“Thank you for coming.”
I see Bloody Rose in front of the dungeon, along with other faces I recognize like Thousand Gold Coins and people I’ve never seen.
There are more than thirty people here.
“This is still not a lot. The idea is for us to learn all sorts of things and pass it on to others. I won’t be around for long, but I’m planning to help.”
Leila said that she’s going to the capital Mahia after graduation to help her mother with her work. She didn’t say much more about it though.
“Anyway, let’s start from a field of medicinal herbs. There should be relatively many in the forest, but there should also be some in grassy fields. People that aren’t used to fighting in forests should start in grassy fields to get a feel for it.”
That’s mostly directed at people who haven’t been to the twenty-fifth floor. People who have been there had no choice but to get used to fighting.
We split into three groups, each led by our party, Bloody Rose, or Thousand Gold Coins, and start looking for medicinal herbs.
We decided to split up because if we’re going to teach how to pick medicinal herbs, we have to find a place where we can pick them first.
Our party is going into a forest, with six students. I figured they’d be nervous with people they’ve never met, but it’s actually just the three guys that look nervous. The three girls are talking to Rurika and the others, and look pretty relaxed.
They’re talking about what they’ve been doing as adventurers… Along with all sorts of other things.
I don’t think I should go in there, so I just check Map for monsters.
A lot of them are near the staircase to the sixth floor, but there are few around here. But we should still hunt monsters that are near us just to be safe.
“There are monsters in that direction. What should we do?”
I ask while pointing, and some of them look puzzled.
“Sora, they are probably confused because Leila introduced you as a merchant.”
Says Mia, because I’m confused by their lack of response.
No, surely there are merchants with monster searching skills?
I tell them that when I was first starting out, I traversed main roads safely by avoiding monsters because of my searching skills, and we keep moving towards the monsters.
I don’t know if they’re just nervous or if they didn’t believe me, but they look surprised to see there really are monsters here.
“Five wolves… Should we fight?”
I ask but no one responds. Are they too nervous?
I peek from behind a tree, and see that the wolves are a little far, and haven’t noticed us yet, but they’re going to see us eventually if we don’t make a move.
“We’ll take out four of them, and you take care of one. Mia, please support.”
Rurika signals with her eyes to Sera and Hikari, and they go around to the back.
Hikari jumps on a tree, and approaches them while going from tree to tree.
“It’s all right. The trees might get in the way, but you have already fought wolves, right? You just have to fight like you always do.”
Chris says to the nervous students, and Mia casts Protection.
The male students are looking in a daze, but the female students are getting fired up and grabbing their weapons.
“The trees would get in the way here, so let’s fight a little ahead and to the left, where there are fewer.”
I take the lead and move, and hold my shield as I show myself to the wolves.
They’re a little far away, but I’m using Provoke, so the wolves head my way.
They run as they weave through the trees, but only one gets to where I am. Rurika and the others take the others down on the way without them even noticing.
“The rest is up to you.”
I step back, changing places with the students. But I cast shielding magic so I can be ready in case something happens.
They have experience fighting wolves to begin with, but dungeon passages and this floor aren’t the same thing. Their moves feel awkward because of it.
It’s a relatively open space, but the trees still get in the way of swinging swords, and there are roots on the ground that make it harder to run.
The ones who can still move in the middle of that are a boy using a shield, and a girl that fights like a martial artist.
When the wolf gets close to a sorcerer, the sorcerer gets scared of hitting an ally and just looks panicked.
“Good job. Well, this is just to get you used to fighting in the forest. This time Sora led it to a place that was easier to fight, but when it’s just you, you have to do that.”
The students sit on the ground as they’re told what they have to learn from this.
We keep exploring and find a place with some medicinal herbs, but it’s not a place where everyone can pick.
In the end, we’re told that Leila and the others have found something, and we gather in the place where we split up.
“But let’s have lunch first. Sora, please.”
This isn’t just about picking medicinal herbs, they’re supposed to experience cooking too, so I take cookware out of the Item Box, and we start getting it ready.
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Thanks for the treat.