Oops... I Forgot

Leona yawned, "Ha, we just have to clear all the tasks right?"

"…you understand about the "Vargas Badge" now right?" Vargas ignored the lazy lion beastman and continued, "Then I'll proceed to explain the 3 tasks you have to complete in the first day. First is "Pillar"! You have to arrange the environment you will stay in for 3 days. Collect timber from the woods near the campsite and light up a campfire"

"The basics of all camps." Ruggie nodded, "The animals won't come near us if we light a fire, so it's safer

"Second is "Food"! You have to understand Dwarf Mine's ecosystem, and prepare your food yourself." Vargas continued excitedly, "Catch fishes from the lakeside and cook it."

Judging by his reaction, Peony assumed that the professor probably enjoyed catching and cooking foods in camping outdoors. Leaving that minor detail aside, Lotus glanced around her and pondered on the number of fish and vegetables required for them. Considering that these kids are still growing, they'll need a lot of food.

"Right, I haven't eaten anything since this morning…" Ace grumbled in disappointment.

Right, A LOT of food...

"Third is "Learn"! You have to put in action what you've learned so you'll understand it deeper." Vargas instructed, "Go to the tunnel inside the mine and mine a magic stone. The size must be bigger than 1 cm3, the weight must be more than 3 grams. We won't let you pass if you bring home something smaller than that! Look at the map in the pamphlet. You can see 3 areas to do the tasks I just explained. Doesn't matter where you start, or who'll be doing it. I'll lend you the fishing rods and pickaxes, bring it anytime you want. The time limit is when the sun sets. You have to clear the 3 tasks and get the badges before then. Now then… start!!"

"If you were to ask which of the tasks should be prioritized…" Riddle hummed to himself, "I'd say the mining."

"I agree with Riddle." Silver nodded in agreement, "Since this mine has been closed for some time, I think it's hard to find any remaining magic stones. It's better if we finish doing the task that needs more time."

"NO OBJECTIONS!" Sebek rebuked firmly in a rather harsh manner, "It's not like I agreed after listening to you, Silver. You just coincidentally had the same thoughts as mine. I see, we match then."

"NO, WE DON'T!!" Sebek responded firmly.

"Despite the words you use." Lotus sighed, "Does anyone not think that gathering food would take longer? Moreover, without food, where's the energy to even mine?"

"However, mining could take longer and finding magic stones in an exhausted mine is even more difficult." The club advisor said, "We'd save time if we start mining now."

Lotus shook her head, "Although mining stones requires luck, so does fishing. Fish can swim away and hide. Unless we're merfolk, we have no proper way to wrangle the fishes together and catch them. Unlike stones, they hide and they have predators underwater. They know to hide from predators and some have stronger sense of wariness to their surroundings compared to stones that are objects waiting to be refined or found."

"When you put it that way..." He sighed, "Then, let's split the groups into two. One will go to the mines and the other will go fishing."

Hearing this, Lotus thought for a bit and sighed, "All right."

She took in half the students of their door and brought them to the lake as she appointed someone who could fish to teach the others how to fish.

"Don't worry about catching enough." She explained, "Someone of are inexperienced so chances are we won't be able to catch enough. I'll think of something, but don't expect that I'll cover up for everything if you don't catch as much as you can."

"What about us?" One of the freshman looked to her in confusion.

"We got to gather fire wood." She replied, "You're all one of the stronger ones in magic and don't have experience in fishing. So, we're going to gather fire wood and start a camp fire."

"Why them?" The person she appointed looked in confusion.

"Because of the fairies."

"Fairies?"

They looked around in confusion.

"Does anyone remember the history of the Dwarves' mine? Anything pertaining to the fairies?" She quizzed them curiously.

While the freshmen looked on in confusion, one of the sophmores responded, "There was a large fire here many years ago and it left the majority of the forest in ashes. Since then, the fairies have called it the Crimson Flower."

