13 - Present for you!

“There’s a nip in the air… It’s starting to get cold, isn’t it Woolie?”

“Mrr…”

The weather recently had gotten so cold even I thought it was chilly after my morning training routine. Woolie’s face was fully retracted into his woolly coat, drooling as he stared off in into the distance, no doubt dreaming of warmer pastures beyond the fence.

“Even I’m beginning to feel it… I was right to begin winter preparations.”

It’d been a few days since the bear incident. Ever since then I refrained from exploring, and focused on collecting supplies for the upcoming winter.

Since I didn’t have anything like a calendar, I only had my gut to rely on for an estimation of winter’s arrival… not.

Thanks to Nuudle and Nuutube, I had a basic understanding of the coming and going of seasons, and it was looking as if it worked about the same in this world too. Winter would start in a few weeks, and I hoped to stock up on as much food supply as I could before then.

Thankfully, I didn’t have too much to worry about on that front. As the season of frost approached, the air cooled to such low temperatures I had no doubt by the time winter arrived, it’d be so cold I could use nature as my natural refrigerator.

I don’t know which was more amazing; the fact that I can store supplies outside in crates without preservatives, or the fact that I’m fine walking about outside with only a tunic on. Granted it was made of wool, but my bare legs being largely unaffected by the harsh winds whipping against my skin made sure I didn’t need nearly as much prep work as I should.

Woolie, though…

“You sure you’re gonna be alright, Woolie?”

“Mrrh.”

Despite his reassurance, I just couldn’t imagine Woolie making it through winter on his own. While I’m aware he wouldn’t be here with me now if he wasn’t able to tackle the winter cold, I still wanted to do something to help him through.

“Which is why I’ve begun the construction of a barn!” I pointed to the shabby little wooden box I’d crafted yesterday. “Well, more like a shack.”

Eventually, I want to build a barn to house not just Woolie, but also his friends and any future friends, but that will have to wait.

I used most of the wool I had left as an added layer of insulation, draping it over and fastening it to the shack with twine. Despite it being a squeeze, Woolie appeared comfortable inside, but by the next morning he’d gone back to whatever hideout he used to get a good night’s rest.

“At least this’ll be a place you can come back to if needed. Now then, let’s go foraging!”

I’d gotten better at recognizing plants now, to the point I’d prioritize certain ones to collect, such as those with green and teal colored gradients for medicinal properties, the stems of a red flower being strong, twine material along with its seeds for spice, and the yellow dandelion-lookalike flowers as Woolie’s favorite snack.

In fact, I’d already mastered most edible mushrooms in the forest, and figured out which ones were poisonous, as well as any potential remedies for them. Those I didn’t have a willing party like Woolie to demonstrate the effects, leaving me to simply ponder.

Nevertheless, nature works in similar ways no matter where you are, even in another world. Basic logic back on Earth still applied somewhat, and every time I managed to figure something out was a magical moment.

“Muu?”

“Hehe… You curious about this, Woolie?” I grinned, holding a long, thin pole in my hand with a length of strong, woolspun thread attached to the end. “This here’s a fishing rod! I learned how to make one on Nuutu- I mean, while meditating.”

I was excited to try fishing for the first time. It was a little wild seeing Hooty cast a rod with his wings, but I guess anything goes inside my mind palace.

“Fish…” I drooled, daydreaming.

“Muu…” Woolie drooled, no doubt imagining his favorite dandelion snacks.

*

“SKREEEEE!!”

The rotund birds sang and ended their chorus with a shriek befitting of the Screeching Forest.

Plop!

I cast my rod into the river for what felt like the hundredth time, irritation clearly displayed on my face, scowling more and more with each repeated failure.

I learned how to make a rod and what to do when fishing… I never said anything about having experience.

“Muu…”

Woolie lay flat on his stomach, lazily munching on a bunch of flowers as he watched in boredom.

“This sucks…”

Was it the bait? I though I did a pretty good job carving out the exact same shape I saw in the Nuutube video… I’m really good with my hands, so I’m sure I got it right. Is it the color? I don’t have access to paint here… maybe I can wrap it up with flower petals? Or wool?

“Feathers from those bird could work… Oh-?!”

The moment I felt a tug, I yanked the rod up as hard as I could, tired of my constant failures to have room for any patience. Of course, all I fished up was disappointment.

“Ugh…” I whined.

Not a single day passed that I didn’t regret bringing at least part of the blade-tusked boar home with me that day. I realized I haven’t had a taste of meat at all since awakening in this world; my diet had been one hundred percent vegetarian, not by choice of course.

“I’ll settle with just one, please…”

I know for a fact they exist; I can see their silhouettes in the river, they just refused to bite for longer than half a second.

