Chapter 2: The Name of That Emotion is "Jealousy"

With my goal set, I began preparing to descend the mountain. That said, I didn’t really have anything to bring with me. At most, just some clothes and food, but I had Meal store all of that with her magic, so I was completely empty-handed. And on the day of my descent, Meal and I were being seen off in front of the gates of Ragnir’s castle. The ones present were Ragnir, Mel-san, Gain, Neil, and Ruto—the people I had met and built friendships with here.

“…Huh? Where’s Zeal the werewolf?” When I asked that, Neil answered.

“He set off on a journey just the other day… Truth be told, it seems he was quite shocked that he lost to you. Despite how we may look, we took pride in being the highest-ranking beings on this mountain, and we thought there was no one anywhere stronger than us. But then, an overwhelmingly strong person appeared and completely shattered our confidence into pieces.” “You don’t even have to say it; you’re talking about me, right?” “Umu. (Indeed.)” “…Did I overdo it?” “No, no, no, quite the opposite! That guy Zeal is actually happy about it. In a way, Wazu, you are his goal. He was fired up, saying he’d absolutely obtain that level of strength himself and wouldn’t lose next time!” “I see, that’s good then. We might run into each other down the mountain.” “When that happens, just send him flying with all your might!”

Neil and I laughed together and shook hands. Gain and Ruto also stacked their hands on top of ours.

“Take care. I hope to meet Wazu’s brides the next time we see each other!” “Well, I’ll give it my best shot.” “If there’s an elf among them, I’ll kill you.” “I’ll kill you before you can kill me.”

I laughed together with Gain and Ruto as well. By that time, Ragnir and Mel-san, who had been exchanging brief farewells with Meal, approached us.

“Please take good care of Meal. Also, you’re welcome to visit here anytime, you know.” “Thank you, Mel-san. I’ll drop by every now and then.” “My best friend, Wazu! I have absolutely no worries! Go down there and go wild to your heart’s content! And well, if your rampaging makes it hard for you to stay down there, you can always come back! We will always be on your side, Wazu!” “Thanks, Ragnir. I don’t think that’ll happen… but I’m honestly happy to hear you say that.”

After hugging Ragnir and Mel-san and exchanging brief goodbyes, Meal jumped down onto the top of my head.

“Alright, shall we go?” “Kyui!” When I asked Meal, she replied energetically.

“See ya, best friends!” Waving to Ragnir and the others, Meal and I began our descent down the mountain.

As we descended, I held Meal tightly in my arms to protect her through the area with extreme weather conditions. Just as we were about to enter the forest, two monsters appeared, blocking our path as if standing in our way. They were the fish monster and the cat monster that had attacked me the very first time I came here.

They’re still together as always, huh. The two monsters let out happy cries, as if glad they had finally found me. Wait, were they still looking for me even now…? Talk about persistent.

However, taking a closer look at the two monsters, I could feel the length of time that had passed. When we first encountered each other, the fish monster’s limbs were just long and slender, but now they had turned into masses of bulging muscles, making it look even creepier. The cat monster had also grown larger in build, with scars all over its body and wild, savage eyes. It didn’t have a single shred of cuteness left. Even though it’s a cat…

Let me say it once more… It’s a cat, but it doesn’t have a single shred of cuteness left!

Those two monsters licked their lips looking at me just like before, and then attacked.

“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but why the hell are you guys attacking together?! Fish! You should be running away! And Cat! You should be attacking the fish!” I didn’t think they understood my words, but I just had to say it.

The two monsters? There was no way they could be my enemies at this point, and with a single punch, they went flying far away into the sky.

…I’ve gotten really strong. I thought to myself as I watched two stars twinkling in the sky.

…I’m lost. Honestly, with nothing but trees, trees, trees, I have absolutely no idea where I am or which way I’m going. I don’t even know which direction I should head.

Was I always this bad with directions? No, no, no, that’s not it. This is, yeah, because I don’t have a specific destination in mind. It’s definitely not… yeah, it’s definitely not because I have a bad sense of direction! Well, but… I did get lost when I first ended up here…

Let’s stop, this is too pointless. Right now, I need to think about where to head. But I’m really in a bind. I roughly know the directions, though… If only I had some kind of guide, like knowing that heading a certain way would bring good luck… Hm? Wait a minute. I had completely forgotten, but for some reason, there’s a Goddess inside my guild card. Since she’s supposedly an omniscient and omnipotent god, telling me which way to go as a guide for my actions should be easy for her.

It’s no use just staying lost here. It couldn’t hurt to try. Let’s check it out once. I took the guild card out of my pocket, thought “Please,” bit my fingertip to draw blood, let a drop fall onto the card, and read the text that appeared. I skimmed over my stats, which hadn’t changed, and checked the Goddess section in the skills column.

“Goddess’s Revelation” (Unique) …Gently… so it doesn’t get influenced weirdly, don’t use too much force, and let it go straight up, there… It’s East. Let’s head East! The wooden stick fell towards the East! Heading in that direction will bring good fortune! Ahem! How’s that? My divine revelation?

………… I quietly put the guild card back in my pocket.

Phew… What is this… I get the undeniable feeling she’s a completely useless god. Wait? She’s a goddess, right? A god, right? Isn’t she omniscient and omnipotent? Why is her method of telling me where to go based on the direction a stick fell? Is that really okay… I guess it’s fine… Since she’s a god, she’s probably not wrong… probably.

Well, I don’t have anything else to rely on, so for now, I’ll just head east like the Goddess said. I gave Meal’s head a pat and started walking east.