"That's right." Lotus responded, "Take this history into account. We can infer that the fairies here aren't too fond of fire. They're very likely to put it out as soon as we set one up. We don't have the mechanisms to speak with small fairies, so we really don't have a choice but to fight back. It's very likely they'll show up around the lake too. This is why I said we won't be able to gather enough. Not only do we lack the people we will also lack a quiet place to fish. I'll think of a way to gather enough food for all of us, but we need you to fish. Remember to be careful not to produce too much blot. That's where you guys come in."

As expected of her resourcefulness...

She glanced over to her group much to their surprise.

"Us?"

.....

After guiding her group into the forest, she began instructing them to gather dried moss, tinder and dried logs as she and another went to gather twigs. It didn't take long before she handed them a bag and pointed to some yellow mushrooms and brown ones on the ground as she explained, "These are what we need to gather. They're the most basic and edible mushroom we can pick without worry of food poisoning. Remember not to pick anything else. As for others, just leave them to me to differentiate."

"There's a lot of mushrooms in the forest..." The freshman noted in bewilderment, "I've never seen this many before."

"Mushrooms grow more rapidly after lightning. There was a recently lightning storm in this area and with no one living here anymore, it's ours for the picking. But, don't over pick them or they might not grow back next year should our professor try to do this again. It would be good if the Mountain Loving club doesn't find this place either. With the octavinelle's Vice-dorm leader's curiosity, he might end up picking all of the edible fungi. I'll have to remind him to let some be."

"Got it."

"Ah!"

They looked to her in confusion as one of them asked nervously, "W-What now?"

"Ah... Oops..." Lotus hesitated, "I forgot to remind Riddle and the others about the fairies..."

There was a long awkward and tense silence the ringed in the air. They might be in for a bit of trouble if Riddle's group don't return with a magic stone...

.....

"Hey, we're here." Grim poked his head into the tunnel as they head in.

"Oh, the score keepers. Did you come to see how things are going in the mines?" Silver looked to them at the sound of their voice and footsteps.

"Yeah. But anyway, what are you standing around for? Aren't you supposed to be looking for magic gems?" Grim nodded as he looked around curiously.

"Yes. But it's difficult to find magic gems in an abandoned mine, even if we tried blindly swinging our axes around. So we were in the middle of revisiting the information we have about magic gems."

"Is there anyone in our club who can thoroughly explain how to find and mine for magic gems?" Riddle looked around his group curiously.

"I've learned this in class before. Of course I remember it!" Sebek stated proudly before going on a rant or lecture, "The term "magic gem" generally refers to gemstones that have absorbed power from their surroundings and mutated. When searching for them, you have to track the weak magic power emitting from them… But they say it's a task that requires a great amount of focus. It's a hard-earned skill. Amateurs like us would only be able to figure out a gem's ten-meter radius. However, it's better we give it a shot instead of digging around at random. Only a fool would try striking every single corner of these vast tunnels. …Once we've identified the approximate spot, we can start actually mining. We'll first chip off the weathered, brittle surface with our pickaxes. After that, carefully extract the magic gems using a hammer and chisel. THAT'S IT!!!"

Riddled clapped with a wide smile, "Wonderful, Sebek. I'm impressed you listen so well in class.

"Heh." Sebek sneered with a cocky tone, "It's not a bad feeling at all to receive praise from the 2nd-years' top student. I am humbled and appreciative to hear your words."

"Amazing. That's Sebek for you." Silver nodded with a wide smile, "You always get good grades with in-class lectures. I need to pick up the pace to match your speed."

"You're only ever sleeping during class—don't talk like we're the same." Sebek huffed in disdain, "These are just the basics of the basics."

""Basics of the basics"? Really? I didn't know any of this…" Grim spoke up curiously.

"That's because you were asleep during class." Yuu whispered to him with a heavy sigh.

"I-I did not!"

Ignoring the two, Riddle continued, "Now, we got our refresher on magic gems. Let's start looking for them."