Luca felt it once before in the Pia Forest, but the lush greenery of this world was dazzlingly vivid.

As soon as they crossed the river, the fresh air mixed with the rich scent of grass pricked their noses.

"So, what sort of strategy do we come up with?"

At the entrance of the Ataran Forest, under a huge, towering tree, Luca and his group paused for a moment. The first to suggest a plan was Ottbo.

"Do we even need a strategy?"

Luca tilted his head. He was having a Luca Traverse-like thought: just go in and smash everything.

At that, Hav made a reluctant face.

"Hunting for three days straight will be too tough, don't you think?"

"I don't really mind, but it'll definitely be hard for the magic-users."

"I'm an alchemist, though."

Just then, Ottbo took out a map from somewhere and glanced over it.

"We need to decide on the camp location, hunting hours, and how to procure food."

"Food supply, huh. That's definitely something we need to think about."

"They could at least just give us something to eat..."

Carrying food for the practical was prohibited.

Since you wouldn't die from starving for three days, it was intended as practice for finding your own food.

"I heard some students make it to their sixth year without ever eating during practicals. That won't be us, will it?"

"Moula, Hav, can either of you cook?"

Ottbo asked with concern, and Luca immediately turned to Moula and Hav. Both replied with confident expressions.

"Don't worry about that. I used to do all the cooking at home."

"Me too! I prepared all my master's meals!"

"Master?"

At the mention of a master, Luca wore a puzzled expression.

Now that he thought about it, how did Moula and Hav, who seemed to be from a rural commoner background, get into the Magic or Alchemy departments?

Surely, someone must have helped.

"Yeah! A cranky old man showed up in our village one day. I thought he was going to starve, so after I brought him some food, he told me to become his apprentice. He said he'd teach alchemy to a kid who couldn't even read. That guy was really unusual."

"D-don't be so hard on Master."

"I'm not criticizing... it's just how it was."

With those words, Hav pulled something from his bag. Seeing what looked like a grenade launcher, Luca clicked his tongue.

"What's that?"

"This? Capsule Shooter! My master made it for me."

"Capsule Shooter...?"

Luca paused for a moment. A scene flashed through his mind.

—Ah, this was made by Mr. XX, the name was... uh...—Capsule Shooter, capsule Shooter.—Ah! Right! It's called a Capsule Shooter!—With this, even us commoners can use magic easily. It's sooo convenient!—But now there's nobody left who can make these orbs... so we have to use them sparingly.

He couldn't remember exactly where it was from, but he was sure he had seen it in the original work. However, the "Capsule Shooter" wasn't such an important device and didn't appear after that episode.

'But... it feels like there's something important about this...'

With a vague sense of uncertainty, Luca furrowed his brow.

"With this, it doesn't matter how many monsters show up!"

"Setting that aside, what do we do about the campsite? Looking at the map, this spot seems good."

"Uh, um... when do the monsters come out?"

As everyone kept speaking over one another, Luca tutted and clicked his tongue. Without a leader, it felt like they were drifting aimlessly.

"Let's pick the campsite location first. I'd prefer to go deeper into the forest if possible."

"Why?"

"To catch as many monsters as possible. And to avoid running into Archiond's group."

No need to make things tiring by competing head-on.

"Right, since we're only four, we'll need to catch more monsters to win. Going deeper is better."

"There's a tracker to return to the river anyway. Even if we go deep, it's not an issue. I think gathering enough magic stones to offset the deduction from using a support flare is a valid approach."

"Oh, so instead of planning to return early, we just keep collecting magic stones in the forest and only come back with a support request? Not a bad idea!"

The group put their heads together and made a plan. Given they were only first-years, it was inevitable the plan would end up as: "Set up camp deep inside and hunt any monsters we see."

"Let's go quickly. No time to waste, we need to make camp and start hunting."

"Let's do it."

Unlike the mossy Pia Forest, sunlight streamed through the trees, making it neither chilly nor damp.

The four quickly walked the forest trail, reached a clearing they had located in advance, and unpacked.

Unexpectedly, Hav played an active role.

"This is a monster detector, this is a blanket with a temperature regulation spell, and this is an automatic campfire generator."

While everyone else unpacked their modest luggage, Hav was laying out all kinds of equipment from his bag.

"... Is it okay to bring stuff like that?"

"I made them myself!"

Recruiting Hav seemed an excellent choice. With the endless supply of camping gear from his bag, camping would be a breeze.

"All right~ Shall we go hunting?"

Thanks to Hav, the four instantly finished setting up camp and headed straight to an area densely populated with monsters.

"Hey, Ottbo."

