Emergency! Agonizing Forced Massage
The next morning we got up while it was still dim and started moving. We walked steadily toward the Third Work Cabin.
This far into the remote areas, the landmarks people had set up gradually became fewer, and the path became vague and hard to follow. Even so, Ulrika walking in front showed no hesitation. If it were just me, I’d probably get lost, so this really helps.
“Huh? Mongrel-san, what’s that you’re holding?”
“Hmm? It’s just a water bottle. Ah… you mean this?”
What I was holding wasn’t just any water bottle. It was a state-of-the-art water bottle with a metal screw cap for the drinking spout.
A screw cap, that is, like the caps on plastic bottles and such. In my previous life, they were used on various things so people didn’t really think about them, but it’s a wonderful invention.
“This is something Lord Chaos invented a while back apparently. You turn this cap to seal it tightly to the main body. It’s more convenient than regular water bottles because the contents don’t spill out. It’s a bit expensive though.”
“Heh, you turn it to close it. That’s kind of troublesome.”
“It’s actually pretty convenient to use? While it’s closed, the cap won’t come off even if you bump it lightly.”
The cap is of course not plastic but metal.
The number of grooves is also fewer, so the usability is probably closer to jar lids like jam rather than plastic bottles.
However, the key to this screw cap is actually the packing rather than the grooves.
Inside the cap, a thin donut-shaped piece of cowhide is fixed, and that gets pressed against the main body’s drinking spout to prevent water leaks.
This cowhide packing is surprisingly excellent – there are no water leaks at all.
Rather, I’m more worried about the strength of the water bottle’s main body.
“Hmm… but I don’t really like those kinds of solid water bottles that create cavities inside.”
“Why not? Well, I also have a leather bag water bottle because it’s convenient.”
“You see, when there’s a cavity, the water makes noise, right? That bothers me during hunts. Just walking around makes it easier for prey to notice you.”
Eh, really? From that kind of sound?
Though thinking about it, it’s true that it does make sloshing sounds…
In that regard, with leather bags, if you squeeze out the air after drinking and then close it, it won’t make noise…
“…Could that be part of why I’m bad at finding monsters?”
“Ahaha, I don’t know about that. But Mongrel-san, you seem like you’d be bad at that kind of thing regardless.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Kyaa!”
We played around with some light jogging along the way, making for a quite peaceful journey.
“Ah, goblins. Ei!”
There was some trouble when a pair of goblins approached Ulrika with slack-jawed expressions, but Ulrika dispatched them cleanly with two arrows without even needing to use skills.
Other than that, we just observed from a distance as a Mallet Rabbit held thick branches while grinding grass seeds.
Despite being in the remote areas, we didn’t encounter any particularly strong enemies.
“Alright, finally arrived. That really took a while.”
“Yeah. I’m completely exhausted.”
We arrived at the Northern Third Work Cabin just before evening.
It would be sunset in a few more hours. We were lucky to arrive while it was still light. The journey was certainly rough, but it was easier because we didn’t encounter any troublesome monsters.
“I’m tired, but… we need to clean inside the work cabin while we can still see clearly.”
“We’ll be staying here for a night or two after all. Let’s hurry up and at least do some pest control.”
“What, Mongrel-san, you don’t like bugs?”
“Probably don’t like them. I’d say I dislike them.”
“Heh, surprising. I thought you’d be totally fine with that kind of thing.”
I used to be a mischievous little boy who collected insects… it’s strange… well, I can touch river insects and lugworms and such, so I’m technically okay… but I wouldn’t say I prefer it.
“I’m opening the door, so be on guard just in case.”
“Got it.”
As usual, this work cabin doesn’t have a lock either. There’s just a simple “mechanism that can be disabled” to ward off beasts and goblins. It’s useless against humans.
But this far into the remote areas, there would be fewer people wanting to live in cabins anyway.
The water source is also a bit far and shabby, so there’s nothing particularly appealing about staying here.
“…Yep, no people inside. Doesn’t look like it was ransacked by monsters either. Mongrel-san, it’s fine, let’s go in?”
“Good, good, cleaning should be easy to finish too.”
Following Ulrika inside, the interior was indeed still clean.
Well, “clean” by this world’s standards – to me it feels like a mountain cabin that hasn’t been well-maintained.
