The first wave was over.
Nabel-san had nearly died from an unexpected strong enemy, but that got sorted out too.
We had no idea when the second wave would start.
In the meantime, we'd prepare and enter the Heizen Great Forest.
The main subjugation members were me, Wof. Bid-san. Hoss-san. Garado-san.
Nabel-san. Pakira-san. Riv-san. Lupinus-san.
However, Torquetam was focused entirely on Crystal Beast hunting and had already gone ahead.
The Kizumono subjugation, meanwhile, was being handled by the Gouro subjugation team and Kuun Hunt, who'd already split off.
We'd been together up to a point, but the Kuun Hunt bunch had been eyeing me like I was some kind of sore.
Araya-san, whether she knew the situation or not, had been deliberately keeping Kuun Hunt and me apart.
"So this is the Heizen Great Forest…"
Walking in for the first time, I was taken aback.
First off, the trees were massive. Easily over ten times the width of normal trees.
And they grew with only slight gaps between them.
"Hard as stone, huh."
Bid-san lightly rapped his knuckles against a tree.
The sound that rang out was heavy.
"This air. Brings back memories."
Hoss-san immediately set about harvesting the white mushrooms growing at the base of the trees.
"What is it?"
"Shirowmai mushrooms, it be. Good for cutting up and tossing in the pot."
"Are they edible?"
Nabel asked with visible curiosity.
Hoss nodded and picked a red, fan-shaped mushroom growing at the base of another tree.
"This one's good too. Goes best in a pot. But the blue one next to it—that's a poisonous mushroom."
"This one?"
I used Danger Discernment. The long blue mushroom came back black. Whoa.
"You'd die from eating this."
"For real?"
"Can't just go picking them willy-nilly."
Garad said with a wry smile.
Thanks to Danger Discernment, I could tell which ones were poisonous and which weren't.
But normally, you'd have no idea which mushroom was the deadly kind.
In my past life, when I went mushroom hunting, I'd filled up two whole baskets.
But when I appraised them, only about half the haul was actually edible—worth taking home.
When I asked around later, most of what I'd picked wasn't suited for eating at all, though there weren't that many poisonous ones.
Apparently the truly toxic and lethal ones had already been culled beforehand.
Even so, even mushroom experts can make oversights.
They taught me it was that difficult.
Hoss-san also distinguishes them through experience and knowledge.
In his case, he'd memorized only a handful of things he was certain were edible, and ignored everything else.
But even being able to distinguish them at all was impressive.
There was one thing Hoss-san once told me as a funny story.
Several years ago, he'd eaten something he couldn't tell apart from a numbness mushroom and ended up numb for three straight days and nights.
I still remember being speechless over whether that was really supposed to be a funny story.
That same Hoss-san waded into the grass and picked several wild herbs.
"These are edible too. Good to toss in the pot."
"They just look like ordinary weeds to me."
"They're herbs."
"The pot— is that the miscellaneous meat soup?"
"Yep."
"Sounds great. We love that stuff too."
"Miscellaneous meat soup?"
Nabel and Galad tilted their heads in confusion.
Oh, right. These two have never had it before.
In that case, they'd be in for a surprise today once they tasted how good the witch-recognized version was.
Something about meals caught my attention.
"Galad-san. Subjugators sometimes go deep into the great forest, right?"
"That's right. It happens often."
"What kind of meals do you eat when that happens?"
"Mostly preserved food."
"Heizen's preserved food must be pretty good."
Hoss spoke up while gathering mushrooms.
Nabel watched with great interest.
"There's plenty of variety. The taste has improved compared to the old days. But I still wouldn't call it delicious. Oh, and we eat monsters too."
"Monsters?"
"Well, yeah."
"In the great Heizen forest, my favorite is the bat-mimic."
Galad looked around warily.
With Danger Discernment, there were no enemies in this area.
"...Mimic?"
Bidd tilted her head.
Seemed to be new to her as well.
"It looks like a bat, but it's not a bat."
"Is that a monster?"
"It's a monster. Sort of."
Something about this was ringing alarm bells.
I was getting a land catfish vibe from the whole thing.
That one also wasn't clearly defined as a monster or an animal either.
Speaking of land catfish, I wonder how Alexander's doing.
"What's it taste like?"
"Hmm. Close to chicken thigh meat. But that's the whole thing."
"That's nice. I like that."
I'm not a big fan of chicken breast.
I was wondering what it might taste like when my Danger Discernment lit up with red dots.
A lot of them. I could see them now too.
Through the gaps in the trees, something pitch-black… what was that? Birds? They were heading right for us.
