dump...
...
Wait!
The treasure map!! The teleportation stone!!!
I almost forgot...