The Water Magician

After finishing dinner, a relaxed atmosphere settled in.

Even on a journey, one cannot remain tense all the time; it would be too nerve-wracking.

It is important to loosen up when it's time to relax and tighten up when needed.

“A plant monster that spits out paralytic poison... and it’s invisible too? That’s the first I’ve heard of such a thing.”

Even Abel, who had gathered considerable experience as an adventurer, had never heard of such a monster.

“Now that I think about it, there weren't any plant monsters in the area where I lived.”

“Plant monsters tend to be very region-specific, and unlike animal monsters, they don’t move around much. You might not encounter them often. However, there are adventurers who specifically hunt plant monsters.”

“Oh? Do they drop any good materials?”

“Yeah, things like alchemy materials or materials for magical tools.”

“I’m really interested in alchemy!”

Ryo spoke with sparkling eyes, expressing his admiration for alchemy, which he had yet to experience.

“Becoming proficient is quite challenging, or so I’ve heard about alchemy.”

“That’s exactly what I want! It takes three years on a stone!”

Abel didn’t quite understand the meaning of “three years on a stone,” but decided to let it slide.

“By the way, Ryo, how did you fend off the paralytic poison from that monster?”

This was indeed a mystery for Abel.

He had items that could recover from status ailments.

Ordinary poisons could be detoxified immediately.

However, this paralytic poison was strong enough to make one kneel briefly.

Yet, Ryo showed no signs of being affected by the poison.

“Well, I didn’t do anything special.”

Indeed, Ryo had done nothing.

Yet, he had never trained to build up resistance to poison.

Besides, there were no detoxifying herbs to find around Ryo’s home.

(I wonder why I was completely fine. Is it the blessing of the water fairy king? No, I can’t believe there’s such a world... or maybe...)

“Could it be the effect of this robe?”

He said, somewhat thoughtlessly.

There was no way to verify it anyway, so for now, he would just be grateful to the person who gave it to him.

(Master, thank you.)

“Ah, that’s a possibility. It looks like an ordinary robe at first glance, but it’s definitely not ordinary.”

“Abel, your wording is strange.”

“Yeah, I know, but there’s no other way to express it.”

“I was just thinking in my heart how grateful I am to the master who gave it to me.”

“Ah, that’s good. Gratitude is important.”

The instant he heard that, Ryo’s face was filled with astonishment.

“Abel is saying something sensible…”

“Hey, wait, I’m always saying sensible things!”

“That’s just the way you think it is.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you!”

From the next day, the two began making jerky to cross the mountains.

While in the woods, they wanted to hunt rabbit-type and boa-type meat.

Rabbit-type and boa-type monsters were abundant in forests and woods, but rarely seen on the plains.

Ryo had never heard of such behavior on Earth, but when he asked Abel,

“That’s just how it is.”

was the blunt reply.

In about two days, they managed to acquire five of each.

It was more than enough for both of them to make jerky.

They had a good amount of salt, which was absolutely essential for making jerky.

Ideally, they would want to marinate it in soy sauce or something, but… they didn’t have any.

So, they sprinkled salt and black pepper on the cut meat and dried it for about three days.

That was it.

“It’s quite simple, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s just a simple way for adventurers to make jerky on-site. In the worst cases, they only use salt, so having pepper was quite lucky.”

“I’m glad there’s pepper in the Forest of Rondo.”

Ryo nodded in agreement.

As Ryo speared the jerky on an ice rod he made, they headed north towards the mountain range.

By the way, aside from the cut meat, the skin was tanned by Ryo and turned into Abel’s cloak and Ryo’s “clothing substitute.”