The sun had just arisen, and the delicate morning zephyr maintained its refreshing flow all around the location where the students had decided to establish their encampment. Three days flew by in a jiffy as the students continued their march towards the forest they are supposed to have their intense training session at. Shainaq had mentioned the necessity of this training plenty of times, but he had never presented an adequate 'reason' for the said training.

Following the thriving camp during their initial night, the students couldn’t find an optimal location to camp on the second night. And following the endless pleading from the ladies, Shainaq had chosen to let them spend the night at an inn inside a town close to their location day-before-yesterday. It was a small inn that could barely accommodate fifty people at a time, and if not for the fact that the town was rather withdrawn and the number of tourists visiting the town was remarkably low, the students might've had to sleep on the streets.

However, the girls' delight couldn't persist for long as Shainaq led the students to one of his personal favorite locations yesterday evening. Shainaq mentioned that he visits this location quite frequently when moving between the border and the capital. As such, the students had risen up in their small tents with aching backs and tired minds.

All the students were pretty occupied with the tasks they were meant to carry out. The girls were busy cooking breakfast and feeding the mufads, while the boys were busy packing up the group's belonging and clearing the area.

“Ara, Khavare-kun? Where are you running in such a rush?”

Akio, who was carrying a tiny tub-like vessel filled with edible aquatic creatures from the nearby river asked Vinayak, who was carrying a cream-colored towel and clothes.

“ Ayuzawa-san? Oh, well, you see… Aki went to the river to train… Uh, you know that underwater thing he discovered the other day? He said that he’d take a bath after training. He was supposed to get his clothes later from our tent, but since I was done with my share of packing and cleaning, I thought I’d deliver them to him.”

“Hmm~ Is that so~? Why in such a hurry though?”

“Ahaha~ Well, I saw Ohori-san struggling with those fishes... I mean, it's no secret that she sucks at cooking, so I thought I’d go help her out.”

Akio’s lips hooked up in a smile as she offered the vessel in her hands to Vinayak.

“Here. Take this to Umi and she will inform you what to do. Why don’t I deliver those clothes to Muranaka-kun for you?”

Vinayak was a little taken aback, sure. Why would the immensely popular Ayuzawa Akio wish to deliver clothes to… Well… Aki. He had his suspicions…

“Okay~ Thank you, Ayuzawa-san!”

… But he couldn’t worry less. Vinayak eagerly seized the container from Akio’s hands and placed the bundle of clothes in her now-empty hands.

“So, what is the delivery address?”

Akio asked with a light chuckle.

“About one kilometer in that direction. You know those weirdly shaped rocks we came across yesterday? He should be somewhere in that area. He's underwater, so it might be difficult to locate him, he'll probably come out if you call out to him though.”

Vinayak raised his chin to point in a certain direction as his hands were full with the vessel. In the one month, he had spent in this world, Vinayak hadn’t found the opportunity to trim his facial hair, and combined with his relatively large frame, brown skin, and fierce eyes, he was intimidating, to say the least. Fortunately, though, it seems that Umi has a bit of a weird side to her.

“Understood. See you, have fun.”

Akio left the speechless Vinayak behind as she chirpily walked towards the location where Aki was supposedly located. Her steps were light and her mood pleasant. The breeze tickled her cheek and made her unintentionally leak a chuckle. Her eyes were clear and her heart clearer. She was open about her desires, she wouldn't lie to herself, nor would she allow anyone to come between her and Aki.

Akio came across several of her classmates performing their own tasks before eventually leaving the encampment area. She walked along the grassy road with nary a soul in sight. There were a lot of trees around the river, and though it couldn’t be called a forest, the trees on both sides of the river were not a few in number.

...

Aki had woken up quite early in the morning. Unlike his classmates, he didn’t have any qualms about sleeping on the ground and slept comfortably during the night. He preferred this over an inn where conflicts arose because of many different reasons.

