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Author’s note: Noting that Nicole won’t appear for about two chapters starting from now.

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When Nicole left for the Sword Kingdom of Alecmarle, there were many that were affected by it.

Two people, in particular, took the most damage from it. One was Elliot, another, Cloud.

Elliot’s disappointment knew no bottom after Maxwell left Raum to attend to Nicole, having no way to follow after him.

Moreover, due to the recent incident, his vacation in Raum that was supposed to last at least half a year was halved due to the problem of safety. And depending on the situation, it could be decreased even further.

Elliot was aware that by coming to Raum he put a lot of burden on his confidant, so he couldn’t object too strongly against that decision and ended up accepting it.

And there was Cloud, another person that was harmed.

He was originally a bullied kid. His position bettered quite a bit ever since he started procuring food as the apprentice Adventurer. There was currently no one at the orphanage that was bullying him.

Because if they kept pestering Cloud and made him angry, they could lose the opportunity to eat delicious meat. If that happened… the target of bullying would change from Cloud to the bullies, due to other kids having lost their supply of food.

Cloud managed to find good comrades for himself, but they weren’t sure luck would shine on them the same way. As such, the bullies were smart enough to realize that their actions had a risk of worsening their situation.

However, due to Nicole’s busy schedule the last few days, the orphanage stopped receiving its meat supply. As things stood, there was a chance that Cloud’s standing would fall down to what it used to be.

“So, yeah, I’d like to go on a hunt soon.”

Cloud said with a big sigh in the cafeteria of the Adventurer Academy. This academy fundamentally forbids outsiders from entering. And Cloud certainly wasn’t rich enough to attend it.

That said, Michelle who was his friend attended it. As such, he couldn’t be dismissed as a total outsider, either. For that reason, he sometimes came to eat here.

“It’s related to the Magic Academy, so the matter is out of her hands. Nicole wouldn’t be making light of your situation, you know?”

Michelle, sitting opposite of Cloud answered with a sulky expression while sipping on her juice. She understood what Cloud wanted to say, but Nicole had her own circumstances, too. She didn’t like that the boy in front of her was dismissing them like that.

“No, I understand that of course. But, like… Look, I’m a Half-Demon.”
“Ah, right.”

That one word was enough for her to understand what he was implying.

Half-Demons. They were the most socially vulnerable people in this world, regardless of the country. They had high magical and physical grounding, but people refused to accept them.

For that reason, they found their place among Adventurers, where everything was determined by ability.

However, that also meant that their jobs were constantly accompanied by danger. Many of the Half-Demons were either killed from abuse in their childhood, or lost their lives due to rushing into dangerous adventures without the necessary experience.

Even so, Adventuring was their sole means of getting rich quickly. In fact, Reid, who managed to become one of the Six Heroes was something like a personification of glory for them.

Cloud, too, was one such individual longing for that glory. But for that, he had to at least gain enough ability to manage to live by himself.

For him, hunting was both the means to guarantee his safety and training to aim for the heights. So having their hunts constantly interrupted due to his master, Nicole’s, circumstances made him grumble a bit.

“I mean, I feel grateful for her, you know? Look, if I was the same kid I used to be, I might have been bullied to death by now.”
“Uh-huh…”
“It’s just that the food we get from hunting is what’s supporting my current standing. I didn’t say it out of ill will.”
“…Oh, well. Then, would you like to hunt with the two of us?”
“Huh, just us?”
“What, you have a problem?”

Michelle was aware of Cloud’s circumstance. That’s why, she also understood why he was being so impatient. It was for that very reason that she suggested this idea now.

“I am a Gift holder, too, so we should be able to hunt some weaker game, don’t you think?”
“Will that really be alright?”
“If some strong enemy shows up, I can just use the Third Eye.”
“But if you use that, you’d be unable to move, right?”
“I can at least defeat it before then. I even managed to one-shot the Mountain Serpent!”
“I still can’t believe you managed that…”

Cloud had a grasp on Michelle’s ability. But still, Gift holder or not, he found it hard to believe that she managed to defeat a monster that normally required an army to subjugate.

Since they didn’t even bring back any materials as proof, it made it more doubtful.

“Ahh, that face! you don’t believe me, do you!”
“No, I do, I do. Even Nicole said so.”
“So you mean you don’t believe my own words?”
“Of course I do! We are comrades.”
“Then, there should be no problems.”
“Ugh.”

He felt like she smartly led the conversation to suit her point, but it was a fact that her offensive ability far transcended one suitable for her age. As long as Cloud managed to perform his usual tank duty and keep them busy, she should be able to deal with most foes.

For that reason, her suggestion wasn’t necessarily baseless.

“Right. In that case, how about we head out to hunt tomorrow morning?”
“Yup, gotcha!”

And thus, Michelle and Cloud had made up their minds to head out to their little hunting adventure.