chapter 36
36 – Waterworks (1)
After escaping the crocodile, Chester and Monia continued their search across the river.
“Ugh!”
“Ouch!”
The great feature of the river is that there are many tall plants.
Unlike the other side where there were many thick and dense trees, there were also many thin and long trees.
And all of those plants are so tough and sharp that, if you don’t know Chester in his pants, Monia’s legs would often get hurt while walking.
The grass cuts the skin, the bark is rough, and the sunlight stings.
It wasn’t like this just after crossing the river, but after walking for a while, the environment across the river began to reveal its true colors.
“Damn it. A knife would be better.”
“How do I do it?”
“First of all, let’s protect Monia’s four legs.”
Chester untied the barks he had woven into the basket and tied them to Monia’s leg like a bandage.
After protecting Monia’s leg in such a hurry, it starts moving again.
across the river.
It was only across the river, but a lot of things were changing as if someone had made a distinction.
What surprised them the most was that there were many flying creatures.
“Wow!”
“Hick!”
From tree to tree, lizards spread their wings and fly.
“What is that?!”
“A bird, a bird?”
“No, no way.”
The lizard was flying from tree to tree, eating flying insects.
“… … .”
“… … .”
Chester looked at the thick grass that stretched across the valley.
‘Did I adapt to live by avoiding the grass?’
But a lizard flying between trees?
Chester was bewildered, but had other ideas.
‘Can I eat that?’
In the end, that’s what matters most.
Chester hooked a pebble to the catapult and spun it to catch the lizard.
I was quietly aiming at the lizard, but suddenly the lizard started flying in the sky.
“Oops!”
Chester hurriedly checked the lizard’s flight path and fired the catapult, and the flying stone hit the lizard.
Right.
The beaten lizard spun in the air before falling and getting caught in strong grass.
“Five.”
“Wow.”
Chester strode with his legs high, trampling the grass.
Monia also followed the path that Chester had made by trampling the grass.
How far did you get close to the lizard?
Suddenly, the surrounding grass seemed to shake, and then small rodents appeared.
It was a small and light rodent that did not break the grass even if it climbed on it.
When the rodents wanted to get close to the lizard, they began to bite and break the surrounding grass, weaving the strong weeds together and wrapping them around the lizard.
In this way, the rodents had a habit of catching raw animals or insects accidentally dropped on the grass and catching them on the strong grass, then rolling them up and waiting until they died before eating them.
“… … .”
“… … .”
After weaving the lizard carcass into a cocoon, they disappeared again under the grass.
“What did you do with that?”
“… … Could it have been storing food?”
Chester tore off the grass cocoon with a stone knife and took out the lizard carcass inside.
“Look at this.”
While examining the lizard, Chester noticed that there was a thin membrane between the lizard’s front and hind legs.
“What is that?”
“Well. It looks like bat wings. Did you fly through the sky with this?”
Chester grabbed the lizard’s skin and fluttered.
“Its legs are longer than normal lizards. Probably, when jumping from a tree, it spreads its legs and spreads the curtain to fly.”
“Hey… . Hey, can people fly?”
“yes? Well?”
“When I was at the academy, there was talk of scholars researching how to fly.”
Chester showed off the lizard’s excessively slender limbs.
“The most important thing when flying in the sky is to be light. Birds have hollow bones, and look at this lizard.”
When the lizard is laid on the palm of the hand, the skin of the stomach fits snugly and the body flattens.
“You don’t have anything in your body?”
“Iknow, right.”
“Humans and creatures that can fly have very different body structures.”
“Then is it impossible for humans to fly?”
“Well. That’s more important than that.”
Can you eat him or not?
“The body is nothing, but the tail has some flesh.”
But the tail was too thin. It’s not worth looking for and eating.
Chester decided to just ignore the lizard the next time he saw it, but he cut off the tail and kept it.
“Are you going to bake?”
“yes.”
Monia’s expression doesn’t get better when she says she’s going to eat it.
“Why.”
“I don’t like to eat. More than that, your diet has been enriched at best, so why are you eating something that doesn’t taste good?”
“It is rich.”
After such a shocking encounter with a flying lizard, the two of them went around looking for a tree where resin comes out again.
A tree from which resin comes. That is, conifers.
“Didn’t you say it was a tree whose leaves look like needles?”
“yes.”
“Is there really such a thing?”
“there is.”
How much longer did they walk until the grass was higher than their waists, so Chester borrowed a club from Monia.