“Maybe it’s the location. I can try that lake nearby instead; I’ve seen some swimmers in there on my morning runs. Or that waterfall spring in the Tranquil Forest? But Mister B could be lurking around the corner…”

As I continued to delude myself into thinking it wasn’t my lack of skill, it became clear my efforts were futile as I missed yet another catch. In fact, so much time had passed Woolie had gotten up, left to do my job for me and already finished foraging for the day, the basket full of herbs and berries none of which were my contribution.

“It’s already this late … How long have I been going at it?”

I sighed, packing up and getting ready to leave.

“Muu?”

Woolie perked up, eager to do anything other than stare into the water surface as I hung my head in disappointment.

“Sorry Woolie, I got nothing.”

“Meh!”

Woolie seemed unperturbed, as if knowing this was the expected outcome.

“Yes, yes… I’ll try harder next time. Let’s go home, Woolie.”

*

“Phew… finally, two crates worth of berries!”

I marveled at the amazing feat, packing so many little red spheres into the wooden box I made myself. It was small enough for me to carry in both hands, and should sit well outside in the shed. Of course, I can’t live on a diet of only berries, so I made sure to gather as much variety as I could.

“I want to figure out how to grow my own berries, and maybe fruits, if I come across any… I’ll spend the winter in my mind palace watching Nuu- meditating for that.”

Bang, bang, bang.

Out of nowhere, I heard loud knocking on my door.

“Woolie? Is something the matter?”

He never knocks that hard. I wonder if something happened?

I opened the creaking door to reveal the huge frame of a mass of brown fur-

BAM!

I slammed the door so hard the hinges shook.

What in the name of-

I lost my train of thought as the knocking resumed, accompanied by low growls of impatience.

Why is that bear knocking at my door?!

I need to calm down. I must put aside the question of why he’s standing outside my house, and instead ask why he hasn’t simply broken it down to get to me.

He’s not here to kill me.

“Then why is he here?!”

“Graww!” The growling grew more and more irritable by the second.

I gulped, slowly opening the door once more, revealing the gruff, battle-hardened body with a scowling face and a twig in his mouth.

“Graw- putuh!”

The bear growl incoherently, spitting out the twig he chewed on as if it deterred his speech I couldn’t comprehend. Then-

Thump!

The carcass of a dead animal was thrown at the front of my house—a blade-tusked boar.

“Uh…”

I glanced back and forth from the boar to the bear, unsure of what this all meant. Was this a threat? It’ll kill me like this boar if I mess with his cub?

“Y-you’re not gonna smear pig’s blood all over my house, are you?”

“Graw?”

The bear looked confused, then pointed to the corpse. It was the same breed of boar I’d taken down in the Screeching Forest, albeit a little smaller. This one had its head crushed in, a feat I couldn’t achieve even with a rock.

“Guu.”

Two small paws appeared from behind, holding onto the boar and pulling up to reveal-

“It’s you!”

The little cub I nursed poked his head out with a happy smile on his face. As I reached out to pick him up, I froze, feeling the watchful gaze of the bear towering above me. As I slowly moved to pick up the cub, the bear simply watched.

I took that as confirmation that I was allowed to, and picked up the little cub in my hands.

“Hehe, cuddly.”

“Kyuu…”

It’d only been a few days and his wounds were mostly healed, with only his arm still bandaged.

“Oh, is this boar your thanks?”

“Hmph.” The bear grunted as it turned away, crossing his arms.

“… You act surprisingly human for a bear.”

“Hmph!”

Ignoring my words, the bear motioned for the cub to join him as he left, leisurely making his way back to the Tranquil Forest.

“Kyuu!”

The little cub licked my hands before bounding off after his father, calling back to me as they left.

“… Did I just befriend a bear?”

Still reeling from the absurdity of what just happened, I inspected my reward. It was a clean kill; that single impact to its noggin likely did the job.

“Don’t wanna mess with that bear… oh!”

I quickly got to work removing the boar’s tusks. I was worried about wear and tear with my current blades, and had been unwillingly to try experimenting with them. Now that I had a couple of spares, I can try carving one of them to have a serrated edge for sawing wood. But more than that, right now…

“Meat!”

I had to restrain myself from drooling over the fresh, fatty cuts of meat just waiting to be cooked. Now that the weather had gotten so much colder, this boar will keep for a little while.

“Oh! I remember watching a video from Villager-sent about preserving meat. Smoking it, and something about turning meat broth into a solid? But before that, I want to at least taste meat again… Let’s see, first, I’ll need to retreat to my mind palace to learn how to prepare pork, then start a fire… should I start a campfire out here? Oh! I should also look up leather tanning-”

Mumbling to myself in excitement, I had a lot to look forward to learning for the next few days.