Published at 26th of March 2019 2:46 am

Chapter 256: Side chapter - Rimuru’s Elegant Escape - 7

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Julius’ coming forward as the leader, whether it was good or bad…

Either way, a roll-call was done and they passed food to everyone.

“Getting dragged in even though you’re not even a student yet… tough luck.”

One of the instructors passed me the food saying that but… the food was so simple that it even made me long for CalorieMate.

The food was in a pack for carrying, made mainly for when conquering the Labyrinth.

It’s commonly referred to as ‘ration’(battle food).

The instructor was called Irina and she was a researcher in NNU Magic and Science Investigation Academy.

The battle type instructors and students were careful and had at least a day’s worth of energy food with them but the research students weren’t that prepared.

And so, amongst all that, this Irina brought out these ‘rations’ from her ‘Space Storage’.

It seems she was researching the passing of time inside the ‘storage space’ and had a lot of food in it.

But unfortunately, the time in ‘storage space’ is the same as normal if it’s used with magic or ability.

However, if one were to put food in a sterilized storage space without any germ in it, there’s no chance of it getting spoiled.

Even then, the ultimate conclusion we reached was that complete preservation was impossible due to insufficient processing and various other reasons.

Actually, my ‘imaginary space’ can preserve things in it perfectly as it’s not ruled by time but we’re not talking about that right now.

Not only the ration, all the food everyone had on them was collected and was managed by Julius’ group.

And with that, 3 days worth of food supply was gathered, considering 2 meals a day for everyone.

It seems that the food supply the battle type people were carrying came in handy and provided some leeway.

Apart from the taste, it had proper nutrition.

Something can be done about water by magic so for now, nobody will be dying of starvation during this one week.

As I was having my somewhat sweet but not delicious food, a good smell came drifting my way.

It was from Julius’ group.

Those guys, despite this situation, they had prepared a table and chairs and were having an elegant lunch.

That too was cooked in a simple cooking set and served like in a top restaurant.

“Julius-sama, the quality of the food will be subpar due to the circumstances. Please, forgive me.”

“Hm, it can’t be helped. Although I am reluctant, I do understand that I have to be the model for the people.”

“Thank you very much for your kind words.”

While sucking on the ration, I stared at them, exasperated.

The butler apologizing to Julius was the student Maria’s escort, if I am not wrong. Yep, that’s probably it considering that they’re sitting on the same table.

Other than them, there’s also a boy and another girl sitting there, with both of their butlers serving as well.

As if they were in a different world.

I had a boat load of things I wanted to say to him like where they got those food or that this is the time to be working together or if they actually knew what they’re talking about, but for now, there’s one thing I understood well and it’s that this guy really can’t read the atmosphere.

Karma looked annoyed and Magnus just gave a bitter smile while looking towards Julius.

Normally they would probably flare up at him but the situation was so bad that they didn’t even have the willpower to complain.

“Looks so good. This much isn’t really enough for me……”

Beside me, a fat student let out a sad sigh.

Judging from his fat, that amount of food is certainly quite sad.

“Don’t complain! This has been optimised to have the perfect nutrition balance and makes you feel full, you know?”

A girl beside him scolded him for whining.

That’s exactly right. Although the taste isn’t very good, this ration is a top quality product.

“Hmm. But, you know, I am a battle type too so… That kind of deception doesn’t work for me……”

The boy repeatedly sighed.

It seems he was trained against illusions and neurotoxins so the effect which had some merit to him was also ineffective now.

It might be that he’s just being gluttonous but it sure is pretty rough when there’s a limit to how much you can eat.

“It’s half-eaten but do you want some of mine?”

And so I offered him mine but…

“Eh, is it okay? Then, uwah-”

“Ah! Mondo-kun, you okay? I will have a look at you so come here.”

A branch suddenly came falling directly onto this Mondo kid’s head.

Mondo was now being held up by instructor Pyuri, who had pretty, silver hair.

“Oi, is he alright?”

“Ah, ehh, you are?”

“Ah, I am Satoru. I am just a normal person who got caught up-”

“Eh, umm. Satoru-kun, eh? He is fine so you don’t need to worry, okay? Ah, right, in situations like this, I think it’s not good to give your food to others, you know?”

She said, after hesitating for a moment there.

Is she thinking of me as impertinous or is she really worried as an instructor?

[[No matter how you look at it, it seems like she was trying to stop master from handing over the food.]]

