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We carefully proceed while watching our surroundings. I kept my [Detection], [Sign Detection], [Danger Detection] skills activated all the time. However, I still didn’t lower my guard when checking around with my own eyes.

“…Seems like there’s nothing here.”
“Yeah… But let’s keep our alert.”
“Right.”
“Oh—“

Currently, we were walking inside the forest.

It’s been around two weeks since we continued our work in this current town. As a result of crushing the nearby goblin nests around the town during the first ten days, the town was safe but we also lost the source of our earnings.

After discussions between the three people on what to do in that situation, we decided that we would take several days to have a round trip a little farther from our usual spots.

…I swear it’s not because the other adventurers’ eyes were so painful since we caused their earnings to decrease. Definitely not.

No, I didn’t get ahead of myself this time! Lily and Arisa also lost their control because we earned a large income after crushing goblin nests!

Anyway, for that reason, we decided to pay the rent of a house one week in advance and went deep into the forest. By the way, we weren’t using my home. We planned to camp with a simple hut made of earth magic and a tent.

You see, I thought we should gain experience in camping inside a forest… In the first place, only I could use earth magic to make a simple hut among us. So for that reason, they might have a lot of trouble if they never experienced camping in a tent. We also put a lot of thoughts into this, okay.

That’s why we had been moving in this forest for around two days now.

Looking back at my surroundings, Norn and Bell were a little ahead of us as guards. Looking up, the sky was still blue, spreading between the trees. The sun was already moving to the west side of the horizon… Hmm, let’s not overdo it. There was a small stream a little farther, so should we camp here?

“What should we do? Are we camping here today?”
“That’s right… What do you think, Arisa?”
“I’m fine with anything.”

I knew she would say that!

In the end, we decided to camp here since moving in the dark would be very dangerous.

Next to the two people building the tents, I used earth magic to build a simple hut. A cloth was hung at the entrance so no one could see the inside. I also made a stove which could also be a bonfire. As for the arrangement, Lily and Arisa’s tents were facing each other from the entrance of the simple hut to the left and right. Bonfires were in the midst of it.

After that, I put out my bed inside the simple hut. Yes, a bed.

Could this be called camp even, you say? Hey, the problem was those two girls wouldn’t be able to camp if they got separated from me, but I had my skills.

After that, I built a private toilet a little farther away. I dug a hole with earth magic and made walls on all sides to surround the hole, with the top of it open. I also hung a cloth at the entrance here. With this distance, we could still see it from the camping place. Wouldn’t it smell, you ask? I sprinkled sand I made with earth magic and piled it up next to the hole. I didn’t make a toilet bowl since it was a bit troublesome.

The two girls finished setting up the tents, then they went to pick up firewood. Norn, Bell, and I stayed there to guard the area. After the incident in the royal capital, the girls didn’t allow me to move alone anymore… It’s still a no even if Norn and Bell were with me.

…It seems like me picking bamboo shoots also played a role here. It’s fine for me to play around a bit, isn’t it!

When I was deep in my thoughts, Norn was staring at me with cold eyes, so I pretended to be calm by clearing my throat. By the way, Bell was currently patrolling by circling around the area.

For the time being, I also had an excuse to stay here. It just happened to be my turn to guard the camp today… Well, I’m sure they won’t let me pick up firewood anyway. When it was my turn, Norn would go pick them up and stored them in the [Item Box]… Everyone was too overprotective.

By the way, should I prepare dinner as they pick up the firewood?

We caught two horned rabbits on our way today, so I used that meat to make soup and skewered meat. There’s also hard-baked bread. I aged the meat using [Creation Magic] since I didn’t want to eat hard meat. Then I took out my magic stove and started cooking.

The girls returned when I almost finished cooking.

I used the firewood they brought to lit the bonfire. The pot was warm by the time the fire became stronger and stable, so we started eating dinner while grilling skewers on the bonfire. Everyone could take second servings of the soup in the pot as much as they like. Most of them would be eaten by Arisa anyway. Lily was surprisingly reserved. She said she would get sleepy if she ate too much, and that might affect her when it was her turn for night patrol. Maybe Arisa was trained for that?

Me? I went to sleep since I had Norn and Bell with me… Yeah, I feel a bit apologetic.

Well, that’s the advantage of a tamer. My feelings were different matters altogether.

I also had ‘Barrier Tower’ installed, so it’s pretty safe already.

The next morning, Norn raised her head in alert while we were preparing breakfast. Enemy attack? With [Detection], [Sign Detection], and [Danger Detection], I confirmed that there were intruders. People were being chased? Did they get attacked? The ones chasing them were… 15 goblins!

“Enemy!? Where!?”

After confirming that, Arisa jumped out of the tent. She already had her sword ready, her dagger on the other hand. Fully equipped, she ran towards the direction Norn was looking at. Norn ran to chase her, and after she overtook her, she continued to take the lead.

“Follow Norn! Norn, go!”

By the time I finished calling them out, Arisa was no longer visible. Immediately after that was a rattling noise in Lily’s tent, and Lily finally came out.

“We got attacked!? Where are the enemies!?”
“Arisa already ran there. Together with Norn.”
“Should I go there too? Or will Bell follow them?”
“Let’s have Bell go. We should wait here. Bell, please.”
“Woof!”
“Okay. But I’ll look around here for the time being. Ren, please continue the food preparation while being alert using your detection skills.”

Eh, can I cook now? I’m grateful since I had nothing to do, but won’t I look like I’m not nervous at all…

Ah, Bell has already left. When Norn left me like this, Bell would stay by my side in silence after what happened in the forest of the royal capital. But when I gave her instructions, she would take action quickly.

Maybe Norn was still worried about me, but she also wanted to test whether I could wait here properly? I’m happy for her overprotection, but I also feel a bit complicated.