"Hm?"

Before they set off, Luca cautioned Ottbo.

"Just in case, don't use your armored giant as much as possible."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just because. To be safe."

Ottbo made a sour face at Luca's words.

"Then there's nothing I can do."

"You're our secret weapon. Just knowing you're here puts everyone at ease. That's enough."

"R-really?!"

Fortunately, he was easy to mollify.

"Oh~ first monster spotted!"

As soon as they reached the area with many monsters, they encountered their first one.

"Grrr..."

"Oh, a gnoll! Never seen one before."

A gnoll—a bipedal, hyena-shaped monster. Usually, they traveled in packs, but this mutant was wandering alone. Normally, gnolls had some intellect, but given this one's drooling and rolled-back eyes, it must've gone berserk from magic power overload.

"Then I'll take on the first monster!"

"There's no time for that, just take it down quickly."

Ignoring Hav, who confidently tried to step forward, Luca dashed straight toward the gnoll.

"Grragh!"

The gnoll warily stepped back as Luca approached rapidly, then suddenly charged.

Clang!

The gnoll's claws and Luca's sword collided.

Since it was likely to be a long fight, Luca deliberately didn't coat his sword with magic power.

As the other three were all magic-users, any direct combat with monsters would fall to Luca, so he needed to manage his stamina and magic.

Physical reinforcement was used sparingly so as not to waste too much magic power or tire himself out fighting monsters.

Locking briefly in a contest of strength, Luca shouted.

"Fire! Moula!"

"... Okay."

Pew! BOOM!

Moula, ready in advance, fired her magic ray cannon, and Luca immediately rolled aside.

The gnoll was struck and killed instantly in a huge explosion.

Luca tutted as he picked up the magic stone from the gnoll's body.

"Tsk. Boring."

"Lu-Luca! Behind you!"

Just then, Ottbo shouted as the tree behind Luca crashed down, blasted apart by the magic ray cannon.

Of course, Luca had already noticed and lightly dodged.

Rummmble!

But looking at the area where the ray cannon had grazed, Luca's gaze quivered slightly.

"That's...unexpected."

In a straight line where the ray had passed, trees were destroyed and set aflame.

"Ah! Fire! Fire!"

While Ottbo made a fuss, Hav whipped out the Capsule Shooter and fired capsules toward the fire.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The capsules made strange noises as they flew and burst at the flames, generating large amounts of water.

Fssshhh!

"Whew!"

"... Hmmm..."

Luca looked at the magic ray cannon and twisted his lips.

"We can't just use that freely after all."

This threw a wrench into their plan.

* * *

From then on, the magic ray cannon was sealed away, and Moula used only the backup magic pistol she had brought. Hav unexpectedly became the star player.

"Hav!"

"Yeah!"

Pop! Pop! Pop!

It wasn't stylish but the Capsule Shooter was useful. Storing dozens of spells in capsules, all you had to do was pull the trigger to fire them.

"Can I get one of those too...?"

"Nope! You need Master's permission!"

"Ah... right..."

Even Ottbo coveted it—it really was that impressive.

"Phew. The yield is better than I thought."

"Yeah, we've hunted 30 already!"

"Too bad there are no strong ones."

Since this area was for first-years, no particularly strong monsters appeared. But if they kept steadily hunting, they would get high marks.

"Are the capsules unlimited?"

"Huh? Not unlimited, but I made a ton in preparation for the practical, so we'll be fine!"

"I see. That's good."

Recruiting Hav really was a godsend. It was disappointing that Moula couldn't contribute as expected, but Hav was picking up the slack.

"Um... but aren't we getting hungry?"

"So it's this late already."

While hunting, Hav rubbed his belly. The sun was turning red, and it was about time to return to camp.

"But what about cooking?"

"We need to get ingredients first."

"Where...?"

At Luca's question, Hav pointed, matter-of-fact, to the monsters they had just hunted.

"Here."

"... You mean eat the monsters?"

"Yup."

Luca and Ottbo exchanged glances for a moment. Rarely, even Luca's composure wavered.

"Hey, nobles. Commoners often eat monster meat, you know."

Seeing their expressions, Hav grinned slyly.

"Once you try it, you won't be able to stop! Just don't come running to me later begging for more!"

"... Hmph."

There was a scene in the original story where the protagonist ate monster meat.

Supposedly, it was delicious—but the idea was still unpleasant.

'This is troublesome. Are there really no parasites or anything?'

He recalled a video he'd seen on NewTube, where someone sliced open a creature and it was crawling with parasites. Luca shuddered and looked toward Hav.

"?!"

Scritch, scritch, scritch!

