Volume 2 - Chapter 16 - To Norman Kingdom

“Are you sure about this, Uncle Hank? Wouldn’t it be better if I stay and help organize?”

“Well, we thought it over a bit. If you have to do every little thing, you’d be occupied all the time and the organization in turn would become fragile.”

“Hmm… that’s true… if we are to expand, we’d need the ability to scale without us micromanaging everything… guess I’ll take this time to train a bit.”

“Go play with your friends, you haven’t logged in for a while anyways. Just help me gather everyone at that Academy of yours.”

“Hahaha… alright, guess I’ll do just that. Let me get some ingredients for din-”

“Nope, got someone else to deal with that already too, shoo.”

Hank waves Kun away as he continues to write in the ledger where all the vital notes about the training camp is kept.

* * * * *

*fuuuu*

“Alright guys, shift change!”

“““““Woo!”””””

Several dozen workers mill about in the open work area inside the cold, voluminous, limestone cavern as they start the shift change. Since the start of the Light season in Antarctica, mining has been going nonstop 24/7. With various minerals being extremely scarce, this is a highly lucrative business. A figure in a rough, ragged uniform approaches one of the few mobile structures within the cave.

“Hey, Bel! Isabel! Damn it…”

*ki-ko*

The figure climbs up the few steps of stairs hanging off the rectangular shaped, tread-type vehicle and enters into the monitoring station.

“Hey, Bel! Shift change!”

“Huh…? Oh hey, George. Ummm… can you do me a favour and check these values for me?”

“Get outta here already you, your shift’s done. Oh, and Andy and his crew are fine now, they said thanks for covering their asses and will be taking part of your work schedule until it’s all even, and then some.”

“Fine fine, but check this for me first, George.” Isabel’s unruly auburn hair is accompanied by a concerned expression.

“Alright… what’s wrong?”

The burly man with curly blond hair leans down onto the terminal where Isabel is at. He narrows his eyes upon seeing the monitors.

“That…”

“So I’m not seeing things…”

“Alright, I’ll let Engineering figure something out. Go take a proper rest, you’ve been OTing for almost a month already.”

“Damn it, we are going to have to dig another tunnel at this rate, urgh.”

The man shrugs his shoulders.

“It’s par for the course, but damn… nice catch Boss, we will avoid digging in that section for now and mark it for de-comp after the Dark season gets here. Can’t risk an explosion now can we? Now shooooooooooo and get to the Sun Room, it’s really nice there today.”

“Fiiiiinnnnneeeeee… but give me a report when I get back.” The pale looking woman with auburn hair gets up from the table and starts heading outside the small building.

“You got it, Boss. Remember, Sun Room!”

* * * * *

“Need a hand?” A black-haired young man on top of a white, furry blob looks down at a middle-aged man, that’s stumbling unsteadily on his feet, with a smile. Beside the young man is a man and woman, with eyes shining bright as they wave their greetings.

“Kun… I mean, Commander!” The man struggles to stay standing as he gives a salute. A look of disbelief, with grateful moist eyes, is directed at the mounted young man.

“At ease, we aren’t working at the moment, save it for the greenhorns.”

Kun has been spending the last few hours rounding up the 80 or so of the 98 instructors he had hired with Hank. A group of 6 would log in at once, allowing Kun and Hank to pick up 3 instructors at a time. Although the system allows new users to spawn near any given player, the range is random and can still be quite a distance away [T/N: As was the case with Gui]. To ensure maximum safety, Kun had asked Sekn to deploy his troops evenly within an area of 2 hours travel time by cadejo and safeguard any Immortals that approach them. Additionally, 1 to 2 of the more severely handicapped instructors were set to spawn with each group, thus no one would be harmed by any stray monsters.

Kun had originally planned to mentally prepare his hires, but Andrew - one of the first instructors hired, who happens to not be able to feel anything below his knees - convinced him otherwise. Saying that it would be a nice surprise and would negatively affect the hiring process since people would become too eager to join if they learn that their job would effectively negate their physical disabilities. He would know, he was over the moon when he first logged in and had to relearn how to walk without his crutches.

