Leave a comment

“Alright, let’s work up our spirits and go!”

Michelle raised her hands high up and declared. She was pretty excited since she could go out hunting with Letina first time in a while. Cloud on the other hand was slumping his shoulders hard with a dejected expression. He seemed quite against the idea of teaming up with Mateus.

“You’re as cheerful as ever. Then again, it’s not like we meet all the time, so I don’t really know what’s normal?”
“Is there a point in speaking in contradictions?”
“Not really?”

The five of them gathered up near the borderline before the forest next to the highway that was just outside the city.

It was; Michelle, Cloud, Letina, Mateus, and for some reason, Sullivan.

“Um, why did you call me here again?”
“There was no other way. We don’t have any other scouts but you.”

Michelle and Cloud were seeing Sullivan for the first time, but I had already let them know that it was his information that guided me to where they were confined. So the two weren’t wary towards him.

“So, why are we being so sneaky now?”
“It wouldn’t be training if they spotted us.”
“Then we should go back and focus on your studies instead.”
“You fool! Like I can just leave Mateus with Michelle!”
“Huh?”

Maxwell and I hid in the forest and observed Michelle. Maxwell didn’t have stealth abilities, so he was using the Conceal spell.

Incidentally, Finia didn’t stop us and sent us off with lukewarm eyes. She was apparently going to clean the mansion and continue studying on her own.

I couldn’t help but think that my value in her heart was falling down hard lately.

“Look at where those guys are looking! Their eyes are nailed on Michelle’s chest!”
“Ah yes, they have grown quite a bit. She has you completely beat.”
“………Leave me out of this.”
“Well, they have such a presence, so it is natural for your gaze to be drawn to them.”

Sullivan and Mateus were stealing glances at Michelle’s chest since a while ago. It was true that in front of her pure and cheerful charm and her glamorous body, few men would not look at her like that. So it wasn’t totally out of the picture for someone to be driven by those emotions and do something when they were in a forest with no people.

Cloud could be careless here and there, as proven by the previous incident. I was somewhat worried about whether he would be able to protect Michelle properly.

“Especially that Sullivan! He’s always slovenly towards girls. I can’t imagine him remaining normal when he has Michelle’s rack before his eyes.”
“You are a man…or a woman… like no other.”

Maxwell sighed while holding his forehead at my agitated state. I mean, I could only feel his presence.

“Are you not being a little too paranoid?”
“Not at all, there’s no such thing as being too careful.”
“If you directed some of that caution to yourself, Cortina and Finia would have it less hard.”
“Don’t go calling names now.”
“Stop sulking like a child. You are too sly.”

As Maxwell sighed, I smacked him on the head while relying on my presence sense. As we continued like this, Michelle’s group headed into the forest. We hurriedly followed after them.

They continued to carefully make their way through the forest for about an hour. Sullivan, who was leading them, stopped and signaled the rest behind. He seemed to have found prey.

“Oh, looks like they found something.”
“Good grief, Mateus is with them, so there is no need to worry.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

As I spoke, my gaze was still fixed on their group.

Sullivan guided the rest of them while Cloud and Mateus stood side by side. Michelle and Letina were behind them, positioned so they would be able to offer support at a moment’s notice.

So far it was the same as how we did it when they partied up with me.

The prey that Sullivan found was a big racing bird-type game that looked like an ostrich—a monster called Moul. It was over three meters tall and had a protuberance on the head, that it used as its main weapon, to raise the offensive power of the head-butts.

It was both fast and had a high head-butt power, so it was classified as quite dangerous. However, it was gentle in nature, so it never attacked people on its own, and was omitted from being a subjugation target of the Adventurers.

“Its meat is certainly light and delicious, but its danger level is quite high.”

A skilled hunter would fight it by taking refuge high up on a tree. But its lethality couldn’t be underestimated. Michelle and Letina would get taken out with one attack.

Cloud just needed to protect them, but he was still a lightweight, so it was possible for him to easily be swept aside.

“Hey now, will this really be okay? What’s Mateus doing…”

While I worried, Mateus hummed and lowered his swords to the ground. I couldn’t sense any will to fight from his posture.

“What the f̲u̲c̲k̲ is that dumbass doing!”
“Can you just wait.”

Maxwell grabbed my shoulder as I was about to rush out. Immediately after, Letina shot her spell and Moul’s stopped in place. Michelle soon followed up by shooting her arrow.

That flash of light pierced through the Moul’s eyeball, boring into its brain and killing it instantly.

“H-Huh?”
“You are really underestimating your comrades. They are no longer at the level where you need to guide them.”

More accurately, Letina stopped its movements using a spell with minimum needed firepower, and Michelle shot it using that opening. These two were certainly beyond a level where I needed to instruct them. They had grown from friends I had to guide, to friends I could trust my back to.

“It is perhaps still a little uncertain to claim that they have grown up… However, they are not young enough for you to show such worry. It is about time for them to graduate from being your students.”

Maxwell warned me while watching Letina and Michelle doing a cheerful high-five. Cloud and Sullivan unexpectedly had no turn, but I couldn’t care less honestly. I mean, I guess that was a bit too harsh, but it was still a trivial problem.

“…You might be right.”

Observing them from the outside, I realized this for the first time.

In the meantime, Cloud and Mateus cooperated and hung the Moul up to drain it, and got ready to butcher it. Sullivan remained vigilant of the surroundings.

If we approached any further, me aside, Maxwell could get spotted.

“Maxwell.”
“Yes?”
“Should we go back?”
“I suppose we should.”

Feeling somewhat lonely on the inside, the two of us left the place behind.