Chapter 288: Treasure Hunt (15)
"Did you just say... that you would simply give me your treasures? Without even fighting? Four of them, no less?"
"Yeah. There's a rule saying we have to wager equal numbers of treasures if we want to fight, but there wasn't any rule saying we couldn't simply give them away."
I still could not shake my bewilderment.
As I stood frozen in place, blinking blankly, Reisir let out a brief snort of laughter and approached me.
Once he had closed the distance sufficiently, Reisir took four capsules from his bag, slipped them one by one into my already open bag, and even zipped it shut for me.
"Hurry over there. It would be a problem if someone happened to take them from you, wouldn't it?"
"Ah... uh... Mm..."
Still dazed, I inadvertently let out a foolish response.
Apparently amused by my reaction, Reisir laughed brightly and gave me a gentle push on the back.
It was only after I stumbled beyond the sign reading, 「 ※ No Combat Beyond This Point ※ 」, that I thought to check the contents of the capsules he had given me.
"These... are all real...?"
"Myaaow...!"
Yor must not have believed Reisir either, because after unfolding the notes with me, she reacted with equal astonishment.
That meant I had not seen them incorrectly.
I reflexively whipped my head around to look at Reisir and saw him grin when our eyes met.
It was the same irritating smile I saw all the time.
And yet, at this particular moment, it did not feel quite so irritating. If anything, it seemed familiar and affectionate.
But apparently I could not bring myself to admit that I had been moved by a few scraps of paper.
"I have no idea what possessed you to do this, but if you thought this would make me grateful, you are mistaken. If you hadn't deliberately taken my treasure note this morning, I wouldn't have received the punishment in the first place. First you cause the problem, then you offer the cure. What exactly are you trying to accomplish...?"
I deliberately furrowed my brow and poured out something closer to a complaint in a grumbling tone.
Reisir had taken my treasure that morning in accordance with the training rules, while giving me treasures now was an act of goodwill.
He could easily have pointed that out and condemned me as an ungrateful person.
"Still, the cure worked pretty well, didn't it?"
Instead of taking offense and arguing, Reisir maintained his smile and responded with humor.
With him reacting like that, it became difficult to say anything further.
"Well... I-It was adequate, I suppose...?"
"Glad to hear it."
"......M-More importantly, why are you still standing there instead of coming over here?"
"Because I only have one treasure left now. I don't know whether I'll manage it in the time remaining, but I'm going to keep trying until the end and see if I can get back up to five."
"......!"
He had handed over no fewer than four treasures so readily that I had naturally assumed he possessed plenty to spare.
Only then did I notice how flat Reisir's bag had become.
What would he have done if I hadn't found even one treasure? Was he seriously planning to accept the punishment immediately...?
A short while later, Lissy appeared.
When she spotted Reisir standing firmly at the mountain entrance, she flinched and began to step backward, only to stop in an awkward half-crouch.
She had probably remembered the rule against refusing a challenge and fleeing.
"Lissy, how many treasures do you currently possess?"
"Exactly five...?"
"Then I'd feel bad taking one from you... Since it can't be helped, go on through."
Had his heart softened at the sight of Lissy clutching her bag in both hands and watching him with her entire body tensed?
Reisir obediently stepped aside and let her pass.
The next person to appear was Ríolíkin, who possessed only three treasures.
Given his hopelessly timid personality, there was no chance he would have thought to wait here and steal other people's treasures.
He had clearly searched and searched, failed to find any more, and finally given up.
Reisir seemed to realize that as well.
He challenged Ríolíkin without hesitation, won, and acquired one additional treasure.
The entire process passed remarkably quickly.
Time was running so short that Reisir ended the battle in an instant without holding back at all.
However, two people managed to use that brief interval to reach the no-combat zone where I was standing.
They were Fjodora and Pret.
Fjodora used 【Spatial Leap】, while Pret simply ran with remarkable speed and stealth.
Both succeeded in preserving their treasures without being caught by Reisir.
That leaves Vigdís, Helga, and Sveinn. Those three, right?
Although he had missed Fjodora and Pret, Reisir now possessed two treasures after defeating Ríolíkin, and exactly three people remained.
If he took one treasure from each of them, he could still escape punishment.
But then Helga appeared—
"Hey, ★Cool Guy★, how many treasures do you have?"
"Ugh... It feels strangely unpleasant when you call me that."
"Hahahaha! So, how many?"
"Three... Why do you keep asking?"
"Would you like to fight me while wagering two treasures?"
"Does that mean you're going to lose on purpose and hand over your spare treasures?"
—and the conversation took an odd turn.
"I don't have any spare treasures. I only have two in total."
