“Sensei~, I don’t think the pay matters to Senpai,”
“Yeah, what are you talking about?”
“Huh? But in a world where the future is uncertain, isn’t that important?”
“No, that’s not what I meant—”
“Nishina-kun!”
“Ah, sorry…”
Nishina was about to say something when Kimijima stopped him. Finally, I understood what was going on.
“Well, I’ll have federal army officials coming for my review, so… maybe I’ll ask about it,” I said.
After finishing our meal, we took our dishes to the kitchen. The cafeteria was designed like a school canteen, with a large dining area and an open kitchen. The kitchen was bustling with cooks preparing meals for the other soldiers, and at the end of the long counter was a place to return the dishes.
“Thank you for the meal,” we said as we returned the dishes.
A child, about the age of a middle schooler, was washing the dishes. When he heard our voices, he turned around, his eyes widening as he froze upon seeing me.
“…It was delicious,” I said.
“Ah… Celestial ranked sir…”
“Haha…”
I’d heard that Celestial ranked individuals were admired even by children, but it was honestly embarrassing. I awkwardly laughed it off.
“Vito! Stop slacking off!”
“Y-yes!”
The boy was immediately scolded by an older cook and hurriedly went back to washing the dishes. The cook then bowed apologetically to me.
“Sorry about that, he didn’t mean to be rude…”
“No, it’s fine… Is he? He seems pretty young.”
“Him? Oh, Vito? His grandfather used to live in this town, so he returned after we reclaimed it.”
“He’s already working at his age?”
“Apparently, he has no family left, and jobs are hard to come by in this town…”
“Such a young kid, all on his own…”
The cook explained that such stories weren’t uncommon in this world. With monsters running rampant, there were likely many orphans.
The area around Doodle Valley had become much calmer in terms of monster activity compared to before. Most of the monsters that appeared now were low-level.
I’d heard that to efficiently rank up, it was best to fight monsters that were just strong enough to push your limits. The area just beyond Doodle Valley seemed to be the perfect spot for that.
Given my trait of running out of magical energy after five sword draws, it was said that taking down high-level monsters was more efficient. However, venturing that far was still a challenge.
Now, I want to raise the level of the well-trained students even slightly, so they can gain enough strength to fight even if they encounter some monsters.
Rattle, rattle…
We’re moving along the road in a simple cart pulled by a beast. The cart we’re riding in is like the bed of a pickup truck, with no roof. There are bench-like steps on both sides, and we’re sitting facing each other.
The state military is currently thinning out the surrounding monsters while also repairing this road. Their goal is to make it possible to reach the next village ahead by beast-drawn cart.
The parts of the road that haven’t been repaired are quite rough, so the carts can’t go beyond a certain point. We ride the cart as far as we can, and then walk the rest of the way to the hunting grounds.
This is how we’ve always been escorted to the hunting grounds by the state soldiers who are in charge of road maintenance.
Rattle, rattle…
Even though the road is paved, it’s quite bumpy. The suspension isn’t great either, so the ride is pretty rough. As our levels have increased, our bodies have grown stronger, so our bottoms don’t hurt, but it’s still not comfortable.
After a while of being jostled around in the cart, Kimijima suddenly opens her bag and takes out Mera. she holds Mera in both hands and sticks Mera’s body out of the cart.
Plop.
Crap. Mera excretes waste and is then put back into Kimijima’s bag as if nothing happened. The surreal scene makes me and Nishina exchange wry smiles.
“Can you hear Mera’s voice? Like, does it say it needs to go to the bathroom?”
“No, I just kind of sense it.”
“I see…”
Mera is a baby bird that hatched from an egg Kimijima and I found when we were escaping from the Gallar Blue. It seems to be a monster of the Firebird species.
When a Firebird is on the verge of death, it lays an egg and then ignites its own body to provide the heat needed to hatch the egg. By that point, the parent bird is dead. The hatchling then forms a mental link with the first creature it encounters and treats them as its parent.