“This cabin’s broom is pretty worn out too. We should probably ask them to buy more.”
“I’ll report it to the guild if I remember.”
“Yeah.”
We quickly cleaned inside with the work cabin’s provided cleaning tools, while burning various incenses to smoke out insects lurking in the work cabin.
I can tell something small is stirring somewhere in the cabin… but I must never look. For mental health, it’s wise to ignore these things…
Once I felt the bugs were mostly gone, I applied pine resin-like substances for joints from our large luggage to damaged areas.
As a rule of thumb, if there are walls where smoke flows through, those are the damaged areas. We carefully paste over these small gaps and holes where insects enter. It also helps prevent drafts.
Well, we don’t get much of this pine resin substitute either, so we can only use it in a “where it’s needed” kind of way.
If we wanted to do more serious repairs, we’d need to call professional contractors.
“Something like this? It got pretty clean.”
“Now we just need to put the luggage against that wall over there. Ulrika, start with the light stuff.”
“Okaaay.”
All that’s left is to sort the supplies we struggled to carry here and store them somewhere out of the way in the cabin.
…Even though we thought we brought a mountain of stuff, when we line it up in the cabin, it’s actually quite little. It was finished in no time.
“Alright, Mongrel-san! There’s still a bit before sunset, so let’s go hunting!”
“Eh, starting now? That’s probably impossible at this point.”
“If we’re lucky and work hard, we can make it!”
Well sure, if you have both luck and effort, anything’s possible.
Hmm. Can’t be helped, let’s try it as a long shot.
“What are we aiming for outside, Ulrika? Big game will be tight on time.”
“Whatever we find! Birds are fine too! You’d want to eat delicious meat tonight too, wouldn’t you, Mongrel-san?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then we have to do it! Within range of not getting too far from the cabin!”
And so, Ulrika took his bow and I took my bastard sword as we rushed outside.
It’s already getting dim. This is probably impossible… but there does seem to be an atmosphere where birds might be around.
“‘Weak Point Detection'”
“Oh, a skill. …I see, so that’s how you can tell where living things are.”
“Exactly. It’s a bit blurry in the dark though.”
Ulrika’s eyes took on a peach-colored glow as he surveyed the darkness.
It’s a support-type skill that lets you see the weak points of living things. Even when visibility is poor and you can’t tell where creatures are, if there’s a reaction, it seems quite useful.
“There’s definitely nothing around here. Let’s move a bit deeper.”
“Right.”
Thinking about it like this, Ulrika’s scout skills are quite excellent.
I’d like to have at least one convenient skill like this too…
“Mm, something’s there. In the bushes over there.”
“…What kind of something?”
I crouched down beside Ulrika in the tree shade and asked in a lowered voice.
“…The weak point is the head, I think. It’s thin and small, so I think it’s a bird.”
“Has it noticed us?”
“Not sure… I can see where the head is and it’s easy to aim, so I’ll try shooting.”
If it were a boar or deer, this would be reckless, but if the opponent is a bird, there should be no problem. Strike first.
Ulrika took out a regular arrow from his quiver and nocked it to his bow.
“!”
But sensing that killing intent, the bird took flight.
The bushes rustled, and Ulrika released his arrow to keep up with it, but… in the end, the bird seemed perfectly fine as it rode the wind and flew away into the dark forest.
“Ah, missed… I guess it did notice after all.”
“That was close. Birds really do notice well.”
“Mm… they say when your eyes glow from skills, it stands out in the darkness. So it was probably easy for the bird to see. Ah well… but if I hadn’t used it, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the bird was there…”
“So both using it and having it used on you stands out in the darkness.”
Well certainly, skill activation in darkness is really obvious. Magic is generally the same, but when eyes are glowing, you notice immediately.
From wild animals’ and monsters’ perspectives, there’s probably no scarier light than this. If you’re going to shoot, you have to do it instantly.
“It got dark, let’s go back.”
“Let’s do that. Going any further would definitely be dangerous.”
“Sorry for making you come along.”
“It’s fine. Watching Raina’s and Ulrika’s hunts is educational for me.”
“Eh, really? Hehe.”
After that, we just had to hurry back to the cabin. It had gotten completely dark, so it was a bit scary, but we managed somehow.
“I guess we’ll have to grill dried meat to eat.”
