I took Tom with me and strode into the forest. Then I activated Skillful Job Change from Jack of All Trades.
Leopin
Job: Woodworker → Mapper
Job Skills
Discovery
Find hidden paths.
Flat Map Making
Create a flat map.
Perfect Memory
Memorize a landscape perfectly after seeing it once. If you enter combat, the memory up to that point is lost.
I used this forest for food and materials, so it was already like my own yard. Looking at it from above, as someone making a map, I found several new things.
"Oh. There's an animal trail in the brush. I come through here all the time and never noticed. What's down there...?"
The trail, barely wide enough for me alone, branched again and again. I took one at random and found a rabbit nest, the young ones playing inside.
I did not want to scare them, so I quietly took another path. The trails were complicated, almost a maze, but there were unexpected finds.
Partway along, in a dark spot where the trees had fallen over each other, I found a flower half sunk into the ground.
"This might be night-claw grass...!"
Night-Claw Grass
Quantity: 1
Quality Level: 16 (Material Level 16)
Wild night-claw grass. It grows in dark forest and stays underground during the day. Can be used as a material for alchemy and herbal medicine.
"Night-claw grass doesn't come out of the ground until night. Finding it in the daytime is lucky."
It was one of the materials Akemi had asked me for, so I gathered it at once. Farther down the trail, both sides of the brush were stained a burning red.
"Dangerous. Burn-grass growing in a place like this..."
Burn-Grass
Quantity: 1
Quality Level: 7 (Material Level 7)
Wild burn-grass. Bare skin that touches it breaks out as if burned. Can be used as a material for alchemy and herbal medicine.
"If I had walked through here without knowing plants, that would have been bad. Still, another requested item."
I pulled my hands into my coat sleeves and yanked the burn-grass without touching it directly. I pocketed it carefully. A little farther on, I came out somewhere I knew.
"Oh, the pond. If I take the shortest line, this is much faster than the route through the mushroom field. Found a shortcut."
I recalled the route I had taken and sketched the rough shape on the clipboard first.
Thanks to Perfect Memory, the path I had walked was clear. All that was left was to put it on paper with Flat Map Making.
"All right. A rough map as far as the pond. Rare material spots, and the shortcut marked. Fill in the smaller animal trails and it's done. Feels like a treasure hunt. This is fun."
"Then let us have some fun too."
Several boys came from the direction of the mushroom field and called out. They were all in leather armor, so they looked like warrior-type combat jobs.
I did not know them, but they were oddly familiar.
"We came looking for mushrooms, but we can't tell which ones are edible."
"Mind tasting the ones we picked?"
"What do you want?"
"Oh? What's with the attitude? We're an upper class, you know? To the bottom-ranked Special Training Class, we're gods."
"Or have you got something on us, like with Lady Monaka and Lady Kotone? Then show it. Huh?"
This was not the first time someone had picked a fight for no reason, but it felt worse than usual. The wanted posters were probably going around the residential district.
"I don't like this guy's attitude! A dropout, acting like he can do everything alone!"
"Without your drugs, you can't do anything!"
"Let's beat him down and teach him his place!"
"Yeah, and after that we force the mushrooms down his throat!"
"Right! Then we'll know which mushrooms are edible, and Lady Monaka and Lady Kotone will be pleased. Two birds, one stone!"
I hesitated.
If I class-changed to a combat job, I would not fall behind them. But the moment I fought, Perfect Memory would cut out. I would forget the layout of the trails I had just walked.
"Hmm. Still, I can't be picky about this..."
"What are you muttering about!"
"Too late to apologize now!"
"Come on, cry for us!"
The boys raised their fists and came at me. I thought this was it. Just before they hit me, they were blown backward, as if a blast had caught them.
Their eyes were fixed around my thigh. Tom, the black panther, had slipped out of my shadow and was growling low.
Right. I had a reliable bodyguard. The boys lost the strength in their legs and scrambled backward, feet kicking.
"A-a black panther!?"
"The story about him keeping a black panther was true!?"
"When I heard the rumor I thought it was just a big black cat...!"
"N-no way it was the real thing...!"
"D-don't panic! This is a hallucination he's showing us! If we know that, there's nothing to be scared of!"
Tom only opened his mouth wide, and the boys screamed as if their throats had been torn out.
"Run! Run!"
They fled on all fours, desperate. I called after them.
"Hey, the pond is behind you, watch out..."
A moment later several splashes shot up.
"Help! Help me!"
"Wh-why!? I'm sinking, I'm sinking!"
"I'm gonna drown! I'm gonna drown!"
The boys flailed, bobbing and sinking.
"Good grief. They don't know how to swim in full gear."
I could have left them. The animals that had come to the pond to drink looked annoyed.
"I might drink this water myself if it comes to it. I don't want it dirtied any more than this."
I threw them a thick nearby branch in place of a rescue rope.