Delphine did the dismantling herself. Perhaps because she had hunted a lot in the past, she was also good at handling knives. There were some who watched her with interest, and others who couldn’t watch her because the scene was too gory.
Even though I’d much rather not watch, I kept my eyes on her, trying to internalize how she was doing it.
I mean, there was no one among Class A’s precious kids who could do something like this. I didn’t either, so I watched.
“Wow… Is it as difficult as it looks?”
“Hmm, definitely. I don’t know how to do it properly either. I’m just trying to follow what the adults did before.”
After removing the pig’s intestines, Delphine hung the pig upside down and slit its neck to remove the blood. She naturally removed the arrow from its skull as well.
I felt kind of sick, seeing the blood dripping down its throat. Delphine, who did this by herself, had her hands completely stained in blood.
But this was…
I knew it would be fine.
However, there were no parasites in there, right? Although I set it up as there being “no such problems”, was it really fine? We could just eat it if we cooked it well, right?
“It takes some time to remove the blood and skin. If you come by later, I’ll give you your share.”
“Oh, is that so? Okay then.”
As I was about to go back, Ludwig came over with his shirt off and a javelin with a fish stuck on it in his hand, his eyes wide open in surprise.
“Woah… Delphine! What’s going on here? Urgh! There’s so much blood. Huh? Reinhardt?”
He seemed to be a little surprised to find me here.
“Welcome. Do you want some fish? To be honest, I think we got a bit too much.”
Of course, our kind-hearted Ludwig just gave me the fish he caught not too long ago.
No one even seemed to care that he wanted to give that fish to me.
When I looked over to their bonfire, I could see fish stuck on skewers getting grilled. B-2 Louis Ankton was watching over them, with an expression on his face that seemed to say: “Why do I have to do this?”
It definitely looked like they had a lot.
This survival mission was originally intended to show that Class B was stronger in praxis. It was supposed to showcase that even though Class A had a lot of talented students, they were rather reluctant to do tough jobs, while the students of Class B, who were seen as less talented, knew better how to make the best use of what they got.
That’s right.
There were many practically inclined kids in Class B. There wasn’t anyone among them that would go: “Oh my, why should my noble self have to do something like this?”. Hence, it was pretty much inevitable that they would perform better than Class A.
“Thanks. I’ll eat it well.”
Ludwig smiled at my words, saying that I should tell him if we didn’t have enough.
“Jeez. Looks like everyone has forgotten that this is a competition.”
Seeing this, Charlotte only shook her head, but I could see that her eyes contained some joy.
“Come get the meat later!”
Delphine shouted as I was on my way back.
It seemed that her preconceived notions about me had been completely erased after I merely helped her move that pig.
* * *
“……How did you get that?”
Bertus had a rather sickly expression when I told him that I was given that fish.
“Uh, they just said that they had too many.”
“How did you get to their camp?”
“Ah, Delphine caught a pig in the jungle, and I helped her carry it back because it was too heavy for her. So we decided that I would get part of its meat later on.”
“There are normal pet pigs in there?”
Bertus seemed shocked that there were pigs in the jungle, before he could even process that I helped Class B. It was the same for the others.
“Doesn’t that mean that there are dangerous animals in there? What if we get attacked late at night?”
It was Cayer whining around.
Hey, buddy, pigs aren’t exactly ‘dangerous animals’, however, wild boars could be pretty dangerous.
“It seems like we have to keep watch at night then.”
Ever since he heard that there were pigs inside the jungle, Bertus seemed to have become very vigilant already.
“Okay, Reinhardt, well… Securing that raw meat itself is indeed beneficial.”
Deciding not to think about it any further, Bertus seemed to have chosen to think that it was a good thing that I helped Class B secure more food for our class.
“By the way, is it ready?”
“I think it’s pretty much complete.”
It didn’t entirely look like home yet.
“It’s quite surprising that making something like that was much more realistic than I initially thought.”
Harriet was sweating profusely, but she still continued to cut logs with her magic.
They constructed it by putting the wooden logs they had cut against each other. Like a camera tripod. The main pillar was reinforced by tying vines around it to prevent everything from collapsing, and the sides were bound together by vines as well. Then palm leaves were inserted to create walls.
“I think about two people can sleep in there at the same time.”
I nodded at Adelia’s words. It was cramped, but it was enough for two people to sleep in there. Since we were eleven people, we had to make either six more or five more, leaving three people to share a single hut.
If we tried to construct larger huts, there was a bigger risk of them collapsing, so it seemed like the right choice to make smaller ones. Adelia seemed to have a lot of things to worry about.
“Rain will probably leak through the roof…”
“We’ll just have to bear with that.”
Making a completely waterproof cabin in this situation was pretty much impossible. Just knowing that we now had a place to lie down in and rest was good enough. Adelia seemed to be struggling with how to make this place a more bearable environment for us.
“Still, if we were able to cut the logs into planks, we might be able to make something similar to flooring.”
Of course, the only problem was that Harriet had to do that all alone. I passed the construction site and headed to the beach.
There was our person responsible for the fire, Heinrich von Schwarz, keeping the simple distillation device running. In this sweltering heat, he continuously picked up firewood to keep the bonfire running, and lit the fire again if it ever went out.
Perhaps it was because of the heat; but his face, that usually had a vain look to it, seemed rather ripe. He just continued to stare on with dissatisfaction, too tired to even argue.
The small pot was hanging in the bigger pot and had quite a bit of water in it. It wasn’t enough to drink, but he had to keep it running so that everyone wouldn’t run out of water. He just had to hold on until I found the water source in the jungle.
“What’s with the fish?”
“I got it.”
“You got it?”