“Tomorrow I definitely want to catch something. I want to get a Crazy Boar.”
“You really like boar meat, Mongrel-san.”
“It’s the most delicious in Legol.”
I borrowed some well-burning coniferous wood from the firewood storage and stuffed it into the fireplace to burn.
It’s not a particularly large fireplace, but in the depths of Baroa Forest, just having an environment with a roof and fireplace is very blessed. It’s like a light bungalow or cottage.
“Ah, I’m tired… mm, the nice smell of meat…”
“Dried meat is pretty good when you grill it.”
“I want some of that too.”
“Sure, go ahead. Eat as much as you want.”
We both gathered near the fireplace for a relaxed dinner.
The soup in the small pot is also warming over the distant fire, but it’ll be ready in a little while.
“Mongrel-san, you’re really strong, aren’t you? You know, you carried a lot of luggage this time too.”
“Well, I am strong, but…”
“When I was at the fort, I watched various soldiers working. But none of them were as strong as you, Mongrel-san.”
“Well, I am Halperia’s strongest man after all.”
“That might actually be true, right? Ahaha.”
“Well, there are many strong guys. But I definitely won’t lose to any of them.”
Strong, huh. Physical enhancement really shows clear differences…
Even though I have my explanations ready, am I still overdoing it?
But living while hiding my enhancement would be unbearable. It’s just too inconvenient.
“More importantly, were you okay today, Ulrika? You don’t have much stamina either, but you were carrying a big load too. It must have been pretty tough.”
“Ah, well… my legs are definitely feeling it…”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Let me take a look, I’ll give you a light massage.”
“Eh, ehh!?”
“I may not look it, but I’m a master of therapeutic massage. I used to get paid for massages back in the day.”
The massage technique I learned in two hours from a friend who worked at a therapeutic clinic is amazing.
I tried it on quite a few people and got good reviews.
“Ehh, n-no, but I’m really sweaty and unclean today, so…”
“Well of course you’ll sweat if you exercise. I don’t mind at all. Come on, lie face down over there. I won’t charge you, and you’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“…Okay.”
Ulrika thought about it and seemed flustered for a bit, but eventually gave up and lay face down on the floor.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
“Nn…!”
I focused on the thighs, calves, ankles, and foot pressure points.
That said, I haven’t studied this professionally or gotten certified, so it’s mostly intuition. Even so, I can probably do fine by drawing on my experience being massaged and doing something similar.
“Fua… ah, this is good, this is pretty… skillful, isn’t it…?”
“Right?”
I used to do this for dad a lot in this life too.
Back then I didn’t have much body weight, so some massages might not have been very effective, but now my finger pressure has power behind it.
“U, naa… M-Mongrel-san, the, the pressure is… incredible…”
“Ma’am—ah, man, you’re quite tense. What kind of work do you do?”
“N-no, we were just working together until now… owowowow! That hurts!?”
“Good, painful is what works! This is the spot, Ulrika!”
“Wait, it hurts! This is definitely going to break, break!”
“You’ve got lactic acid built up! And something about your lymph nodes is all wrong!”
“What’s that owowowowowow!?”
Well, effective massage is like this. It hurts.
But beyond this pain lies tomorrow’s comfort.
My therapeutic friend used to say this a lot too.
The real work begins when they start screaming “it hurts”…!
“Ah!? M-Mongrel-san, no, not there, you can’t press there…!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, your bones won’t break!”
“Not the bones, but, ah, …!”
I continued for about another minute, and the treatment was complete.
Phew… it’s been a while since I hit such good pressure points…
“Haa, haah… I thought it was just going to be my legs…”
Toward the end, Ulrika had buried his face in his luggage pillow and was stifling his voice. It was kind of… intense, but we don’t offer those kinds of services.
“…Ah.”
“How’s that, Ulrika? Your body feels much better now, right? Like springs of something are bubbling up.”
“I-I need to go to the bathroom…!”
“Huh?”
Ulrika hurriedly rushed out of the cabin.
Maybe the detox effects are already showing… if I opened a massage parlor, it might actually be profitable…?
“Hmm… maybe I have this kind of talent too…”
While pressing the Gokoku pressure point or whatever in my palm, I was awed by my own talent.
By the way, Gokoku is the only pressure point name I know.
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