Right.

In other words, this means that she found out who I am, right?

And the fact that the branch which came falling was cleanly cut was proof of that.

[[It wouldn’t be weird for an instructor to know Rimuru-sama’s face. It’s kind of unreasonable to try and deceive people just by changing your hair and eye color. She will probably come making contact soon.]]

And when I heard that, I could also see why the instructors gave those 3 options.

In short, they probably wanted to find out what I was thinking about the situation and what is the correct option.

If so, then I guess I will reveal that tonight-I thought, while looking at Mondo-kun being carried away.

◇◇◇

After having lunch, it was time to announce policy decision.

Without consulting with everyone, we will be going forward with what Julius and his group decided.

Julius had completely become everyone’s leader, having the most authority.

“Well, what plan will we go with?”

To Magnus’ question, Julius just sneered and answered,

“That’s obvious. We will head for the island’s edge with just the battle elites. It’s fine if we can call for help there. And even if we can’t we will be able to collect points.”

He declared, as if it was obvious from the start.

Julius’ reasoning went like this:

There are some students who can also use ‘space storage’ so they will be setting up a base here.

The research, economics and politics students will engage in constructing a place to sleep. Food supply is also not stable so they will be gathering as much food as they can.

While doing that, they will take actions such that they gain the most points possible.

The fact that some students got points just for helping set up the tent was made public and so they wanted to find out if there were any other ways to get points, as well.

“The people staying behind, you guys also need to act such that you get as much point as possible. It won’t be a problem if we can blow away the mana storm but if we were to fail, we won’t have any other choice than to listen to those pirates. Being isolated in this island for labor work-we mustn’t accept that at any cost. The most important thing is to earn points and at least make it out of the island!”

Julius’ confidant gave a speech.

If I remember right, he is Julius’ escort knight and his name is Clad.

It seems like Clad has been entrusted with leading the students.

It also looks like making certain of battle types is also Clad’s job.

As soon as he was done with his speech, he looked at the students and started selecting the ones who seemed to be dependable in fights. And then, he made groups of 5.

“That plan is better than I expected. I was worried he would work us really hard…”

“Despite everything you say, you really do your job properly after all, Karma. While Julius does treat you like an idiot and what not, I am sure he can’t ignore your skills.”

On the side, I could hear Karma and Magnus having a conversation.

Maybe because of the mingling in the academy, they seemed to be closer than just normal acquaintances.

Although, it also doesn’t seem like both of them trust each other from the bottom of their hearts.

I secretly listened to their conversation.

“Well, I will cooperate. What’s important is everyone being saved and if he does it properly then I am willing.”

“I see, then I shall also see how it turns out.”

Putting the serious Karma aside, even Magnus didn’t seem like he would oppose Julius.

Well, it is true that having a dispute at this point wouldn’t be a wise thing to do but…

But it looks like Karma was even more surprised by Magnus’ words than me.

“That’s rare. For you to listen to Julius.”

“Not really. It is true that what he said makes sense. If we just earn the points, we won’t be left in this island. If we do that, we could look for opportunities to call for help while pretending to do as the kidnappers say.”

“I see. Then I guess we will be having a joint struggle for a while, huh?”

“Yea, I will be counting on you, Karma.”

“Same here, Magnus.”

When Karma asked surprised, Magnus just replied shrugging his shoulders.

It seems even Karma was convinced by his logic.

Ultimately, it seems both of them aren’t actually content with Julius taking the lead but they have come to the conclusion that they will see how it goes for a while.

They are much more rational and it isn’t like they completely lack the spirit of cooperativeness like I had thought earlier.

My opinion of them has improved but still, we have a whole to go.

There’s no need to hurry so I shall be watching closely.

Now then, it would be great if they go at it with this level of cooperativeness-while thinking that, I restrained from making an evaluation before the results.

The grouping had ended.

5 teams were made and 5 members were in each group.

As you can only register 5 people in the bracelet, the group members were now registering each other.

And the members of Julius’ group were registering all of the 5 members of the other groups.

If they do this, they can be aware of each group’s location even when they are away so that’s quite a good plan.

Although that way Julius’ group can’t register each other but since his escort is never leaving his side, I guess it will be fine.

And Julius himself had registered the instructors so that he can communicate with the base.

This way, the ones remaining in the base will know about the exploring group’s whereabouts and can rest easy.

This Julius kid-although his aristocratic attitude can get very annoying, he is quite smart.

