Chapter 76: The Pleasure of Living (2)

If you are human, you inevitably live a hard life.

Even if someone appears to be at the very top, even if they are rich and seem unconcerned about money, even if they look like they have everything.

Every person carries their own hardships, which is why they need some way to ease their heart while living.

That is why the small pleasures of life exist. Otherwise, humanity would never have developed “entertainment.”

In that sense, before falling into the Forest of Four Seasons, my pleasures were pretty ordinary.

Working all day and then playing a game with a friend after getting off work.

Or gathering together on a day off to have some drinks.

Because of various circumstances, I couldn’t attend university, but even so, I still had those small pleasures.

“Fuuu……”

And now, after ending up here again.

I think from today onward, my pleasure in life will be smoking—in other words, tobacco.

As I took a deep drag, a refreshing aroma penetrated deep into my lungs.

As if it were putting an end to an exhausting day, the smoke slowly rose and calmed my mind.

‘…So good.’

I didn’t smoke the cigar all the way to the end.

Because I had promised my late father that I would never smoke in my entire life.

But this hellish environment ended up breaking even that promise.

Still, it wasn’t bad. At least my mind felt at peace.

‘Father, up there in heaven. Please forgive this disobedient son for failing to keep his promise.’

Just this once, please understand. I’m truly living a very hard life.

Maybe because I was smoking something I had never tried before, I was getting sentimental.

I let out a small laugh.

‘Life really is bitter.’

If I also had alcohol, it would be perfect. But I held myself back.

I felt that if I started drinking too, I’d end up becoming an alcoholic on DwarfPassingBy’s level.

Besides, I still had things to do, so alcohol had to remain a secondary priority.

And above all, if I got drunk and something attacked me, I’d be finished. Smoking was better.

‘First I should trade with the dwarf.’

I opened the wooden box the cigars came in. I needed to use the ashtray.

After lightly tapping the cigar over the ashtray, I cut off the tip with the dagger.

Cigars aren’t something you use only once.

I have a friend obsessed with tobacco, so I at least knew things like that.

‘Never thought what he taught me would end up being useful.’

Well, useful is useful.

With my mind much clearer than before, I connected to the gallery though not immediately.

Because first I had to deal with the crabs writhing inside the backpack.

If you insert the dagger into the crab’s mouth and twist it like a key, it dies.

If I traded after that, there shouldn’t be any problems.

‘There wasn’t any issue with the fish because I cut off their heads, but with crabs, will this work?’

According to the gallery’s rules, living creatures cannot be traded.

That’s why until now I delivered the fish already partially prepared.

But even if you force open their mouths, crabs take a while to die.

Just in case, it seemed better to open their mouths first and put them in a container.

If I left them in a bucket of water, the innards would come out through the mouth and they would be easier to prepare.

Crack!

I forcefully twisted the crab’s mouth using the dagger.

As soon as I confirmed something brown was starting to come out of its mouth, I threw it into the container.

I repeated the exact same process with the other crab.

‘While they spit out blood and guts, I should ask the dwarf something.’

What was I going to ask him?

As I said before, I wanted to know how to properly care for a sword.

After all, he was a blacksmith. And a dwarf on top of that.

He was bound to have plenty of useful advice.

I glanced at the container where the crabs were before connecting to the gallery.

Title) Dwarf. Send me the trade in 20 minutes.

WildGrills

(Photo of the crabs inside the container)

These guys are going to take a while to die. In the meantime, give me some advice on taking care of a sword.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Ok. Though there’s no special secret to it either. With good oil, paper, and a whetstone, everything’s basically done hahaha.

ㄴWildGrills) Can’t you just give me all of that?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Not the whetstone because I need it myself, but I’ll give you a cheap version. Though that sword of yours is a legendary sword, so it probably maintains itself anyway.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What nonsense are you saying? My sword was forged with eternal iron, so it will never rust.

ㄴWildGrills) Ooooh;;

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) That’s only half true, so don’t get too confident. Precisely because it’s eternal iron, you need to take even better care of it.

ㄴWildGrills) So it really can rust?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Rust isn’t the problem. The problem is that if it breaks, repairing it is practically impossible. Even I would have to suffer for several days to fix it.

ㄴWildGrills) I’ll have to treat it like it’s my girlfriend;;

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Though it wounds my pride, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask that guy for help. The blacksmith who forged that sword has already returned to dust.

