The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 34

They had gathered a decent amount of firewood. It was quite a lot—enough to last them for nearly two weeks.

The air was chilly, but all that movement had kept Jade warm. He picked up the muffler he’d set aside before chopping wood and wrapped it around Ian.

Truthfully, it was embarrassing to even call it a muffler, seeing as he’d just cut up an old bedsheet, folded it, and stitched it together. But what did it matter? Even if it looked sketchy, warmth was what counted.

“There you go, Ian. Wear this.”

“I don’t ne—!”

Jade cut him off by wrapping the muffler right over his mouth. Unable to finish his sentence, Ian shot him a sharp glare. Even though those jewel-like eyes were stunning when he was angry, they didn’t have much of an effect on Jade.

“Since we’re already out, maybe we should find something to eat?”

Jade scratched his chin as he looked at the empty space in the sack. It felt like a waste to come all the way to the forest and not find anything.

However, having Ian with him made things tricky. To use his skills, he had to open the system window and click the activation button.

“Oh?! What’s that over there? Is it a rabbit?!”

“What?”

After waiting for his chance and putting on the performance of a lifetime, Jade hit the skill activation button while Ian’s gaze was fixed elsewhere. He’d actually intended to press “Identify Poisonous Mushrooms,” but in his haste, he accidentally activated the root vegetable skill instead.

[ >> Unique Skill << ]

Lv 1. “Go for it, Root Vegetables!” activated.

As the skill came to life, arrows appeared that were visible only to Jade’s eyes.

Well, whatever. Whether it was mushrooms or root vegetables, anything was fine. Jade pointed in the direction of the arrow and continued his shameless acting.

“Hmm, shall we head that way? It looks sunny; maybe there’s something there?”

“…Over there?”

Ian asked dubiously. It was no wonder—the spot Jade pointed to was a shady patch that didn’t see a wink of sunlight.

Moreover, there were no trees nearby, just a desolate stretch of ground. Even animals would likely skip right over a place like that.

“It looks like there’s nothing there.”

“Haha, you never know. Since no one goes there, there might be food left over.”

“……”

“The darkest place is right under the lamp—or the candle, or whatever.”

Jade marched forward confidently. After a few paces, the arrow began pointing straight at the ground.

Using the hand hoe he’d brought along, Jade began to gently clear away the snow and dirt. It wasn’t long before the blade hit something hard beneath the surface.

“Huh? A pumpkin?!”

“Isn’t that… a rock?”

Jade pulled the object out and shook off the dirt. Just as Ian said, it was a bit strange for a pumpkin. The shape was similar to a kabocha squash, but the surface was grey, making it look exactly like a stone. Most importantly, pumpkins aren’t exactly root vegetables.

[ >> Item << ]

“Old Snow Pumpkin”

※ A somewhat old and tired pumpkin. The inside is white and edible.

Neither the name nor the description was normal. “Old and tired”—how rude to a pumpkin.

Furthermore, if it was going to be an “old” pumpkin, it should at least be big; instead, it was smaller than a kabocha, yet harder and heavier. It seemed this crop, like the shade carrots, existed only within this world.

Jade narrowed his eyes at the pumpkin. Usually, pumpkins grow on vines and hang like fruit, but these were buried in the soil, huddled together in a group of three. Jade dug them all out and tucked them into his sack.

“Hmm.”

However, even after stowing the pumpkins, the skill’s arrow didn’t disappear. It seemed these pumpkins weren’t the “root vegetables” the skill was talking about.

The Old Snow Pumpkins felt like a lucky bonus. Getting two types of ingredients at once was a total windfall.

“Shall we dig around some more? I have a really good feeling about this area.”

“……”

Jade began to scavenge the area centered around where the pumpkins had been. But they didn’t appear as quickly as the first find. He started to get anxious. It would have been fine if he were alone, but he was worried Ian might catch a cold from being out in the air too long. Just as he was scouring the perimeter…

“I think this is edible too.”

Ian pointed a finger at a spot on the ground. It was one of the areas Jade had already turned over. Jade whipped around.

“Where?!”

For a split second, Ian saw a crazed glint in Jade’s eyes. When it came to household management, Jade was terrifyingly serious.

“Whoa! We found it!”

Where Ian was pointing, there was a thin, long, earth-colored crop. Because the color was so similar to the soil, Jade had missed it in his rush.

Jade carefully dug around it and pulled the new ingredient up. He looked it over, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Ian seemed equally confused, tilting his head at his side.