“You will have to, um, excuse me.” The man couldn’t handle it anymore and tears start falling from his face while he releases himself from the salute.

“No problem, Admak, take a minute. Just a question, you want to ride up top or inside?”

The man is about to retort by instinct before he realize that riding on top is now indeed a possibility, smiling like an idiot as he finds another meaning to “an itch on the soles of your feet is a good omen” [T/N: 足の裏が痒いのはいい前兆, I’m not sure if that’s singular or plural, went with plural since it sounds better even though both feet itching at the same time is weird and unlikely :P]. He gives a firm reply of “On top of course!” while wondering where’s the option for riding inside.

Sammy, without needing a command, suddenly starts deflating himself to the surprise of the man and the two passengers next to Kun.

* * * * *

“Woah! What’s happening here?!” Rick looks on at the scene of organized chaos as he stands at the entrance of the Academy’s main building. The newly flattened field that was formerly filled with craters is bustling with activity. Sekn is seated in front of a portable table in the center of the field with Echo, who is busy writing on a piece of vellum. On one side, squads mounted on cadejos stand in formation and a group of them would charge out when another group arrives from the road. On the other side, a group of people Rick hasn’t seen before is acting in a highly chaotic manner.

“Rick-sensei? The usual?” The bushy-tailed demihuman that always fetches the group snacks and drinks arrives with impeccable timing, albeit without Isnic this time. Her attire is sharp and clean, consisting of a casual-formal apparel of a frilly blouse in black and white and a pair of black trousers, this appearance along with her demeanor is starting to give her an aura of a butler.

“Ah, yes please, Mo’mo. What’s going on here?” [T/N: Mo’mo isn’t pronouned Momo, which would be peach in japanese. I will make a post in regards to the names at a later date as the editor pointed out that I should provide some explanations]

“Kun-sensei is retrieving the various instructors he’s bringing to the Academy, they are being gathered there.” The demihuman points at the group of people doing seemingly random actions, some are laying motionless on the ground, some are supporting individuals that are walking with stumbling steps, others are either flexing their limbs or patting various parts of their heads and there are a few that are practicing kihon [T/N: 基本 is the basics or fundamentals] and kumite [T/N: 組手 is often called sparring]. “Sekn-taisho is assisting him and also using this opportunity to perform some military exercises.” Giving him a slight bow, she disappears back inside the building.

“Oh, he’s doing that today…?” Scratching the top of his head with his left hand, he advances toward the field. He had received prior notice by both Kun and Bell of their respective plans, but he haven’t been paying much attention to the details. Since he’s technically the Headmaster of the Academy, Rick feels that he ought to at least greet Kun’s instructors, despite it being bothersome.

Giving Echo a wave, who nods in acknowledgement, the blonde youth exhales deeply with a *fuuu* before announcing his presence to the instructors. “Hello, various senseis, I’m Headmaster Rick of the Academy here. Good to have you here!” The various instructors immediately stop what they are doing as they stand at attention and give him a salute. A few of them struggle to stand upright, but manage to do so with some wobbling.

“Thank you, Rick-sama!”

“Um… I think I’m younger than you all, you can just call me Rick.”

“Negative, Sir! Rank is independent of age, Sir!” One of the middle-aged men, with chestnut hair and a burly chest, replies in a loud, deep voice. Others are also nodding in agreement, displaying their level of discipline and sense of values.

Getting somewhat used to this sense of dissonance from past experience, Rick just nods. “Then just call me Rick-sensei, as I am also a teacher here.”

“Understood, Sir!”

“I won’t be bothering you all then, do whatever it is that you were doing.”

“Thank you, Sir!”

Giving the group a nod, Rick heads toward the table where Sekn, Echo and their aides are. Upon him reaching it, Mo’mo appears with a tray and a portal stand, setting the former on the latter next to Rick. “You guys don’t hold back at all when you guys exercise, do you?”

