Chapter 3

7 days before school starts (1)

Anyway, 3 days have passed.

The three days were not wasted. It’s too confusing to explain it one by one, but it’s hard to summarize it in one word.

First of all, the first shelter we built was a bit larger.

On the second night, it suddenly collapsed, so we dug up more wood from the forest and strengthened the support.

It would have been nice to have a rope to tie it to, but I didn’t have any, so I dug up the dirt and put a support pole there.

If it rained, the rain might leak, so I just sacrificed three or four sets of clothes to cover the leaves that served as a roof, and then covered them with larger leaves on top of that.

After that, the supports could not bear the weight and were about to collapse, so auxiliary supports were installed to support horizontally between the supports.

I was wondering what to tie the auxiliary support with, and ended up twisting old clothes like a rag and tying them into a rope.

I felt like it was a waste to waste my clothes like this right now. I was wondering if I could get a few silver coins if I scraped it all off and took it to a pawn shop.

But then he shook his head. Even if it is truly a jewel, there is no way a pawn shop will buy it unless it is a high-end item with a lot of flair.

I’m still saving up on valuables that I really want to buy, so it’ll be okay. However, the problem is that there is a pawn shop in the next city that will buy it for you.

I wanted to avoid the unfortunate situation of having to leave Aken Island and walk to a pawn shop in the next city, only to find that I ended up with less money than I expected and no funds to return.

It’s easy to get there by horse-drawn carriage, but if you want to walk, it’s a two-day, one-night round trip. It was not a distance that could be left as lightly as going out into the yard. Since I didn’t have money to take a carriage, I had to be careful.

“Hmm...”

I was sitting by the stream, sharpening the end of a tree trunk with a dagger.

Since I had decided not to leave this school hastily, I had to first prepare a foundation for living.

Food, clothing and shelter.

I had enough clothes to wear for a few days and a house, even if it was poorly equipped, but the problem was eating right away.

On the second day, we went to the forest to look for food. My hometown is a rural village. I was more familiar with environments such as forests and mountains than I thought.

However, finding food ingredients is another matter. Grass was everywhere, but deciding which grass was okay to eat was another problem. As I am not a survival expert, there were limits to my ability to distinguish edible grass with my eyes.

So, I ripped off the bark from the many pine trees in the forest. The inside of the shell had something like white flesh.

My grandfather once told me a story when I was young. The story goes that when you were young, whenever Barley Hill came, you would boil and eat the bark of a tree in the mountain behind.

I tore off the flesh with the ceremonial dagger that came with my luggage. Then, after starting a fire using ignition magic, the water from the stream was boiled and the flesh was boiled. Since I didn’t have anything to use as a pot, I used a metal cup that was used for decoration.

I put the chewy pine bark in my mouth and chewed it. It wasn’t really tasty, but I could still eat it.

And that night, I had diarrhea like a storm. I guess tree bark is not good for humans to eat.

And daytime on the 3rd day. After starving for two full days and suffering from diarrhea, I was in a state of disbelief.

I carved the end of a ceremonial dagger out of wood and tied it tightly with a handkerchief to make a simple harpoon. I tied it tightly, but it was a bit loose with just a handkerchief. So I tied a few more layers of thin vines that I found while exploring the forest.

[New finished product]

–

Simple harpoon A ceremonial dagger was tied on a well-carved tree trunk. It seems like it could be used for fishing or hunting. Because the dagger is not sharp enough, it cannot be expected to have great killing power.

Production Difficulty: ◐○○○○

– [ Production completed. Crafting proficiency has increased. ]

When I was young, it was a time when I showed off my skills in catching freshwater fish in the stream. However, because I felt like I was starving to death, there was a different feeling of solemnity than back then.

Unlike fishing harpoons that were manufactured as industrial products, they lacked sharpness, but this could be overcome with experience.

Only then did I realize it. Ah, the ‘class placement test episode’ is in progress.

Certainly... it was an episode that took place in the forest north of Aken Island.

A test to determine the level of students who will become members of the Academy’s Ministry of Magic. It was held a week before the start of school.

A placement test for new students by Professor Glast of the Ministry of Magic, who is famous for being the worst of evils.

It was a test in which beads imbued with magical power were randomly scattered in the vast northern forest of Aken Island and made to be found.

It was a test to check whether the magic leaking from the beads could be detected. The basis of all magic begins with detecting magical power.

“It is an honor to meet you again, Princess Fenia.”

The gaze of Princess Fenia, who despised me, was quite harsh. From my perspective, it was absurd. However, there is no way you will believe everything I say just because I blurt it out.

He quickly raised his upper body, looked at Princess Fenia, and bowed politely.

“I thought you got kicked out of school.”

“I was kicked out of the dormitory.”

“I asked what are you doing here?”

Princess Fenia looked at the makeshift shelter I had made, the bonfire fish bones, etc. and looked in disbelief.

“Are you still out of this school?”

“Unfortunately, I am still a student.”

“You mean Sylvania hasn’t processed your expulsion?”

“I think I thought there was no need to do that. There was no way I could continue going after suffering that humiliation and not receiving support from my family.”

Princess Fenia’s lips twitched. It was certainly difficult to think that a noble who had suffered this level of humiliation and even been excommunicated would be able to continue attending Sylvania.

“If this is seen in the dormitory, we will immediately begin expulsion procedures.”

“...”

“I’ll have to talk to the bachelor’s right away tomorrow. Do you think you’ll be allowed to stay here?”

My plans to obtain a diploma from Sylvania Academy were already about to hit a snag.

I couldn’t leave it like that. I took a deep breath and quickly began to shake my head.

“If the princess judges it that way, there is nothing I can do. In fact, not only Princess Fenia, but most of the students despise me. The same goes for the academic staff.”

“If you know that, why don’t you just go out on your own? Wouldn’t it be better for you to leave with honor at the end rather than go through the humiliating process of expulsion?”

“I want to continue attending Sylvania.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Princess Fenia crossed her arms and glared at me with eyes full of contempt.

“Leave. Everyone despises you and you despise everyone.”

“I think you misunderstand. I don’t despise anyone.”

“I guess you don’t remember how arrogant and contemptuous you are. It’s not easy to look at yourself objectively.”

“no.”

No matter what happens, if you want to diffuse the situation, you have no choice but to play off your gray tongue.

“I am rather grateful to the princess.”

Princess Fenia looked at me with disbelief.