Published at 29th of March 2019 10:15 am

Chapter 257: Side chapter - Rimuru’s Elegant Escape Play - 8

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

On our way back, Marsha suddenly let out a yell.

“Hey! I was casually checking the bracelet just now and something crazy is going on with my points! For some reason my points have risen to 44?!”

Their attention drawn by her statement, everyone else checked their bracelets, as well.

“Uwo! I am only 19 points, eh?”

“I am 26.”

“I only have 15 points?”

George and the others unanimously informed each other of their points.

Following Marsha, Mondo had the highest points.

Hmm? Even if we did get points from our activities today, I thought it would have only been a few points…

When I hurriedly checked my points as well, surprisingly enough, it was at 41.

And when I checked how I got those points-it was listed that I got about 33 points from monster subjugation and 8 from aid actions.

Oi, oi, fish also count as monsters?!

And what’s this 8 points for aiding actions? Because I made a fishing rod for each of them?

Like 2 points for each? It’s more of a shock that I only got 2 points for that painstaking work.

But still, this is too unfair, this way of earning points… even I am astounded.

“If cautious actions gave 2 points then-we get one point for each fish we catch?!”

“I see! I also caught about 24, if I remember correct, so there’s no mistaking it.”

“Don’t put on airs just ‘cause you won in fishing, Mondo. However, that settles it. I also remember catching 17 so each fish gives 1 point.”

I heard George and Mondo conversing.

Oh, shoot.

With this, scoring points becomes super easy.

I started panicking inside.

“Hahaha, this is stupid. Earning points so easily, the person who set it up must be an idiot. Those Greed Circus guys are quite the foolish bunch, huh?!”

“Right? I also think so. I was thinking it would be quite hard~ But this makes it a piece of cake, right~?”

George said with a laugh and Aina also followed up with a nod.

Their words hurt my ears.

Why? ‘Cause I was the one who set it up.

It’s just a bit, no, actually, quite a bit embarrassing.

I had set the 30 points to be the passing limit so Marsha has already passed.

Mondo only needs 4 more points and even Aina who has the least points among them has earned about half the points needed.

[[Fufufu, exactly as calculated, huh, Rimuru-sama?]]

Ciel spoke to me happily while I was sulking.

What are you talking about?-when I asked her that, she replied with an atmosphere of ‘I know what you are planning’.

[[After today’s activities, Mondo, who is a dropout, will be viewed in a better light. And also Marsha, who has a talent for magic will be given a different role, right?]]

Wh-what?!

In other words, this grouping wasn’t appropriate, as I thought. It seems they just grouped the problematic ones.

Well, that is fine now but the problem is what Ciel just said.

-A different role for Marsha… you say?

[[You will feign ignorance, I see. What exactly are you planning, keeping it a secret from me, as well?]]

Ciel answered, sounding like she was really enjoying herself.

Hahaha, it seems she has misunderstood, thinking that this is something I schemed.

Needless to say, neither have I calculated for this to happen nor am I scheming anything.

All of this is just Ciel’s misunderstanding but… I guess I will use that for now.

-Fufu, as expected of Ciel. I can’t hide things from you, can I? Mondo seemed like he lacked confidence so I just helped a bit, you see.

[[As I thought. However, that was too lenient of you. To use your valuable trick which you were saving for something like this- ]]

Ah, hmm.

This isn’t a valuable trick I reserved or anything, you see.

It’s something even I didn’t notice, you see.

I mean, who would think that E rank giving 1 point would apply to fish as well, right?

There are no fish inside the labyrinth, after all.

And even if there were, they would be man-eating fish or demon fish living in the wetlands.

Well, even I kept small insects like mosquito or fleas to be not applicable.

Although the ones living in Apito’s territory are different…

It was a complete mistake on my part but as Ciel-san saw it as one of my strategies, my dignity has been upheld for now.

I did think of changing the bracelet’s settings by using the master command but I stopped.

If I did that, the points we got just now would look weird.

Besides-even regarding the fish strategy, since we caught this much today, surely the catch will be less tomorrow.

It’s something like a one-time bonus stage.

Just like Ciel said, a trick of a sort.

Even if the other students were to try and imitate, it wouldn’t go as easily.

In the first place, it’s difficult making the fishing rod.

That’s probably not something they are taught in school and definitely not so simple that they can make it after seeing it once.

There’s surely no one who thought-’oh, something like this might happen so let me bring my fishing rod along’.

And, above all, the only reason we were able to have such a big catch was because I, being a gentleman as I am who likes fishing, went to all the trouble of making the fishing rod using Ciel-sensei’s calculation abilities.

It will probably be fine to not worry about that.

