Chapter 33 - Monster

"I think we're being watched."

"Watched? By a teacher?"

"Yeah." I continued,

"But also by something else."

"Huh?" Rio had a confused look,

"What do you mean Leo?"

"..."

I decided to think about my next words for a second before I said them,

"I think the teacher has another test for us, so, I was just letting you know so you're not surprised when it happens."

I didn't want to needlessly worry him with the fact of knowing we may be attacked at any moment, but I also didn't want him to be unprepared if we were suddenly attacked.

"A test?" Rio asked

"Yeah, it's probably a sudden test to test the how we react."

I'm sure Kazu thought that the teacher would help us if anything unexpected happened, which is why he wasn't pushing the demon/monster matter forward. Taku on the other hand seemed to always be lost in thought and kept his hand near his sword at all times.

And for me, although I didn't remember anything about this mission, I figured I would've made it so that the teacher was conveniently busy at the very moment when his students were fighting for their lives... Haah. Shitty novel...

"Eh?! I'm not good at being put in sudden situations!"

"Mhm, that's why I'm letting you know."

"Agh, thank you Leo."

We finished gathering some wood and headed back to the camp. It was emptier than yesterday, most of them were probably exploring.

We sat around the campfire, pretty much the only thing we could do and relaxed. What was there... 4 more days until this mission was over?

I stretched my arms and yawned.

Kazu had gone to help explore for water, so the acting leader if anything happened was Rose. She was sitting quietly with her eyes closed, I didn't know how her skill exactly worked but it would definitely be a lot of information to keep track of.

I could hear a sudden shout from behind me,

"Yes! I did it!"

I think his name was... Erik? I looked at what he was doing, and he seemed to be holding a plant? He did have a talent in plant magic, so maybe he succeeded at something involving that.

I turned back towards the campfire and looked around. I checked the statuses of everyone here,

Gene... Carpentry, Danielle... To Reality? What type of skill is that? Does it have something to do with her Art talent? Scarlett... An alchemy talent?

Haah, no one here is probably going to be useful in a sudden attack, I looked at Rio who was talking to Rose.

I yawned again before getting up and heading into the forest.

…

I decided to check around the outskirts of the camp.

After a while, I couldn't see anything bad, even if I did, if it wasn't obvious like a giant footprint or something I probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyway, but I thought it'd be nice to check.

When I headed back to the camp, I could see Kazu looking ecstatic.

Huh?

Kazu was at the campfire and talking about something, when he saw me he waved at me and gestured for me to come closer.

Well, I was doing that anyways...

Kazu talked on the radio again to get everyone to come back to the camp.

Did something bad happen? No... He wouldn't be this happy, something good then?

After everyone came back to camp and gathered around Kazu, he started to speak.

"...We found water."

That simple statement caused many smiles to appear around me.

For the reason that, although we had drinking water, we finally had water we could use to bathe and wash ourselves clean. I could hear some screams of excitement from all sides.

"We're going first!"

One of the girls shouted and the others agreed with her

---

Now... How did I get in this situation?

Behind me and some trees were the sounds of many people bathing.

Taku was next to me, holding Calvin by the hands.

I was sitting down with my hand on my cheek as I thought about what led to this scenario.

---

The girls were huddled up talking about something, something about a trustworthy boy.

I was sitting down with my hand on my cheek staring into blank space.

After a short while Ayaka looked at us and began to speak,

"We all are going to wash ourselves... But! Taku, Leo, you two need to keep watch to make sure none of the boys come to spy on us!"

"Yes!" Taku immediately stood up and replied, I could only really assume why...

…

Huh? Wait? Did she just say my name?

"Huh?"

"Thank you, you two!"

What? I didn't agree to anything...

---

The reason Taku was holding Calvin's hand was because of his 'Invisibilty' skill, it was as the name suggested, he could go invisible. I think he could also make other things invisible too? But I didn't really know how that worked.

Haah, this would be a great time to be attacked, objectively speaking, almost no one is prepared.

I looked towards Taku who looked like he would give anyone the death glare for even coming close to this location, he definitely was a... sis-con for lack of a better word.

…

Soon after, we all started to walk back to the camp.

Nothing happened, I felt like I wasted quite a lot of time there. I could've been sitting around the campfire or something...

Next, all the boys went to wash themselves as well, Rio stood behind though, saying he'll do it later.

We weren't really worried about the spying, but we definitely did enjoy the cleaning.

When we got back to camp, Calvin cracked a joke.

"You all didn't spy on us right!?"

"Eh? Why would we spy on you?"

It seemed like they were about to go back and forth, so I was about to head into the tent and sleep. Until I felt a tap on my shoulder, It was Rio.

"Hm?"

"...C-Could you protect me while I wash myself?"

Huh? Why did he just come with us to bathe?

"Sure." I accepted anyways, maybe he had his own reasoning.

---

By the time we got back to the camp it was already dark. The moonlight was enough to see though.

"Welcome back, where'd you two go?" Kazu greeted us as we arrived at the campfire.

He handed us both a skewer with some meat on it, he also gave us a plate of potatoes.

"The bath, thanks." We took the food, and I began to eat.

"Erik seemed to have a breakthrough with his magic, so we'll be able to eat potatoes for the rest of the mission!"

He seemed excited at the fact we could eat something alongside the meat, I was just happy I could eat in general to be honest.

Rio and I sat at our usual spot around the campfire and ate, the mood seemed way better now that we were able to bathe.

Suddenly my name was tossed around,

"Leo! Sing us a song!"

"Sure."

…

I yawned after finishing singing.

"You know Leo, you really know how to captivate someone, haha!"

I should really start charging people who ask me to sing, I'd probably be rich by now.

"I'm going to sleep, night." I decided to get up and sleep early,

"I'll join you!" Rio followed

I waved goodnight to everyone as I headed into my tent.

…

A few hours later, I woke up before it was mine and Rio's turn to keep watch.

I quietly went outside the tent and waved at Oscar and Ally who were keeping watch.

They waved back and Oscar spoke,

"You still got a few minutes of sleep if you want, I'll wake you up."

"Ah, I'm just going to... Um..." I looked up as I tried to remember the saying.

"Flower picking? Plower Ficking? Eh, I'm going to pee."

"O-Oh... Okay, did you need to borrow the device?"

I shook my head,

"The moonlight is probably enough for tonight."

"Alright, stay safe."

I headed into the forest.

After I finished peeing, I yawned and looked around, the moonlight really did make the area look pretty.

Something caught my eyes though, and they opened wide.

"Is that a snake?"

*SsSSs*

"Oo! Hey buddy!"

I went over to it but stood far enough to where nothing bad could happen,

"What kind of snake are you, friend?"

"Not a rattlesnake... You could be a cute little milk snake or a deadly little coral snake... Maybe a mud snake?"

"Haah, I should get another snake tattoo... I wonder if they even have tattoo's here?"

*BOOM*

I suddenly heard what sounded like a tree falling from behind me.

"What?"

Quickly turning around, I could hear some screaming.

I bolted back to the camp and when I was finally through the trees...

I saw a monster...

A nearly 10-foot creature, it's dark-green skinned bulky body.

It held a small tree in the shape of a club in its hand, and its red eyes were sporadic.

It was an Ogre...

The camp had looked like a mess, everyone had gotten up and out of the tents, but no one could move.

We're fucked...