Sword, Magic and Academic Society

For the second day, the main squad relentlessly marched forward in the daylight.

It started when they saw it wasn't possible to raise their speed at night in their current situation and taking another shortcut through the forest was a risk they couldn’t take again.

In that case, they thought, why not push themselves during the daylight when it was possible?

To further push them forward, they got attacked by a swarm of poisonous moths at dawn, causing several of them to get paralyzed. Fortunately, they got cured with some antidotes they brought and Jeu's magic, and they managed to get through in the end, but at the cost of their precious time.

So, to ensure they could cover as much distance as possible while the sun was still out, they pushed themselves and left the mountain trail, traversing the shortest route while kicking away any monster they came across, all without a single moment of rest. Their persistent effort made it possible for them to reach the 6th checkpoint by evening.

Now, as long as they can keep their current pace up, they should be able to reach their destination 3 hours before the initially appointed time.

But they didn't achieve it without a price; the wounds on their bodies were the consequence of their impossible march.

They had fine-tuned the weight of the luggage for everyone according to their capacity to keep an average pace, a necessity due to everyone's varying mana capacity and accuracy of physical strengthening, so everyone had been equally tired.

However, this had put their important resource, their mana, in jeopardy. Adding to their problems were their exhausted bodies, lack of sleep, and lack of nutrition— while they had some portable emergency rations, it was far from enough to provide the necessary nourishment for their growing bodies.

It was probably only a matter of time before their physical abilities, as well as their judgment and thought process, took a nosedive.

It didn't seem like they were in the condition to sustain an adequate pace. Far from finishing early, it was doubtful if they could even make it in time.

Their jitteriness bred impatience, impatience led to mistakes, and those mistakes in turn put more burden on themselves.

The students of Class-A continued to press on in silence, not even a chu~ could be heard between them.

—But the more painful a time was, the more they had to face it head-on.

Thinking so, Al, the always happy-go-lucky guy by nature, had just looked up, shifting his gaze from his feet, when he noticed a column of fumes rising somewhere in the middle of the 6th and 7th checkpoint.

"Hey, there’s a plume of smoke there! Is someone fighting monsters, I wonder...?"

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With a fed-up 'What, monsters again?' expression, everyone also looked up. Their reactions stemmed from their almost continuous encounter with monsters, which had increased further after they crossed the 5th checkpoint like what Stella had told them.

"This is… the fumes are from a bonfire. I’d bet all of my money it's Allen."

Coco's words, as he spoke with a sigh, made everyone react.

"A-Are you sure? It had barely been 30 hours since those two left the grasslands. Impala is at least 250 km from there, and there’s also an additional 150 km distance from the grasslands to here. It’s impossible even if they take a shortcut through the mountain.

I know he’s not an average guy, but I really doubt that even he can make it here so quickly while dealing with monsters. Stella’s with him, too, remember? This is a mountain trail, so they may be just explorers camping out."

Shal wore a ludicrous expression but Coco firmly asserted.

"Allen’s the only one I can think of who’d dare start a bonfire at such a conspicuous spot. It's also in plain sight of us, which ensures that we’ll see it no matter which route we choose to take. I believe it's his signal to meet at that place.

He didn't leave any instructions about this just in case he couldn't make it due to some mishap. He didn’t want to raise our expectations in vain, but from what I had seen of his skills, I believe he would surely be able to meet us early as if it was a smooth sail for him even with Stella in tow.

Well, even I didn't expect he would come here this early though......"

Hearing that, Jeu's lips curved into a pleasant smile as she chuckled.

"Fufu. It's hard to tell what he did to meet us so early, but that Allen-san for you. And, 'Every task appears monumental until you actually carry it out to the end'...... was what he had said, and lo and behold, he truly has achieved the impossible."

Al also continued with a vibrant tone.

"Haha! Alright! Let's all push forward with the same passion! I bet those two must have pushed themselves hard to reach here so soon as well! He would laugh at us if he saw our long faces!"

Allen was waiting for them.

It was a simple fact, but it swept away the doom and gloom that had been hanging above everyone, unwittingly putting them all in a good mood.

◆◆◆

"Heya~, great job reaching here! I can already smell the insidious scheming of that old geezer from your expressions. Anyway, here's some grilled meat, take some and rest! I’d like to make some soup, but do you have a pot I can use?"

When I asked while appreciating them for their hard work, everyone instead crumpled on the spot like deflated balloons.

"......H-How are you still so energetic, Allen? Didn't you, like, rush here, crossing the mountain, to meet us? Don't tell me you hitch a ride on a magic car to get here?"