Sekn gives him a wry smile. “It’s not often I get to exercise the troops thoroughly.” He silently gives Echo a kick under the table as he ends his sentence. Echo in return gives off a *geho* as he clears his throat.

“Um… Headmaster, I know the agreed upon time period isn’t here yet, but…” Echo pauses a bit and chews on his lips before resuming. “After being here a while, we’ve decided that we’d like to settle here permanently.”

“Okay.” Rick casually grabs a small bun topped with dried fruit, nuts, and honey from the tray and takes a bite.

“Quite a lot of my soldiers are happy here, a lot of them were farmers and craftsman in the first place, I’m sure they’d be-” Sekn gives him a sharp kick that causes even the table to jump, causing the ink bottle to rattle. Echo turns and looks at his commander with a frown.

“He said ‘Okay’.”

“Then I prepared that speech for noth- I mean, umm… thank you!” Pausing for a second. “Eh, would the others agree though?”

“Yep, we already talked about this in private.” The blonde youth quickly replies with a shrug while finishing the rest of the bun, causing everyone present to give him a look of surprise. “Just eh… get Isnic to help you guys, there shouldn’t be much change, but just in case, get her to help. We are going to be accepting students soon, we have a bunch of these military instructors here-” Rick jerks his thumb over his shoulder, “-and we will have a scholar helping us out too. So we eh… kind of need your help with construction and stuff, with proper payments of course.”

“But of course.” Sekn is all smiles with his reply, with similar expressions on the other demihumans present. Traveling on their own, and with the sparse news from the cadejos serving the Immortals, the demihumans have come to realize that they are a rarity in this new land. Every single demihuman aside from those from the Academy that they had seen or heard about, were all slaves in one form or another. Most of the news came from their various supply trips to Sardon and Feia, although slavery is prohibited in the region, slaves are still slaves even when they enter the various kingdoms. This caused Sekn quite a bit of headache since he needs to permanently settle his troop soon. The idea was to come to the Academy to use it as a base of operations and find a suitable place to search for a location to settle, it just turns out that the Academy is the best suitable place.

“!” Rick suddenly makes a shocked expression as he’s drinking his tea.

Everyone else tenses, fearing that he’d go back on his words.

“Damn! I just realized you guys don’t have the concept of sandwiches here! I need to tell this to Isnic or something…”

The group looks at each other in confusion, muttering “… sandwich?”

[T/N: Sandwich as we know it is a relatively recent invention. The type we are familar with only came about during the last two centuries or so -Earl of Sandwich as the originator-, it’s more customary to dip the bread into a potage, soup or some other liquid before consuming them. This is also why the “malt” bread sold by the village that got attack sold so well.

“MMmmmmmmmm, it’s good to be back.” Bell appears from behind Rick and grabs one of the buns from the tray.

Rick turns his upper body to look toward the origin of the familiar voice. “Oh, long time no see thunderthighs, you finally do-” Bell lightly tosses the bun back onto the tray before suddenly wrapping her arms around Rick’s torso and proceeds to german suplex him with a *gon*. Grabbing one of his ankles as she rolls back up and tangling it with her right leg while she tucks his second ankle underneath, before dropping back toward the ground in an Indian Deathlock [T/N: This drove me insane as the katakana was インディアン・デスロック, which I kept thinking as deathrock. I have no idea why I didn’t think to google the katakana and kept trying to google the english… I blame lack of sleep xP Oh right, Indian Deathlock is a painful submission move that stretches your calf and shin, there are a variety way of doing it apparently]

*guwa*

Rick, after losing his breath from the suplex, screams in pain as he flails his arms. After a few seconds, Bell releases her hold, gets up and proceeds to munch on the bun. The instructors, Sekn, Echo and the mounted demihumans can only stare at the sudden scene created by the felinoid in shocked silence as the blond youth continues to twitch on the ground and moan in pain.

