That night.In the dark forest where the sound of insects could be heard.Having joined with Yulina’s team, we picked a good spot and lit a campfire.We decided to spend the night in the forest for now, because we were in a position where returning to base camp immediately would be difficult, the day had already set, and the fog was thick, making it hard to move.Also, Yulina’s teammates were so exhausted that they could hardly move any farther.Ten tents set up in a circle with the campfire at the center like that.In the stillness, the sound of the firewood crackling as it burned had a pleasant atmosphere.A light in the mountains carries the risk of drawing in wild animals or monsters, but we have Freya, so it’s fine.She’s a human weapon who can hew down even a pack of dire wolves in an instant; a few monsters drawn by the firelight won’t be a problem.Having pitched the tents, we moved on to finishing the camp setup.I went around the tents and stuck steel rods, each about the thickness of a finger, into the ground one by one.Garfield hovered around me and showed interest in this.“Oh, Lord Loen. You even brought items like those?”“Do you know what this is?”“Of course. Isn’t it an essential tool for traveling merchants?”“Right, if you want to sleep comfortably outdoors, this is basic.”Smiling, I installed the steel rods around the tents.These mana rods detect the approach of monsters and emit an alarm sound; among adventurers, they’re a must-have.I brought them along with the remote that calls the automatic golem before the practical class.With this, I can rest easy even when sleeping at night.“…….”While I was installing the alarms like that, I felt a prickly gaze from back there.Ever since a while ago, Yulina had been pointlessly hovering at my side, fidgeting with her fingers or needlessly tapping the ground with her toes.I guess she felt something because I saved her.Having finished agonizing, Yulina spoke to me in a small voice as I set up the alarms.“……You’re unexpectedly thorough in your preparations. I see you in a new light.”“Unexpectedly? That’s a rude way of talking to your lifesaver. Don’t talk like you’re evaluating others.”“W-what lifesaver! The student ID’s barrier was still left, you know? Throwing a fit even when I’m praising you.”But as if she didn’t want to admit she’d received my help, Yulina snapped her head away and invoked Freya.“And even if it wasn’t you, Miss Freya would have saved me.”“Sure, I’m sure she would have. After you got bitten by a dire wolf first.”The semi-transparent barrier that protected Yulina from the dire wolves’ attack was [Aegis Shield].Within a certain range of the owner’s space, you can directly control the shield and adjust its position.“Heave-ho.”I straightened my knees and stood up, brushing the dirt off my hands.“That’s it for the alarm installation. You can prepare dinner with peace of mind.”“Oh, finally a meal. I’ll look forward to it.”After finishing the camp setup, we gathered food from each of our backpacks and began cooking to fill our hungry bellies.Today, the head chef was me.In reality, the extent of my cooking was kimchi fried rice at best, but in this Miruellin Saga, with the help of the trait [Alchemy], I can make tasty food.'Food is alchemy.'Especially in army-like mass feeding it’s even more so; for a large batch like around ten people as now, alchemy shows its true worth even more.A pot hung on a wooden stand I made over the blazing campfire, and inside, a soup simmered as I put in various ingredients.[Alchemy level is applied to cooking.]Currently applied: [Lower Alchemy Level 3]Food becomes tastier. Grants extra effects.Upon consuming the food, Stamina +3 for 12 hours.Along with the system’s notification, a savory smell wafted from the pot.Gulp-The teammates all gulped as they waited for the soup to boil.Before long, the soup was ready.“Now, let’s eat.”I opened the lid of the pot that was set on the stand.As I lifted the cover, the aroma of the soup that stimulated the sense of smell spread at once.The smell is quite good, but you only know the taste once you eat.“Then this humble one will taste it first.”Like a royal taster, Garfield was the first to try the soup I made.Judging by his plump belly and build alone, he was the most reliable when it came to taste.“Slurp.”Smacking his lips, Garfield tasted the soup.He soon looked at me with surprised eyes and spoke.“Hooh? It’s quite delicious. Do you also have a knack for cooking?”“Of course. Food is a kind of alchemy too. All right, then let’s serve up.”With a ladle, I dished the steaming soup into each person’s bowl.“Unexpectedly tasty…….”“Nom.”Yulina and Freya also nodded as they dipped bread into the warm soup and ate.Even Karon, who’d been somewhat aggressive toward me, couldn’t complain about the taste and inhaled the soup without a word.The food drew nothing but praise, and even when I ate it myself, it was decent.With a little exaggeration, it was about on par with the course soup served at Breath of the Heavens.It had a richness and depth hard to believe were made using preserved foods and simple seasonings.As expected, skill juice is the best.Before I knew it, Garfield held out his empty bowl and asked for another serving.“One more bowl, please. Quite tasty. Somehow it even feels like my stamina is recovering.”He must have felt the Stamina +3 stat extra effect attached to the food.Though it’s a temporary extra effect, it’s quite helpful in a situation like this.The others who had spent stamina in battle could also replenish by eating.“There’s plenty, so eat as much as you like.”Like that, the ten of us sat pleasantly together before the campfire and made do with dinner—soup, hard bread, and pieces of jerky.As we gathered near the campfire, ate, and chatted quietly, the frozen mood turned amiable.The female students who had been plunged into fear by the dire wolves’ assault regained their composure, and the three others who had been exhausted from fighting also showed a bit of ease on their faces.Having regained their composure, they bowed their heads again and thanked us.