The path to the location of the Lust Witch, discovered through the Holy Sword of Truth, was quite a distance away even when flying. As we flew, the sun gradually began to set.

I turned my head to check the faces of the people riding on the flying spell and shouted to them.

“We’re going to land soon to camp for the night! We’ll take the time to regroup today and set off early tomorrow morning. Sylvia, it must be tough maintaining the flying spell the whole time, right? We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so make sure to rest well today.”

“I’m fine with this, but… I could use a break since I’ve used my energy. Everyone, please gather your camping gear.”

If we continued flying at the same speed, we could reach our destination by early morning, but under my and Sylvia’s judgment, we decided to camp for the night.

If we arrived at the location of the Lust Witch, we would likely face a battle immediately. I wanted to enter the fight in the best possible condition to prepare for that.

Especially for Sylvia, who had spent the whole day blocking magic around people while also maintaining the flying spell; I wanted to give her some time to rest.

Even though she said she was fine, if her strength were to falter, considering she played the most crucial role in the hunting squad, it could lead to a catastrophe.

In any case, having made the decision to camp, we found a suitable terrain for spending the night and began preparing our camp.

“Wow, this is my first time sleeping outside!”

“Right? I never thought I’d experience something like this in my lifetime…”

However, there was a slight problem.

Most of the hunting squad members had rarely had the opportunity to go outside like today and had little to no camping experience.

So what happened?

We had packed large tents in preparation for camping, but—

“…Uh, does anyone know how to set this up?”

“Haha… I’ve never had the chance to set something like this up in my entire life…”

None of them had ever set up a tent before, leaving everyone staring at the components spread out on the ground, looking confused and asking, ‘…So what now?’

Seeing heroes who were like legendary warriors in combat unable to figure out how to set up a tent made me chuckle involuntarily.

Oh, I wasn’t making fun of them.

It was more like a sense of fondness one feels when watching newbies struggle.

In fact, it’s common to feel overwhelmed when seeing the components for the first time if you’ve never set up a tent before.

I had to step in; having been trained in rigorous training and survival exercises during my military service, this was the moment for me to shine, right?

Just as I was about to demonstrate my tent-setting skills, determined to take the lead—

“Ah! I want to try, too! I want to set up the tent! How do I do it? Like this? Like this?”

“Uh…? Yes… let me explain how you do it…”

Just as I was about to show off my skills, Plone ran up, expressing her desire to set up the tent.

But it was only delayed for a moment; I soon thought it would be my time to shine.

After all, even if I tried to explain it, setting up a large tent is a task that is quite complex and labor-intensive, even for fully grown men.

Especially for someone trying to set up a tent for the first time; it would be even harder, wouldn’t it?

Plus, people tend to lose interest quickly if things don’t go according to their expectations.

If Plone found it difficult to set up the tent, she’d say, ‘This is boring! I want to stop!’ and in the end, I’d have to set it up anyway.

So in my mind, I was already picturing everyone watching my tent-setting skills and thinking, ‘Whoa! This guy’s amazing!’

While I was thinking that, I began to explain to Plone how to set up the tent, but—

“Uh, wait a moment, Plone! If you do it like that—”

“Huh? Isn’t it like this?”

“Um… no, you’re doing great…”

“Really? Hehe, this is fun!”

What I imagined didn’t happen.

Plone exceeded my expectations.

It wasn’t her dexterity that surprised me, but her sheer strength.

Anyone who’s set up a tent would know.

While having some intelligence is helpful, ultimately, this task requires a significant amount of power.

Once you’re skilled at it, you learn to minimize the physical effort needed in certain areas.

“This goes here, right? Oh no! I accidentally bent it! Let me fix it!”

“Um, uh…”

“If I just hammer this into the ground, right? Heave! Huh? Why are you holding that hammer? What’s it for?”

“…Actually, it’s no longer needed now.”

The girl bent the metal pole with her overwhelming strength and fixed it back to its original shape with brute force.

What kind of skill could possibly be needed for a girl who drives stakes into the tough soil with her bare hands as if it were clay?

Usually, overwhelming strength makes knowledge useless…

At that moment, I momentarily forgot about Plone’s superhuman strength, and while I was watching her amazing show, I heard Dwight’s voice from behind, observing the tent setting process.

“I think I roughly understand it. Scarlet, I get the structure of the tent now, so I’ll handle this. You go take a rest somewhere else.”

Were there any brilliant wizards? Just by watching how the tent was set up for a moment, could he perfectly grasp its structure?

Dwight said that and began to explain to Plone how to set up the tent in my place.

“What? Dwight’s helping? Dwight, Dwight! Where does this go? Here?”

“Seriously, looking at the size, it’s obvious it goes there.”

“Really! I see!”

Before I realized it, I’d been overtaken by capable youths and lost my job as the tent setter.

My perfect plan to impress everyone by showing off my tent-setting skills…

In the blink of an eye, I became jobless, which felt quite absurd, but I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing.

I collected my thoughts and looked around for my own place to fit in.

“Wow, it’s good to have Marin here so we don’t have to worry about water.”

“Hehe, but the moisture we gathered around here can’t be used without Sylvia purifying the magic.”

As I was looking around, my gaze caught sight of Sylvia and Marin chatting quietly in front of something resembling a pot.

As I stared at them, perhaps they noticed, as Sylvia’s eyes met mine, and upon making eye contact, she waved and called out to me, as if it was a nice coincidence.

“Ah, Scarlet! If you have nothing to do, could you come help us for a moment?”

As I approached where they were, I could see what they were gathered for.