Looking around her with another snack in her mouth, “vwat? uyu one ah beu uf mu tu?” [What? You want a piece of me too?] The demihumans shake their heads, seeing that, the instructors pretend they saw nothing and resume what they were doing.

Before the commotion can die down, a group of riders approaches from the only road into the Academy. At the same time, Till appears from the workshop area with a set of loose-fitting beige shirt and dark brown trousers while carrying a bag in front and another bag piled on top of her backpack. Next to her is a gray fox, with a small saddlebag strapped extremely close to its body, and Dosnak, carrying even more bags.

After what seems like a long time, the group of four is finally together again.

“Eh, what’s Rick-ni doing on the ground~?”

“Just leave him there. Ahhhhh, I really miss having something aside from the same crap in the canteen.” Bell casually grabs another snack and pours herself a cup of tea using Rick’s cup.

“Damn it, Bell. I’m not a stress ball you know.” Rick painfully gets up off the ground, flexing his legs to try and shake off the pain. “So what have you all been up to?”

Kun and his group dismount from a deflated Sammy, with Hank leading the six instructors toward the gathered group. Two of the six required some assistance to walk, but no one seems to mind. Stable-hands are already leading the 4 horses away while Sammy remains flat on the ground. The new arrivals give everyone a quick greeting before giving the blond youth a reply. “Eh, been trying to get this up and going.” Kun sweeps his left arm toward the group of people on the other side of the field.

“Work, work, work. Stupid people getting injured made me work overtime.” Bell takes a whiff of the tea in the cup before drinking it slowly before releasing a satisfied *aaaaahhh*.

“Been busy learning how to take over the world~” Till replies nonchalantly while putting the bags on the ground next to Sammy, with Dosnak’s help. “So are we ready to go? I wonder why Rick-ni’s quest is so weird~” She starts poking in the air, sharing the quest with both Bell and Kun.

“Eh? Right now? But I haven’t eaten enough yet.” Bell reaches for yet another piece of snack on the tray.

“Damn pig, always thinking of food.” Rick retorts while making his way away from the felinoid by hiding behind Till.

“Well, I’m good, are we good on supplies?”

“Don’t worry Kun-sensei, we packed all the essential items already, as well as rations and tools.” The gelatinous humanoid affirms while rearranging the bags. “Fliers from the ‘Messenger’ class and ‘Evasion’ class will also be joining us, for both escort and training.” His entire body wobble every now and then as he speaks, losing his humanoid form a few times. Gui is kneading at Dosnak’s foot from below, seemingly finding it fascinating. This draws some curious glances from the other side of the field before a sharp shout from a scarred, burly dwarf regains the instructors’ attention.

“Oh, is Gui going to be coming with us?”

“Why not~? Also, look at this cute body pack Dosnak and those uncles helped to make~”

Kun gives a shrug, “Remember not to cause too much trouble Gui, treat this like when we go hunting, okay?”

“Okay, brother.”

The group bid their farewells to the demihumans and wave their goodbyes to the instructors after Kun gave Hank some instructions. It took a little longer as Gui started panicking when Sammy starts rising up after being mounted, and to the laughter of everyone, Kun has to spend some time to convince Gui that staying inside Sammy is fine as well. Dosnak travelling inside of Sammy helped with the situation, since he’s weak to sunlight in the first place. After a few hiccups, the group finally starts making their way north through the [Forest of Illusions], ignoring the road to the south completely.

* * * * *

After exiting the [Forest of Illusions] by following the morning sun, the group crossed the cold river fed by the melted ice caps from the nearby mountains and reached the trading route used by merchants travelling from the Feian Plains. The group used this time to catch up and chat within a chatroom, with Bell snacking frequently. Aside from Kun, everyone was entertained by Gui due to the way it talks and its train of thoughts - of course, no one but Kun knows who Gui really is. With Till’s help controlling the wind and Sammy’s somewhat unique mode of motion that can ignore terrain, the group travels at a speed that would be envied by all traders. By early-afternoon, they managed to reach the borders of Lilyhelm.

