I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[105] Water Sage’s Refuge #1
“Where… am I?”
The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was a wooden ceiling.
I rose to my elbows, still caught between sleep and wakefulness.
A circular chamber bathed in warm, crimson firelight—cozy and inviting.
The bed I lay upon, the table, the roughly hewn chair, every piece of furniture in the room was crafted from wood.
The bandages wrapping my body bore the unmistakable touch of Radi’s care, yet she was nowhere to be seen.
‘How long have I been here? I can’t remember anything….’
A gaping void in my memory left my mind clouded and uncertain.
Something terribly dangerous must have happened….
“Damn it… no weapons.”
I rose quietly from the bed and opened the door.
The sight that greeted me made my blood run cold.
Thud—
A piece of wood tumbled down into the abyss below.
Far beneath stretched the floor of the Primordial Forest, a tangled mass of moss and roots.
A height so dizzying it stole my breath.
‘…Inside an Ancient Tree?’
As I surveyed my surroundings, I finally understood—I was standing in a dwelling carved from a massive tree’s hollow knot.
‘How in the world did this happen?’
As I struggled to make sense of the situation, I heard murmuring voices drifting from somewhere.
The voices came from inside an adjacent Ancient Tree, connected by a Rope Bridge.
‘Radi…?’
Wait—there are multiple voices.
I snapped off one of the chair legs from the furniture in the room, gripped it as a makeshift club, and crossed the Rope Bridge.
Trying my best not to look down, I reached the door and heard several voices from within.
‘Am I being held captive by strangers? Or….’
Hesitation could be fatal.
I kicked the door open and burst inside.
“Radi! Are you safe?!”
“D-Doran?!”
Radi appeared to be perfectly fine.
Startled by my sudden intrusion, she bore no signs of restraints or bruises.
Before her sat a gathering of small humanoid creatures.
The children stared at me with wide eyes before erupting in screams and cries, bolting from the room.
“Kyaaaaaaah—!!”
“Eek! A-a human monster!”
“D-damn it…! Wait! Everyone stop!”
I hastily hid the chair leg behind my back, but it was already too late.
Even through the fog clouding my mind, I realized I had made a grave mistake.
Radi let out a deep sigh and rose from his seat.
“Sigh… Doran, what would happen if you suddenly rushed in wielding a blunt weapon like that?”
“I’m sorry. But more importantly, what in the world is this situation…!”
“Well… I’ll explain everything slowly, so for now… please just rest.”
Radi held up a mirror hanging on the wall, and I saw a face as pale and hollow as the undead staring back at me.
The pitiful state of my appearance was so dire that at first, I didn’t even recognize it as my own reflection.
「You have not yet recovered from the aftereffects of the pollen!」
「For complete recovery, sufficient rest is recommended!」
Tap—.
Radi gently pushed my forehead with the tip of his finger.
With that small force, I collapsed onto the bed, and my memory cut out once more.
* * *
“Oh, my head….”
When I came to this time, I was still in Radi’s room where I had lost consciousness.
As I slowly opened the door and stepped out, the midday Primordial Forest came into view, with towering trees stretching in all directions.
‘…Wait. Daytime?’
The Primordial Forest was a place where light barely penetrated even in broad daylight due to its dense canopy.
Yet now, calm sunlight was pouring evenly through the gaps between the leaves.
Looking around, wooden houses clustered together on the midway point of the ancient trees, and bridges woven from worn ropes and planks connected various locations.
Aside from the dizzying height that made my head spin, it was quite a peaceful sight.
Though I had never been here before, I instinctively grasped the nature of this place.
Ding—!
「You have arrived at the [Water Sage’s Refuge] in the heart of the Great Water Desert!」
「A hidden aerial village concealed within the Primordial Forest! It is a secret settlement created by rare humanoid races and minority peoples who have fled here to escape persecution from the wider world.」
‘The Water Sage’s Refuge….’
I had heard rumors that within the Great Water Desert to the north of the Kingdom, there existed those who lived in seclusion away from human eyes.
The reason it was merely ‘rumor’ was that no one had ever properly witnessed its true nature.
Only unverifiable tales occasionally surfaced—stories of people wandering through the forest and being rescued by humanoids.
Yet now, that reality stood before my eyes.
‘How in the world do people manage to gather and live in the heart of such a perilous Primordial Forest?’
My question was soon answered.
“A barrier….”
An extremely powerful perception-blocking barrier was spread across the entire forest.
From the outside looking in, it would appear to be nothing more than an ordinary cluster of trees.
“How does this even work?”
After examining an elevator installed on one side of a tree for quite some time, I finally operated the pulley and descended to the surface.
The surface was brimming with signs of life.
Within the fenced enclosure, livestock wandered leisurely, and children played among the vegetable gardens and hay piles.
But the children whose eyes met mine immediately fled.
I wondered if it was because of what happened last night, but it seemed there was more to it than that.
‘They’re all humanoids….’
Every child I encountered bore horns, ears, or tails of some kind.
Among them were rare species I’d seldom seen, and even a Sugar Glider Humanoid like Radi.
I was the only human anywhere in sight.
The children stared at me with frightened expressions, and I hesitated to approach them when I heard movement from behind.
“Ah, you’re awake? I was planning to come wake you if you slept any longer.”
“Radi? Why are we here…?”
