Chapter 102: Yeah, You’re Right
After a while, the Silver Wolves had been hunted to the end.
The adventurers who had been hunting in distant spots gathered over.
The number easily exceeded ten; I estimated this would be enough to go around among the students as well.
The familiar faces I often see at the tavern were all present, and they began storing the Silver Wolves into magic bags.
Basically, dismantling is done after descending the mountain.
Because the scent of companions’ blood attracts more of them, it is dangerous even while dismantling.
Interestingly, however, even if you dismantle after leaving the mountain, Silver Wolves never come out of the mountain.
They only come out during a stampede — a rather mysterious ecology.
What one must be careful of is that this applies only to the Silver Wolves of this mountain; other Silver Wolves are different.
Looking over the students, they were completely exhausted and sitting on the ground.
The adventurers informed me that there were no injured among the students, and I thanked them for it.
In reply they smiled and patted my shoulder several times, making me smile wryly.
A female adventurer who had fought together with us came near me, looked toward the students, and spoke.
"I think we should stop for today."
"Hmm... You’re right."
At my words the students looked at me with frustrated expressions; especially Roy lowered his face while standing next to Lucy.
Feeling that the students were misunderstanding something, I spoke with an exasperated expression.
"As everyone’s first battle, it was excellent. Besides, you may have forgotten, but this is part of academy classes. There’s no need to truly risk your lives."
"But..."
Roy raised his face and looked at me with a frustrated expression; seeing him like that I let out a big sigh.
They had confidence in their own strength, thought they could still do more — that was probably what the students were thinking.
Looking at the adventurers, they were smiling at the students with nostalgic gazes.
The students’ appearance is the path the adventurers themselves once walked; I am no exception.
"Do you know the survival rate of fledgling adventurers who manage to return safely?"
At my question the students shook their heads; Erika tilted her head with a thoughtful face.
When I directed my gaze at Roy, he noticed and shook his head.
"According to Guild investigation, it’s about 70% overall. ...Roy, how many students were there today?"
"Thirty..."
Roy muttered, then made a startled expression and looked around at everyone.
Yes, thirty people — a number where it would not be strange if several were injured or even dead.
Of course we were careful about safety, and the adventurers also took care.
Even so, the fact that there were no injured is wonderful, and it is not something to demand more than this from a first battle.
The adventurers here have also been injured many times, and some have even parted with companions in death.
Compared to that, this is excellent. And this is not the only time.
I looked over the students and explained in a slightly stronger tone that next time they should make use of today’s experience.
The students who heard the explanation looked at me, nodded firmly, and checked the condition of their bodies.
After confirming that the students’ breathing had settled, we descended the mountain while the adventurers guarded the surroundings.
Someone gently patted my back as I walked at the rear; when I turned around and confirmed the person, I smiled.
It was Foria. There was still a slight shadow remaining in her eyes, but she wore a calm smile.
Feeling a little relieved, I spoke to Foria as she began walking beside me.
"So you came too. Thank you."
"Nn~n, I also wanted to move my body. ...My thanks are late, but thank you for that time."
"Don’t mind it. More than that, right now you should focus on healing your body and heart. An adventurer’s body is their capital, right?"
"...Yeah, you’re right."
When I smiled and spoke to Foria, she first made a slightly surprised expression, then smiled gently.
Looking forward, Sync was hugging Lucy’s waist from behind as Lucy walked next to Roy.
Seeing Sync laugh happily at the surprised reactions of Roy and Lucy, I narrowed my eyes and smiled.
As expected, smiling happily is many times better than looking pained.
It’s fine even if there’s a shadow; as long as they’re smiling, something good should happen.
I did not notice that Foria was looking at my profile at that moment.
When we passed through the trees and descended the mountain, I smiled wryly at the adventurers who were on the plain.
In front of them, several boars were laid out.
Moreover they were considerably larger than normal; it was obvious at a glance that they had deliberately hunted large ones.
When the students saw the boars, they raised cheers mixed with happy and surprised voices.
"I’ll teach you how to skin them, so come over here!"
"It’s the absolute basics!"
"Once dismantling is finished, the Instructor will cook food for us!!"
"Geez, you guys only think about eating. Girls, it’s not wrong, so learn properly, okay? ...Hey, why are you pulling me!?"
"Ehhh, me tooooo?"
The male adventurers were holding skinning and dismantling knives in front of the boars.