And like that, with a total catch of 123 fish, we had made a triumphal return.

The scenario waiting for us at the rendezvous point was one of the exhausted students.

It seems even the fruits which looked good at first turned out to be poisonous after an appraisal using magic.

And even when they tried to hunt wild animals, it was another hardship as they had no access to any good equipment.

It seems one of the groups had created a pitfall and kept waiting for their pray to fall in but ultimately ended the day without a single hit.

Another group had used appraisal magic on all the plants and were about to completely run out of mana but still managed to gather only a small amount of food.

Another group seemed to have encountered a low level monster and gathering food had become the least of their worries as they desperately fought.

All the groups’ achievements were poor and they had only earned a few points, making them feel even more depressed.

And without a doubt, our group had produced the best results.

“What is this?! How is Mondo being so useful?!”

“Shut up, Billy! I was there as the group leader so it’s only natural!”

One of the exhausted students was jealous of Mondo’s results and was trying to flare up at him but was put down by George.

Even after that, everyone was surprised by our group’s high points and kept asking questions on what kind of activities we did.

The other groups had no other choice but to remain silent in front of my 41 points.

Although the highest point was earned by Marsha.

It seems Marsha’s magic helped her earn some points-ultimately giving her 39 points for the fish and 5 for her magic.

I don’t really care about losing in points but I can’t accept losing to a beginner who started fishing just today.

I mean, sure, I was making fishing rods for the most part later on but… even still, it seems like there is a need to show her the awesomeness of an expert next time.

Well, leaving that aside.

George, Mondo, Aina and Marsha explained in detail about our activities today.

And after this and that, when we had reached the base, there were 15 tents completed.

It seems they were simple tents and building them was simpler than I had thought.

All of them only earned about 1-3 points so you can tell how much they really worked from that.

“Make sure to store stuff which should not get wet, inside the tent!”

I heard an instructor say.

They are probably going to use a big tent for a shared storage space.

There was also a tent for meetings and a particularly extravagant one for the nobles.

Are you kidding me? That’s unfair! - it was luxurious enough to make me want to say that out loud.

Well, I guess it’s fine. I don’t really want to sleep outdoors either so it was fortunate that someone had tents.

The thought of blowing it away by a sudden gust did cross my mind but that would lead to my points being decreased.

I should think of something to make my tent’s interior better.

While I was looking at the complete tents, the students started preparing for dinner after taking a small break.

Our group also started working, so I decided to help out.

“Are our groups preparing the exploration group’s portion as well?”

When I asked, Marsha replied,

“Right… I do want to but I am not really good at cooking…”

“Eh, not really good? You’re nowhere near-”

“Do you have something you would like to say, Mondo-kun?”

Mondo tried to say something there but stopped after being overwhelmed by Marsha.

Even George was pretending as if he didn’t hear anything and was preparing the stones for the stove. It seems it would be wise for me to pretend I didn’t hear anything either.

“Aina-”

“What is it~ Satoru-kun~?”

This is bad.

I feel like I might step on a landmine.

I could spot George on the other side shaking his head so I understood that these two are out of the equation.

“No, just that I would like to ask you and Marsha to gather some branches to burn for the fire, is that okay?”

“That’s completely alright!”

“That would be easy~if we combine our magic, huh?”

George told them to be careful and not get out of sight.

This place is surrounded by hills but the entrance to the forest can be seen clearly.

The other groups also seemed like they were going to gather some branches so these two girls should be fine.

Normally, our roles would be opposite but since we have magic here, we do not decide on anything with just physical abilities.

As such, we didn’t pursue the topic any further and started our work.

After driving away the two girls, I started dealing with the fish.

As there was no kitchen knife, I prepared it with the small survival knife.

I could tell that there were no parasite or poison in the fish with my Appraisal Study but for what it matters, I feigned ignorance and asked them to check it again.

“Yep, it’s fine! There doesn’t seem to be any problem!”

Mondo told me with a lively voice.

He is probably excited about being able to eat something other than the rations. I have been hearing his stomach roaring for a while now so I could tell how much he was looking forward to it.

“Alright, then all that’s left is to grill it.”

When I raised my face, I saw that the students from other groups coming to watch.

The students studying at the academies probably have experienced camping but they don’t have survival training. As such, even if you hand them fish or grass, they won’t know how to cook it.

I guess I have no choice.

“I will do it once more so you guys can prepare your food yourselves.”

As I said that, the students watching me looked relieved and hurriedly started to imitate what I did.

When I had finished preparing the portion for the exploration group, a major problem came to light.

We don’t have any seasoning.

Are you serious?! This instructor, he has survival kit but not this?!

