Chapter 21

“Camping?”

“Aye, camping.”

Daniela sometimes said the funniest things.

“It is not as if I just thought of it now, you know? I saw the way you fought yesterday and how we worked together. And I decided that we should not have any trouble with something a little longer. It will be good to stay in the forest for three days and really sharpen your senses.”

“I see…”

I was pleased that she was impressed enough with what she saw, but camping in the woods, huh? Camping might sound like fun, but this wasn’t Japan. There were monsters out there.

“I’m a little worried about the night. Will we get any rest?”

“Don’t worry. It was a little expensive, but I have the tools to create a magic barrier.”

“I didn’t know such things really existed.”

That would be pretty useful if I ever had to sleep out in the plains.

“Well, as long as it isn’t non-stop fighting, then I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Hehe. I expected you to say so. So, are we in agreement then?”

“Sure, let’s camp out starting from tomorrow. We better go and buy the supplies then.”

And so we decided on our little training camp. Asagi and Daniela’s Forest Wolf Festival was about to begin.

After that, we headed to the market square and bought three days worth of preserved food and a tent for two. That would become our base as we went out hunting. We went around and bought other small equipment and by the time we were done, the sun had started to set, so we returned to the Spring Wind inn. By the way, Daniela paid for all of the equipment. I felt like a bit of a loser the whole time, so I intended to make up for it during camp.

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It was a refreshing morning. The sunlight that leaked from the curtains burned my eyes. I sluggishly got changed, washed my face and opened the window to ventilate the room. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky that greeted me, which gave me a rather good feeling about the day that lay ahead of us.

Well, the camping was Daniela’s idea, and she would, of course, accompany me, and yet…would she sleep in again? Surely not. She had been so excited about going. I’ll check the dining hall.

“Daniela. Are you up?”

Unsurprisingly, she had not been in the dining hall. And I had told her to hurry up and sleep as we had an early morning…

“Daniela?”

There was no answer. I guess she was still sleeping… I tried turning the doorknob and it opened easily. That was a little careless of her… Did she not lock her door?

“Daniela…?”

I poke my head inside and call her. The curtains were drawn and it was quite dark inside. I look towards the bed and see that there is a mountain of blankets piled up. Was the latecomer culprit in there?

“Daniela… It’s morning…”

I needed to wake her up and so had every right to raise my voice, but for some reason, I was whispering. I wish there was a name for this phenomenon. As I was now a victim to it, the only thing left for me to do was to open the curtains and tear away the blankets. A bright, sunny day as we had now would be particularly effective. Even Daniela would have no choice but to wake up.

In that case, I should move quickly. I opened the curtains on both sides. A blinding light shone down on me, but it wasn’t me that needed it. It was Daniela. Then it was the blanket that needed to go next.

“Daniela, good morning.”

I grabbed the blankets with both hands and tore them away with one jerk. My mother had done this many times to me when I was still a student. Memories of this especially cruel treatment during the winter flashed through my brain.

“Ahh…it’s too bright…blanket…the blanket…”

Daniela was curled up like a newborn baby who was blindly searching for her blanket. And it wasn’t just Daniela who was illuminated by the sunlight, so was her thin clothing that were scattered about.

“Da-Daniela…”

“Mmm…Asagi, huh…morning…”

“G….ood morning…”

Daniela turned on her back. Oh, boy. They shook much like the meat buns we used to sell at my old job.

“…Asagi…?”

Her sleepy eyes slowly opened. As if making sure of her current situation. As if remembering. Her eyes glanced down to her clothes. Or lack thereof. Then she looked at me, with my tense expression.

“Asagi.”

“…Yes.”

“I will get dressed.”

“Yes…”

I somehow managed to move my feet and get out of her room. I don’t have many memories of what happened after that, not until we arrived at the western gate.

□ □ □ □

We were now just in front of the forest. The forest that would be our home for the next three days. I could only pray that we would leave it in one piece.

“Okay, let’s go then.”

“Mm.”

…She had become incredibly quiet for a while now. Sure, it was wrong for me to go in, but that was incredibly careless of her as well… I mean, did she mean to sleep like that when we were out in the forest as well? I was too afraid to even ask.

We went deeper in than usual and found a moderately flat clearing where we removed some stones and branches to pitch our tent. This was another world, but they still sold tarp, which I had asked Daniela to buy. This would really help elevate your camping area. If the tent was your bedroom, then the tarp was your living room. Now things would be much more comfortable even outside of the tent.

And to complete it all, we set up the four magic tools to create the barrier. They looked like normal boxes but had intricate engravings on the top. Apparently, there was a magic stone inside which created and maintained the barrier. Or that’s what I heard, anyway. I wasn’t really sure how it all worked, but it was useful nonetheless. Okay, we were all set then. I’ll invite Daniela to go out hunting now.

“Daniela. Can you teach me how to search for signs?”

“Mmm.”

She taught me about things other than combat as well, as we walked through the forest. I didn’t know if it was close or far, but I could sense that something was here. That was about it for the first day. But something was clearly different from before. The way I viewed the forest was starting to change. I was sure that I would be able to hone these new senses as the days passed.

I think again of how lucky I was to have met her. There were too many things I didn’t know that were necessary to survive. Maybe I could survive if that was all I wanted. But, if I wanted to live as an adventurer, then I needed someone to teach me. Up until now, the Black Rabbit incident had made it difficult to reach out for help. But then Daniela came. It really was a fateful encounter for me.

I was sure that I would continue to fight alongside her and learn from her. I should probably express my gratitude more often if I wanted to keep things running smoothly. The trick was to have a grateful heart.

The sun was starting to set and it was time for dinner. Daniela was sitting on the opposite side of the steaming pot which was full of wild plants and the food we had brought. I hoped that tomorrow it wouldn’t just be soup, that we would be able to cook and eat some meat as well… I would have to find some time and hunt for it.

Once the hot soup was finished, it was time to relax. The firewood was crackling loudly. I stared at the swaying bonfire and thought back on the day. I thought about how much I had grown recently and smile. Then I looked up at Daniela.

“Daniela, thank you. Everything’s different from yesterday. It’s like I’m seeing things differently now.”

“Aye, because you saw me naked. Swine.”

No, that’s not what I meant.

And so I ended up spending the night in a tree once again.