Too big to be birds.
I was thinking maybe city crows were about that size, but the shape was a little different.
"Oh, those are fake-bats," said Nabel.
"Those are…"
"They're coming," he said.
Just like Nabel said, they were barreling straight toward us without so much as a glance to the side.
Red dots. Hostile. They were attacking.
Bid readied his composite bow, Kimkui.
"Here we go."
He took aim and loosed.
A single black arrow, fired at breakneck speed, wobbled and wobbled and then burst into a whole volley.
Area Shot — everything he fired became an area shot. Was that it?
The countless arrows dealt a massive blow to the swarm of bat-like creatures.
A few fell, and the surviving bat-like creatures scattered in every direction.
"Oh, not bad at all, little lady."
Garado let out a whistle.
"I've always been good at this kind of thing."
Bid glanced at the sword at her hip and smiled.
And tucked into the belt at her lower back was a strangely folded rod.
It was the spear they'd found in the junk heap at Heizen's hideout.
It was an OOPArt and a personal Relic, and Bid was its compatible wielder.
The bat-like creatures were exactly that — bat-like.
Black and stocky. Bat-like wings and a portly body.
Though their heads looked like crows.
That indescribable form left me speechless.
"Now this here's a good one. Fat little bat, ain't it."
Hoss grabbed the bat-like creature in his fist.
Without thinking, I asked.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I'll cook it up for lunch today."
He was going to eat it?
Well, I knew they were edible.
There was a manga I used to read a lot in my past life.
It was about protagonists treasure-hunting in a cave who got trapped by a cave-in.
They managed to secure the bare minimum tools and water, but had no food.
Well, they did have some. Bats.
Inside the cave, there was a swarm of bats.
Bats are highly nutritious.
The protagonists caught the bats, cooked them, and ate them.
Then they somehow survived as they dug their way out.
I re-read that part many times in the final volume.
So I know bats are edible.
Wait, were those mock bats? Either way, I was curious about cooking them.
"I'll help out."
"Sure. I'm counting on you."
Then Nabel said she'd help too.
Hoss and I agreed.
Hearing that, Galado said to Bid,
"You're not going to help, miss?"
"Three people should be plenty."
"Fair enough. We'll go foraging, then."
"Yeah."
Mr. Galad and Ms. Bid started picking up the bat-lookalikes.
After that, we decided to take a break after going a little further.
I wondered about it while getting the cooking ready.
"It's quiet."
"So you think so too, Wof-san?"
Ms. Nabel seemed to have the same question.
Ms. Bid noticed it too once it was pointed out.
"It is kinda weird."
The first wave of the Forest Wave had ended.
Now was the interval before the next second wave.
So you could say we were in the middle of preparing for the second wave.
But the Heizen Great Forest was eerily silent.
"Well, I get why it feels strange. Even if you don't know when the second wave will happen, it's bizarre that this place, where monsters pour out of, is still this quiet. That was one of the mysteries of the Forest Wave. But once the second wave starts, this great forest suddenly fills up with monsters. We don't know when the second wave will hit. That's why you can't stay in a culling village in the great forest. But if this is a dungeon, and the Forest Wave is an EVENT, I can kind of get it now."
"Why is that?"
"Because the Forest Wave monsters are generated by the dungeon for the EVENT. So right now, they're probably being created somewhere. I don't know where that is. They might suddenly pop out from inside this tree."
Mr. Galad laughed and lightly slapped the tree beside him.
I see. Once they're ready, maybe the monsters do appear from the ground, from the trees.
I helped Mr. Hoss, and lunch was ready.
Bat-lookalike soup and black bread-beans.
"Oh, chicken."
That was the familiar taste of homegrown chicken, too.
Meatballs, round and hearty, floating in the soup.
The black skin of the bat-lookalikes was packed with collagen, so the meatballs had turned completely black.
Mushrooms and herbs were piled generously on top as well.
"This is lavish..."
Galado murmured quietly as he sipped the soup.
Bidd and Nabel nodded along, and Hoss asked with a puzzled look.
"What's the matter? The Jinryuu household isn't destitute or anything."
"No, that's not it. There's a certain standard to being a monster hunter. You can't just bring a chef along on a hunt. Besides, it'd look ridiculous."
"Right. That's how it is."
"But you do cook and eat bat-lookalikes, right?"
"Nothing this nice. You just quickly dress them and roast them whole."
"You don't season them at all?"
"Salt, I suppose. That's about it."
Rough and unrefined, but that was the monster hunter way, I guess.
"Tonight, we'll make karaage."
Hoss muttered that with a somewhat cheerful air.