Chapter 11

Episode 11. First Lesson (3)

“Ugh…”

After a brief commotion(?), the lead in tracking the monster shifted from Camila to me.

Camila, perhaps deeply saddened by losing the lead to me, followed behind me with a sullen expression.

Her slumped shoulders and weak steps.

This was a side of ‘Camila Bediche’ that I had never seen before, and it felt quite unfamiliar.

“Isn’t she cute?”

Iris, walking beside me, glanced back at Camila, who was trailing far behind, and giggled behind her hand.

“She’s so competitive that whenever she loses, she gets sulky like that for a while.”

“I never knew the next candidate for the Holy Kingdom’s sword could make such an expression.”

“That just means Dale’s tracking skills are exceptional.”

Iris looked at me with sparkling eyes and asked,

“By the way, how do you so accurately pinpoint the monster’s movement path at a glance?”

“Well…”

I wanted to say that after catching monsters thousands of times, you naturally get to know, but I couldn’t tell her about my past life now.

“Just luck, I guess.”

“Hmm. It didn’t seem like that at all.”

Iris didn’t seem to want to press further and quietly followed behind me.

After following the monster’s trail for about 10 more minutes.

“Found it.”

In the thick bushes, a dark figure was crouched, moving stealthily.

About 2 meters in size.

It resembled a cat overall, but its mouth was sharp like a bird’s beak, and between its eyes, a third pupil glowed ominously with a sinister red light.

‘A three-eyed monster.’

Monsters with more eyes tend to deviate more from their original form and become stronger.

In that sense, having three eyes means it’s in the early stages of mutation, with only partial transformations.

‘Perfect for training.’

Of course, even a three-eyed monster is still a monster.

Its movements are incomparably faster than wild animals, it can easily tear a person apart, and weapons without magic power can barely scratch it.

‘Especially feline monsters, their legs are often faster than monsters with more eyes.’

They probably prepared a feline monster specifically for the ‘tracking and capture’ training theme.

‘Catch it before it notices, as quickly as possible.’

As I was timing my move.

“I’ll go.”

Camila stepped forward, perhaps to make up for her earlier failure.

“Feline monsters are pretty fast, are you sure?”

“Hmph. Don’t worry. I’m not slow enough to let a monster like that slip away right in front of me.”

Her confident response didn’t seem like mere bravado.

“Alright. I’ll block the escape route, so you catch it, Camila.”

“Got it.”

As I moved silently to block the monster’s escape.

“Wait. Let me bless you first.”

Iris clasped her hands as if in prayer.

A pure white light flowed from her Holy Mark and enveloped us.

Fatigue vanished as if I had slept soundly, and vitality surged through my body.

‘It’s been a while.’

How long had it been since I last received Iris’s blessing?

Of course, compared to the blessings I received in my past life, both in power and effect, this was incomparably weaker.

But just the fact that I could receive her blessing again made my heart swell to the point of tears.

“Dale? Is something wrong?”

“Ah, sorry.”

I didn’t have the luxury to dwell on sentiment.

I carefully moved silently to block the monster’s escape.

After moving to the escape route, I glanced back at Camila, who was waiting for my signal, ready to dash at any moment.

‘Unexpected.’

I thought Camila, who didn’t think much of me, wouldn’t wait for my signal and just charge.

‘She’s not foolish enough to be swayed by emotions and lose her judgment.’

Good.

If she’s going to act as Iris’s escort, she should be like that.

“……”

I hid at the escape route and observed the monster’s movements.

As confirmed by the droppings, the monster’s condition didn’t look great.

It twisted its body nervously, seemingly uncomfortable with the restraint magical tool on its legs and mouth.

“Now.”

With a short signal, Camila dashed forward.

I was ready to back her up if she missed, but.

‘No need for that.’

Proving her earlier claim wasn’t just bravado, Camila exploded forward and viciously kicked the monster’s belly.

“Kyahak!”

Thud!

With a dull sound, black blood gushed from the monster’s mouth as it was ambushed.

Even while vomiting blood, the monster desperately tried to turn and flee.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Camila swung her sheathed sword and struck the monster’s head.

Hit squarely, the monster staggered and soon collapsed.

“Well done, Camila!”

Iris, seeing the monster fall, came out of the bushes and approached Camila.

“Hmph. This is nothing.”

“So cool!”

“Hehe.”

“I love you!”

“Ah, Saintess, why are you praising me so much for such a small thing? It’s not that big of a deal.”

She seemed really happy.

“Hmm~ Isn’t she cute? Our Camila.”

Iris smiled brightly, looking at Camila, who was beaming.

‘That makes it look like she’s showing off a pet dog.’

Come to think of it, Iris used to treat me like some cute pet too.

‘Yeah. Especially in bed…’

Ahem.

I pushed away the thoughts and approached the fallen monster.

“Since we caught it, let’s report it first.”

I brought the Hero Watch on my left wrist to the magical tool on the monster’s mouth.

Ding.

A clear alarm sounded, and a hologram window appeared on the screen.

[Capture confirmed by the party ‘Iris, Camila Bediche, Dale Han’.]

Good.

We caught one.

‘Should we go find the next one right away?’

If we worked diligently, I was confident we could catch all three in a day.

“Thank you. Without you, Dale, we wouldn’t have caught the monster so quickly.”

