Answers

Why is the wind so strong?

Can somebody close the window?!

And why is this carriage so bouncy?!

Where the hell is the coachman driving off to?!

Dan opened his eyes wide but was immediately blinded by the bright light. He was in an extremely bad mood because he was not getting the peaceful sleep he deserved and something just happened to add up.

Fuck!

Suddenly, Dan heard someone yell so close to him.

"Oh, guys! He's waking up!"

Dan was still groggy and disoriented. Someone yelling practically right next to him made him flinch and he felt even sourer. He twisted and turned to get in a more comfortable position. He wanted to rest a bit more but he immediately felt himself fall, completely waking him up.

"Waaa!" Dan screamed.

"Woah! Steady there!"

The group stopped running as they looked over at Aeon.

Aeon was now holding up Dan by his collar using a single hand. They did not know exactly what happened, but Dan was hyperventilating. Immediately, they all turned around and started casting spells. They were still being chased by a bunch of magical beasts after all.

Swoosh! Roar! Pew!

Several spells shot towards the beasts.

Dan, who was now calming down, was being assisted by a young man to stand up, but he immediately dropped to the floor. Dan realized that he had no strength in his legs, so he simply kneeled. He won't be running for quite some time. The young man left him there as he dashed towards the group of beasts together with another person. All Dan could do was watch over as the beasts get annihilated.

Unlike Klaus, Dan had no access to the personal records of the students, so he had no idea who the people around him were. Now, he had the urge to know because the group displayed such beautiful coordination.

When needed, two young men in the front line would back away then the Remorans would launch their attacks. When they were in a pinch, an Ice Wall or a gale of wind will provide them enough cover.

If they had such abilities, why were they running away earlier?

After a few minutes, the noises and explosions died down, and the last beast was killed. Everything resumed to its usual peace. The two young men regrouped with the others and Dan.

"Phew, that was tiring!" the shorter Seran said.

Seeing that everything was fine and under control, Dan thought that it was the perfect time to thank the group. Of course, he did not forget about the fact that he was rescued by a group of students. "Tha—"

"Old man, can you stand up now?"

O-OLD MAN?!

Why you!

Keep calm Dan, you owe them a favor.

Dan tested his legs before calmly replying, "It appears that I can't, yet."

"Alright, I'll carry you on my back then," the young man said.

Without dallying, the young man hauled the powerless Dan on his back, surprising him. He did not expect that the group was in such a rush.

Then, the Wind Remoran with the glasses came up to Dan and said, "We'll talk when we get to the falls. Save your strength. You're going to do a lot of talking."

Dan was dumbfounded. Didn't the students know about his status being the Assistant Supervisor of the camp? Dan looked at himself and saw that he was wearing the same clothes that indicated his identity. In the end, he could only nod in response.

They arrived at the falls after an hour.

Aeon entered the cave behind the falls first in order to check if there were magical beasts taking shelter. Aeon exited the cave immediately, but this time, he was now gripping both his swords in his hands.

He rushed towards the land where they ambushed the three beasts who chased Aeon. They were average-sized beasts that even Aeon can take on alone. He simply lured them out to keep their area free from blood.

The beasts were dispatched in no time and they entered the cave.

Aeon settled Dan down on the side of the cave so he could prop himself up on the wall.

Levi sat down in front of Dan while the rest of the group sat behind him. They all introduced themselves to Dan, one by one.

Dan felt that the situation was quite awkward after the introductions, though, because no one spoke a word anymore. Was he about to be interrogated? Well, he did owe them an explanation. He thought that it was good to start with his thanks.

"Tha—"

"Go skip to the necessary details, we've already been running for three days," the Wind Remoran cut him off.

He was unconscious for three days?

Dan could only imagine how Klaus and Merell would react. For sure, him disappearing for that long would not cause much ruckus on the students. But to Klaus and Merell, they would question what he had been doing.

Dan decided to put that off for a while. He cleared his throat and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Start from the Witch Grass then to your motives."

"But that's confidential info!"

"We risked our lives to save you. You owe us."

"Tsk. That's not enough reason."

"Okay, we'll just leave you to die in this forest and take your Witch Grass."

Hearing that, Dan immediately scrambled for his bag and realized that it was empty. He looked at the rest of the group members and saw that none of them even batted an eye when the Wind Remoran said they would abandon him.