“What? Are you two trying to cook?”

“Yes. Everyone has brought preservation food, but it would be nice to have something warm. So, I wanted to ask for the help of you, Scarlet, since you’re good at cooking. I don’t really have any confidence in it. Marin doesn’t say she’s that skilled either.”

As she spoke, Sylvia gave a shy smile while saying embarrassing things, and Marin nodded in agreement.

Well, cooking is something you might struggle with if you’re not used to it, so it wouldn’t make sense to feel embarrassed about it.

But it was a bit strange.

“…Why volunteer to cook when you have no confidence? There are plenty of others.”

“Ah, that’s the thing…”

After listening to their story, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It seemed everyone was figuring out who was going to cook, and apparently, someone had earnestly begged the two of them to cook.

After they refused, saying they had no confidence, that person kneeled, saying they wanted to eat food cooked by them, even if it tasted awful.

Honestly, it seemed like a bit of an imposition on those two, and at first, others tried to dissuade them from accepting, but that person insisted like this.

“If I don’t eat now… I might not ever get the chance to eat a meal prepared by a beautiful woman…”

What a ridiculous reason, but the way that person spoke made me feel a sense of unexpected sympathy.

So, with some feeling sympathetic and others intrigued by those words, the atmosphere turned slightly ambiguous, making it awkward to refuse.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame everyone’s feelings.

After all, it’s perfectly understandable to be intrigued by the chance to eat something prepared by beauties like Sylvia and Marin.

Moreover, the two seemed to be in a bind but didn’t look entirely opposed to the idea, so I felt it was just as it was.

Perhaps the phrase ‘a beautiful woman’ was just too sweet for the ears.

If they truly loathed it, they would’ve declined regardless of the circumstances.

Anyway, I did hear that they needed help, but wouldn’t that make the person who asked for assistance look bad?

They wanted to eat food cooked by a beautiful woman, but if I helped, would that be okay…

“Scarlet…? You will help, right?”

“You’re going to help, right…?”

.

.

.

“Of course, leave it to me.”

Looking at the earnest expressions of both of them, I figured I wouldn’t mind one bit.

What’s the big deal? If I cook, what can they say? They’re the ones eating my food.

I’ll show off my cooking skills that I honed with Mei and senior Leonor during our occasional cooking club activities.

With that decided, I glanced over the ingredient supplies that were roughly prepared.

With this… if I toss in some ingredients and boil them, something should turn out.

“Do we have anything to adjust the seasoning?”

“Um… I brought salt, sugar, and some pepper.”

Then those must be in those containers.

The only issue was that nothing was labeled on the containers, making it impossible to distinguish the salt from the sugar.

There’s an age-old method for this, right?

“Sylvia, could you show me your hands for a moment?”

“Huh? Sure.”

I flipped over the two containers with white powder on Sylvia’s palms without any hesitation.

Then, giving her a wink and a cheeky grin at her somewhat anxious expression, I said.

“I don’t know which one is salt, so could you taste it? Since you helped me out, could you do just this much?”

“Ugh… I guess I have no choice…”

With a reluctant expression, Sylvia stuck out her tongue and cautiously brought her right hand to her mouth.

“…!!!”

And immediately, a silent scream accompanied by a cringed expression appeared on her face.

I nodded at her expression and said.

“I see, so this is salt. That must be sugar then.”

“Ugh, it’s salty… Why do I have to do this when you could have handled it?”

Sylvia said, looking disgruntled, and immediately licked her left hand with sugar on it, probably to balance out the saltiness.

Taking a cue from her sweet tooth, it was cute to see her expression lighten up, so I grabbed another container and lightly shook it on her hand.

“Okay, now can you tell me what this one is?”

“Huh? You’re giving it to me? I want to try it!”

Since I had extras anyway, I handed her a ball-shaped combat ration, and Plone was overjoyed, promptly swallowing it.

Then she collapsed.

“Er…?! Plone, are you okay?!”

“Poison… Scarlet tried to poison me…”

I shouted in surprise at her, and Plone mumbled from the ground.

With her words, the people around looked shocked, wondering if they really had been given poison, and I had to clarify.

Fortunately, Sylvia intervened, saying, “It’s probably just really awful tasting,” allowing us to move past it.

However, there was a small incident where a few people fainted out of curiosity over just how terrible the taste could be, but there were no serious problems.

Since our party had lesser demonic beasts on watch duty, it was fine if I fainted until morning.

That night, under the guidance of the furious lesser demonic beasts instead of a campfire, we spent a peaceful night.

*

The next morning, we flew through the early morning sky in silence.

Everyone kept their mouth shut, not uttering a single word. Perhaps it was because they had gotten used to the view from above, but it was likely due to my recent mention that our destination was not far off.

This silence was a way to put aside the peacefulness we had until yesterday and bring about a suitable tension for the imminent battle.

The silence was broken by a small sigh released from Marin’s lips.

“Ah…”

We all understood the reason behind her sigh without needing explanation.

Under the sky, far away, we could see a sea, darkly colored.

The black sea held neither mystery nor grandeur.

It only evoked a sense of dread in observers, akin to peering into an abyss.

For Marin, who had expected the vibrant blue of the sea from books, how disappointing must this view be.

However, there was no time to feel regret.

As some of the waves in the sea began to ripple,

We heard an unpleasant flapping sound echoing through the air before they surged toward us from above.

Seeing that, I murmured,

“Everyone, prepare for battle.”

Everyone grabbed their weapons.

The peaceful days were over.

From now on, it was war.