And the two female adventurers who had been providing rear support with magic were being pulled by the hands of the students.
The big-sister type and the laid-back one seemed to have completely captured the students’ hearts.
I thought that if I didn’t call them for the next outdoor training there would be complaints, and smiled wryly.
It wasn’t exactly a warning, but I felt I had to say it and raised my voice.
"You’ll get dirty, so put on aprons or change clothes before working! If you’re changing, have the older sisters help you and hide from surrounding eyes! ...And I think you already know, but male adventurers, no peeking!"
"I’d be too scared to!"
"I don’t want to die, you iiiidiot!"
"Instructor, you iiiidiot!"
The female students began calling out to the surrounding female adventurers, while the male adventurers loudly complained to me.
I made a nice smile and asked if they wanted to have a mock battle for the first time in a while; they all turned their faces away in unison.
When I placed a hand on the shoulder of a nearby male adventurer, he fled at tremendous speed.
Incidentally, Roy quietly came near me and hid himself from the female students.
Seeing Roy like that, I laughed out loud.
Thanks to the adventurers, the dismantling of six or seven boars finished, and the students wore happy faces while looking a little tired.
Near where the dismantling and skinning guidance was being given, some of the adventurers and I prepared a campfire.
Originally I had thought of teaching things like the gamey smell of Silver Wolf meat and what to do in such cases.
But they had hunted a large number of boars for us, so I got fired up to work hard in order to reward the students and adventurers as well.
That said, outdoor meals basically come down to two choices: grilling or making soup.
If it were camping overnight, stews wouldn’t be impossible, but outdoors one prepares things that take as little time as possible.
When the students brought boar meat to the simple table, I cut the meat to about the thickness of a finger and then made cuts on the surface.
Then I soaked it in the seasoning inside the barrel placed next to me and immediately began grilling it in a frying pan.
The reason for the cuts was so that the seasoning would enter between them and improve the flavor.
In no time the smell of grilling meat filled the surroundings, and the students were gulping.
...This means I’ll have to keep grilling and grilling.
"Don’t just watch — those who are ready to eat, come get some! Listen, there’s plenty of meat, okay!? Ah, and thank the adventurers!"
"Thank you very much!!"
"Embarrassing..."
"...I could get used to this."
"I’m going, so don’t pull me!"
"Wait~~, don’t pull~~"
At the students’ words the adventurers laughed with embarrassment, and people came one after another to take the grilled meat.
I alone couldn’t keep up, so Roy said he would help, and Foria also began helping.
After confirming that the meat had been distributed to a certain extent, I also gave meat to Roy and had him eat.
Roy, who had started eating, stared at the meat in surprise and looked at me with force as he spoke.
"Eh, why does it taste this rich?"
"Is it that much? Thanks to the freshness and the seasoning, right?"
"...That barrel?"
I nodded and showed Roy the inside of the barrel; Roy tilted his head and stared into it.
Inside the barrel was a transparent liquid that remained transparent even after meat had been soaked many times.
Actually this is a seasoning compounded with large amounts of White Token using white wine and fruits.
It was something I happened to be able to create; when making steak at the tavern nearly twice the usual White Token is used.
If I told them the amount of White Token used, I can already picture my lovers looking exasperated and letting out big sighs.
Someone who had probably come for a second helping stood in front of me, so while preparing meat I looked at the face of the standing person and was exasperated.
"..."
"Master, more meat, please!"
"Roll... Weren’t you supposed to be hiding?"
"Impossible! Meat!"
Looking behind Roll, who was holding out a plate with both hands toward me, I saw Satour holding her head with one hand from afar and Minty walking over with a troubled smile.
When Erika spotted the three adventurer girls she made a surprised expression, approached, and spoke.
"Roll?"
"Erika, you looked cool. As expected of our employer... More meat still?"
"Eh... Yes? Thank you?"
Finding the scene amusing, I laughed loudly while grilling the meat.
The surrounding adventurers also spotted Roll and the others, grasped the situation, and laughed.
The students tilted their heads but looked happy while eating the meat.
There’s just one thing I want to say — isn’t the amount they’re eating a little small?
When I said that to the three songstresses who came to return their plates, asking if that was enough, they made surprised expressions.
...The feeling that it’s too little might be the adventurers’ fault?
Since the adventurers come back many times for more, my sense of amount might be off.