He has all the good points down and is making exactly the right decisions.

There might be a ‘brain’ in his group but he still deserves praise for implementing it.

This 3 might not just be your regular problem children.

I guess I will have to see it to the end.

◇◇◇

A total of 25 battle type students departed in high spirits.

The ones remaining split into two groups to prepare dinner and secure a place to sleep.

The place we are currently at is an open grassland between hilly areas and is spacious enough for the ship to land.

Although the surrounding is covered with hills, on the other side of it are mountains and deserts.

If you head for the center, then you will be faced with mountains and if you head for the edge then you will find deserts.

And there, each of the rulers should be present. Or rather, because of them and their leaking aura, the terrain transformed into this abnormal environment.

On the other hand, there is a forest but as there’s also a ruler living there, it was connected to a jungle.

To be honest, as there are rulers on all four sides, it will be difficult for the search team.

There’s no doubt that it will be easier for the people staying back.

And as such, I am in the staying behind group.

Tia is supposed to be protecting the search groups from the shadow so I don’t have a role to play there.

Or rather, now that I am at human level, I would have trouble even with unique monsters, semi demon lord seed level is way out of the question.

To be more precise, if I get even a bit serious, my identity will be revealed and it would be game over.

And so, I will be among the non-combatants.

I want it to be clear that it’s definitely not like I want to relax.

Now then, about the work for the ones staying behind-

The job that looks most easy is setting up the tent for the equipments.

A very thoroughly prepared instructor had outdoor training camp equipments stored in his ‘space storage’.

It might just be that he thought it would be more troublesome to put them in a storage but some things are better left unsaid.

After all, he’s all happy and what not from all the respect he’s getting from the students so I will just leave it as him having a careful personality.

Besides, the tent even has an insect repelling effect due to a simple magic circle. With space magic, the insides are also a bit more spacious so it’s perfect for situations like this.

There were 30 tents of which each can fit about 10 people and so we have more than enough space even if we make the tents gender-segregated.

The way to set it up is rather simple-you just need to break the magic seal on a flat surface and spread the tent. After that, you just need to put up all the sides.

However, I am not a student of any academy so I am not supposed to know about breaking the magic seal.

It’s actually quite simple but if I were to do it, I would completely be labelled out as a suspicious person.

And like this, I was inevitably put into the food supply group.

Looking at the other students put up the tents with a backward glance, we headed into the forest.

Beside me was Mondo-kun-the fat student from before.

Although two instructors were leading about 30 students, that alone would be very secure so a battle type student was included in each group.

We were also working with 5 members in a group, like Julius and the others.

The relief squad was in the middle with the four collecting squads protecting them from all four sides.

The relief squad also had registered each member of all groups so this arrangement was appropriate.

Instructors are not included in the groups so we had a total of 27 people.

Mondo-kun was also a battle type for what it matters so he was chosen as one of the escorts for people heading into the forest.

I don’t know all the students so I will just have to trust the instructors’ judgement on the personnel selection.

Well, Ciel-sensei isn’t saying anything either so it’s probably fine but…

“Ahh~ahh, this is the worst~ To be protected by Mondo, out of all.”

The one who was whining beside was a girl named Marsha.

She was the same girl who was with him a while ago and it seems they are childhood friends.

Although she is complaining, she seems like she is having fun.

However, the same couldn’t be said about her friend.

“Oi, oi, I am here so you can rest easy. Well, sure, my results aren’t as good as the search group but I am still quite good in actual battles, you know?”

“Right~ Compared to Mondo, I guess George is better.”

“Oi, what do you mean better?! Sure, I am in middle in the ranks but it hurts when you compare me with this low rank.”

The George kid said.

And a red-haired girl nodded to that.

Apparently her name is Aina. She has freckles but is a cute girl.

George, Aina, Mondo and Marsha were my group mates.

I was observing to get a grasp of the collecting group’s personalities but it seems like Mondo-kun isn’t really valued highly.

Excluding me, it seems he has the lowest grades among the 4.

However, it didn’t seem like he was hated or anything. Rather, he felt like the mood maker of the group.

It might be because of Mondo-kun that this group doesn’t seem anxious.

Although Mondo-kun might not be willing to be made fun of, it definitely is making the rest feel less stressed.

“Even though you say that, I have things I am good at too, alright? I might be lacking stamina but my explosive power is above average, you know?”