“Okay, let’s set up camp a little further away from the road and away from the swamps.” Kun directs the white furry blob of a mount slightly to the west.

“Why away from the swamps?” The totally relaxed blond youth asked while still on his back.

“You get sick easily if you camp near the swamps, also it’s more dangerous in general since creatures from above and below can appear out of the blue.”

“Oh~ We should tell that to the kids later~”

“Ah, right…” Kun scratches his cheek uncomfortably, he actually forgot that he’s also supposed to be teaching the students. “Anyhow, let’s set up camp and hunt a bit before heading into town.”

“Oh! Hunt! Hunt! Let’s cook some rabbits!”

Rick gets up and looks at the fiery looking felinoid, and thinking better of it, decides to change his comment. “You and Bell will get along really well, Gui.”

“Yep.”
“Mmhmm~”

The aquamarine haired girl and the black-haired young man both nod in affirmation while agreeing.

Shortly after, Kun found a suitable spot for a campsite and closed the chatroom. Giving the students in the air a signal that this is where they will stop, he points at the general area of the future campsite. Till leaps off Sammy from the side before walking to the front of it. Without needing a command, the white blob opens up its “mouth”, revealing its fleshy interior. With a texture like that of satin and a softness like that of a partially inflated balloon, the interior space is actually pretty comfortable. The total space seen is just enough for a few people, in the back of the space, there’s a seal, blocking this “interior room” from the rest of its body.

The gray fox dashes out while looking around and sniffing the air with its nose slightly elevated. Dosnak takes up his usual humanoid shape, from the semi-spherical shape that he was in before, and starts carrying out some of the luggage that took up most of the space. The rest of the party appears behind Till and starts to help out with the luggage. The students form an assembly line to quickly relay the luggage to the campsite.

The Norman Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Earth and Water by the locals, it prizes itself as the Food Garden [T/N: フード・ガーデン, I think this might of meant “breadbasket”] of the eastern region of the Zrewheig continent. Due to its lush wetlands, warm climate, and immense variety of food products from its plants and animals, this title is well respected amongst the gourmands of the Noble houses everywhere. Many of its products can found throughout the eastern part of the continent, its various tender meats, freshwater fish, sweet, succulent fruits, and array of seasonal vegetables are often traded with its neighbours for goods that it lacks within its border, namely metal goods, salt, cheese, cereal grains, and so forth.

The pieces of luggage are piled neatly onto the ground before being sorted. The students grab their respective tools, weapons and armours while the 4 members from the party of 5 grab their gear as well.

“Oh, right.” Kun gestures to all the students to gather around. “When choosing a campsite, always camp in a dry location and away from swamps if possible. Today’s training is simple, ‘Messengers’ students will be responsible for making shelters, take the environment into account, ‘Evasion’ students will need to forage enough food for everybody, it has to be from the trees though. Understand?”

“““Yes, Kun-sensei”””

“You want to join us, Dosnak~?”

“Nono, it’s okay Till-ne, I’ll just keep an eye on the younger ones. I will do some training of my own while I guard the place with Sammy.”

*kero kero*

The furry blob croaks happily while bobbing up and down in place.

“Alright, the fort’s all yours!” Rick gives him a thumb up before shouting. “When we are not here, listen to Dosnak!”

“““Yes, Rick-sensei!”””

“Alright, let’s get this GOING!” The fiery looking felinoid pushes her arms over head before pulling her elbows back and away, giving herself a stretch with a *hyoi* before she starts running toward the swamp.

“Hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt!” Gui bolts after her while repeating his word like a mantra.

“Wait up!”