It’s only natural to prepare the stuff you can’t get naturally before camping.

“I am sorry! My Space Storage was full with the tents…”

Instructor A came earnestly apologizing to me, someone who isn’t even a student.

I don’t know his name so A is good enough.

He had bandages wrapped around his arms and his head so he’s probably one of the instructors who fought against Laplace. It appears that Laplace also held back enough, since these guys already healed enough to move.

It seems he was the only one carrying tents but to me, seasoning is much more important than tents.

“Seasoning is more important than tents!”

“I-I am sorry! I thought we would be enduring with the rations when camping so…”

“So you don’t have anything?”

“Umm… I have a bit of salt…”

“You have salt? Then it’s fine.”

Ah, I am relieved. I am really relieved.

Salt is all-purpose so we were able to avoid the worst case scenario.

He also had some citrus fruit so burning the salt and dripping some fruit juice should be enough.

Instructor A handed over the salt to me, feeling ashamed.

I took the salt with a smile.

He probably thought my anger had dissolved seeing my smile and shamelessly mixed with the other students and started imitating me.

I shall overlook this considering he provided the salt.

The students also looked relieved after hearing our conversation.

“This kid is scary~”

“He was really overwhelming, huh? Peter-sensei looked quite scared, didn’t he?”

“T-there’s no way. No way the sensei would be scared of an ordinary person, that too a kid!”

I could hear such conversations but since I was in a good mood, I decided not to bother.

The problem is the salt.

It seems he wasn’t joking when he said he only had a bit of it. It looks like we will run out of salt soon.

Maybe even tomorrow.

While thinking to myself that I have to do something for tomorrow, I continued the work.

Dinner was in barbecue style.

In this situation, when we don’t even have cooking equipment, the methods in which we can cook are limited.

The exploration group brought back edible monsters so I processed those too.

They could do that themselves since it is taught in their lessons.

It seems they also knew how to find out if it could be eaten or not so there doesn’t seem to be a problem.

However, just in case, I used my Appraisal Study carefully on it and found out that not only was the processing not done properly, the monster’s meat was crushed with a sword and so the quality was very low.

But we can’t really be asking for much.

I also prepared it with chopped up herbs.

As if he was in our group to begin with, Magnus came mixing in.

He looked around and was searching for me.

He’s very annoying but once you get used to him, he seems more like a dog.

“Yo, Satoru-chan. You also prepared our portion!”

Too over-familiar.

And the looks from the surrounding is annoying too.

“Not for your sake, though.”

“Now, now. Are you tsundere?”

Oh just shut up.

I think there might be a need to call him out at the back and deal with him.

While thinking that, I decided to first grill the fish properly.

It gave off a savory scent, stimulating everyone’s appetite.

In addition to the best spice of them all-an empty stomach, these are also the fish I caught so I grilled them good.

I mean, of course, if one were to judge it normally, it wouldn’t be as good as Shuna’s cooking. However, from the fact that I caught and cooked these by myself in this natural environment, this rivals the best cooking out there.

“Delicious! What is this? It’s super delicious!”

Magnus, who came annoying me, took a bite and shouted.

“You’re exaggerating, idiot.”

Saying that, I also took a bite.

Delicious!

Are you serious?!

I only roasted some cotton plant. It must have been of high quality.

And such voices could be heard from here and there, proving that we weren’t the only ones finding it delicious.

Mondo was eating with his whole heart and soul. Tears were flowing out of his ears, soaking him in bliss of a full stomach.

And looking at us with annoyed expressions were the great nobles from their own table, lined up with high class cooking.

I don’t know how many days worth of food they have. It seems they have a whole separate menu for themselves as well.

Well, that’s fine for now.

The monster meat wasn’t that good but it was edible.

We don’t even have seasoning so this is how it’s supposed to be. It was enough to fill the belly.

And like this, we were enjoying a much more balanced meal than I thought we would.

After dinner.

“Well, how did the exploration go?”

I was full now so I asked casually.

“Yeah. It is going smoother than I thought. That pompous guy, he’s Julius, but he’s surprisingly good. He’s noble -royalty at that too, and so is quite good at using others. Thanks to that, we were able to cover plenty of distance without having a single drop-out. We should be able to see the coastline within 3 more days.”

It seems Julius looked capable even from Magnus’ point of view.

He might actually be good if he got rid of that elitism.

It looks like he also looks up to Masayuki so telling him to lecture Julius might do the trick.

“Hmm. is that so? Strong monsters will probably come out so be sure to be on guard.”

Since they had no problems today, I just gave a simple advice.

I don’t think there will be any but I would like to avoid any casualties caused from a lack of awareness.

“Haha, you are worrying for us, aren’t you?”