Living in the wild was troublesome, very much so. Especially when considering the hygiene aspect. Even though this world didn’t have a heated toilet like Japan, the system here wasn’t really that bad… They had an optimized sewer system and clean water available as per the people's needs. In all honestly, after the initial resentment of such primitive technology, the students adapted to this world's way of doing things pretty quickly. However, this wasn’t the case at all when they camped outside. While the boys reluctantly managed in the mornings, the girls were extremely embarrassed. They tearily pleaded to Shainaq to take them to one of the cities in the mornings, even only for just a little while, so that they could freshen up. However, Shainaq wouldn’t budge, leaving the girls to manage somehow or the other.

Aki was currently submerged in water, his chest was exposed while his legs were covered by blue-colored pants, and feet were shielded by shoes made of thick cloth. His eyes were closed and his breathing was relaxed. And although his body was underwater, not even a drop of water could be seen on his entire being, well, except for the sweat. His body was curled in a ball with his knees touching his chest and his arms hugging his knees. He had lost track of time in this state and had spent almost an hour before being brought back to reality by Akio’s sweet voice.

“Muranaka-kun! Muranaka-kun!”

After being called out multiple times, Aki finally opened his eyes and slowly stretched his body. The [Lord’s Blessing] barrier around his body didn’t waver as he got out of the water while wiping off the sweat on his forehead with his fingers. Once he was on the land, he could see Akio standing a fair distance away with his clothes in her hands. The T-shirt he had placed on the rock nearby was in her clutches as well.

“Ayuzawa-san…?”

Aki directed his confused gaze over to the clothes in Akio's hands before asking her the reason why she was here with his eyes.

“Khavare-kun was coming to give these to you since he was done with his work, but it seemed that he was more interested in helping out Umi, so I decided to deliver these to you myself.”

Akio said with a smile. Aki on the other hand had an apologetic expression.

“I am grateful for your consideration towards Vinayak, but you didn’t have to travel so far, I would’ve come back to get these.”

Akio beamed at Aki in fulfillment. She couldn't discern the reason, but she felt like she resembled a devoted wife in this situation, and that made her happy.

“Fufu~ It’s no problem at all. We’re partners, aren’t we?”

“Thank you so m-”

Aki was stopped before he could convey his gratitude because Akio started wiping the sweat gathered on his face and neck with the towel in her hands.

“I don’t know how you manage to hold your breath for hours…"

Aki flinched, but for a different reason than what Akio assumed.

"...Don’t worry, I won’t ask. Everybody carries a secret or two with them, don’t they?” Akio smiled mischievously. “Who would’ve thought that one day we’d dive in a river and be drenched in sweat instead of river water. Sigh~”

She sighed while wiping, her heavenly countenance mere inches away from Aki’s face. Her movements were very gentle as if handling something extremely precious to her.

The people of this world were much more beautiful when compared to the people on Earth. It wasn’t as though people on Earth were ugly, it’s just that the existence of [Lord’s Blessing] was too overpowered, merely channeling it could help with the nourishment of skin and hair, making them generally more attractive. Having said that, girls like Chisa, Akio, Nikki, and Umi were still in a class of their own in this world as well. It was the same for the boys like Asahi, Tsun-chan, and Masahiko.

Such a girl was acting so intimately with him, so how could his straight-male self not be embarrassed?

“A-Ayuzawa-san… I’ll be fine doing it by myself.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind doing this at all. More than that, aren’t you tired?”

“Umm… A little bit? I’ve been meditating for a long time.”

“Okay~ Then, come here.”

Akio chirpily backed off and sat down on the fluffy grass, she placed the clothes beside her and playfully tapped her thighs.

“A-Ayuzawa-san?”

Aki was visibly confused. He was aware that Akio was rather affectionate towards him, but he just believed it to be her way to express her gratitude for what happened nearly two years ago.

“Hehe~ I always wanted to do this.”

Akio said with an alluring expression, looking invitingly at Aki's face which was covered in embarrassment.

“Fine.”

Aki heaved a loud sigh and immediately laid down after putting on the T-shirt Akio had retrieved for him. His head immediately entered a land of softness and warmth as the pleasant smell of Akio’s body entered his nose. Aki's body involuntarily relaxed because of the sheer comfortableness of Akio's thighs.