Viz asked in exasperation, and my reply was—

"As if I could've found one in this wilderness. So rude. Anyway, my initial guess was that we’d meet somewhere between the 7th and 8th checkpoint later tonight when we left the grassland...... But Stella proved herself to be an excellent navigator that it felt like we were on a hike for the most part.”

""H-Hiking......?""

Everyone gasped.

Leo followed while gnashing his teeth.

"In the end, it really ended up as you said; you’d be cleaning up our mess. As much as it frustrates me, my leadership can only carry us to this extent. Everyone has truly put in every ounce of effort they can."

Uh-huh, this guy was at it again...... With a bitter smile on my face, I clapped on Leo's shoulder.

"You managed to arrive here without Stella, who just happened to be the important piece in completing this task as our navigator, overcoming all of that old geezer's schemes. Your presence here right now is proof that you’ve done your best. You know, I expected you guys to be around here and that’s why I chose this location.

I bet there must have been plenty of puzzling options you could go for, but no matter the choice, any other shortcut must have had more cons than the current one.

Heck, the fact that you wasted no time in assigning Stella to the messenger squad was a testament to your skills. Also, not just anyone can push this group to follow them at the same rhythm. It would have definitely been a deal breaker had it been anyone else, so chin up."

Leo’s stern expression slightly loosened on hearing my words. The rest had been wearing grim expressions as well, but their faces now appeared slightly brighter.

"Then again, there's no way you would back down from giving your all when you give it your 100% no matter the situation. That’s something Viz would do after all, ahahaha!

Alright, I'm getting hungry. We'd been waiting for you here, believing that you would arrive at any moment. This is the meat of a Darre Buffalo I slayed earlier. It’s apparently a must-try according to Stella."

"H-Heyyy, even I gave my 100%, alright?!"

As said I took a jab at Viz for his earlier remark, everyone broke into chuckles.

Yes, that's the spirit. It's these bright and cheerful smiles that should be the centerpiece of outdoor classes!

◆◆◆

"It's so delicious, I can't believe it!"

Jeu's eyes glittered as she gingerly took a bite of meat.

The reaction wasn't unique to her. The members of well-off families, too, were showing enraptured expressions as they took bites off the huge grilled meat hanging from their daggers— and I mean it was truly a huge chunk, like those of a Brazilian churrasco.

The meat was simply seasoned with salt, but as they say, there was no better spice than an empty stomach. Including the mountain scenery and the company of friends, it must have been a new experience for almost all of them, which further added to the meat’s taste.

Meanwhile, Fey hovered around me, saying 'Quick, praise me. I really did my best here.' And I truly did compliment her from the bottom of my heart, saying 'I can tell so you don't need to explain. Heavy lifting is the specialty of a gorilla girl after all!' though she gave me a hard pinch on my cheeks for that while smiling. Sheesh, I really thought my cheeks were going to fall apart.

"Damn, you don’t look tired at all......"

As I muttered my complaint while rubbing my cheeks, tears almost falling from my eyes, Leo spoke up.

"But this time, it's definitely your fault though. She really did a lot of the heavy lifting this time, whether it was sharing other people’s burden or lifting everyone's spirit...... By the way, I was wondering, why is there no sign of a monster attack here?"

While gracefully nibbling on his meat, he asked.

The others were also eating in the same way with the same unboned meat, but somehow it appeared more graceful when he did it.

I guess this was simply the difference between upbringing, huh?

"Well, there were many who were lured in by the aroma but I had been warding them off with my wind magic. Lately, unless it's a strong monster, my wind can intimidate them well enough."

Leo fell silent for a moment when he heard that and flashed a bitter smile.

"............Haaa. So that's it, huh? This was how you managed to arrive here so quickly, and even this tranquil mealtime is all due to that, right? I really did overlook your true intent, masked behind that skirt-flipping magic moniker......

It truly transcends common sense, and the application is truly fearsome. It's a pity I suck hard when it comes to finely controlling outer mana circulation. Right, no wonder you said ‘Having Stella with you would be better for the bigger picture’. So you had foreseen this outcome from the beginning, huh?"

Hey, hey, I never did appeal to it as a skirt-flipping magic, alright?! What happened in the Rising Star Cup was… out of my control!

"......There's no such thing as absolute, you can never tell what you might face whenever. However, the only absolute was my conviction; I would make it happen in any way possible. The rest were the byproducts of that.

Anyway, enough chit-chat, my special springtime soup is ready~."

I urged everyone to try the soup I had made with utmost care. However, the liveliness that the crowd had managed to get back suddenly took a nosedive after that.