Because of this, nobles and others covet them, and they become highly sought-after monsters in the market.
When Carton said, “We let the Firebird escape too,” it made sense—the injured Firebird must have fled to that spot and died there.
After potty-training Mera, Kimijima can sense when Mera needs to go, leading to this surreal scene. Sakuragi seems to envy this and often looks around for a Firebird of her own.
Seeing this, a state soldier offers some advice.
“Well, if you want a pet so badly, a Clockbird might be more practical.”
“A Clockbird?”
“It’s a monster that also entrusts its offspring to others. There are a few other species like that, but the Clockbird is the easiest to find in town.”
“Huh. That’s not bad! Yeah, yeah.”
They talk about other monsters with similar nurturing systems that can be kept as pets. Sakuragi listens eagerly, and it seems like she might end up buying one.
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“Well, I guess this is about the spot.”
The cart stops at a certain point, along with the other carts.
“Thank you. We’ll be going now.”
“Alright, be careful.”
“Yes, you all take care too.”
I haven’t memorized all the state soldiers’ names and faces yet, but the workers and guards are casual and joke around with each other. This atmosphere must have appealed to Nishina and Sakuragi. They swear a lot, but they also don’t forget to look out for each other. It’s a comfortable relationship.
This time, one of the state soldiers came along with us. Apparently, the condition of the materials we’ve been dismantling hasn’t been great, so he’s here to teach us how to do it better to increase their value.
After getting off the cart and stretching while preparing, I casually watch the work being done, and the soldier asks me curiously.
“Sir, are you interested in this?”
“Well, in our world, we also had asphalt. So I’m kind of curious.”
“I see. It melts when heated and hardens when cooled. It’s a strange kind of oil.”
Probably someone from another world introduced the use of asphalt. The raw materials seem to be mined within the same federation, so it’s relatively cheap.
“Sensei? Let’s go.”
I must have been staring at the work and zoning out. The students, growing impatient, urge me on. I hurry to catch up with the students who are already walking ahead.
According to the stories, the backlash when Sakuragi’s level increases is quite severe. From what I’ve seen, Kimijima sleeps for about half a day, five or six hours, but Sakuragi seems to sleep even longer. It’s probably because he has the protection of the Holy Crown. For me, it’s just a slight fever for less than an hour.
By the way, Nishina seems to be about the same as Kimijima.
As usual, the three students hunt monsters together. If I heard that someone was after my life, I’d want to raise my level too, but I can’t draw my sword too often, so I can’t waste my shots. I want to conserve my mana for when higher-level monsters appear. That’s why I’m here as their guard.
“Hey, you need to stab it more decisively. The more you hesitate, the worse the condition gets.”
“Y-Yes.”
After defeating the monster, it’s time for dismantling.
With the state soldier’s guidance, we extract the magic stone. Removing a magic stone from a monster’s corpse is technically quite difficult. And for the local warriors, this is an important job, so they never allow any shortcuts. Even I, who’s just here as part of the level-up escort, end up having to do it.
Ugh… I’m getting used to it, but I still can’t stand getting my hands covered in blood. From a Japanese perspective, I can’t help but worry about contracting some scary disease.
Finally, when the dismantling is done, Kimijima uses a life spell to create water.
“Sensei, I’ll make some water.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Your cutting is really clean, Sensei.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes.”
I’m not sure if I’m happy to be praised, but I can handle filleting fish when cooking. Is that related? This time, the monster was a Dirty Boar, a boar-like beast-type monster. Since it’s edible, we carefully cut it into pieces small enough to fit in our bags and carry them back. At Kimijima’s feet, Mera was happily pecking at the pieces of meat we gave it.
“…Is it good?”
“Peep!”
“I-I see…”
Mera has gotten more used to me than before, and the aggressive feeling has faded, so I can get closer now… but watching it peck at the meat with its blood-stained beak still makes it look like a full-on raptor.
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