[ >> Item << ]

“Earthworm Lotus Root”

※ Somewhat thin and long. Edible.

The system window popped up to clear the mystery. After confirming the name, Jade mouthed a silent “Ew.” If they were going to make it edible, why couldn’t they give it an appetizing name? Every name so far was a total appetite killer.

He didn’t exactly want to eat something associated with earthworms. But did the name really matter? The “edible” part was what counted.

True to its name, the Earthworm Lotus Root was different from the standard lotus roots Jade knew. It was long and thin, like a burdock root.

He snapped the root in half to show Ian. The inside was full of small holes, just like a regular lotus root.

“I think it’s a lotus root. It’s a pretty tasty ingredient.”

“I’ve never seen it before…”

Ian seemed unfamiliar with the ingredient. Come to think of it, the things he dug up in this forest were a bit “Korean” in nature, even if their appearances were bizarre.

Was it because a Korean had made this game? Potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins were one thing, but not many countries actually ate lotus root.

Plus, lotus roots are the roots of the lotus flower. Looking closely, he could see a few withered flower stalks next to where he’d dug.

‘What a mess.’

They’d put so much effort into the character designs, yet other parts of the world-building felt a bit sloppy.

“Let’s head back now. The sack is nice and full.”

“……”

In any case, with the lotus roots added to the bag, Jade’s heart felt full as well. Feeling good, he reached out a hand to Ian, but as expected, the boy didn’t take it.

There were tree roots poking out from under the snow, so it would have been better to hold on, but Ian just shoved both hands into his pockets. Fortunately, he didn’t trip. Thinking about it, Ian never caused trouble or carelessly tripped like other kids his age. His movements were always composed. Perhaps this was the “dignity” of a child from a noble house.

“It’ll be full-blown spring in just a few days.”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been down to the village?”

“No.”

The two shared short, intermittent bits of conversation as they walked. Between chopping wood and finding crops, time had flown by. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sunlight filtering through the branches was growing weaker.

Crunch, crunch.

The sound of their footsteps in the snow followed a steady rhythm. Jade slowed his pace to match Ian’s.

“Ian?”

It happened then. Ian’s footsteps suddenly came to a dead halt. Maybe he was tired from walking so much? Jade turned around, intending to offer him a piggyback ride.

But something was wrong. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but the air had changed. The cold wind was still blowing, but a different kind of chill was crawling up his spine.

Ian pressed himself right up against Jade’s side. Since Ian usually maintained a strict distance and disliked physical contact, this was alarming. Something was definitely off.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

“Be quiet,” Ian whispered.

He scanned the surroundings carefully. Jade followed suit. It wasn’t just the air; the scenery of the forest looked subtly different from when they had first entered.

“Ian, over there…”

“I know.”

Jade spotted something flickering between the trees. Eyes. White pupils. There were definitely other beings here besides him and Ian.

He felt a skin-crawling gaze. He thought he could see shapes, but nothing was coming into clear focus.

“Grrrrr…”

A low growl emanated from the direction of the gaze. It sounded like the wind, but the wind wasn’t blowing. Jade slowly gripped his axe. The sack swung heavily on his back.

“Haaa… huff…”

The sound of an animal’s breathing echoed in his ears. Something was breathing. Low, ragged, and threatening.

Jade looked the other way. There was something between the trees there as well. Sunlight pierced through the dense forest canopy, and the blurry shapes began to read more clearly.

“That’s…”

At first, he thought it was mist. White, blurry forms wavered like halos of light. The shapes bled out from the shadows, moving as if floating through the air, gradually becoming more distinct.

Beasts with lowered heads and bared teeth. They were wolves. No—they were things in the shape of wolves.

They looked like wolves, but their bodies were semi-transparent, and parts of them overlapping with the tree shadows were invisible. Their forms only appeared where the sunlight hit. The outlines were faint, but the way they stood on four legs was unmistakably lupine.

Pale white eyes glowed eerily. Those eyes were locked onto Jade and Ian.

Spring. Right, it was the beginning of spring. The Elloban Forest was a place where monsters and magical beasts lived in droves, and spring was the time when all life woke up. Seedlings, fruit… and monsters.

[ >> Warning << ]

Appearance of “Shadow Wolves”

A notification popped up on the system window. The edges of the screen turned blood-red. Jade hurriedly looked around. A pack of Shadow Wolves was surrounding him and Ian.

[ >> Warning << ]

[ >> Warning << ]

[ >> Warning << ]

The system window began flashing warning messages frantically.