* * * * *

*sasan* *Nyahahahahaha*

A shadow dodges to the side while a silvery flash, tinged with a faint red aura, slashes down on the neck of a charging TriTusk Golden Boar, [T/N: 三牙金猪] before the sound of a halberd cutting is heard. Immediately following that is an evil, high pitched laughter that is suitable for an evil overlord as the boar falls down on the ground with a *dote*. The TriTusk Golden Boar is a relatively small creature with a height of no more than half a meter, it has two large protruding tusks that are comparable to a third of its approximately one meter long body on the side of its mouth and a slightly shorter horn on its forehead that resembles a tusk. Its fur is gold in colour, with short, thick hair that’s both smooth and oily, covering its thick -compared to its height- muscular body, likely an adaptation to suit this muddy and wet environment.

Due to its short and robust stature, Bell had determined a cut slightly off-center on its neck would be the best option for her since the first fight. Trying to aim for its short, stubby leg would be futile and it’s too awkward for her to strike at the boar in its face with her halberd. After defeating a few of these beast, she got careless and ended up getting cut once on her left leg. As a result, she went into a slight rampage, forgoing accuracy for brute strength. The corpse of the now dead boar is still bleeding from the multiple large, deep cuts along its neck.

“Geez, take it easy, Bell. Just look at those two.” Rick points to the Gui and Kun combo that’s taking down one boar after another.

After nearly getting gouged by one of the boars, Gui’s excitement calmed down as Kun started giving out orders. Gui would harass and taunt the boar from the front while moving side to side. Although the boar has amazing charging speed, it cannot maintain that speed while turning, thus Gui could literally run circles around it. After Gui moved sharply to the side, completely drawing the attention of the boar. Kun -who is wielding a sword and rod combo- would then suddenly rush forward as the boar turns and thrust the sword into its eye, straight into the brain, killing it cleanly within one hit before backing away. It is a game of patience as Kun has to wait for the perfect opportunity to attack and has to wait for the beast’s death-throes to end before retrieving his sword. Nevertheless, it’s an extremely safe method and the kill is extremely clean as it doesn’t damage the boar’s body.

“Pfffft, this is just stress relief! Come! Bring the next one!”

“7 isn’t enough? Tsk, fine. See anything up there, Till?” The youth looks up at the figure that’s bobbing up and down in the air.

“Hmm… There~ 10 o’clock, about 50 meters~” The girl is busy holding back her hair with one hand while pointing in a certain direction. Unlike while sending herself forward, descending, and ascending in the air, her long hair is getting in her way as she tries to “float”. This is due to the fact that she doesn’t actually have the ability to fly, just that her control of Wind [Spell]s is at the level that she can roughly control how one can become airborne. [T/N: This one is a bit confusing, I THINK “ability to fly” is referring to the traditional methods of flying, like with birds, regular airplanes or perhaps spells in RPG that gives you the ability to fly-at-will]

“Gah…” The youth slowly makes his way over the swampy forest’s undergrowth.

“Okay, I think we are good for now.” Kun grabs a rag from one of his bags and wipes his sword clean. “My sense of battle is mostly back to normal.” He starts rolling his shoulders to loosen them up.

“Alrig-” Bell stops mid-sentence as she turns around to answer him. She has been occupied with her own battles, thus never noticed the ever growing pile of corpses. “Damn it, you two, holy shit.” The felinoid gives her head a shake in disbelief. “Alright, just let me finish this one.”

“Help Till and stay on guard, Gui.”

“Okay, brother.” The gray fox moves himself over to the girl, who had returned to the ground and is now giving him a quick rub on his back, before sitting down, drooling ever so slightly in anticipation - as this situation usually means that Kun will be making food shortly. The young man walks toward the wooden rack that he has left on the side and retrieves some tools before skinning and gutting the corpses.

“«Aimed Shot»!”

*PYU* *Kuhiiii*

The sound of an arrow piercing through the air is then followed by a painful squeal.

*bachan*

A single splash travels from slightly over 20 meters away. “Shit! Guys, a little help?!” The returning blond youth is calling for help as he tries to get out of the muddy puddle after he took a misstep.

*pichan pichan pichan*

“Eh, hurry please! That hog is coming in fast!”