Monia’s stick-like stick was laid aside and held firmly, and she pushed it forward to push the grass straight down while walking.
“Okay, that’s a bit comfortable.”
But it was only a little bit.
Walking through the tough grass was like walking waist-deep in water.
There are no trees to block the sunlight, so sweat flows.
“I can’t.”
The two decided to find a suitable tree and take a break in the shade, and each of them drank water while leaning against the tree.
The entrance to the water tank was blocked by a thick leaf tied with a string, so after untying the string and removing the leaves, drink the water as it is.
It was so hot that a bottle of water was poured straight over my head and wet my face.
“Monia, your face is red.”
“And Chester.”
“yes?”
“Yes.”
“Right.”
Chester put the empty bucket in the basket and looked at the tree he leaned against.
“… … .”
And seeing the string that tied the mouth of the water bottle, Chester immediately began to peel the bark of the tree.
After peeling the skin into a slightly elongated rectangle, make a small hole in the center of each elongated side and tie a string.
The tree bark made in this way was covered over the head, and the strings attached to the left and right were tied under the chin to fix it.
Then the long bark covered his head to shade his face, and Chester, feeling a little better, nodded in satisfaction.
Monia quickly followed Chester.
The two men and women in bark hats continued walking in search of conifers.
“Anyway, that’s great.”
“yes? what?”
“With more or less trees, just one… It makes a difference.”
“Ahh. Maybe it’s because the sun shines well, so there’s less humidity here.”
Chester glanced at the trees from under the shade.
Then, whenever there was a tree he saw for the first time, he approached it, peeled it, and scratched it to see if it produced resin.
‘In fact, conifers grow well in cold environments.’
Will there be conifers in this hot place?
‘There will be.’
After settling in, Chester heard many stories from hunters who came to visit his father.
It is said that there is a creature called a camel.
It is said that this creature born in a cold region is surprisingly successful in adapting and surviving in the hot, deadly land of the desert.
It is said to be an essential means of transportation for those traveling across the desert.
polar regions and deserts.
Since the same organism exists in two different environments, it was believed that coniferous trees that grow in hot regions can be found.
how long did it take
The two finally moved out of the sparsely wooded area and into a heavily wooded area again.
“Aww!”
“Ahh!!”
I didn’t find water or anything, but just being able to walk away from the scorching sun felt like a blessing.
“It’s the first time I’ve felt the sun terribly.”
“flaw. If you said that in the kingdom, you would have been executed for contempt of the royal family.”
The symbols of the royal family are the sun and the lion.
“huh. I don’t know. A country like that.”
“ha ha ha. That’s right.”
Chester wiped the sweat from his face with the palm of his hand.
No matter how much he sweated, the sweat he stole was pooling in his palms.
“I’m going crazy.”
Although he entered the shade, his body, which had been heated up, still blew away the heat, and as he entered the forest, it became damp again, making it difficult to even breathe in the heat.
“I think I will die.”
“Yeah.”
Speaking, Chester looked at Monia.
‘He followed me well.’
Over the past month, Monia’s stamina has grown as she has been walking around the forest without a day off.
I don’t know about his strength, but his stamina wasn’t too bad.
‘Good.’
But I never thought that Chester would endure this hard march to the end and follow him.
It was more than expected.
‘great.’
The two of them sat down where a small river flowed and sipped the water they had brought to replenish the lost moisture.
“Hey, do I have to go through that again on my way back?”
“… … Let’s not think about that now.”
“Do I have to go through so much trouble to build a waterway… … .”
“Whoa.”
Chester was also skeptical as he suffered from the heat, but he told Monia.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Because it was exposed without trees, it must have warmed up faster than other places.”
“Yes.”
“That means, where we are, you never know when it will get as hot as it does.”
“Hick. I-I can’t live! I can’t live like that!”
“Me too.”
So, you have to wait for the heat to pass and be able to endure it.
“You have to make an aqueduct. Otherwise, you would have to go to fetch water in the heat every day.”
“Hick! Let’s make it! please! To walk outside in this heat! Crazy!”
Chester laughed at Monia, who jumped up with enthusiasm again, and pushed herself up.
“Okay, let’s keep going.”
The really fortunate thing was that this hardship was not without any gains.
Chester, who barely found the conifers, filled the conifers with resin that day, packed them up, and went home.
And the next day, the two started full-scale waterway construction.
By the way, I didn’t eat the lizard’s tail and threw it away because I thought it would go bad quickly in the heat.