The Great Forest. It was an immense sea of trees that divided the nations of this world.
The grimoire gifted by the Creator God was not only a guidebook for magic but also contained information about this world. It was probably a little bonus that he called a “tutorial.”
True to its magical nature, when I opened to the last blank page and asked something I wanted to know, the answer would gradually appear.
“I want to see a map of this world. And I’d like to know my current location too.”
A map began to emerge on the blank page. The landscape looked vaguely familiar.
“It’s shaped a bit like Shikoku. The continent itself seems larger than Australia, though.”
The continent was divided vertically into three sections, with the entire central region shaded in green. Apparently, that’s the Great Forest. I thought it was a simple name, but it seems fitting given its sheer size.
“There are three major countries dividing the continent into four sections. A few small countries are scattered around, it seems. The country they were summoned to is Shirane in the southeast, while my current location is the Trenian Empire in the northeast…”
To the west of the Trenian Empire was the Grand Kingdom. In the southwest were smaller nations populated mostly by demi-humans, each race residing together in their own territories.
“Oh, there’s an island a bit off the mainland where elves live. That sounds interesting.”
I wondered what the other elves looked like. Once I was settled here, I thought I’d take a trip to that island to see for myself.
“So, I’m here. Quite a distance from them. Maybe the Creator God intentionally put some space between us. Knowing them, if they realized I was nearby, they’d likely come searching for me…”
The distance between Shirane and the Trenian Empire was vast, as the continent itself was enormous.
In the map’s margin, there was a note saying that traveling between the two nations would take over a month by carriage. Plus, the Great Forest lying between them was troublesome.
The density of magical energy here, the source of magic, had grown so strong that what was once grassland when the Creator God made this world had transformed into a lush sea of trees.
“So, ordinary beasts evolved into magical beasts by being exposed to this dense magical energy.”
The contents of the grimoire were fascinating.
The Grass Mice and Horn Rabbits I’d seen in the grasslands were originally just wild mice and hares. They likely became magical beasts due to exposure to the magical energy seeping from the Great Forest.
“Placing the royal capitals far from the Great Forest probably serves to keep magical beasts at bay…”
The heroes, too, were being sheltered in a temple far from the Great Forest.
“For now, I’ll head southwest. If I establish a base deep in the Great Forest, it’ll be hard for both humans and demons to find me.”
I traced my finger over the map, locating the area I had in mind. A towering, ominous mountain stood there. I decided to make the area near its base my potential base of operations.
“I’ll scout the surroundings and, if it seems livable, settle there. I’m curious to see what that mountain is like.”
I’d always enjoyed parkour and bouldering, so mountain climbing intrigued me as well.
(With a High Elf’s body, would bouldering be easy too?)
I was eager to find out. Just one more thing to look forward to.
“…Oh, it’s already past ten. I should get some sleep, as I’ll be heading into the Great Forest tomorrow.”
Learning from the grimoire was fun, but I wanted to tackle the forest in peak condition.
I lowered the lantern’s light and crawled into my sleeping bag. Nights were a bit chilly. The fleece blanket wrapped around me kept me warm, but I’d need to gather proper gear before winter came.
“Looks like the best plan is to level up, so I can buy supplies through summoning magic’s online shop.”
The Great Forest, dense with magical energy, was teeming with transformed beasts and powerful creatures.
Thanks to the Creator God’s blessing, attacks from magical beasts and monsters would deflect, but to actually defeat them, I’d have to steadily grow stronger.
“I don’t have any proper weapons, so I guess I’ll rely on magic. Let’s start working on that tomorrow…”
I snuggled into the fluffy sleeping bag and closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Since coming to this world, I’d been sleeping and waking up remarkably well.
That night, I slept soundly.
“For breakfast today, let’s have a hot sandwich.”
I bought a can of tuna, fish sausage, and some cheese snacks from a 100-yen shop to make sandwiches with the bread I brought along for the camp.
I spread melted butter on one side of the hot sandwich maker and placed a thin slice of bread on top. Then, I sprinkled chopped cheese, added tuna mayo, slices of sausage, and seasoned it with mayonnaise and black pepper before sandwiching it with another slice of bread and toasting both sides.
“I’ll also finish off the soup I bought yesterday and have some potato salad. Coffee will be black.”