Hav was actually butchering a monster corpse. Unfortunately, it happened to be an orc—meat that was demi-human.

"Ugh! Huuurk!"

Ottbo couldn't help it and immediately gagged.

"Hm~ This should be enough, right? Let's go!"

Hav, having harvested a suitable amount of meat, headed for camp with a bright smile. Luca, feigning composure, supported the trembling Ottbo.

"Lu-Luca. I think I understand why some seniors skip eating during practicals until sixth year."

"What a coincidence. I'm thinking the same."

It seemed possible in theory, but the moment he thought about actually eating it, he froze.

Back at camp, while prepping the ingredients, Hav frowned as if he noticed something.

"Huh? Moula, where's the seasoning?"

"Oh, I forgot to pack any."

"Tang..."

Hav wore a troubled expression. Luca swallowed nervously and asked.

"Is something wrong?"

"Ah... we're fine, but beginners really struggle with the smell of monster meat. That's why I wanted to use spices...."

"S-sorry!"

Moula bowed deeply, and Hav scratched his cheek.

"For a beginner, monster meat without seasoning is tough."

"... I'll try eating it anyway."

"Will you be alright?"

As Hav looked at him with concern, Luca twisted his lips.

"Might as well challenge myself once."

About thirty minutes later, the monster-meat soup was ready. Hav tasted it and wore a strange expression.

"Hmm... Maybe I should've brought some innards too? It tastes a bit plain."

"...."

"Though honestly, that's probably for the best. Beginners should eat blandly."

The soup was simple—some cloudy broth with chunks of meat floating in it. The problem was the faintly unpleasant smell.

"Here! Try it!"

"Luca..."

Ottbo gave Luca a horrified look. Staring at the soup, Luca took a deep breath and lifted his spoon. The moment it entered his mouth—

"Bleaagh!"

"Luca?!"

Unable to stand it, Luca vomited. After just one bite, he retched everything out and collapsed. Hav scratched his head as he watched.

"Aw, geez... sorry about that."

"... Did you guys eat this every day back home?"

"Not every day. It's just especially bad without any seasoning."

Hav took a spoonful himself, chewed the meat, swallowed, and grinned.

"Mmm! It tastes awful!"

"...."

Faced with that, Luca lay back in silence. Then, despite the pungent monster-dish smell, something delicious caught his nose from somewhere.

"?"

Luca sat up with a start. Beside him, Ottbo, who was also lying as if lifeless from hunger, looked at him in confusion.

"Luca, what's wrong?"

"I smell something delicious."

"Luca...what are you talking about..."

Maybe thinking Luca had snapped, Ottbo looked at him with a sad face. But Luca sniffed the air and headed in that direction. Sensing something strange, Ottbo followed.

"C-could it be someone from another group?"

"No idea. But surely we're not the only ones to think of this."

"I hope... I hope it's something to eat that isn't monster meat..."

Desperate, Luca followed the scent.

Rustle!

"...?"

In a clearing beyond some undergrowth, food was set out by itself.

"What...is this..."

"... A trap?"

It wasn't anything extravagant—grilled fish, grilled meat, grilled vegetables. Just plain grilled ingredients, but it looked appetizing and smelled wonderful.

"Who on earth put this here..."

While Ottbo made a sour face, Luca was gazing fixedly somewhere. The clearing was empty, save for the moonlight.

"... Well, for now, let's just eat, right?"

"W-we're really eating it?"

"If you don't want to, don't. I'll eat it alone."

With those words, Luca began eating at once, and Ottbo, unable to sit still, squeezed his eyes shut and joined in.

"It's delicious!"

"Pace yourself, we have to save some for tomorrow."

"O-okay!"

There was enough for them to eat well until the next day. After getting his fill, Luca sighed, packed the rest away for Hav and Moula, then glanced at the empty brush and muttered to himself.

"Thank you for the food."

* * *

"... I just kept my promise to treat them to a meal, so don't think I helped or anything."

Isella, who had been watching from a distance as they ate, smiled faintly and stood up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Eek?!"

Suddenly, someone called out from behind. Of course, it was Milia.

"Um, th-this is..."

"Hm... Hmmm..."

Isella fumbled her words in embarrassment, and Milia shot a subtle look at the receding figures of Luca and Ottbo.

"Hmmm~ Is that how it is?"

"Ah, milady? There seems to be some misunderstanding..."

Milia wore a sly, knowing grin. Isella frantically shook her head, but it was no use.

"The Knight of Moonlight has the best partner, inside and out~"

"M-milady?!"

Milia had just earned herself another page of a youthful romance she loved so much.-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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