Chapter 10

We took bites of the well-grilled meat.

"It's tough..."

"It smells..."

"It's not delicious at all..."

Hmm, even without seasoning, it's still bad.

"I miss the terrine we had last time."

"I miss the roasted duck too."

"Such a feast. I only had bread and bean soup."

The church practices poverty.

"We can eat it even if it's not tasty. Let's endure and quickly get out of the forest. If we reach a town or village, we can have proper food."

"That's true."

"Do we have money? No, it was plunder under the name of requisition..."

That's not an option, but since we're in a foreign country, it might be a last resort.

"Let's rest after we eat this. And let's wake up early and set off."

"Sounds good."

We're tired, and there's nothing to do, so it's better to go to bed early.

"Um, are we going to sleep in that cave or hole?"

Maria looked at the cave that seemed to go on forever.

"It's better than outside."

"Sleeping with the prince..."

Her chastity is too rigid, which is a problem.

"It's not sleeping together. It's camping."

"Well, that's true... Ah, it will tarnish my record."

Honestly, it's troublesome.

Who came up with this custom in the first place?

"Even in the military, we do this, but it doesn't tarnish your record. Reisha can vouch for you."

"Got it. I'll endure. I don't want to sleep outside anyway."

"Maria, who cares about you? But who will keep watch?"

Reisha asked, and Maria looked dejected.

"My magic has mostly returned, so I'll cast a spell to hide our presence. I don't think we can keep watch."

I'll probably fall asleep halfway through.

"That's true. Honestly, I can't trust anyone to keep watch, and I won't be able to sleep. Let's just all sleep together."

Well, that's how it will be.

Even if Maria says she'll take care of it, I don't trust her at all.

To reiterate, we are pampered nobles.

"Alright. Haa... My stomach is full, so let's sleep..."

We extinguished the fire, entered the cave, and lay down.

"Our sleeping arrangements are getting worse every day. Yesterday was a dilapidated inn, and today it's the ground."

The noble lady Reisha grumbled.

"What can we do? Let's think it won't get any worse."

"I've never slept on the ground before. There's no pillow either."

I haven't either.

"Endure it."

"Lloyd, can you be my pillow?"

"My arm will go numb, so no."

"You're a bad man."

Shut up.

"Can you stop being so affectionate? It makes me feel miserable."

Maria complained.

"You can be Reisha's pillow."

"I don't want to. The size is wrong."

Well, I would laugh if Maria were Reisha's pillow.

"That's true."

"Haa... Will I ever have someone be my pillow?"

"Maybe, if you don't die here."

"I'll definitely survive!"

That's the spirit.

"......sigh"

I could hear Reisha's snoring.

"She's already asleep."

"She always falls asleep quickly."

"Indeed. Let's sleep too. We're tired."

"Yes. Good night, Your Highness...?"

"Just go to sleep."

We stopped talking and decided to sleep.

I thought it would be hard to sleep here, but due to exhaustion, I quickly lost consciousness.

◆◇◆

I turned over, and the hardness of the ground woke me up.

Honestly, I've woken up several times and fallen back asleep.

But now it's slightly brighter, so I thought it was morning and decided to wake up.

I was about to sit up when I noticed Maria was already sitting up on my right.

"Maria, you're up early..."

I was about to call out to Maria, but I noticed something was wrong with her.

Maria's eyes were wide open, and she was completely frozen.

Tears were streaming down her face.

"What's wrong...?"

I looked in the direction Maria was staring and froze like her.

Because there was a large bear in front of us, looking at us.

"Ah!!"

"Roar!!"

The bear and I screamed simultaneously.

The bear opened its mouth wide.

"―Gale!"

I quickly raised my hand and cast a wind spell at the bear.

The wind hit the bear, and it was thrown out of the cave.

"Maria, wake Reisha up!"

I told Maria and stood up, going outside the cave.

Outside, the bear that should have been hit by my magic was still looking at me.

"Damn! It didn't work!"

Without my staff, the power is reduced.

The bear opened its mouth again and charged at me.

"Die! Flare!"

I cast a high-level, one-hit kill magic, and a ball of fire flew towards the bear.

However, the bear, despite its appearance, moved nimbly and dodged my magic.

"I know! Air Cutter!"

I immediately cast a second spell.

This spell wasn't as high-level, but it had enough killing power.

The bear, perhaps having let its guard down after dodging once, couldn't dodge this time and was hit by my Air Cutter, falling forward.

The Air Cutter hit the bear's right front paw, severing it.

However, the bear's fighting spirit didn't wane, and it tried to stand up.

"Die this time! Flare!"

I cast the high-level Flare spell at the bear's head.

The bear, having lost its front paw, couldn't dodge and was hit directly, exploding and falling.

"It's dead now..."

I looked at the motionless bear and sat down.

"Y-Your Highness! Are you alright!? Is it safe to come out of the cave!?"

Maria's voice came from behind.

"It's safe now."

I sighed in relief.

"Are you hurt!?"

As I was looking at the bear, Maria ran over.

"I'm not hurt. I took care of it with magic."

"Of course, Your Highness!"

"What happened? Why was there a bear?"

Why was there a bear?

"I don't know. I woke up and saw the bear, so I froze."

"Maybe this cave was the bear's den..."

"Maybe."

It must have returned to its den.

If I hadn't used the spell to hide our presence, we might have been killed in our sleep.

"That was a close call... What about Reisha?"

"She's still sleeping. She won't wake up at all."

She falls asleep quickly but wakes up slowly...

She was always late in school too.

"I'll wake her up. We should leave this place quickly."

"Understood!"

Maria and I decided to wake Reisha and went back into the cave.

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