Of course I was going to take care of it.

Not doing so would be stupidity.

After finishing with Heavenly Demon’s sword, I moved on to ask about my next piece of equipment.

Not the golden shield, but the adamantite shield or whatever it was called. The one SunForEver gave me.

ㄴWildGrills) Then how should I take care of the shield?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Don’t take care of the shield. Doing that is a waste of time. Structurally, shields are meant to break sooner or later.

ㄴWildGrills) Even if it has adamantite or whatever?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Then the day that shield breaks, you die too;;

ㄴSunForEver) He’s saying exactly the same thing I told you. Engrave those words into your head.

ㄴWildGrills) Yeah.

After that, I asked in detail about other things I constantly used.

The crossbow, the axe, the arrows, and so on.

Though the answer for almost everything was the same as long as I oiled them properly, they wouldn’t break.

The crossbow was the only different one, because the string had to be replaced from time to time.

Though he said he could do it himself.

ㄴWildGrills) Can’t I replace it myself?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Stop talking nonsense and leave it to a professional.

ㄴWildGrills) Ok;;

And so we kept talking until the 20 minutes passed.

I looked at the container where the crabs were.

They weren’t moving at all.

It seemed they had already expelled all the blood and viscera.

Now all that remained was to trade them.

[WildGrills has registered an item for trade.]

[WildGrills: Here. These are the two crabs you wanted. Prepare them and eat them right away.]

[DwarfPassingBy: First I’m going to have them with alcohol hahaha. Wait a moment.]

[DwarfPassingBy has registered an item for trade.]

[DwarfPassingBy: These are maintenance tools and oil. It’s veeeeery high-quality oil, so don’t waste it.]

[WildGrills: Ok.]

[DwarfPassingBy: By the way, does eating crab also cause fever or something like that?]

[WildGrills: Nah. That doesn’t happen.]

The trade with the dwarf ended quickly.

I checked the items that arrived through the trade.

Last time they came inside a normal wooden box, but this time they were stored inside a toolbox.

Though the whetstones came separately.

And there were several different types too.

‘This one literally looks like a millstone standing upright.’

One worked by spinning, while the other had a rectangular shape.

I think it’ll be better to leave these things outside the cave instead of bringing them inside.

If the sharpening sounds wake Wonmo up, it’ll be pretty annoying.

‘And why is there so much of this oil?’

And it wasn’t even inside an ordinary bottle.

It literally looked like a liquor bottle.

Seeing that thick oil inside a brown alcohol bottle reminded me of something.

‘This feels just like when my mom stored soy sauce in Coca-Cola bottles.’

It was exactly that kind of feeling.

I don’t know if all dwarves are like this or if only DwarfPassingBy is out of his mind.

Still, he gave me quite a lot, so I had no reason to complain.

After that, I checked the oiled paper.

Looking closely, it didn’t seem like oiled paper at all, just regular paper.

He probably gave it to me so I could apply the oil myself.

‘Should I try it?’

Since I had received it, I decided to maintain the Sword of Heavenly Demon.

It’s not like I had anything better to do anyway.

Following the dwarf’s instructions, I slowly began cleaning the Sword of Heavenly Demon.

The sword of Heavenly Demon was a legendary sword capable of cutting through flesh, leather, and even bone effortlessly.

But no matter how legendary it was, the user was still a novice, so it was dirty all over.

And on top of that, I had defeated a Guardian in the morning and a pack of otters at noon.

‘And I didn’t maintain it after killing Mad Dog either.’

That was why the Sword of Heavenly Demon was pretty filthy.

If Heavenly Demon saw this, she would probably explode in rage.

Putting those useless thoughts aside, I began cleaning the blood and residue stuck to the blade.

First I had to apply oil to the sword, then gently wipe it using the paper.

“Ah, that hurts!”

Only to end up cutting my hand along with the paper.

The moment the paper touched the blade, it split cleanly apart.

I silently looked at my finger, from which tiny drops of blood had started dripping, and went to get the elixir.

‘I definitely need to be extremely careful with the edge.’

If I’m careless, I could even cut off my whole hand.

And that was while wearing the World Tree gloves.

Thanks to that, I got to confirm the regenerative abilities of the gloves, but I also realized just how absurdly broken the Sword of Heavenly Demon was.

