The day after I discovered that the person Princess Meslen had fallen for was none other than Harold.

At first, I thought about how I could help Meslen with her newfound love, but in the end, I didn’t get involved as she might have wished.

Or rather, to be precise, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. After giving Meslen some alone time with Harold, the next day, I had to leave the academy again for the 'Humanities Exploration' class.

‘Lately, it feels like I’m leaving the academy every two weeks.’

It couldn’t be helped, though, since the curriculum of Luminor Academy was designed this way.

Honestly, it was probably a necessary decision from the game developers’ perspective too. No matter how well-made Luminor Academy was as an academy game, there were limits to what could be done within the academy.

They couldn’t fill four years’ worth of events solely within the academy, so in the third act, the students were sent outside to experience various kinds of events.

While this expanded the game’s scope, it slightly diluted the academy's feel, which was a bit disappointing.

‘But going on trips with Ethan every two weeks isn’t so bad either.’

Having these external events meant I could go on various dates with Ethan outside the academy every two weeks.

Nature Exploration meant a forest date, Geology Exploration involved a dungeon date, and this time, Humanities Exploration was going to be a volunteer work date.

We were tasked with rebuilding a village destroyed by bandits, comforting those who had lost family members, and creating facilities for orphans. It really felt like a volunteer date.

On top of that, we would get to hunt down the bandits, clean up the environment, and gain some experience. In terms of difficulty, it was the easiest of the exploration classes so far.

It’s not that the bandits were weak, but compared to the preparations needed for other exploration classes, there was much less to do.

The focus of Humanities Exploration wasn’t survival or combat, but rather investigating who within the village was secretly collaborating with the bandits. It was more of a mystery event, and as for the mystery, well, that guy you-know-who would handle it, so I didn’t need to do much.

‘That’s why I made sure to confirm that you-know-who was attending the Humanities Exploration class.’

As the daughter of a mere baronet and essentially Ethan’s personal maid, there was no way I could steal the spotlight with lines like, ‘The culprit is among us!’ In both the original game and here, it was the protagonist’s role to shine in events like this.

All I had to do was sit back and let him handle the investigation, then charge forward during the final bandit extermination event, gathering experience and real-world battle practice along the way.

‘I’ll get to test out the basics of the Sword Expert training that Harold mentioned.’

Being able to predict the path of an opponent’s weapon is the first step toward becoming a Sword Expert.

And since most bandits wield swords or daggers, there would be plenty of practice opponents.

Thinking about how I could have multiple duels similar to my fight with the Hobgoblin Swordsman got my heart racing.

“You look like you’re having fun, Lilith.”

“Huh?”

“Did something good happen? Oh, by the way, what did my father say to you yesterday? I think he called you over for training.”

“Well, about that…”

…It’s not like I need to hide it from Ethan. After all, even if I don’t tell him, Harold probably will.

“Actually, Master Harold told me that I’m showing the potential to become a Sword Expert.”

“…Really?”

“Of course, I’ve only just begun. I’m still a long way from matching your skill with the sword, young master Ethan. It’s impossible for me to reach your level of swordsmanship, and right now, I can only occasionally predict the path of an opponent’s blade.”

“That’s impressive in itself. After all, you’re not even in the Swordsmanship Department, yet you’re showing potential to become a Sword Expert.”

“…Still, I can’t be certain until I’ve tried it out in real combat.”

“Even for me, it took about a year to fully reach the level of Sword Expert after starting the basics. So it might take you until after you graduate from the academy to fully master it.”

“Well, not necessarily… but in any case, congratulations on entering the path of Sword Experts, Lilith.”

“Thank you, young master Ethan.”

With that conversation, we spent about ten hours traveling by carriage from morning to the site of the Humanities Exploration class.

Aside from a brief stop to rest the horses and have a late lunch, we had been traveling for nearly half a day. Eventually, night fell, and Ethan and I decided to camp out for the night.

“Lilith, have you tied the ropes on your side?”

“I’ve already tied them, young master Ethan. Now all that’s left is for you to pull the stakes on your side and secure the tent.”

“Got it, Lilith.”

Following my instructions, Ethan pulled the ropes tight and fixed the tent in place.

…Come to think of it, I’ve really gotten used to camping out like this.

For me, it wasn’t a bad thing to get accustomed to this, since I planned to become an adventurer in the future. But for Ethan, a noble heir, it was impressive how much he’d adapted to life outdoors.

It was probably because he had followed me on so many of these exploration events, including those essential ones like ‘Lara’s Secret.’

Exploration classes offered flexibility in how much you could choose to participate in outdoor activities. There were options for classes that required less travel or stayed close to the academy.

However, those classes didn’t offer great rewards or much experience, so I avoided them. I wanted to maximize the resources available in Luminor Academy, just as I had in the original game.

To avoid future regrets, I had to grab as many resources as I could while I had the chance. Once you missed an event, the lost experience couldn’t be regained.

Starting a new life as an adventurer at level 20 versus starting at level 40 made a significant difference, so it was worth paying attention to.

“For dinner, I plan to make chicken risotto using chicken broth and rice. Does that sound okay to you?”

“If you’re cooking it, Lilith, anything is fine.”

“Understood. I’ll start preparing dinner right away, young master Ethan.”

Since we’d been camping a lot recently, cooking for outdoor meals had naturally become my responsibility.

Of course, if I asked Ethan for help, he would assist, but when it came to cooking, it was important to maintain a smooth flow. So I usually took charge of the cooking, while Ethan handled other tasks like guarding against monsters or gathering firewood if it looked like we’d run out.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to prepare a proper meal with all the ingredients.’

Recently, we’d been camping in places where proper cooking was difficult.

In the Hobgoblin Forest, we had to rely on foraging for food and water, so most of our meals consisted of grilled fish and wild vegetables. And in the dungeon, we couldn’t light a fire due to the risk of suffocation, so we’d just eaten dry rations the whole time.

But today, I had all the ingredients ready and even a dish I had been craving, so I was determined to cook something special.

The weather was getting warmer, which made it the perfect time for chicken stew.

While this world didn’t have ingredients like ginseng, dried jujube, or angelica, I could still make a decent chicken stew with just garlic and potatoes. For a meal in the wilderness, that was more than good enough.

—Bubble bubble bubble…

The chicken would need about an hour of simmering, so now it was time to think about the rice. But that’s where things got tricky. I wasn’t sure how much rice to add to the chicken broth to get a porridge-like consistency.

‘I think I remember hearing that the ratio for cooking rice to water is supposed to be 1:1.’

The pot was about two-thirds full of broth, so if I added that much rice, the pot would overflow.

‘Maybe I should wait for the broth to reduce by half, and then I can add enough rice to fill the remaining space. That way, the ratio will still be 1:1.’

It seemed like a simple solution. So I waited until the broth had reduced by half, deboned the chicken, and then added rice until the pot was nearly full again.

About 20 minutes later…

—Bubble bubble bubble…

"……."

I stared at the contents of the pot, which had stopped reducing, and it slowly dawned on me that something had gone wrong.

“Lilith?”

"…Yes, young master Ethan?"

“Do you think we’ll be able to eat all of that?”

"……."

…Where did I go wrong?

I thought I had the rice-to-water ratio correct.