Chapter 325

There’s a saying about a second hometown. It’s usually the place where you develop bonds and feelings, not necessarily where you were born.

My original hometown is Earth, meaning my family from before I returned. A place filled only with happiness, devoid of any misfortunes or inconveniences.

That hometown was lost due to someone’s schemes. So, let’s consider this Chaos Forest my real hometown now.

A place where I can roll around and play without a care in the world.

“Ah. This is comfortable.”

That place is none other than Inside the Chaos Forest. I lay down anywhere and stretched out comfortably.

Originally, I had planned to stay for about 2-3 days, but that time has long passed.

By the way, my body has returned as Rize mentioned before. I couldn’t do anything about the beard on my face, but everything else more or less sorted itself out.

Thanks to that, I was living a life like a wild man, wearing nothing but pants. And it was ridiculously cozy.

“The Academy is comfortable too, but…”

To be honest, when it comes to ‘convenience’, the Academy is overwhelmingly better. There’s a ton of delicious food there.

Here, I have to hunt for food every single time, plus I have to start a fire to cook it myself.

There are just way too many things to handle. I even had to find my own place to live, which you could say is the most important of all.

Living where I have to do everything myself for food and shelter. Everything is inconvenient, and survival comes first here.

Most things are far behind compared to civilization, but there’s one overwhelmingly good point compared to civilization.

“I feel like a rock.”

There are no people around. It can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

While there are inconveniences due to the lack of people, I can achieve mental stability without anyone around.

Sometimes, I see people on TV enjoying life in the wild, and I think I can understand their feelings.

Just breaking free from the complexities of civilization is often enough to find peace of mind.

“A lot has happened during this time.”

I not only struggled to prevent the collapse of the Academy but also scrambled around to resolve Rod’s curse.

Since I’ve resolved all that, can’t I take a little breather now? Just thinking that allowed laziness to settle in my body.

If I were in the Academy, someone would’ve definitely nagged at me for looking like this. But that’s not happening here.

“Nom nom nom.”

I also indulged in some tasty and nutritious bugs. The Chaos Forest is abundantly rich in resources.

As long as you’re ‘strong’, that is. But who am I? Once upon a time, I shared territory against Porori.

Moreover, since I was planning to stay here for a vacation, I didn’t disturb any predators.

Ah, of course, it’s not like the predators didn’t have their eyes on me. Shortly after entering the forest, one attacked me out of nowhere.

-Swoosh

I just turned my head to the side while lying down. As I turned, a certain animal caught my eye.

It looked more like a monster in terms of size and appearance. To roughly describe it:

A messy mane and claws that seemed capable of tearing everything apart. A tail as sharp as a whip.

A lion the size of a house. No exaggeration, a lion with a genuinely house-sized bulk.

“Hey.”

“Growl?!”

The lion, which had been lying down, jumped in surprise at my call. Its expression seemed as human-like as ever.

I stared at the bewildered creature and slowly got up.

As I stood, it looked even more shocked, though it seemed a bit tense.

“Go hunt something. I’m hungry.”

It was about time for me to feel hunger. No matter how much I lay around, my stomach would eventually growl.

But hunting sounded like a hassle. Not just a little hassle, but a major hassle.

Coming back to the wild from civilization had its side effects. I lost the sense of value due to my familiarity.

But that’s okay. I had a fine servant right there with me.

“Growl…”

That servant grumbled a bit. As it looks, it might be a beast that eats the entire Chaos Forest, but shouldn’t it still be fine?

Hearing that remark, I raised an eyebrow. The massive lion in front of me is indeed a predator of the Chaos Forest.

When both Porori and I disappeared, it was a predator that survived in the bloody competition inside the Chaos Forest.

“What’s with that? You feeling cozy?”

“Growl.”

“Not a chance. I guess I’ll boil some butterfly soup today.”

What’s that supposed to mean? That lion doesn’t rule over the entire Chaos Forest either.

Just the predators I roughly checked included four in total, including lions. Each of them rules over their territories.

“Growl!!”

As I slowly got up, the lion freaked out and bolted into the forest.

To be precise, it wasn’t running away; it was likely off to hunt. In a little while, it would return with a huge deer.

Watching the lion finally doing its job, I lay back down on the ground. There was no need for me to go hunt myself.

“Maybe I’ll go to a different creature tomorrow?”

As mentioned earlier, the Chaos Forest is currently divided into four territories.

One is managed by that lion, while the others belong to a tiger, an elephant, and a wild boar.

Each of them is massive and strong enough to match the lion from earlier.

Though to me, that means nothing. They’re all far weaker than Porori before awakening.

If Porori were still reigning around here, one headbutt would have wiped them all out.

“I want to say, ‘Back in my day…'”

So, I educated each of them personally. If they die for no reason, it would disrupt the territory, as Rod said.

Animals need to be beaten to listen well, and all of them knelt before overwhelming strength. No pride whatsoever.

No matter how smart they are, they’re ultimately still beasts. They immediately surrender if it seems like they’ll get badly injured.