“Stuupid. Being able to continue fights for long is the most important-even the instructor was saying that, remember?”

George sneered at Mondo-kun’s excuse.

Certainly, if he gets hungry and laments easily, you can’t really expect him to hold his fights for long. But still, like he says, he might shine in power.

At the very least, it is a big plus point that his resistance is high.

It seems like his body can resist neurotoxins so if he trains that part, he might have an interesting growth.

“Well, what are we going to do?”

A while after going into the forest, George gathered the group mates and asked.

George was this group’s leader.

“Shall we search for a water place first?”

“Right~ the instructors were saying that too. Securing water is of utmost importance. I can see water coming into the forest from the mountains so let’s head there~”

Marsha answered and Aina agreed.

And so, we started walking towards the water place-in other words, the river.

◇◇◇

“Hyaahha-! Fishing here is the best~!”

The one who raised that excited voice was, me.

I was having a really good time fishing.

About how it got like this-

We secured water and used magic to see if it was drinkable.

It had slight toxins and parasitic magical insects but was perfectly dealt with boiling magic.

George and the other 3 are from NNU Magic and Science Investigation Academy and so they are a bit weak at battle magic. But on the other hand, it seems they were doing research to improve lifestyle magic and so surprisingly enough, we were able to procure water quite efficiently.

We could bring water with magic too but it’s always better to have another supply.

We were lucky to secure water.

Moreover,

“Alright, perfect!”

Marsha grinned.

Who would have thought, this Marsha girl is a user of [Space Expansion] while still being a 4th year.

This is lesser version of [Space Storage] and can only increase the capacity. However, space-type magic are extremely difficult so being able to use even this is praiseworthy.

When compared to [Transition Magic] which is already developed as techniques, this [Space Expansion] is much harder as it’s still being researched.

Even just this proves that this Marsha girl has potential.

George and Mondo frantically scooped up the water and Aina purified it with magic.

And Marsha kept on putting purified water into the ordinary survival flasks.

That had good coordination considering how much they were complaining.

And, as for me-

“Ah, you can’t use magic, right, Satoru-kun? You don’t seem like you have much stamina either so could you search this area for any edible food?”

George told me.

By this area, he meant as far as their eyes could see.

I am not a kid so I don’t plan on going away alone anyway but…

It seems like from their eyes, I am still quite young.

What is this treatment? I am pretty sure I have set my appearance as a 15 year old.

But either way, it’s no use complaining so I decided to do what I could.

—As such, I attached a string to a tree branch and made a simple fishing tackle.

At times like this, clothes with threads come in handy. I am producing the strings by my own but this way I can easily deceive them.

As for the bait, I used the insects under the waterside rocks.

Insects which come up in rooms are enemies, a target for annihilation, a subject for hatred but-it’s weird how I can go around searching for insects myself in places like these.

I even laid bare the trap which the instructors gave us in case a harmful monster came up. And then I used it as a net to put the fish I catch in.

My preparations are perfect.

And like this, I prepared the tools and bait and started fishing.

“What are you doing?”

Marsha asked.

It seems like their job of collecting water is done.

When I looked at the other 3, I found them lying down, exhausted.

Their stamina and mana probably ran out.

“Fishing. I was wondering if I could catch a few fishes and have them for dinner.”

I had already caught about 30.

Seems like this fishing place is really good as no one else has fished here before.

It’s my own personal record-catching 20 fishes in an hour.

“Fishing? Sounds interesting! Can I do it too?”

She asked with glittering eyes so I handed over the tools and showed her the basics.

It seems Marsha had never gone fishing before and was very interested.

After teaching her for a while, I told her to try it herself and she had immediately gotten enthusiastic about it.

She’s quite something considering that the other 3 are exhausted and she is fine despite the fact that she used the most mana.

While giving her advice, I started making a second fishing rod-

Or I wanted to but…

By the time I was finished, Aina came by and by the time I had finished the 3rd one, George came and participated too.

At the end, even Mondo wanted to fish so the total amount of fish I caught that day was stopped at 33.

But still, not only did we secure water, the total amount of fish we caught was 104.

One could say this is more than enough.

But while returning, Marsha used [space compression] on the whole net and Aina used weight limit magic on it. Then George and Mondo did the physical labor of carrying it. I have decided to not think about how all the fish we caught would have gone to waste if they hadn’t done all that.

All’s well that ends well.

And like this, the first day of harvesting in the forest had come to an end.

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