“Yeah.”
I put the fish on a large palm leaf as a substitute for a chopping board and started to fillet it.
I didn’t know how to do it exactly, but I had a rough idea.
-Chop!
“Urgh!”
When I chopped off the fish’s head, Heinrich freaked out. Ignoring the last struggles of the flopping fish, I gutted it.
I removed the bladder and intestines, then descaled it.
I wasn’t sure what kind of fish this was, but it should be edible. It kind of looked like a sea bream.
Heinrich looked at me, terrified, as I calmly cut up the fish next to him.
I put the fish on a skewer I prepared beforehand, and stuck it into the ground next to the bonfire on which the pot was steaming.
“Tell me when it’s done. It’s going to take some time. Oh, and if there’s any salt in that pot, collect it. We don’t have any condiments, so we should at least put some salt on it.”
“H-Huh… Okay.”
The one with the knife in his hand was indeed the boss, so Heinrich replied straight away.
* * *
Everyone worked as if they were possessed, even if they didn’t have much motivation, so time went by quickly.
The water canteens, which everyone received one of, were immediately emptied.
However, we still had the distilled water, and since Kono Lint had continued to harvest some coconuts, we had sufficient ways to keep us hydrated.
“……It doesn’t taste as delicious as it looks.”
“I think it’s delicious, though.”
“It’s only because of the heat, that’s all.”
Kono Lint and Erich expressed their opinions about the taste of the coconuts. Whether they liked it or not, they had to keep drinking from them until we found a new water source.
Fortunately, Liana de Grantz was able to stun a few more fish by electrocuting them, although she still couldn’t touch them. Nevertheless, we were able to get a total of five fish that day.
So, on the first day, at sunset, after we finished constructing the camp, we made a big bonfire in the middle of it and started grilling the fish and lobster. I also started grilling the pig legs I obtained from Class B.
I sprinkled everything with salt before grilling them.
“…There are no… forks and knives.”
Harriet muttered softly with a sullen expression on her face.
“What do you expect in a place where we have to use leaves as plates?”
“…….”
Even though I criticized her like that, Harriet didn’t even answer; that was how depressed she was. Even though she was in that much of a daze, she actually worked the hardest today. Without her magic, it might not have been possible to construct this camp.
Harriet just looked towards the distant shore and pouted.
“What are those guys even doing? What is so fun about this?!”
At Class B’s camp, after their food was ready, most of them jumped right into the sea and played around. No matter what the future might hold for them, they’d do their best to enjoy it.
We, on the other hand, were just sitting around the bonfire somberly. Even though everyone was hungry and we actually had some food, they didn’t really look like they looked forward to eating it.
“Everyone, I understand that you are having a hard time. I know you find it unpleasant sleeping here and eating things like this.”
In the end, Bertus had to step forward.
“However, this is our first group mission. We don’t know what other missions we have to face in the future, but we still shouldn’t fail our very first mission, right?”
He was smiling, but everyone knew that Bertus was one of the people who suffered the most under these conditions, so there was no one who dared to make a fuss in front of him.
Bertus picked up a skewered fish, ate a little of it to make sure it wasn’t too hot, and began to properly bite into it.
Everyone stared blankly at the Imperial Prince, eating a fish like a beggar on a deserted island.
“It’s good to eat.”
Bertus smiled with fish oil around his mouth.
“So, let’s eat.”
Bertus chose to take the first step to stop the high-and-mighty nobles of Class A from being fussy.
Maybe it was fine, even if he was someone who wore a perfect mask on his face as well as on his heart. Charlotte was someone like that as well, after all.
I really didn’t know anymore.
* * *
Bertus distributed the cooked food to all the class members. He knew, after all, that they’d have to eat it, if it was something he gave to them.
“…….”
Harriet took a bite out of the gigantic lobster’s meat, then her eyes widened. She then looked at Adelia, who was seated next to her, and ate the same thing.
Both of them looked surprised. They probably felt the same way.
I was pretty sure that both of them had eaten lobster before, but they probably had never eaten one of such a monstrous size before.
“I feel kind of bad because he was right…”
Harriet murmured in a rather desperate tone, feeling a sense of defeat, probably because she found the lobster delicious. Although it was huge, if divided in 11 pieces, it was just a small amount of food. While she ate only half of the fish Bertus gave her, it seemed like she liked the lobster a lot.
“…….”
It looked like she was slowly regaining her appetite.
“Hey.”
“……What?”
“Eat it.”
I gave Harriet a wooden skewer with bundled lobster meat on it. Her eyes widened.
“W-Why are you giving this to me?”
“Ah, don’t ask me stupid questions, just eat it. I have no energy to argue with you.”
When I forcibly shoved it towards her, she accepted it silently.
She suffered the most today. She was also the one least used to this kind of environment. She would continue to have a hard time during this mission, so I decided to take care of her a bit.
Even if one felt sad and depressed, you should still eat well if one had food sitting before yourself.
“…….”
Harriet seemed thoroughly exhausted; she simply began to nibble on the lobster meat I gave her.
And then.
“Ellen? Where are you going so suddenly?”
Ellen Artorius suddenly jumped up from where she sat and walked off somewhere. Bertus, seemingly surprised, called Ellen, but she didn’t answer him. She just picked up a javelin and eventually ran off.
“Wha… What is she doing…?`”
Harriet looked towards Ellen, who suddenly jumped into the sea, colored red by the sunset.
“Something great.”
I kind of knew what she was doing.
About 30 minutes later, Ellen Artorius came back with three similar lobsters as the one we just ate on her javelin.
“Wha… What is she?”
Everyone started to reevaluate the pretty Ellen, looking at her with shocked eyes.