I overwhelmed them without causing severe injuries, and the moment they realized I wouldn’t kill them, they surrendered right away.

It had only been a week, but that was more than enough time for me.

“Growl!!”

“Oh. You’re back.”

While I was reminiscing about the past, the lion returned. It had a deer in its mouth.

Considering its size, it must have been pretty agile; hunting shouldn’t have been that hard. As the lion dropped the deer, I sprang into action.

Normally, I could eat it raw, but that’s only in emergencies. Right now, I had all the time in the world to make a fire.

-Whoosh!

After starting a fire, I grilled the nicely cut deer meat. Watching it sizzle to a golden brown was mouthwatering.

The lion seemed to find the deer meat grilling over the fire appetizing too, smacking its lips. Since it had worked hard, it deserved to have at least a leg.

“Is it comfortable?”

“Yeah. It’s comfy.”

“Do you want to live here longer?”

“Yeah. Here…”

Wait a minute. Who was that speaking? I blinked.

I hadn’t noticed someone coming up behind me while answering the casual question.

The bigger problem was that it was a very familiar voice. On top of that, the lion had a somewhat dazed expression on its face.

With those two things combined, I had to naturally turn my head back. Something felt very off.

“So you’ve really gone on vacation, huh? While others are worried sick.”

It was Rod. He was looking at me with his signature gentle smile.

I’m not surprised that Rod approached without making a sound; it’s happened countless times.

But a completely different kind of fear that I had never felt before swelled up inside me.

It felt like the time I got caught sneaking into an internet cafe without my parents knowing. Exactly that kind of feeling.

“Flee flee.”

Without even thinking about eating the deer meat, I hurriedly ran away.

“Haha. This guy…”

Immediately Rod captured me by the scruff of my neck.

*****

The lion, reigning as a predator in the Chaos Forest, couldn’t believe the recent events.

It could accept that a frail creature like itself had evolved into a predator, but that was as far as it went.

Wildlife is all about the survival of the fittest, where the one who endures is strong. That’s why it believed itself to be strong.

When a seemingly weak ‘human’ appeared, it thought of it as just another prey. But that thought was a complete mistake.

It got beaten just enough to survive. Most of the wounds would heal in a few days.

Still, it had no choice but to surrender. After all, that human had ‘played’ with it.

‘Played’ meant that it could be killed any time. For now, it had no option but to bow its head.

‘Someday…!’

It would definitely seek revenge. The lion had made up its mind.

If it weren’t for the news that the human was educating the predators one by one a few days later.

As a being reigning in the Chaos Forest, it could gauge what was happening in the woods to some extent.

How could it, a life-and-death rival, suffer at the hands of just one human who overwhelmed all of them?

After realizing that, it could only lower its head. Fortunately, the human had no intention of becoming a predator.

It was simply here for a break. It even solved the territory marking by burying it in the ground.

As more days passed, while servicing diligently as a loyal servant.

“Do you know how worried your friends are?! While someone is carefree here?!”

“Just one bite! Just one bite! I haven’t eaten yet!”

“One bite? Go take some anti-worm medicine! There are probably parasites crawling in your belly right now!!”

Another human entered the Chaos Forest and dragged along the hassle of a human. The lion couldn’t believe its eyes.

That hassle of a human overwhelmed those who showed no strength? It just pulled its ears and that was it.

Yet the hassle of a human didn’t resist at all. It seemed to have gone through a process similar to what I had gone through with the predators.

This meant that the hassle of a human was now just being led around by that uniquely mustachioed human.

“Growr!”

The lion made a deflation sound. A sound usually reserved for when it’s in a good mood.

Just hurry up and take them away. I don’t even want to see that human. To put it simply, this was the feeling.

It even wagged its tail as if to say that. If it were a human, its mouth would be grinning from ear to ear.

Did the human with the mustache get a feeling out of that? The ear-grabbed human, Sivar, furrowed his brows and shouted.

“Hey! You’re dead serious! This way…!”

“You’re the one who’s gonna die, so shut it!”

“Yes, sir…”

Looks like that mustachioed human was indeed strong. Just by seeing the hassle of a human unable to utter a peep.

The lion quietly watched the scene, chuckling to itself. Not in a defensive posture but sitting upright.

Sitting upright meant that it was feeling at ease. And rightly so, as only a smooth life awaited him.

“I’ll go! I’ll go, so just let go of my ear!”

“Shut it already?!”

“Ugh…”

Finally, as the humans disappeared, peace returned to the Chaos Forest.

The lion patiently waited for their presence to fade away with its instincts.

Once the presence had completely vanished, the lion turned its head. The deer meat was grilling to perfection.

“Nom nom nom.”

As the lion savored the deliciously cooked deer meat, it exclaimed.

“Burp.”

And then it flopped down on the floor, looking lazily content.

‘Life is good.’

With the disappearance of the invasive species, true peace had arrived.

“Can’t we stay one more day?”

“No.”

Sivar’s vacation had come to an end.

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