“Hey, Muranaka-kun.” Akio dotingly placed her hands on Aki’s head, ruffling his hair. “I don’t really mind this, you know?”

“Hmm?”

“I know that you’ve been looking for a way to go back. Even though you are unfamiliar with the language, and even though Shainaq has refused to even speak about it… You’ve been desperately searching for even a single thread of information…”

“...”

“Muranaka-kun. I know that we are away from our families, away from our homes. And even though this place isn’t as primitive as we initially considered it to be, it is very frustrating. Heck, I am going crazy without my Instagram, you know?”

Akio chuckled, slowly moving her slender fingers through Aki’s hair which were getting healthier by the day thanks to [Lord’s Blessing].

“There are people who aren’t chained down by their families anymore… There are people who don’t have to put on a false charade anymore… There are people who aren’t restricted from expressing their feelings anymore…” Akio’s gaze softened. “And there are people who don’t have to hold back from getting what they desire anymore…”

“I understand…”

Expressing true feelings, not holding back, not putting on a false charade… huh?

“…I can’t say that I will stop looking for ways to get back… But I will make sure to enjoy my time here a little more.”

Aki said and looked up, only to see Akio gazing down on him with a wide smile.

“Okay~ We’ll be reaching the forest tomorrow, so let’s take it easy today, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You should go to bathe. I took one last night, so I am okay. I’ll keep watch for you.”

“N-no, it’s okay. Please return to the camp. I will be back in a bit.”

“Aww~ You’re no fun.”

“Ayuzawa-san…”

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

...

The time had moved rather quickly and the night was upon the group. There were currently at the edge of the forest, the forest was so enormous, none could really guess how big it was even when looking at it from many kilometers away.

“We’ll set up camp here. There is a city five kilometers away, but it is a bustling place with many tourists and hunters since it is basically touching the boundary of the forest, so I am pretty sure we won’t find any rooms. We will head to the forest tomorrow morning after purchasing all that we need from the city. The boys will pack up and accompany me to buy stuff in the city while the girls are in charge of cooking breakfast, feeding the mounts, and doing all that they can to prepare for our time in the forest.”

“We will not be alone in the forest as many hunters tread through the forest every day. However, the forest is big enough to accommodate all of us. The soldiers come here at least once during their training, and I’ve accompanied such soldiers before, so I have a good lay of the land. There are dangers lurking around, yes. However, there is no need to flinch in the face of danger as I’ve already told you about almost every species inhabiting the forest, their weaknesses included.”

“Just make sure to stay calm. You guys are more powerful than you think. Also, the most important thing, no matter the reason, don’t pick a fight with hunters. Since I am here with you, nobody will dare hurt you, but even so, hunters can very be scary. We will not be traveling together at all times, so keep your guard up and heads down, am I understood?”

...

The night had passed and another morning arrived. At about 6 AM in the morning, inside Aki’s tent.

“Muranaka-kun, wake up!”

It was a gentle voice, filled with compassion and angelic sweetness.

“Umm… Five more minutes…”

Aki yawned and turned over in a semi-conscious state. However, before Nikki could call out to him once more, he got up by himself and faced Nikki who was already dressed and carrying two wooden mugs with milk in them.

Nikki smiled while she waited for Aki to adjust to the light and clean the corner of his eyes.

“The others are waiting.”

“Hmm… I am coming. What’s with the milk, though?”

“A caravan that was carrying milk passed by earlier, so Shainaq bought it for us. He says this milk is from an animal called ‘Amivilian’, which is known to produce very nutritious milk. Well, everything in this world is nutritious compared to our world.”

“Yeah. Most of the stuff is natural, and they also have [Lord’s Blessing] which has quite the potent enhancing and enriching properties.”

Aki stood up, stretched his body to alleviate the slight pain he was experiencing in his back because of the rough sleep and grabbed the mug from Nikki’s hands.

