Prologue

After Village Girl warned me of the danger, I ran into the forest completely naked to escape from those wild villagers.

They must have carried me to the village while I was unconscious, so I had no idea where I was now. For the moment, I decided to head back to the place where I had fought the hobgoblin.

Following the traces, I made my way to the battlefield. The ground was trampled and stained dark with blood. There was no mistake, this was where I had fought the hobgoblin.

From here, I could figure out the way back to my base. Pushing my aching, creaking body onward, I somehow managed to return. My base was a hollowed-out tree, the kind of shelter I liked best.

I wanted nothing more than to lie down right away, but first I had to fumigate the place.

I started a fire and burned some of the wood I always used as an insect repellent. Smoke filled the hollow, driving out pests. Since I couldn’t smear mud over my wounds to keep them clean, I had to be especially thorough with the fumigation.

For a bed, I built a simple frame out of springy branches and laid large leaves on top. I made sure to smoke that makeshift bed carefully as well.

The sleeping area in particular had to be protected from insects. During my time living in the wild, I’d already tested which kinds of wood insects hated most. I used the one that worked best. The smell was strong, but comfort mattered less than keeping the bugs away.

To keep the smoke from standing out, I’d built several layers of simple filters made of branches and leaves above my shelter. The smoke passed through them, becoming faint and harder to notice from outside.

I’d taken ideas from a survival book I once read and a trick I saw the protagonist use in Golgo 131 A thriller manga by Takao Saito following the protagonist Golgo 13 who is a professional hitman. , then mixed and refined them in my own way. I’d build a base, scout the surrounding area, and when I found a better spot, I’d move and make a new one.

That was how I had traveled so far, always with caution. Building shelters had become second nature to me. Each new one turned out a little more refined than the last.

There were times when I couldn’t find a proper place to make camp and had to tie myself to a tree with vines to sleep up in the branches. Without my body toughened by leveling up, I probably wouldn’t have survived those nights.

As I waited for the smoke to fade, I chewed on some spicy dried meat I’d left behind at the base.

The water pouch I’d made from the bladder of a big deer-like creature was gone, which made it harder to resupply water. If only bamboo grew around here, things would be easier. I tied a few wooden boards to ropes made of vines and set up a makeshift alarm near the entrance.

I sealed the opening with rocks, then camouflaged it using branches and fallen leaves. Only then did I finally let out a breath of relief. I collapsed onto my bed and lay down. The village was far enough away now.

The chances were pretty low for them to come all the way out here and to search through a forest crawling with goblins just to kill me, and somehow find this hidden base.

I closed my eyes and let myself rest, focusing on healing my wounds. As I drifted off to sleep, I held on to a dull, simmering anger toward the villagers who had tried to kill me.

When I woke up, I stretched and checked my injuries. The bite mark from the hobgoblin hadn’t festered and seemed to be healing nicely. I decided to name the cool, soothing leaf that helped it “herb”. Simple, but it worked.

Chewing on some dried meat, I gathered fruit, chili peppers, and more of that herb while searching for traces of animals. Since I couldn’t use mud to mask my scent, I had to approach from downwind, which made hunting less efficient.

I couldn’t find any animal tracks, so I gave up for the day and decided to make something essential instead. Yes, a loincloth. Even for a wild man, walking around completely naked was a bit much.

Everything kept swinging around and smacking against my thighs. It was driving me nuts. …Alright, fine, that’s a lie. There’s not much to swing in the first place. More like a little guy tagging along for the ride.

Even so, little or not, it’s still embarrassing to go bare like that. A civilized man needs at least a scrap of decency, so I decided to start making a loincloth.

First, I needed materials. I went looking for fibrous wood. Thanks to my strengthened body from leveling up, I could snap thinner trees without much trouble. My injuries didn’t slow me down either.

“Alright, let’s go!”

With a solid kick, I broke the fibrous tree I called “loincloth wood.” The bark still clung in a few spots, so I tore it off completely and carried the bundle back to my base.

I peeled off the bark, stripping away the rough outer layer to get to the softer inner bark. The area around the crotch is delicate, so the soft inner bark would be used for the parts that touch the skin.

I smoked both the outer and inner bark to keep insects away. The first time I made a loincloth, I skipped that step, and things got pretty bad down there. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

I tore the inner bark into long strips and wrapped one around my waist. After tying a knot, I left a bit of room for size adjustment. Around that belt of inner bark, I began tying and hanging more strips to form the main part.

Once the whole thing was covered in two layers of inner bark, I slipped pieces of the sturdy outer bark between them and tied everything together. When the outer layer completely covered it, the loincloth was finished.

But today, I felt different. If this world refused to let me live a civilized life, then I would build one for myself.

I prepared two long, thin strips of inner bark. Twisting each clockwise with my fingers, I wound the two together counterclockwise.

By twisting them in opposite directions, the tension kept them from unraveling easily. Using this technique, I made several cords.

As I braided the cords, I began forming a pattern. It wasn’t very complex, but I tried to recreate the shape of a flower I’d seen in the forest, one I thought was beautiful.

The flower pattern came out a bit crooked, but it worked. I tied it to the loincloth. Heh, paying attention to fashion, how civilized of me.

At last, I’d graduated from being a wilding.

Until my wounds healed, I wouldn’t be able to hunt hard or fight goblins to level up. I’d just take it easy, eat dried meat and fruit, and focus on recovery.