“Thank you…… once again, for helping us.”“No, we only did what was natural. And perhaps…… the responsibility might be ours.”Saying so, Freya gave me a slight side-eye.She seemed to think this incident might have happened because I had summoned the automatic golem earlier.I slyly averted my eyes and shrugged.'Well, it’s not entirely without merit.'An automatic golem is not just a simple score vending machine. Another task of the golem is to patrol this mountain range and eliminate potential threats to the students.Since we forcibly called such a golem over to our side, it’s possible a gap opened in student protection and Yulina’s team ended up in danger.Of course, it’s a rather forced conjecture.In the first place, the primary cause of this incident is the situation itself—where a pack of dire wolves, high-tier monsters that shouldn’t appear in the Howling Mountain Range, swarmed out.It’s also strange that, with students in danger, there was no help from the faculty or the golems.I cleared this a hundred times, and I’ve never seen an event like this even once.'……I’ve got a fishy feeling about this.'I frowned as I looked at the thick fog filling the forest.No matter what, I have a feeling this practical class won’t end easily.As I was thinking for a moment, Yulina, who had scraped the remaining soup clean in her bowl with bread, asked me,“By the way, how many Magic Stones has your team gathered?”When I glanced over, Freya nodded as if to say it was fine to tell.With Freya’s permission, I informed them of the number of Magic Stones we’d gathered so far.“It’s the amount of 169.”“169? What on earth did you catch?”When Yulina asked with eyes wide open, Garfield gave an oily grin and boasted,“Heh heh, our team took down an automatic golem. A full 150 Magic Stones’ worth.”“You took down that automatic golem? Well, with Miss Freya, that’s plausible. But you must have been lucky. To have found all the golems.”“Ah, about that. Lord Loen here—he—he—”Chomp-Before Garfield could blab all the team secrets, I stuffed bread into his mouth.“The golem?”With the words cut off in the middle, Yulina tilted her head.Before she could pry any further, I ended the conversation.“Anything beyond that is a trade secret. It’s late, so let’s get ready to sleep.”“……Something’s fishy.”Leaving behind Yulina’s suspicious look, I tidied up the dinner area.Freya also let out a small sigh and helped clean up.After the pleasant dinner.We set a watch and got ready to sleep.“We’ll stand the watch two at a time.”We had installed warding stones as well, so it seemed one person per watch would be enough, but perhaps because it was Freya’s opinion, there was no particular objection.Even thinking back to the earlier assault by the dire wolves, safety comes first right now.Thus, the five watch pairs were selected.I was paired with Freya, which, considering the individual power differences among those gathered here, was the natural outcome.As it turned out, my Competitive War ranking was lower than even the two female students on Yulina’s team.Though my stock has risen lately because of the Territorial War business, my Competitive War rank is still the same.“Then everyone, sleep well.”With a final greeting from the glib Garfield, the first night of the practical exam grew deep.***4 a.m.After changing shifts with the previous watch, Freya and I came out of our tents and patrolled the surroundings.Since the area near the camp was guarded by the warding stones anyway, it was to eliminate monsters beyond that.Holding an oil lantern in hand, Freya and I walked through the dark forest.Even while patrolling the surroundings, I did not leave Freya’s side.“…….”As I kept trailing along behind her, Freya, looking a bit tired, asked with a sullen face,“……Why are you following me?”I answered as if it were obvious.“Because it’s dangerous if I’m separated from you.”To patrol this forest where scary monsters roam—me alone, weak as I am? Isn’t that too much?Besides, right now I don’t even have Vishark’s Grace, my only means of attack—it’s broken and gone.“…….”As I came out all the more unabashed, Freya allowed the accompaniment as if she had no choice.After that, we patrolled the forest around the camp without a word.With thick fog settled in the forest that blocked the view.Rustle-Only the sound of stepping on fallen leaves on the ground, the sound of insects—such things could be heard in the silence.In some sense, it felt like a very peaceful night stroll, but perhaps because a brisk chill was streaming out from Freya’s side, my mind wasn’t at ease.It was too quiet and awkward, so I spoke to her first.“Freya, what do you think about the assault that happened today?”The pack of dire wolves that had assaulted Yulina’s team earlier.For the time being, we had beaten the dire wolves, the two teams had gathered amiably and even had dinner to get through the situation, but this is clearly an abnormal phenomenon.High-tier monsters appearing in a pack and endangering students? During the progression of a practical class, that must never happen.When I brought this up, Freya, who had said nothing, quietly parted her lips.“……There are certainly suspicious aspects. The number of dire wolves, and the response of the golems and the professors as well.”As she said, the Union side didn’t take any particular concrete response.If it were Professor Verdandi, she has the skill to handle most urgent situations well, and yet an incident like this happened.It seems clear that something went wrong during the exam’s progression.Something to the extent that the students’ safety cannot be guaranteed, and even the faculty would find it difficult to respond easily.After thinking for a moment, Freya sighed and spoke.“At any rate…… it seems we will need to be cautious going forward. Rather than focusing on clearing the exam quickly, we may need to proceed with an emphasis on returning safely.”Ending the short conversation, Freya walked on ahead.“…….”I watched her quickening steps for a moment, then soon followed after.

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