“There is a tub with fresh water at the back, I don’t think a bath will be possible since there is no river nearby, but you can at least wash up a little.”

“Okay. So, do we wake him up as well?”

Aki asked while looking at Vinayak’s sleeping visage.

“Should I?”

“No, he’ll wake up when the pressure gets to him. He’ll be grumpy if we break his sleep.”

“Fufu~ Okay.”

Aki accompanied Nikki outside the tent. He squinted his eyes because of the morning sunlight, and when his vision cleared, he could see five women sitting on huge logs that were carried over last night during dinner to serve as chairs.

“A very good morning to you all.”

“Aww~ I’ve told you so many times to stop being so formal with us.”

“Yeah, Umi is right, Muranaka-kun. There is not even the concept of ‘honorifics’ in this country, so why are you so formal?”

“Akio, you have no right to say that, you know? You are the most polite to him among all of us.”

“W-well, that…”

Aki chuckled a bit and settled beside Chisa on one of the three logs while Nikki sat beside Misaki.

“I guess it’s difficult for us to be informal and get on a first-name basis all of a sudden. Well, we can drop the honorifics at least, what do you say, Muranaka?”

“Sure, I don’t mind, Ohori. Ugh, it feels weird though.”

“““Hahahaha~”””

It was a very cheery atmosphere, one that could be considered impossible to attain in their previous world. There was a certain thought everyone present had in their minds looking at this scene, but none expressed. It was something that everybody decided would be better left unsaid.

“Shainaq mentioned that the mufads will be left in the city. The forest is quite dense, and if we run into something dangerous, it would be more efficient to run on foot. Muranaka-kun, will you be going with them?”

“Sensei, you can just call me by my name.” Aki’s amused gaze met with Chisa’s, prompting the latter to awkwardly avert her eyes. “Also, I will not be going with them. The ones going to the city will have to run more than five kilometers to return, so they are only taking the ones who can channel [Lord’s Blessing] to a certain extent. I think Shainaq will ask Ayuzawa-san and Ohori-san to tag along, maybe Manaha-san as well.”

Misaki’s control over [Lord’s Blessing] was impeccable, but the amount she could channel fell short of people like Akio, Umi, Asahi, and others. It was the same for Aki, no, it was worse. All the others except his group were unaware of the fact that Aki had probably the best control over [Lord’s Blessing] among everyone in the class, maybe even better than the residents.

“Well, they’ll need at least 10 people to lead all of the mufads to the city safely, so maybe they will ask Ohori-san and the others… It doesn’t really matter though. I am more concerned about the forest. Even if the path we are taking is relatively safe, no man can predict the way of the animals, so do maintain caution.”

Chisa advised with a serious expression, and after finishing the last bit of her milk, stood up and excused herself to go meet Shainaq.

“I think Sensei’s being a little paranoid, but I understand where she’s coming from.”

Umi voiced her opinion while stroking her arms, seemingly feeling a little chilly.

“I agree with Ohori-san, it’s true that we shouldn’t let our guards down, but being excessively cautious can also turn out to be a hindrance.”

Misaki gave a nod of approval while the others just maintained their smiles. Nikki spoke up at that moment.

“It’s getting late, shouldn’t we wake up Khavare-kun? They’ll be sure to take Khavare-kun to the city since he is one of our strongest classmates. If he’s late then he’ll just get bullied more.”

“Hmm, Ohori-san, why don’t you go wake him up? I am sure he’ll be delighted to have your face be the first one he sees in the morning.”

“W-what!? W-why me?”

“Ara~ Umi, why do you look so flustered?”

“Did something happen between the two of you, Umi-chan?”

“Well… They did travel for so many days on the same horse… It would be strange if nothing did happen.”

Akio, Nikki, and Misaki teased Umi in a mischievous tone.

“W-what are you guys saying! Nothing happened, okay!? He was just really nice to me, that’s all!”

“Oh~ So the sharp-tongued, cold-hearted, and strong-willed Ohori-san can be this feminine, huh? I never pegged you for the wifey type.”

“Muranaka-kun!! Are you teasing me too!?”

