Chapter 38: Misfortune Magnet

Zach hesitated as he looked at his female classmates.

"...I mean, I had to powder my nose. I got lost on the way back. I did reunite with Dukiel and Julius, who came looking for me. But we didn't know how to find you. Thankfully, this ape came and made a ruckus—"

"'Thankfully'?" Anerias repeated the word Zach used with incredulous anger as he took a step toward Zach.

"We almost died, Zach. There's nothing to be thankful about." Anerias spat out the words with a scowl.

"...Well," Zach paused as he looked at all his classmates. "Did someone actually die?"

Anerias stopped and glanced at a guy next to him with short green hair, who shook his head.

"No," Anerias admitted.

"Then, I don't know what you're blaming me for." Zach shrugged. "I could have thought that all this…" Zach pointed at the wreckage around them. "...Was due to a fight between monsters and continued in the other direction."

Anerias didn't budge.

"If you hadn't left the class in the first place…"

Zach held up a finger and stopped Anerias from continuing.

"Are you sure that would have been better?" Zach asked. And before Anerias could answer, Zach continued,

"I am more aware than anyone else about my…tendency for less fortunate circumstances. Hello? Does anyone remember when I held my speech during the entrance ceremony? I also got kidnapped by a strange underground civilization and almost died just a few days after this field trip started."

The first half of Zach's words made Anerias reluctantly admit that he had a point. But when it came to the second, it was just confusing.

"What are you talking about?"

"That doesn't really matter, does it? It doesn't change the fact that I am a misfortune magnet. Yes, I know you guys call me that behind my back. You aren't subtle." Zach glanced at a group of classmates.

"Shit. Does he have super hearing?"

"No way. Someone snitched."

"Sorry, guys, I told his maid. I was hoping—"

"Fool!"

Zach turned back to Anerias.

"Anyway, what's done is done. I left, and now I'm back, and I'm bringing my S-rank battle maid with me. Do you want to continue bickering until I leave again?" Zach asked like he was getting sick of this, which he was. That was why he leveraged his only advantage.

Anerias stubbornly held Zach's gaze until Violina broke his concentration by kicking his ankle.

"Ouch!" Anerias cried out in pain and hopped on one foot while clutching his ankle. He glared at Violina, but Violina ignored it and focused on Zach.

"You are of course more than welcome to join us. Regardless of anything else, you are our classmate, Zacharia. Your familiar would also be of great help to maintaining our lives as we proceed through this perilous forest." Violina reached out a hand and shook Zach's.

Zach raised an eyebrow and Accepted Violina's cool handshake.

"...Great."

After maintaining eye contact and nodding at Zach, Violina looked behind him, first at Yanael and then at the forest further away.

"Did you get separated from Julius Hersko and Dukiel?" Violina asked with suspicion in her voice.

Zach took back his hand and used it to awkwardly rub the back of his head as he also turned to glance at the forest behind him.

"Something like that. I'm not sure if they're coming here."

"I see. Let's not wait for them any longer than it takes us to get ready to move." Violina turned around and started assessing the damage to the students.

Some of the students were proficient in first aid. Some had skills and familiars that could heal injuries directly. But none of it was instantaneous. The class needed some time to regroup, recover, and rest before they could begin moving through the forest again.

There were also some students who weren't injured but weren't of help in recovery. Violina ordered them to butcher the ape's carcass and salvage as much useful materials and food as possible. Sёarch* The NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Since it wasn't the first monster they encountered, it wasn't the first time they had meat during this field trip.

But meat from such a muscular and powerful monster was sure to be a nutritious delicacy. There was also more than enough to go around for everyone in the class.

It was time to arrange a feast to celebrate their survival. But not right now, right here.

If they didn't get away from the corpse, scavengers would swarm them and make it impossible to recover.

So, as soon as the students were ready and had packed up as much meat as they could carry, Yanael included, they set off.

The green-haired student Zach had seen next to Anerias led the way, and he did it without either a map or compass.

'If he can do it, why can't I?'

Zach grumbled and kicked a stone lying on the ground.

Except, it wasn't a stone. And it wasn't on the ground. What Zach kicked was only the top of something in the ground.

Yanael hurriedly grabbed Zach as the ground started shaking beneath him and retreated.

'Shit.'

Zach barely had time to curse before the soil shifted and a stone-clad crocodile with a size that could match the bronze-toothed ape rose from the ground.

"Shit."

"Aah! Watch out!"

"Get back!"

"Defensive formation!"

At once, chaos broke out. Violina did her best to control it, but there was only so much she could do when her troops were students still lacking in experience, and the crocodile managed to turn, swinging its heavy tail around before she could do anything.

The crocodile's tail swept through the class, sending students and ape meat flying.

Fortunately, there weren't any injuries.

Zach had thrown up a barrier. Since it wasn't around himself and pretty far away, much farther than any other barrier he had cast, it was very weak. But it was enough to soften the blow and prevent any casualties before Yanael could step in and make use of her mountain-digging experience to chop through the crocodile's thick stone skin.