#471 The Students’ Troubles

It’s still me, Walkina.

Days pass by with no resolution to my problems.

Today, we’re having an extracurricular lesson aimed at real-time combat.

We’re going to Lady Veil’s mountain dungeon to fight and hunt monsters.

“Unlike your mock battles, you fight with the monsters seriously. Make sure to keep your focus, everyone!"

“YESSIR!”

Our guide is Orkra the orc.

“You must keep in mind to run away as soon as you sense danger. Today’s training aims to hone your ability to make such judgments. But don’t just call for help—it might attract monsters instead of your friends.”

He gives us precautions promptly.

But this is not the first time we’ve entered the dungeon. Frankly, it happens pretty often.

It’s a way to get meat and materials for the farm, so we’ve become accustomed to doing this.

“Today, you’ll be going in pairs. We want a lot of meat, so we’ll focus on efficiency.”

Here’s the thing.

It’s called an extracurricular lesson, but we, the students, are basically going to hunt for meat!

“Your target is the square boar, and as usual, the pair who hunts the most gets a reward. But always remember: safety first.”

“YESSIR!”

And so, we enter the mountain dungeon in earnest.

But going in pairs is a bit of a problem.

If you’re in a relationship with someone, of course you’d want to pair with them.

“Ritheseus! Why don’t we go together?”

“U-Uh sure, Eryngear...”

See?

Sometimes, we’re grouped into three or four, but pairing up today means they’re putting extra emphasis on efficiency.

Since the pairs are more spread out, we are more likely to encounter prey. 

“Wanna go together, Rhatil?”

“O-Oh, sure!”

I decided to team up with Rhatil.

The fact that we’re both men means that neither of us has a girlfriend!  

“You’re a weird one, Walkina. You’re pretty popular, but you’re not getting yourself a girlfriend...”

“I-I’m not interested in such things!”

“Is it true that you’re in a relationship with someone back at the Human Kingdom?”

“N-No! The young master and I aren’t related like that!”

I wanted to pair up with Rhatil for a reason. 

What he said before really weighed on my mind, see.

The two of us proceed slowly through the dungeon.

Everyone else had already split up, and there was no sign of anyone except for us.

“...You know, I think you shouldn’t worry so much about our racial differences.”

I put together some of the encouraging thoughts that came to mind last night.

“The human race’s biomana is above average, right? If other races have, say, 1x mana, the human race has 1.5-1.7x more. That’s all there is to it.”

Princess Letasreit is royalty, and she apparently has 200-300x more mana.

Ritheseus has 1,000-2,000x.

A Lifeless King like Sensei can use not only his own mana but also the natural mana, so he has an unlimited supply of it.

“With that much of a difference, I bet you guys can make up for it with your magic. You just haven’t found a way to do it now...!”

“Stop, please...!”

A tense voice interrupts me.

“I know you’re trying to cheer me up, but it’s making me feel more miserable. Please, just leave me alone...”

“Oh...”

I didn’t know he felt this tormented.

“I know already. It’s not the demon race as a whole; I’m the only one without talent. I don’t have what it takes to stay here. I’ll ask them to take me home when we get back.”

“No, wait!”

I tried to stop him, but a nuisance appeared.

Red eyes are peering at us between the trees.

“Damn it, why now...?!”

It’s a monster.

We originally entered the mountain dungeon for hands-on combat with them.

We can’t just walk away from our prey.

“We’ll talk later. Let’s take him down.”

“Agreed.”

Rhatil and I ready our weapons.

I use a thick hatchet.

Its blade is thick and strong, capable of ripping through even the smallest amount of fur and shell.

The short blade makes it easy to handle overall—it’s a great weapon to bring into the dungeon!

In contrast, Rhatil uses a sword.

Although it’s officially issued by the Demon King’s army, it is slender and quite unreliable.

“Well, if it isn’t our target, a square boar. We’re in luck!”

“Its meat is so tasty we always run out of stock.”

A boar emerges from behind a tree.

Two tusks from its mouth and two horns from its head. It’s named square boar because these four tips connect to form a square.

Let’s hunt that square boar and receive everyone’s praises.

“Let’s go!”

“Ah, hey...!”

I shrugged off my partner’s attempts to stop me and went for the first strike.

I strengthen my muscles with biomana, drastically improving my explosive and jumping powers. 

Since there are many trees around, I kick the trunks and dart left and right to get behind my prey in no time.

Did you see that? That was a good imitation of Gobukichi’s super-fast footwork.

Of course, compared to the original, my speed is but a wriggling earthworm on the verge of death, but it’s still good enough to distract a monster!

I swing my hatchet right between the boar’s eyes, exceeding the reaction time of a wild animal.

With my fatal blow, the rabid boar loses balance and crumples to the ground.

Did I kill it?

I did...!

After killing the boar, I pray for the beast’s soul. Lord Saint taught us that this is the way to treat the dead.

“All right, then, let’s drain the blood right away! Any lingering stench would affect the taste, after all!”

“O-On it...!”

Rhatil is shaken.

...Crap. I finished the task all by myself.

I was supposed to let him have the spotlight in hopes of instilling confidence in him.

“Um... Sorry, man.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about me...”

Rhatil doesn’t seem particularly disheartened because he’s already feeling like that from that start.

You can’t go lower if you’ve already hit rock bottom.

“Now that you can enhance your body, your movements have completely changed. They were just like Gobukichi’s.”

“No, no, no!”

“I guess there’s no point in being on the farm if I can’t do that much...”

Rhatil became more and more depressed!

I was so flustered that I didn’t know how to encourage him anymore.

But then...

“...Look! Another square boar!”

“Another?!”

At least let us relax for a bit here!

I’m busy worrying about my pal!

“Ugh, I guess we’ll just have to kill it instantly again!”

Ah, but if I do that, Rhatil will be depressed again!

I was troubled by the dilemma as I headed for the prey in question. But I soon realized that such worries were trivial.

The monster in front of me is indeed a square boar, which is easily huntable.

If it were alone, that is.

The square boar in front of us...

Brought nineteen others in tow.

“There’s a whole bunch of ‘em!”

It’s two against twenty.

This is bad.