Chapter 21

-Accident-

“Camping?”

“Aye, camping.”

Daniela sometimes said the funniest things.

“It is not as if I just thought of it now, you know? I saw the way you fought yesterday and how we worked together. And I decided that we should not have any trouble with something a little longer. It will be good to stay in the forest for three days and really sharpen your senses.”

“I see…”

I was pleased that she was impressed enough with what she saw, but camping in the woods, huh? Camping might sound like fun, but this wasn’t j.a.pan. There were monsters out there.

“I’m a little worried about the night. Will we get any rest?”

“Don’t worry. It was a little expensive, but I have the tools to create a magic barrier.”

“I didn’t know such things really existed.”

That would be pretty useful if I ever had to sleep out in the plains.

“Well, as long as it isn’t non-stop fighting, then I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Hehe. I expected you to say so. So, are we in agreement then?”

“Sure, let’s camp out starting from tomorrow. We better go and buy the supplies then.”

And so we decided on our little training camp. Asagi and Daniela’s Forest Wolf Festival was about to begin.

After that, we headed to the market square and bought three days worth of preserved food and a tent for two. That would become our base as we went out hunting. We went around and bought other small equipment and by the time we were done, the sun had started to set, so we returned to the Spring Wind inn. By the way, Daniela paid for all of the equipment. I felt like a bit of a loser the whole time, so I intended to make up for it during camp.

It was a refres.h.i.+ng morning. The sunlight that leaked from the curtains burned my eyes. I sluggishly got changed, washed my face and opened the window to ventilate the room. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky that greeted me, which gave me a rather good feeling about the day that lay ahead of us.

Well, the camping was Daniela’s idea, and she would, of course, accompany me, and yet…would she sleep in again? Surely not. She had been so excited about going. I’ll check the dining hall.

“Daniela. Are you up?”

Unsurprisingly, she had not been in the dining hall. And I had told her to hurry up and sleep as we had an early morning…

“Daniela?”

There was no answer. I guess she was still sleeping… I tried turning the doork.n.o.b and it opened easily. That was a little careless of her… Did she not lock her door?

“Daniela…?”

I poke my head inside and call her. The curtains were drawn and it was quite dark inside. I look towards the bed and see that there is a mountain of blankets piled up. Was the latecomer culprit in there?

“Daniela… It’s morning…”

I needed to wake her up and so had every right to raise my voice, but for some reason, I was whispering. I wish there was a name for this phenomenon. As I was now a victim to it, the only thing left for me to do was to open the curtains and tear away the blankets. A bright, sunny day as we had now would be particularly effective. Even Daniela would have no choice but to wake up.

In that case, I should move quickly. I opened the curtains on both sides. A blinding light shone down on me, but it wasn’t me that needed it. It was Daniela. Then it was the blanket that needed to go next.

“Daniela, good morning.”

I grabbed the blankets with both hands and tore them away with one jerk. My mother had done this many times to me when I was still a student. Memories of this especially cruel treatment during the winter flashed through my brain.

“Ahh…it’s too bright…blanket…the blanket…”