“Ahaha~”

“Don’t ‘Ahaha~’ me! Hmph, I’ll just go wake up Khavare-kun, at least he’s nice to me.”

Umi stood up and walked over to the other side of the camp where she filled a mug with milk and then entered the tent with both her hands filled with mugs, just like how Nikki had woken up Aki. The others couldn’t see it since she was facing the other way while entering the tent, but she had a gentle smile of adoration on her face. Akio gazed at Umi’s disappearing back and said in a soft voice.

“She was living her life like a pet animal with a leash around her neck… She told me that the reason why she feigned ignorance of Khavare-kun’s obvious feelings was because her parents were set on arranging a marriage partner for her after graduation… And now, she’s strong… Both mentally and physically… I am happy for her, from the bottom of my heart.”

...

Two hours later, on the outskirts of the great forest ‘Big Tree’.

No, the forest wasn’t called ‘Big Tree’, it was just the literal interpretation of the original name of the forest which was in Miras, the language of North Gliblici. The pronunciation of the word was difficult, so the students just left it at ‘Big Tree.’

All the students, including the girls, were carrying huge bags filled to the brim, over their shoulders. These bags were filled with essentials to last the group for about a month. Asahi had expressed his doubt as to the reason for this ‘training’, however, the answer Shainaq provided was always vague, and that only led to the students assuming the worst-case scenario, and that would be some kind of battle or war.

“The forest is bigger than you think. Everybody has a map with them, but the scaling can be inaccurate, so do not blindingly trust the map, it can be fatal.”

Shainaq advised in a serious voice. The bag he was carrying was the biggest one of them all, but he looked the least affected by the weight, one could say that he didn’t even acknowledge the monstrosity on his back. While the other students were utilizing significant amounts of [Lord’s Blessing] to negate the weight of the bag, it seemed as though Shainaq was only using his physical strength.

“I think he’s making us train our [Lord’s Blessing] by making us carry such a heavy load. Muranaka-kun, are you okay?”

Akio was worried about Aki since even she had to devote a certain amount of mental and physical strength to channel enough power lift the bag.

“Yeah, I am fine.”

Aki smiled at Akio’s unfiltered and unhidden concern. One couldn’t tell at first glance, but he seemed much more relaxed than any of the top brass among the class.

“Ahem!” Shainaq coughed loudly to gain the attention of the students that we're complaining about the situation amongst themselves. “Please stay close to me as we travel through the forest. We will take the path marked in your maps which will indirectly lead us to the city. We have already reserved rooms in a relatively decent inn to help us relax a month from now. Our goal during this training will be to break through the barrier and learn how to really ‘apply’ [Lord’s Blessing] instead of just channeling it and using it to strengthen your body.”

“You should know better than me… If one could wield the power to manually interfere with the matter on a molecular, or even on an atomic level, what could be the consequences. A single person could end all of humanity. However, considering the sheer amount of [Lord’s Blessing] and control of it needed to actually wield such omnipotent power, I doubt anyone could make such a huge impact…”

Well… There are some people… But they don’t need to know about them yet…

Shainaq smiled and gestured to Chisa to step into the forest. Chisa was well-respected in the school, but even after coming to a different world, and gaining powers they never thought they would, that respect didn’t diminish in the slightest, the reason being Chisa’s own personal strength. Though she didn’t really participate in the students’ training sessions and only trained with Aki, her strength was nothing to scoff at. She was the student’s spokesperson and their guide, she was also the only one who the excessively conceited people like Asahi or Masahiko listened to… Not to mention that her beauty appealed even to the fine folks of this world.

The paths in the ‘Big Tree’ forest were too numerous to count. Humans have been treading through this forest for centuries, creating a new path for themselves every time they do. The map Shainaq provided to Aki and the other students were the mass-produced one which had only the major and relatively safer paths marked on them, with the less popular being ignored.

Shainaq wanted the students to travel through one of these less popular paths and had personally marked the path on all twenty-six of the maps after buying them from the city this morning.

“Alright then… Let’s go!”