The potato salad was a bit of an improvisation. Potatoes are rare and too precious to use freely, so I used salad-flavored potato snacks from the 100-yen shop instead.
“If you crush these potato sticks finely and dissolve them in hot water, they end up tasting like boiled potatoes…”
It was a quick recipe I saw on social media. Mixed with mayonnaise, it becomes a decent potato salad. Today, I also tossed in the leftover sausage from the hot sandwich. After tasting it, I found it surprisingly good.
The delicious aroma began to waft up. The hot sandwich seemed perfectly toasted, so I cut it in half and plated it. The cross-section looked fantastic.
I laid out the breakfast on the table: a hot sandwich, potato salad, and some potage soup. Everything looked delicious.
I took a quick photo with my phone before digging in, thinking it looked pretty photogenic.
“If only I could send them a picture…”
As I muttered, my phone glowed faintly blue. Startled, I almost dropped it but managed to catch it just in time.
When I checked the screen, I found an unfamiliar app installed.
“What’s this? ‘Hero Message’?”
When I tapped it, it seemed to be a messaging app — a kind of social network exclusively for the four of us who were summoned from another world.
“Looks like it even has group messaging and can send pictures. …Maybe the Creator God granted my wish after all.”
Gratefully, I tapped into the app and sent the breakfast photo in the group chat with a cutesy heart caption, “Breakfast ♡.”
“Alright, let’s dig in before it gets cold.”
I grabbed the hot sandwich and took a bite. The toasted bread was deliciously crispy, with the edges like rusk. The melted cheese and sausage blended perfectly, making it incredibly tasty. The tuna mayo made for a luxurious filling; I’ll definitely make this again. I’d wanted to make a ham and egg sandwich, but ham and eggs are precious items here.
“Fortunately, I bought two fresh-baked loaves of bread at the roadside station, so I’ll be good for a while.”
Each loaf was about three slices thick, and I was cutting them into eight slices for hot sandwiches, so they should last.
“Hmm, the potato salad’s good too. I didn’t know fish sausage was available at 100-yen shops.”
I knew they had dry sausages and jerky in the snack section, but fish sausage was a surprise. It was also nice to see cheese and butter there, though they didn’t have yogurt. They did, however, have fruit milk in bottles.
“Can’t underestimate the 100-yen shop… Even the meat I thought was scarce was there.”
While drinking the potage, I searched the summon menu for other options. Besides fish sausage, dry sausage, and jerky, I found canned items like chicken liver, gizzards, teriyaki chicken, meat and potato stew, and an oden-style assortment.
“There’s also retort curry and pasta sauce with bits of meat…?”
Just then, my phone started buzzing with messages. Apparently, the others had discovered the app too. They sent messages expressing envy over my breakfast, along with a picture of their temple breakfast.
“Black bread with vegetables and dried meat soup. Oh, they even have egg dishes. Scrambled eggs and bacon?”
It looked more luxurious than I expected, but the bread was so sour and hard that it had to be soaked in soup to eat. They also complained that the soup was too bland, and that the scrambled eggs had no flavor, with the bacon being the only tasty part.
‘The bacon’s really salty, but when eaten with the scrambled eggs, it’s just right. The bread’s sourness is rough. Is it spoiled? The soup’s too mild, so I used the salt and pepper you sent to adjust it.’
Haruto seemed to be getting creative. Natsuki , who had been disappointed with the previous day’s meal, apparently asked the kitchen to make the bread into French toast. Since the temple had eggs and milk, she gave them the sugar I’d sent and instructed them on the recipe. Smart move.
Akimi opted out of the bread entirely and just ate the pastries she’d brought. He was impressed with Natsuki ‘ French toast idea and said she’d try it herself next time.
“Sounds like the bread and soup aren’t great, but the meat and fruit are top-notch. Horn Rabbit meat was delicious, after all. Hope I find some fruit in the forest too.”
They told me that as apprentice heroes in training, they earned a daily wage of two silver coins.
That’s a nice 20,000 yen per day.
Akimi even negotiated to buy supplies from me daily, offering one silver coin. Of course, I had no reason to refuse.
“Well, time to clean up.”
It’s finally time for the Great Forest adventure.