"Huh? Why? You took one of my treasures earlier and reached five. Don't tell me... someone took them from you?! Who managed to beat you?!"
"I didn't lose them in a fight. I just gave them away. To ☆Pretty Girl☆."
"Then give them to ★Cool Guy★ too."
"...What?"
"Are you discriminating against ★Cool Guy★ now?"
"No, that isn't it..."
"Then hurry up and give them to me."
After robbing Reisir of all his remaining treasures without a fight, Helga strode proudly beyond the sign and into the no-combat zone.
Reisir, who had lost his chance to make a comeback now that he had no treasures left, followed behind her.
Yet there was not even a trace of regret on his face.
For reference, Vigdís and Sveinn, who appeared afterward, possessed six and five treasures respectively.
Had Reisir taken Helga's two treasures instead of allowing her to take his, he could have reached five by obtaining one more from Vigdís.
Which was why I could not help asking.
"Do you not regret it?"
"Not particularly. It suddenly occurred to me that receiving the punishment once might not be so bad."
"Are you saying that while in your right mind?"
"Ahahahaha!"
I could not understand why he was laughing.
While I stood there puzzled, Professor Bjorn arrived and checked how many treasures each student possessed.
Afterward, once he had finished giving feedback on the battles, he announced,
"Reisir and Ríolíkin will receive their punishment next week in the morning. And Karvaldr and Helga may now remove their headbands."
At last, he called both my possessed body and Helga by their proper names and gave us permission to remove the headbands.
Helga whipped hers off as though she had been waiting for that exact moment, and naturally, I did the same.
But unlike Helga, who returned her headband and said she would see everyone next week, I spoke up.
"Professor, I would like to borrow the remaining ingredients and cooking utensils, if that is all right."
"Hm? They came from the cafeteria kitchen anyway, so I don't mind. But why?"
"I cannot enter the cafeteria looking like this, so I need to return to my room, wash, and change clothes first... But eating afterward, returning to my room again, and changing yet another time would be highly inefficient and wasteful, would it not?"
"So you're planning to cook in your room?"
"Yes."
I had originally intended to make do with preserved food, but the circumstances had changed.
I could obtain ingredients and cooking utensils immediately, and now that I had demonstrated my cooking ability, preparing my own meals would no longer cause a collapse in characterization.
Most importantly—
Even if I could make do on my own... Yor has to eat too, doesn't she?
That was why I had concluded that I should prepare a proper meal, even if it was only something simple.
However, there was one unexpected development—
"Prett—no. Karvaldr. Can I eat with you too?"
"Oh, Karvaldr! Me too!"
"I-I'd like to as well...!!"
—this was not it.
I had more or less expected Reisir, Pret, and Ríolíkin to react this way.
What I truly had not expected was for the others to respond similarly.
"I've been wandering around this mountain all day and I'm exhausted. I don't want to keep going back and forth anymore."
"I feel the same... The problem is that I do not feel confident cooking alone in my room without anyone to assist me. And naturally, I cannot go to Karv's room in the men's dormitory..."
It was obvious what they wanted.
Just as we had at lunch, they wanted everyone to cook and eat together here.
For the moment, only Helga and Vigdís had spoken aloud.
However, Lissy and Sveinn also looked interested.
Fjodora appeared conflicted, perhaps because lunch had not suited her tastes, but she did not leave.
Helping other people cook had proved more difficult than I expected.
I was just about to suggest that everyone return to their rooms and attempt to remake the dishes they had prepared at lunch as cooking practice when—
"Why don't all of you simply cook dinner together here as well? I'll handle the cleanup."
Professor Bjorn's suggestion changed my mind.
"Since the objective is to reduce unnecessary movement and wasted time, I intend to make cream pasta, which is quick and simple... Anyone who is fine with that may stay."
I swept my gaze over those who had openly expressed a desire to prepare dinner together and gave my answer.
"Excellent! To be honest, lunch was so lavish and took so long to prepare that I was a little worried about whether you could really cook something like that inside the Demon Realm."
Professor Bjorn seemed even more pleased.
Had he wanted us to prepare a simple meal, it would have been better to let us use basic ingredients such as seasonings and spices freely and divide us into teams of two or three.
At lunch, however, we had been given too many varied ingredients and assigned too many teammates, leaving us little choice but to make dishes requiring substantial effort.
"I'm definitely staying!"
Beginning with that declaration from the original protagonist, the others expressed their agreement one after another.
Perhaps she did not want to be the only one to break away from the group.
Or perhaps Professor Bjorn's words had made her decide that she should also try preparing a simple dish.
Either way, Fjodora ended her hesitation and chose to remain with us.