Seeing Iris’s melting smile made my heart waver.

Her beautiful eyes, like the blue sky, which I had never seen in my past life.

Just looking into those eyes made my heart flutter like it was broken.

‘Maybe I’ll put aside the plan to catch all three in one day.’

Yeah.

In my past life, it took the candidates three days of hard work to catch them all. If we caught them all in one day, wouldn’t that ruin the training for the other candidates?

The extra points are tempting, but I can’t just throw away the precious growth opportunities of the other candidates for a few points, right?

“By the way, if we don’t catch all three today… will we have to camp in the forest?”

“We’ll have to. They said we won’t finish until we catch all three, no matter how many days it takes.”

It’s absolutely not because I want to spend the night with my ex-lover.

* * *

After a few more hours of searching the mountains, unfortunately, we couldn’t find any trace of the monsters.

Looking up at the darkening sky, I clicked my tongue.

“Wow~ Looks like we’ll have to camp. I really wanted to catch them all in one day and rest. Too bad.”

“…You seem oddly happy about it?”

“Hey. What do you take me for?”

“Hmph. If you have any shady thoughts about camping, I won’t let it slide.”

Camila glared at me with fierce eyes.

I chuckled and tapped the hard ground with my foot.

“Sleeping on this hard ground with the cold wind blowing, I won’t have the luxury for such thoughts.”

“Ugh.”

We’ve had outdoor camping training before, but this was the first time camping on bare ground.

Camila looked down at the ground and swallowed hard.

“We can’t do much about the ground, but I can bless you to withstand the cold wind.”

“Really? I didn’t know blessings had that effect.”

I already knew, but I pretended to be surprised.

“Ahem. I am the ‘Saintess,’ after all.”

Iris puffed out her chest playfully with a smug expression.

Crack.

As she stretched her back and puffed out her chest, her activewear began to scream as if it would tear.

‘Gasp.’

Even though I had seen (and even touched!) her chest before, seeing it again after so long was visually shocking.

“You, you! Turn your eyes away! Saintess! Didn’t I tell you that pose is dangerous?!”

“Hmm. Strange. Camila didn’t react like this earlier.”

“What are you talking about… Huh. S-sorry!”

“Oh, I’m hurt.”

Iris exaggeratedly wiped her eyes.

Camila looked flustered and kept bowing her head.

‘Iris was quite the prankster during her candidate days.’

In my past life, I had never seen this mischievous side of her.

‘A side of Iris I never knew.’

The fact that I could see this side of her in front of me was so moving.

As I watched Iris teasing Camila with a mischievous smile, lost in sentiment.

Growl.

The sound of a stomach growling echoed through the quiet forest.

“Ah.”

Iris’s cheeks turned bright red.

“Ahem… I didn’t eat properly this morning, so I’m a bit hungry.”

Embarrassed by the growling, Iris coughed and hastily explained.

Seeing her, Camila looked troubled.

“Uh… Sorry. I didn’t think we’d have to camp, so I didn’t bring any food.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t expect to camp either.”

Iris smiled brightly, saying she could go without food for a day, but her complexion darkened slightly, suggesting she really hadn’t eaten.

“I brought food.”

“Ah…!”

“Really?”

“Of course. I brought enough for both of you, so don’t worry.”

I said as I took out the food I had prepared from my backpack.

“…What’s that?”

Camila tilted her head, looking at the intense red packaging in my hand.

“Ramen.”

“Ramen? Ah, ramen… Isn’t that what the poor in the Republic mainly eat?”

“What? You… Even in an emergency, you planned to feed the Saintess that?”

“I don’t know how it got that image, but it’s delicious, so don’t worry.”

Especially.

“Iris, it’ll suit your taste perfectly.”

In my past life, she would go crazy for ramen.

“Hmph. What do you know about the Saintess’s tastes?”

Camila snorted, dismissing my words.

“The Saintess has been eating meals prepared by professional chefs sent by the Holy Kingdom, with perfect taste, freshness, and nutritional balance. How could such junk food suit her palate!”

“Quite the talk from someone who’s about to eat it.”

“Guh… That, that’s.”

“Are you eating or not?”

“…I’ll eat. Sorry for the nonsense.”

Camila, who was also quite hungry, bowed her head obediently.

I gathered some dry branches nearby, lit a fire, and boiled the ramen in a pot I had prepared.

‘It would’ve been better with eggs.’

But I didn’t have the luxury to bring eggs for outdoor training.

“It’s done.”

“Wow…”

“Ahem… The smell is certainly good.”

The two women swallowed their saliva as they watched the ramen boiling.

Holy Kingdom’s food is generally mild and vegetable-heavy, so they probably haven’t had much exposure to such stimulating food.

“Here, chopsticks… Ah, people from the Holy Kingdom don’t use chopsticks, right?”

“No. I learned how to use them.”

“I can use them too.”

Iris took the chopsticks and slurped the ramen from the bowl.

And then.

“Huuuuuuuuuuuung!”

Iris’s legs wiggled excitedly with a thrilled expression.

The same reaction as in my past life.

“Kyaaa! What is this? It’s so delicious! Are you crazy?!”

“……”

“…Ah. Ahem. I only knew it as food for the poor, but it’s not bad.”

“Yeah. Glad it suits your taste.”

Let me correct that.

It was a bit more intense than the reaction I saw in my past life.