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“It glows!”

In the dimly lit room of the magic training building, the Five Spirit Board Dana held out in her hand emitted a pale light. Green and yellow. The imprints representing wind and earth gave off a soft glow.

“To think that the vanguard would respond to multiple attributes…”

Corin raised her glasses, the frames glinting as she muttered.

People who took on the vanguard job could show aptitude for more than one spirit. That itself wasn’t a common occurrence. But this was the second time it had happened today. It was hard to believe that Irvine, too, had shown aptitude for multiple attributes. And in his case, it was three: fire, wind, and null.

It was unbelievable. Both Bibi and Mia had watched Irvine with their eyes wide open.

This was just like the cases where the random running training and other practices turned out to have unexpected results. Either way, it meant Dana didn’t have to worry about the entrance exam coming up next month! Truly good news!

“Su! Thank you! It’s all thanks to you, Su!”
“Hya?!”

Dana hugged me as hard as she could. My face was buried in her more-than-resilient bosom. And I was by no means sad about it.

“This is great, Dana. I’m so relieved.”

I replied with a big smile, still pressed into her comfortable chest. Then Dana, looking down at me, tightened her grip, her cheeks flushing.

“Ah! I can’t! Su, you’re too damn cute!!!”

She squealed, stroking me all over!

(N-NO! Not my armpits! Even my butt?! Noo!)

As I writhed, trying to endure Dana’s onslaught, I felt a piercing gaze from behind. I turned and saw Mia looking at me, hands twitching like a predator about to pounce!

(Mia? Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you breathing so hard? What are you doing with your hands? What are you going to do?)

“Speaking of which, Su. It’s the day after tomorrow, right? Are you done preparing?”

As I trembled from Dana’s grip and Mia’s unsettling aura, Corin spoke up, helping me get out of this mess.

“Yes! I got my… swords and armor… fixed up yesterday!”

I answered Corin while slipping out of Dana’s arms.

Everything else for the camping trip was already ready, so yesterday’s pickup had covered most of the preparations.

“It’s you we’re talking about. There’s no need to worry! Just do your best!”
“Thank you, Bibi! I will!”

Amukham’s Coming of Age Ceremony was a long-standing tradition marking the independence of children when they turned fourteen.

It wasn’t complicated. All we had to do was enter the Amukham Forest for a week and return alive. This custom had been passed down for hundreds of years, similar to how the coming-of-age day was passed in my old world.

In the past, entering the forest was truly life-threatening for the children. Not all children made it back safely. Many never returned. So, to prepare for emergencies, children were given metal tags before entering and were asked to wear them on their chests, just in case. These weren’t magical items by any means. They were just engraved with our names, dates of birth, and home village. The tags were only used for identification.

Returning to your village after surviving a week meant being recognized as a full-fledged villager. The tag marked one as a real villager. As a full member of the Amukham territory.

This custom was truly brutal, but it was needed for these people who lived with the Amukham Forest teeming with Demonic Beasts.

Luckily, nowadays, safety measures were in place, and there weren’t any children who failed to return. There were members of the Village Guard who constantly watched the children, guarding them. These days, the custom was kept just because, but it still meant living alone in the forest for a week.

What hadn’t changed was that coming back with that tag symbolized that we were official members of this society.

To me, that tag represented the moment I truly became a member of the village. So I was genuinely excited and looking forward to it.

“How was it for you all?”

I was getting a bit giddy thinking about the day after tomorrow, so I asked, given that they had already been through it.

“In my case, it was quite normal.”

Irvine placed his right hand on his chin and began speaking with a nostalgic expression. His birthday was in the fifth Red Moon, so he had done his ceremony in early autumn.

“My dad used to throw me into the woods all the time when I was about five. I would live alone for ten or twenty days… so a week didn’t really feel that strange. My older brothers apparently suffered the same treatment.” Irvine said.

(He’s definitely not the one I should take advice from. Just what is going on in the Haggard family? Mr. Harry, what are you doing?! What will you do if something happens to your children?! What will you do if they don’t come back?! Spartan doesn’t begin to describe it! Wait, wasn’t Harry called the Golden Lion? Don’t the lions throw their cubs in bottomless ravines? Is he trying to do the same by throwing his in the forest? You wouldn’t normally do that! They’d die! And Irvine’s talking about it like it’s something normal! The Haggard Family is freaking scary!)

I couldn’t help but wonder if this was how all the boys in Amukham were raised.

“H-How about you, Dana?”

I decided to leave Irvine’s story aside as it wouldn’t benefit me, and asked someone who seemed a bit more relatable. It was better to ask some of the older people here, who I was sure had experience.

“I just hunted Jackalopes!”

(What?)

“I hunted forty-three rabbits in a week! Aren’t I amazing?! I don’t think anyone will break my record anytime soon!”

(What is she talking about?)

For the record, the Jackalope was a normal animal living in the Shallow Layer of the forest. It wasn’t a Demonic Beast. And since it wasn’t a Demonic Beast, one could safely eat its meat. They looked like big rabbits with antlers. Their meat was tasty, and their fur also sold for a high price, so they had lots of uses. In addition, the products in Amukham were generally higher quality than the ones that came from other places, so the Jackalope was one of Amukham’s local specialties.