Published: March 21, 2026
It went back a few days.
Zeal and the hero party had left Uruk first and headed to the rendezvous point inside Beastmen territory closest to the Demon Clan border, and they had hit their biggest crisis.
"…I'm hungry~"
"Don't say that, Ms. Ueno! Now I'm even hungrier."
Yes, the problem was food.
Up until now the hero party had been moving from town to town, so as long as they had money they never lacked food. Most towns would pay out gold for defeating demonic beasts, through the Adventurer Guild or similar gatherings, so they had been effectively immune to starvation.
But where they were walking now was a dense, overgrown forest.
More to the point, there were no towns ahead, and the demonic beasts they could handle were said to get stronger further on.
Walking between unstable tree trunks that weren't even proper paths drained your stamina.
The food they'd brought had run out quickly, and the shortage had to be solved as soon as possible.
"Still, I didn't expect so few animals this far in."
I looked around and sighed.
The forest was dead quiet; there was no scent of beasts at all.
My stats had improved significantly since the beginning, raising my physical abilities and sharpening my senses.
I could tell the difference between ordinary animals and demonic beasts by scent alone.
At least within a twenty-meter radius there were no demonic beasts or animals.
On top of that, the birds that usually fly freely overhead weren't here in this forest…or anywhere beyond this point.
That probably meant the demonic beasts ahead were very strong.
And we had to defeat them for Akira and the others coming later.
…Well, I don't know about Mr. Crow, but Akira and Ms. Amelia would probably fell them in one strike.
Thinking that made me chuckle.
For some reason my feelings toward Akira had changed one hundred and eighty degrees from before I was summoned to this world to now.
It was probably because of what happened in that labyrinth and when Akira left the castle.
I'm a simple-minded guy.
"What are you laughing at, Shi-kun? This is serious! If we keep like this we'll starve to death."
I apologized sincerely to Ms. Ueno, who was glaring, and kept thinking.
I had confirmed there was a clear stream nearby.
I tried a sip and it didn't cause any harm.
Really, all that remained was food.
We couldn't stay here forever, so we needed food that was portable and would keep.
"Okay, for now everyone spread out from this spot and bring back anything that could be food. Don't go alone—pair up in threes or twos so it's not dangerous if something happens. Mark the trees and don't ever go solo."
The groups were me with Ms. Ueno and Tsuda-kun, Asahina-kun with Kazuki-kun and Ms. Hosoyama, and finally Mr. Zeal with Nanase-kun.
We set off in different directions with the slightly open clearing we used as a base behind us.
If you knew which way you came from, you could get back to the original spot.
I checked with Mr. Zeal; he wore a slightly troubled expression but agreed.
"Then when the sun is overhead, come back and return. …Alright, let's go."
In truth we shouldn't have moved in groups of three, but it wouldn't take that long for the sun to get overhead.
With me, Asahina-kun, and Mr. Zeal, we could handle the kinds of demonic beasts we'd encountered so far.
We should be fine.
Looking back, I was probably too hungry then to think clearly.
Otherwise I wouldn't have split up in this forest where anything could be waiting.