*pichan pichan pichan* *kuhihi*

The beast is merely a stone throw away now due to its extremely fast charge.

“«Rising Tempest»~” Before the boar can reach Rick, he’s sent airborne onto a nearby tree branch, out of harm’s way. [ED Note: Before the boar can Rickroll: brought to you courtesy of sumguy grammas]

“Here piggy piggy, come to mama.” With its target gone, the charging boar changes its target to the next thing standing before it, which happens to be Bell. Since this will be their last fight here, she intends to go all out. The purpose of this hunt is merely to get both herself and Kun their battle-sense back. Showing a menacing smile, she lowers her center of gravity.

*KUUHiihhIII*
“«Heavy Strike»”

The boar squeals angrily at the same time as Bell unleashes her «Skill».

*KAN* *buta*

The halberd unexpectedly bounces off the horn of the beast as it gets slammed into the mushy ground.

“Damn… Then take this! «Bash»! «Bash»! «Bash»! «Bash»! «Bash»!”

After repeatedly striking the skull of the boar, its entire body is now buried within the ground. The beast struggles frantically with muffled *kuhi*, trying to free its buried limbs.

*Nyahahahahahahaha*

“Not so tough now, are you?! «Heavy Strike»!”

*zashi*

The halberd strikes perfectly along the neck of the boar, barely missing the spine. Blood squirts out from the wound as it continues to struggle in the ground before going completely still.

“Whew, mmuuuuuuuuuccchhh better.” The felinoid looks down at her handiwork in satisfaction, before frowning. “Ah crap.” Stabbing the top of her halberd next to the boar’s corpse, she tries to dig it out of the ground.

“Um… Kun, a little help?”

“Hmm…? I’m a little busy right now. Why can’t you get down? Till, mind giving Rick a hand?”

“Wait!”
“Sure~”

“What’s the matter Rick-ni… EEEEK!”

Both Kun and Bell drops what they were doing and rush toward Till with their weapons in hand, Gui follows them while tilting his head, as that scream isn’t a scream that means danger.

“God damn it…”

*hahahahahahahahahaha*

Laughter fills the air after the two see Rick sitting on a thick tree branch, using a twig to cover his nearly naked bottom. Till is covering her eyes with her hand and walking back, using Gui as a guide. Rick on the other hand is blushing all the way to his ears. His pants and shoes are still stuck within the puddle where he fell.

…

*MMMmmmmmmm*
*Mmmmmmmmmm*
*MMmmmmmmmm*
*gefu*
*fuuu*

The five of them are laying lazily on a dry, grassy area next to a doused campfire with the sun barely shining on them in this clearing - all of them share a satisfied expression. Since there were so many boars neatly killed without using any «Skill»s or «Spell»s, Kun was able to dissect them more thoroughly as more than half of the corpses didn’t scatters into particles of light on their own. Out of the 22 boars, 12 of them didn’t degrade at all. From those 12, high quality fur, meat, and internal organs were extracted.

Internal organs, like with blood, spoils quickly after the body dies, so it’s customary for hunters to eat them as soon as possible - and Kun is no exception. After inspecting the livers, Kun deems 9 of them to be edible. After thinly cutting them, Rick is asked to freeze them with «Ice Shell» briefly before cooking them over the fire on a skillet. For the hearts, he skewers them with branches and lines them up around the fire to roast them. Aside from Till who dislikes both organs due to their texture and flavour, the party ate heartily. To accommodate Till, Kun prepared some ribs and pork belly for her. Considering that the party consists of gluttons of one degree or another, additional portions had to be made after each of them took samples from Till’s share. Thus ending with the result of the entire party laying back for about an hour while they digest their food.

*kunka kunka*

All of the sudden, Gui stands up and sniffs the air sharply, inadvertently pushing away Till who was using him as a pillow. “Brother, bad people are coming, and prey, lots and lots of prey.” The gray fox bares his fang as he stares fixedly in one direction.