‘I seriously have to treat it like it’s my girlfriend.’

And not just any girlfriend, but an extremely difficult one.

Not even the K2 I used during military service was this delicate.

I put all my effort into maintaining the Sword of Heavenly Demon.

The edge was so absurd that cleaning the sword was difficult, but somehow I managed in the end.

Though I had to sacrifice piles of paper in the process.

‘I guess I’ll get used to it little by little.’

I leaned the Sword of Heavenly Demon against the cave wall.

According to the dwarf, the ideal thing was to keep it somewhere ventilated and free of moisture.

‘I should oil the rest of the tools too.’

The shield, the dagger, the shovel, the axe, and the rest.

I applied oil to everything that could receive maintenance.

Someone might ask why I don’t simply buy new tools.

But the point was to prevent them from breaking exactly when I needed them the most.

‘And now that I’m done…’

I slowly turned my head to look at Sloth.

Sloth still had that signature relaxed expression on his face.

Swish—

When he noticed me staring at him, he tilted his head.

Even that movement was desperately slow.

But my attention was on something else.

“Sloth.”

“…….”

“Do you want me to maintain your claws?”

Sloth’s monstrous claws needed maintenance.

And it wasn’t a joke. I was being completely serious.

I owed my life several times over to those claws.

“Come here. It’ll be good for you too.”

“…….”

Sloth looked at me suspiciously for a moment, but then slowly approached.

While he came closer, I prepared the oil and paper.

‘Wait. For claws, should I file them before oiling them?’

I never had pets, so I had no idea.

And probably nobody in the world had ever maintained a sloth’s claws before.

While thinking about it, my gaze fell on the whetstones.

Sloth’s claws were sturdy enough to cut metal barrels.

Maybe a whetstone would be enough?

‘…No, impossible.’

The size difference was way too big.

And besides, Sloth’s claws were too close together.

After thinking about it for quite a while, I decided to ask the gallery.

After all, there were all kinds of people there. Surely someone would know about claw maintenance.

Title) Does anyone know how to take care of animal claws?

WildGrills

(Photo of Sloth’s monstrous claws)

I want to maintain his claws. Does anyone know what tools I should use?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) What monstrous claws. Maintaining them seems like a good idea.

ㄴWildGrills) Right now he’s my main combat force, so maintenance is mandatory.

ㄴSwordmaster) Is Sloth that strong?

ㄴWildGrills) He’s unbelievably fast. I can barely follow him with my eyes;;

ㄴI never thought I’d see someone maintaining a sloth’s claws hahaha.

ㄴDo sloth claws really look that terrifying?

ㄴWell, they have to climb trees, so I guess it makes sense.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Don’t ask me. I take care of tools, not animals.

ㄴWildGrills) What a shame.

ㄴSunForEver) Are you planning to cut the claws or sharpen them?

ㄴWildGrills) Sharpen them. I want to make them even sharper than they are now.

ㄴSunForEver) Then I can help you a little. I personally maintain my pet lion’s claws.

ㄴWildGrills) You have a lion?;;

ㄴSunForEver) What about it? They’re trendy in Setan. Though from my point of view, you raising a sloth is even weirder.

ㄴThat’s true too.

ㄴLions are still cats in the end hahaha.

ㄴDo lions also like boxes?

ㄴI think tigers do.

This time it was SunForEver who gave me advice.

According to him, the method of caring for claws varied depending on the type of animal.

Beasts like lions or tigers had blood vessels connected to their claws, so you had to be careful.

On the other hand, sloths didn’t have that problem, so I could work comfortably.

ㄴSunForEver) If the claws are too close together, just use sandpaper. It’ll be more convenient.

ㄴWildGrills) Don’t I need special tools?

ㄴSunForEver) You won’t be able to do it with tools. Use sandpaper.

In the end, I used sandpaper to maintain Sloth’s claws.

It seemed he also understood that I was maintaining them, because he calmly offered me his hands.

‘Though calling them hands when they’re claws feels strange.’

But they were the claws that had saved my life several times, so I worked carefully.

And to finish, I cleaned them thoroughly using paper soaked in oil.

Sloth silently observed his claws, now shinier and sharper than before.

Since all his expressions were practically the same, I couldn’t tell whether he liked them or not.

“Did you like it?”

“…….”

Nod, nod—

Even the way he nodded was absurdly slow.