Free Web NovelChapter 27: Golden pear
After the tree had been cut down, they immediately got to work finishing it off. The branches had to be removed, the uneven portions of the trunk had to be cut away, and they had to make it suitable for rolling back, so that they could transport it near to the river. It was tiring work, but eventually they managed it.
By the time they finally started heading back, it was already nighttime.
In the way they had hunted a few more beasts and Oliver got another soul shard though he hadn’t absorbed it yet.
The moment Oliver saw the river, however, he realized that Ahreum had not spent the day sitting around doing nothing as a proper base camp had already been set up.
There was a fire pit, several prepared materials laid out neatly nearby, and what looked to be the beginnings of boat-making equipment scattered around the area.
’Damn... she is actually serious about this.’
Goldie was sitting beside Ahreum as well. The moment the squirrel spotted him, it immediately climbed onto his head and started moving around excitedly.
It was careful to not do this in front of others, but the moment there was enough distance between Oliver and the rest of the crew, he pointed into the distance, then at Oliver, then back into the distance again while making increasingly dramatic gestures.
Oliver watched the performance for several seconds and then sighed.
’You know, one day I’m going to need subtitles for you.’
Still, it wasn’t hard to understand the general idea.
Goldie wanted to show him something.
Unfortunately, it was already late and so, Oliver decided against it.
"We will go tomorrow."
Goldie immediately puffed up in annoyance.
"Tomorrow," Oliver repeated.
The squirrel looked deeply offended but eventually accepted the decision.
The night passed quietly after that. They slept in shifts to maximize safety, and thankfully no beasts attacked the camp. Before long, darkness gave way to the first light of dawn.
As soon as morning arrived, Ahreum immediately got to work.
Oliver wasn’t even sure if she had fully woken up before starting. One moment she was sleeping and the next she was already inspecting the trunk and arranging materials around it.
Theo and Korre quickly joined her.
Oliver watched them work for a few moments and then he looked at Goldie and an idea immediately formed in his head.
Pointing at the squirrel, he casually said,
"I’ll go walk Goldie."
Korre looked up from her work and immediately gave a cheeky smile.
"Since when do squirrels need walking?"
Oliver’s expression didn’t change a shade as he lied,
"Since this one. He’s quite different, you know."
Korre’s smile widened.
It was very obvious that she thought he was just trying to avoid hard labor.
To be fair...she wasn’t completely wrong.
Ahreum didn’t even bother looking up from her work as though she either didn’t care or had already expected this from him.
A few minutes later, Oliver and Goldie were finally away from the camp.
The moment they were out of sight, Oliver crossed his arms and looked up at the squirrel sitting on his head.
"Alright."
Goldie immediately became excited and Oliver sighed.
"So what exactly is it that you wanted to show me, hmm?"
The green squirrel immediately pointed in one direction.
Before following Goldie any further, Oliver suddenly remembered something.
"Wait a second."
Goldie tilted his head in confusion.
Oliver reached into his pocket and took out an essence shard.
It was the one he had obtained last night. Then he remembered that he still hadn’t absorbed the shard from the dragonfly beast either.
’Well... no point carrying them around forever.’
He sat down on a nearby rock and began absorbing the first shard.
The familiar sensation immediately spread through his body as the shard gradually dissolved into particles of light before flowing into him.
After finishing with the first one, he immediately moved on to the second.
[1 Essence Shard absorbed]
[1 Essence Shard absorbed]
[Essence Shards: 10/500]
"Alright."
Goldie immediately perked up.
"Now you can show me whatever was apparently so important."
Goldie took him much deeper into the pear orchard, though this time in a slightly different direction than the one Oliver had explored before. After walking for around an hour, they finally reached their destination.
At first, Oliver was confused as it was another pear tree.
Then he looked closer and figured that this tree was different.
Its bark carried a faint golden hue, and its leaves seemed brighter than those of the surrounding trees. More importantly, while the other pear trees were covered in fruit, this one had only a single pear hanging from one of its branches.
A single golden pear which almost seemed to glow under the sunlight.
Then Oliver noticed that there were beasts around it.
Not one, not two.
Five.
They sat in different corners of the forest surrounding the tree, each keeping its distance from the others and yet none of them were fighting. They simply waited, their attention fixed entirely on the golden fruit.
Oddly enough, they didn’t seem to care about Oliver or Goldie at all.
As long as he stayed far enough away, they paid him no attention.
Oliver immediately crouched behind a nearby tree and looked toward Goldie.
"That fruit is why we’re here?"
Goldie immediately nodded and then looked at him expectantly.
Oliver just gulped as he turned his gaze back towards the beasts.
One of them was a giant serpent covered in spikes from head to tail. Another looked like an enormous bulldog with muscles bulging beneath its hide. The remaining beasts were insect-type creatures, but unlike the wasps and dragonflies he had fought before, these looked far more dangerous.
Just from looking at them, Oliver could tell one thing.
None of them even remotely, looked like Feral-ranked beasts.
He slowly turned back toward Goldie.
"Mate... do you want to get me killed?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Goldie simply looked at him before those familiar stars appeared in his eyes again.
Oliver felt his eye twitch as he still had absolutely no idea how the little troublemaker kept making those stars appear.
Unfortunately, there was a more pressing issue.
Looking back toward the fruit, Oliver asked,
"So how long will it take to ripen?"
He had thought about it for a moment and the only reason those beasts hadn’t already fought over the fruit had to be because it wasn’t ready yet.
Goldie immediately scratched something into the dirt with his paw.
A number appeared.
It was a ’4’.
Oliver stared at it and asked,
"Four days?"
Goldie nodded and Oliver fell silent as his eyes moved from the fruit to the surrounding beasts and then back to the fruit again.
’Four days...’
That complicated things.
He was fairly certain Ahreum wouldn’t need four whole days to finish the boat which meant they would probably leave before the fruit ripened.
His gaze lingered on the golden pear for several more moments.
’We need to time this right.’
Because one thing was obvious.
Whatever that fruit was, it was valuable enough for five powerful beasts to sit around and guard it for days.
And that usually meant it was valuable enough to risk your life for.
