Bath time!

At a weather station far away from Roastberry.

"Sir, a massive earthquake and volcanic eruption has occurred in the Northern Mountain Range."

A man in his thirties wearing a headset and looking at a monitor reported to his superior behind him, who was overseeing a group of others monitoring the weather across the entire world via orbital satellite.

"Massive earthquake and volcanic eruption? Fill me in with the details." The middle-aged man's face turned serious.

"Several seismograph stations situated around the perimeter of the Northern Mountains picked up an 8.8 earthquake on the Richter scale. They tracked the location to an area a week's walking distance away from the farthest resort Mountainview Springs. The location happens to be exactly beneath one of those anomalies. There seems to be casualties and the damage is extensive and severe."

"Following that was a partial collapse of an entire mountain next to it which happens to be a dormant volcano. It violently exploded and now there is a massive ash cloud. Although the earthquake triggered other eruptions, none are so explosive as this one. The ash clouds of all the volcanoes are moving in the direction of Roastberry."

The middle-aged supervisor's face turned grim.

(Author Note: I have no idea how meteorologists do their job, so this is my guess.)

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The time was still Sunday except it was around time for dinner.

The party members arrived later than usual at the next campsite.

Everyone was very tired after the events a few hours ago.

Everyone except George collapsed upon arriving at the campsite. Bernice, Abe, and Emma were out of it the most, while Hester seemed the most fine out of all the party members.

"All of you hurry up and eat. Use your ten-minute break wisely." George seemed unempathetic as he opened his backpack for a meal.

Emma and Abe wanted to complained but they opened their backpack up and took food out. Bernice did not seem hungry much and glanced over at George.

"What the heck happened while you were in there? What was that earthquake?"

"I knew one of you would ask." George took a bite out of a sandwich and proceeded to explain.

"We encountered suspicious people who were trying to mess with the core of the anomaly. We almost defeated them but then they tried to self-destruct the core, which did go go according to plan. They were killed in the explosion which cracked the core. As for what happened outside that caused the earthquake is something I have no clue. I suspect the two intruders were doing something that has a connection."

Hester looked at George in confusion but said nothing. He knew some of what he said was not the truth. After all, Hester did not fight at all. All he remembers is being knocked out by a blast of air. He did not help defeat them. He does not even know how they were defeated.

Emma did not know if George was lying or not, but it seemed to make logical sense. She kept silent about it and ate to regain some energy.

"*sigh* This is too much for me. I wanna go home now." Bernice no longer felt the quest to be exciting. All the dust caking her body made her feel very uncomfortable.

Hester glanced at her with a relatable expression.

Abe suddenly bowed to George and then Emma.

"Thank you George for getting us out of there, and thank you Emma for saving my life. I've contributed nothing this entire time. I couldn't even protect myself or Bernice."

"There's nothing you could have done anyway. The event was so sudden." Emma felt the apology was unnecessary and scratched her cheek. She glanced at George who merely grunted.

"Oh yeah! Let me check your injury!" Bernice got up and checked Emma's stomach. The healing had worked and the bruise had disappeared entirely.

"Thank goodness!" She sighed in relief and sat down. Feeling relieved that everyone seemed fine, she pulled out a few snacks to eat in a hurry.

"So what do we do now? Do we continue the quest?" Hester glanced at everyone and asked the sensible question.

"Of course we do." George answered immediately since it pertained to him. He looked at Hester and said indifferently, "You think a little earthquake and volcanic eruption is gonna stop us?"

"Little? Wasn't that a bit dangerous? What if it happens again?" Bernice gawked at him.

"You think earthquakes and eruptions are as common as the bread crumbs you find on the floor of a restaurant?" George almost rolled his eyes but continued:

"People were at this one because it's the closest, but the next anomaly that is near the path is three weeks away. We'll be in the outermost territory of the frost apes by that point. Anybody who wishes to deal with frost apes will be either very strong or very stupid."

"Furthermore, I won't make the same mistake like last time of letting my guard down. If I see any of you trying to approach an anomaly, I'll snap you out of it even if it knocking you out."

"I guess that's a relief." Abe sighed as he munched on a protein bar.

"Ten minutes is up. Let's get moving then." George packed away his stuff and stood up.

Everyone groaned at the same time as they tiredly got up.

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A few hours passed as the sun began to set.

They passed through several more terrains and different areas of foliage. The ash cloud in the distance had disappeared behind the towering mountains.

They arrived thirty minutes later than usual at the campsite for the night due to the party members being tired and the events that had conspired earlier in the day.

Everyone put their stuff down and gradually set up their tents at a slower speed than usual. George brought the sticks and logs together to build up a fire.

Everyone was weary by the time everything had been set up.

"If any of you are still hungry, eat the fish from local streams or hunt the local wildlife from now on." George instructed them.

"Eh~? Why?" Bernice was the one to complain and pout for the first time.

"This is getting ridiculous." Hester muttered.

"We need to save our rations for the inner region. Wildlife become scarce above the tree line. I'm not taking the risk of running out of rations in the inner regions." He folded his arms as he sat on a log with a straight back.

"Why didn't we do that at the beginning then?" Emma asked confused.

"I was confident in our food rations, but now I'm not too sure after that incident. I also wanted us to save time from hunting, but I'd rather lose time than starve. That way when we arrive at the inner region, I'll be 100% confident we won't starve halfway through."

"You could argue stocking up meat from local wildlife before we arrive, but wood becomes scarce above the timberline. Even if we cook it all below the line, you all will have to eat them frozen. I'm not gonna waste precious firewood on warming your meals. Not to mention you can't survive purely on meat without getting vitamin deficiencies and constipations from lack of fiber."

Seeing everyone's glum expression, George pointed at Emma.

"Not to worry though. We have Emma the [Mage] here."

"E-Eh? What?" Emma stuttered from being put on the spotlight out of nowhere.

"With your abilities as a [Mage], hunting becomes very easy. You have spells that detect animals and magical creatures in a certain vicinity right?"

"Yes. I do." She confidently nodded.

"All you need to cast that in an area and find all the creatures. Then you just need to cast an immobilize spell over a large area and maintain it. Many of the creatures in the trees will fall out while those on the ground will fall over. Just tell us where they are and we'll capture them. Easy right?"

Emma's eyes lit up with insight as she nodded repeatedly.

"Once we get above the timberline, we'll go back to the rations so don't worry too much. We'll only be eating meat mixed with various herbs in nature for about 3.5 months. I'll show you all which herbs are poisonous and which are good for getting certain vitamins and minerals."

Everyone nodded in response.

"There's a nearby large stream which you all can clean up in. Enjoy the streams while you can. Once we get into the inner region, say goodbye to cleanliness for a while."

Everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing a stream.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go bath! The girls first of course!" Bernice's cheerfulness quickly returned as she grabbed new clothes from her backpack and dragged Emma along.