“You were rescued while fighting the butterfly monster. Surely you remember that?”
At those words, the fog clouding my mind finally lifted.
I immediately grabbed Radi’s shoulder and cried out.
“That person?! Where is the person who saved us?!”
“Calm down…! I was just about to take you to meet them anyway. …How’s your body feeling?”
“Ah… now that you mention it.”
I quickly felt my body and noticed something strange.
「The [Parasitic Seed] that the Flower Queen planted in you has entered a dormant phase!」
「The seed will soon begin extending its roots again. You must find a solution urgently to survive!」
「Due to your weakened body, your strength has decreased slightly. Removing the seed should restore your original stats.」
‘Damn it….’
In Belheim, parasitic curses are particularly difficult to handle.
With so many varieties, each requires a different removal method, and reckless intervention could make things worse.
I needed to find a way to extract this from my body as soon as possible.
Feeling a headache coming on, I spoke.
“First… let’s go meet the person who saved us. How many days have passed since I collapsed?”
“Well… you were unconscious for about a day or two. You had such a high fever, I was really worried.”
“Unconscious for two whole days….”
That meant nearly ten days had passed since leaving the Royal Capital, so by now Malton and Karen must be in absolute chaos.
I moved along with Radi.
At the edge of the town, we rode a wooden lift upward, and a small house came into view.
Radi, who seemed to have been here several times before, knocked, and a bright, cheerful voice called from inside.
“Oh, come on in∼.”
The moment I stepped through the door, I realized what I’d seen just before losing consciousness was no illusion.
A Leopard Humanoid with pale skin.
Round leopard ears perked above her short blonde hair, and the leopard-spotted tail at her waist swayed cheerfully with her light movements.
She appeared to be around the same age as Radi, though a humanoid’s age is difficult to gauge by appearance alone.
‘I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before…’
She smiled brightly and extended her hand.
“Finally awake? Nice to meet you! I’m Nia Arje! Just call me Nia!”
“…I’m Doran. Thank you for saving us.”
“Don’t mention it! It was the natural thing to do!”
The moment I heard her name, I realized the source of that familiar feeling.
[Nia Arje]
‘What in the world is this person doing here?’
Like Malton, one of the named NPCs of Belheim.
A combat member of a large guild where A-rank Adventurers gathered, a figure whose martial prowess was beyond reproach.
She shouldn’t be the type to seclude herself in the heart of this Primordial Forest….
‘Could it be… that this is a past timeline, before she even joined the guild?’
This was two to three years before the Belheim I had played. If I assumed that she later left this Great Water Desert and settled in the city, the pieces fit together.
But the status window had clearly referred to this person as an ‘old comrade’….
I shook her hand as if meeting her for the first time, then naturally opened my mouth.
“I have many questions, but… how did you manage to find us in that Dense Primeval Forest?”
“Oh, there was a fire somewhere in this forest, and I was investigating it! But then suddenly I heard a sharp whistling sound from somewhere, right? So I just ran toward it, and when I got there, you guys were being attacked by a swarm of illusion butterflies.”
“Haha… I see.”
The distance from that location to the Spider’s Nest was quite considerable.
The girl before me had covered that distance in a single breath.
‘Her physical abilities are extraordinary… truly a future A-rank Adventurer.’
“But how did you end up so deep in this forest? I heard a rough explanation from Radi, but we didn’t have time for a long conversation. Are you perhaps terribly directionally challenged?”
“Well… it’s a bit of a long story to explain….”
I explained in detail the circumstances of how I had been abducted by Lenar, Queen of Flowers, and brought to this place.
When I finished my story, Nia stuck out her tongue and shuddered.
“Ugh… you got caught by a nasty one. You really have terrible luck.”
“…Do you know of the Flower Queen?”
“Of course! Anyone in this forest knows about that wicked spirit? She interferes every time we forage for wild vegetables or mushrooms! Though she can’t come inside this barrier.”
“Ah, since we’re on the subject… do you happen to know a way to remove parasitic seeds?”
“What? You got parasitized by that woman? Hmm….”
Nia examined my body from all angles with a serious expression, then suddenly exclaimed cheerfully.
“Sorry! I have no idea! The truth is, I don’t really know much about sorcery and that sort of thing!”
“I see….”
“But our Village Elder might know! Want to go meet them together?”
“I would greatly appreciate that.”
We left the room and followed Nia.
As I soothed Radi, whose pale face trembled like an aspen leaf while crossing the precarious Rope Bridge alongside Nia, who hummed cheerfully, various Forest Dwellers of different races and ages came into view.
They didn’t flee in panic like children, but most of them kept their distance and examined me and Radi with sharp, piercing eyes.
‘They’re extremely wary of outsiders.’
It was a natural reaction for a village so closed off that even a veteran like me had barely visited before.
And since I was the only human in this place, it was all the more so.
Thanks to Nia and Radi being together, it seemed we only received sharp, scrutinizing glances.
But Nia, who had been walking ahead, suddenly slowed her pace and turned to look at me.
“Hmm… but you said your name was Doran, right? Have you ever seen me before?”
“You mean just now?”
“Yeah, it’s strange—I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere… it feels like something from a really, really long time ago… but my memory’s fuzzy. Does anything come to mind?”
“I’m not entirely sure.”
I turned my gaze forward, letting the lie slip from my lips.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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