Lets hunt the awful-tasting mice in the forest!
* * *
Haa.
I proceed through Naso Forest, adjacent to Fenoben Village, which serves as my stronghold, sighing along the way. The time is probably around 2 PM, if we were to compare it to my previous lifes sense of time. Early summer has arrived, making the days sufficiently long, but I cant be too careless. I need to secure tonights fresh meat early.
<You start with a high-energy self-introduction and then switch to sighing in dismay Youre quite busy today, arent you, Emi?>
My cohabitant inside my head, Extra, chuckles as she speaks.
Ah, yeah, I thought Id take a moment to sort through my current situation And after sorting it out, the sheer awfulness of it all dealt me a mental blow. Sorry about that, all of a sudden. Was it weird when I got all hyper?
<Not at all! Ive gotten used to Emis eccentricities!>
Extra cheerfully responds. Having been together for a while, Ive come to realize shes quite cheerful and easygoing. And occasionally insensitive. Eccentricities, indeed.
<Rather than that, look at the leaves ahead, theyre quite eaten by insects. There must be a lot of Polly bugs around. Just a heads up.>
Im fine, Im continuing with Body Strengthening.
Alright, let me explain a bit here. Naso Forest is a bright forest with sparsely placed large trees, and its a beautifully scenic place, especially in early spring. However, this brightness leads to a serious issue as summer approaches. That issue is the overgrowth of plants known as Naso. These plants proliferate so much that this forest is named Naso Forest. Naso is similar to the Japanese knotweed in my previous life, with thick stems and large round leaves. It thrives in bright areas and continues to grow taller than an adult by early summer. Essentially, its a large grass that gets very tall, but since the leaves are sparse near the base, its actually easier for someone short like me, a 5-year-old, to walk through
The problem is, Naso is the favorite food of a poisonous caterpillar called Polly bugs. Touching them wont kill you, but their hairs can cause severe itching if they stick to your skin. So, I continuously use Body Strengthening to increase my skins defense to prevent the hairs from sticking. My clothes, made from Codys old shirts and pants cut to the length of my elbows and knees, offer no defense at all. Plus, I walk around barefoot since I dont have shoes, so I cant afford to stop using Body Strengthening to avoid injuries.
Ah, Body Strengthening is a technique that uses magical power to fortify the body. This world, as Extra mentioned before my reincarnation, is a world of swords and magic meaning, magic, or rather, the magical power that serves as the basis for magic, exists here. Body Strengthening is a very popular technique of magical power manipulation, and most people use it unconsciously to a small extent.
In my case, since my mother bid me farewell (euphemistically speaking) right after I was weaned, I needed to make my body robust to survive the neglect (directly speaking). Thats when Extra taught me how to use Body Strengthening based on what she saw in an isekai broadcast of a martial god! Thanks to that, my body has become robust, wounds heal quickly, and I dont get sick even when eating bugs! Furthermore, according to information Extra saw in an isekai broadcast of a magic god, using magical power from a young age in this world tends to increase the total amount of magical power, a template setting as Extra calls it, so my total magical power is also on the rise according to Extras assessment.
Im not sure how much higher my ability values are compared to a normal 5-year-old but without a doubt, if compared to a 5-year-old by my previous lifes standards, I am overwhelmingly stronger and more durable. Enough to live alone in the forest. Really, I dont know if its thanks to magical power or not, but my body in this life has quite high specs, which has been a big help. Conversely, I wonder why I was so bad at both studies and physical activities in my previous life?
Now, back to the topic at hand.
On the underside of the leaf in front of me, just as Extra pointed out, were Polly bugs clinging in large numbers. Each bug is about the size of an adults thumb, chubby and black with fur, and quite repulsive to those not accustomed to them. I remember watching from the bushes as Uncle Rands leafy vegetables were infested with these bugs, causing a commotion with his wife.
I casually grabbed one, stripped off the fur, and popped it into my mouth. The texture is mushy and sour, and there are tastier caterpillars out there, but, well, its passable as a snack when Im a bit peckish.
But these alone wont make up tonights main dish. I want to eat meat for dinner, right? Not insects, but animal meat. Ive been a carnivore since my previous life~!
<Emi, look!>
Yeah, I see it, Extra. Those round droppings. Theyre still warm. They must be nearby.
<Lets hide our presence.>
I was going to do that without you saying.
I stop moving and concentrate, becoming one with the forest. Thats the image in my mind as I erase my presence
What Im doing now is a technique called Presence Concealment. Extra saw this essential skill for hunters in an isekai broadcast of a hunting god (seriously, shes really into these isekai streams).
Without making a sound, I completely stop the slight leakage of magical power that normally emanates from my body. Then, I wait. I am a stone. A harmless stone
About three minutes later, by my estimation, my prey crawls out of a burrow at the base of a tree, sniffing around. Its a mouse. Its formal name is the Naked Awful-tasting Mouse. It looks like a naked mole rat from my previous life but green in color, and hairless. Its about 20cm in length.
In this world, any creature that harms people, regardless of its strength, is called a monster. Its a very human-centric and broad classification. These creatures are weak, but those living near human settlements are considered monsters because they ravage crops.
These mice taste awful. Theyre rightfully named Naked Awful-tasting Mice. Their meat is smelly, tough, and bitter. In Fenoben Village, traps are set regularly to protect the crops from them, but even though the villagers kill them, they dont eat them. They just kill and bury them in holes.
But, no matter how bad it tastes, meat is meat, right?
The meat of the Naked Awful-tasting Mouse is smelly, tough, and bitter, but its not poisonous.
That means its edible! (Well, even if it were poisonous, Ive been eating caterpillars and such anyway.)
Ah, what a waste the people of Fenoben Village are making!
If I werent treated as a cursed child, Id take all that exterminated mouse meat and eat it!
<Emi, please concentrate>
Oops, sorry, Extra.
I take a pebble out of my pocket and get ready.
The Naked Awful-tasting Mouse sniffs around the ground, twitching its nose. Theyre omnivores.
Probably looking for insects crawling on the ground. But, unfortunately, you wont be able to eat.
Because youre going to be my meal!!
Shush!!!
I momentarily and intensively strengthen my arm with Body Strengthening and throw the pebble.
I throw pebbles every day for hunting.
My Stone Throwing skill is quite high.
Im incomparable to amateurs like Uncle Rand.
The pebble released from my right hand hits the mouse on the head as if sucked in!
It (he? she?) loses consciousness and stops moving.
I quickly approach and twist its neck just to be sure.
I gut it with a sharp pointed stone I use frequently, removing the smelly parts.
This process is also applying techniques Extra saw in an isekai broadcast of a hunting god.
Well, it seems they didnt eat mice in that broadcast.
Anyway, with this, tonights main dish is secured.
Ill pick some tasty vegetables on the way back and make a salad!
Even though Im a carnivorous girl, I need to eat vegetables for beauty!
<Emi, thats not a vegetable. Its grass.>
Oh! Extra, dont sweat the small stuff.
If its edible, its a vegetable to me.
In other words, its not an exaggeration to say that all edible plants in this world are vegetables.
Insects, grass, mice.
This world is overflowing with food.
What a wonderful, easy-to-survive-in otherworld!
.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
Damn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!
Living alone in the forest without relying on parents from a young age!? Surviving by eating poisonous caterpillars and mice!!?
Dont screw with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
<Emi, are you a bit too emotionally unstable today? Are you okay?>
Yeah, maybe Im just a bit tired.
Ill go back to the base today, eat, and go straight to sleep