“There’s no need for your worry! There’s no way Magnus-sama will be taken off by lowly monsters!”

The girl who is always beside Magnus raged.

“Yes, yes. Well, either way, don’t let your guard down.”

I stood up as I said that.

“Yea, I know. Rosary, calm down.”

“I am calm!”

With that behind me, I left to tidy up.

That night.

Feeling the presence of a sleeping magic activate, I opened my eyes.

As this body is really close to a human’s body, it is possible for me to imitate sleeping by thinning out my consciousness but since I have no need for sleep, sleeping magic doesn’t work on me.

However, the target for the magic wasn’t me-it was the other female students sleeping in my tent.

Marsha, Aina and two others.

I was put in their tent. I told them I was fine with the boys’ tent but was rejected by everyone.

“But, I am a guy-”

“Even if you’re a guy.”

They told me they were worried more about me than themselves.

As I was also being persuaded by George and Mondo who didn’t believe me at all, I decided to bend since it was getting bothersome.

Or rather, since I am used to being cared by Shuna or Shion, this much doesn’t really disturb me.

And as such, I was in the same tent as the girls but-

This doesn’t seem to be a sneak visit.

“Satoru-dono, are you there?’

I could hear a small voice calling for me.

I was thinking of going to them myself but it seems they came contacting me first.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“Haha!”

I answered to the call and quietly exited the tent.

The one who greeted me by kneeling as if it was only normal was William Loaz, the elder magic instructor of Ingracia Synthesis Academy.

“You noticed?”

“Of course. I realized with one glance. However, Souei-sama said to keep it a secret in his message so…”

From what he explained while we were changing locations, it seems this elder William is one of Souei’s spies.

Even though I say spy, he is actually a subordinate of a subordinate of Souka.

It seems all of the spies lurking in each of the countries started moving as I gave the order to Souei to investigate the academies.

Even though I say that, these spies normally look for the country’s movements and so small stuff like investigating the academies aren’t included in their job.

They are people who deal with things on a much greater scale.

They normally gather circumstantial evidence of interior corruption or expose injustice. And it seems there were also people who were in the academies to investigate.

William was also one of them.

“I thought my heart would stop when I received the direct Thought Transmission from Souei-sama.”

He said, probably remembering of that time, as he trembled a bit.

That is true.

I understand his feeling-being directly contacted by someone who is like above the clouds.

It even seems he is more afraid of Souei than me.

No, that’s probably it.

Souei is-no, Souei and everyone in the information department are quite strict on their subordinates…

It seems they don’t have the expression ‘in the worst case scenario’ in their dictionary.

Failure=death - they are even feared by other sections.

I was lead to the tent made for the instructors.

As I entered, the instructors knelt down.

Brown, the guy who lost to Laplace at first, Pury, the doctor and Blum, the plump, old man.

There was also this other guy, called Heinrich, who seemed like an intelligent researcher. He is the guy who identified the mana storm covering the island.

And-

Shaking in his boots was the instructor who gave me salt before, Instructor A-or as I came to know later, Peter-sensei.

“Oh? If it isn’t Peter-sensei.”

“Gyaaahh-! P-please forgive me!”

What a wonderful dogeza.

He went from kneeling to a jumping dogeza.

Really, this is my first seeing it… a jumping dogeza.

“I won’t do anything.”

“R-really?! Then, you will forgive me?”

I wondered what was there to forgive? -but his reactions are too suspicious.

“Before I decide on that, tell me what you did.”

I can’t think that he would be this scared just from treating me like that.

That’s what I thought when asking him but…

One after another came out, his events of neglect.

It seems even for the tents, it was just him choosing to not be bothered to tidying it up.

I was exasperated, listening to his trivial sins confessions.

“Got it. 3 months of salary cut.”

“Ha, eh? Hahaa!!”

“However, don’t slack off from now on, alright?”

“O-of course!”

“Then it’s fine.”

This is too stupid so I let Peter off the hook with a salary cut.

And then.

They introduced themselves formally once again.

All the instructors here are all under the supervision of the information department.

In other words, they are enthusiastic fellows who haven’t been corrupted.

All the three Tempest’s instructors in the island were here.

Actually, Peter here is also a battle type instructor from Tempest.

I am glad that there were no corrupted instructors in my home, Tempest.

Although I don’t know what is happening at the actual academy, since Souei should be entering there now. Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any here so that’s good.

And from the Ingracia Synthesis Academy were William and Blum.

Heinrich was the only one from NNU Magic and Science Investigation Academy.

These people were the collaborators.

Either way, I can trust these 6.

I decided to drag these 6 in this and started a discussion on what to do next.

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