He just had to be rescued by a bunch of heartless students. Moreover, he couldn't report them because that would be equivalent to announcing his incompetence. Dan could only sigh. He paused for a few minutes, appearing to be assessing his choices. The group patiently waited.

Realizing that there was no other way out for him, he said, "Okay, I'll tell you. Just don't tell anyone about this."

Dan waited for their confirmation.

Levi looked at the others. When none of them voiced out any opposition, he looked at Dan once more. "Sure. Tell us, then."

Dan harrumphed.

"It all started that day when an item from the list was turned in."

….

After the list was updated, Dan rushed to get a hand on an item as well.

Without stopping, and by avoiding any magical beast that he encountered, he entered the area that could potentially house the item he was looking for, the Sapphiric Witch Grass.

Dan was certain it was there because he had picked up some of the items with a different group before. If not for the restriction of being alone, he would've cleared all of the items already. He just had some difficulty previously because his search area had been limited.

He scoured the area, even though it was already deep into the night. Any beast that Dan could not shake off, he eliminated silently.

When it was already early morning, about 3 AM, Dan finally found what he had been looking for. He was exhausted, but nonetheless, overjoyed.

Needless to say, Dan was prepared to collect the item he eyed. Inside his bag, he carried a transparent jar where he would store the plant.

Carefully, he uprooted the grass with a shovel and avoided moving it as much as he can. He took out the jar and opened the lid, ready to put the plant inside. At that moment, however, he heard some shuffling in the forest behind him, prompting him to stop his actions.

With the grass in his hand, he couldn't make any drastic movements. He stayed still as much as he could in order to avoid catching the attention of any lurking magical beasts.

Sadly, he was already spotted.

Two tiger cubs pounced at Dan from the front and one from the back.

His right shoulder was scratched making him drop the plant and the jar. At that moment, he already knew he fucked up. Of course, the plant falling was enough reason for it to release its bewitching scent. Dan struggled and casted a few spells to keep the cubs away.

He tried his best to save the situation. He was going to shove the item in the jar and run for it. That was the best solution he could come up with and he quickly acted. He took the jar and casted his defensive spells. Unfortunately, he made a miscalculation.

The scent drove the little beasts insane. The tiger cubs pounced at him despite having his defensive spell up. It was illogical, even for the magical beasts, but they did it anyway. They relentlessly scratched, and during the skirmish, the jar was thrown somewhere far away.

Dan picked up the plant with his bare hands and shoved it hard on his fanny pack.

After a moment, though, he realized that he made the wrong decision. By holding the plant, its scent was now attached to him. He couldn't back out anymore.

As he ran, the beasts chasing him increased in numbers.

Dan ran relentlessly for three hours. Three hours of attempting to escape were enough to deplete his magic. Moreover, his legs were about to give up. He was about to resign to his fate.

At that time, Dan suddenly felt a strong gust of wind head towards him. To be exact, to the beasts behind him.

He saw a group of mages and, with his last ounce of strength, bolted towards them. After that, he couldn't remember anything.

He completely blacked out.

….

"After that, we rescued you, " Levi said flatly.

"Ah, yes."

"Now, why were you also hunting for an item from the list. Isn't that supposed to be for us, students?" Levi asked.

Dan gritted his teeth, he was about to divulge confidential info. In the end, he still had the desire to live. He slowly stated, "This task is supposed to be ours."

Hearing this, the group eyed each other, but none of them found anything weird about the statement. However, Aeon and Levi were much keener. The two asked at the same time, "So the difficulty of this task is actually for your level?"

Dan slowly nodded. "However, don't be alarmed. The group who collected one of the items showed that you are quite a capable batch."

"Yeah?" Aeon stood up and crouched near Dan, "What's the purpose of the items, then?"

"I-I don't know. All I know is that we're going to be receiving a huge reward if we are able to collect it in a short span of two months," Dan poured out everything.

"Hol'up! You're telling me you're getting a bigger reward than the students who actually collected the items?!" Aeon asked in exasperation.

Guilt was written all over Dan's face. With all the eyes on him, he could only respond.

"Well, 90% of the reward would go to the students. We're only after the fame."

After those words left his mouth, Dan immediately regretted what he said.

It was inevitable that the clever students found something odd.

"Fame, huh. So this is for something bigger then?" Levi asked.

Dan pursed his lips. He won't be saying anything more.

"This is fine, too, but…" Levi adjusted his glasses, "you'll be giving us as much information as we need about the items."

….