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My contemplation came to an end more quickly than expected.

I decided to continue this peculiar journey with Skylar.

‘It’s not like I have strong powers, nor do I know the geography around here, and I’m not rich either.’

Strength, knowledge, money.

To not choose an easy path that could solve all three dilemmas at once.

No matter how unsettling and sweetly tempting this road looked, surviving right now is what’s important.

Someone I can trust knows my penalties and can protect me while I’m asleep.

I couldn’t think of a better option than Skylar. Until something better comes along, sticking with him feels right.

“Shall we head to the nearby church first?”

“…Do you even know where we are right now?”

“No. We need to look around from here.”

“How do you plan on looking around?”

“I’m always prepared for situations like this. I’ll use a bit of a scroll to observe the terrain and find a matching one to our map.”

“….”

“Yes, I get it. I know it’s easier said than done. It will take some time; food is scarce, and we activated the teleportation in such a hurry without resupplying.”

Skylar was pretending to be cheerful on the outside.

But the seriousness of the situation was clear even to my muddled brain.

Yeah. Even a fool could see it… we were in crisis.

Adventurers always prepare thoroughly. They buy twice the necessary food before heading to the next town and do the same for water. They research the surrounding terrain and study edible plants, animals, and even monsters.

However, a being who is both a wizard and an adventurer is different.

Wizards tend to have personalities ill-suited for wandering outside, as if it’s their essence.

Yes. Skylar was thoroughly a wizard in this aspect as well.

Lack of survival skills, and nearly no knowledge about adventures and camping.

It hadn’t been long since he started his life as an adventurer, and given his circumstances, where he mentioned running low on money after losing his heart and fiddling with scrolls…

‘Is it finally time for me to step up?’

Though I hadn’t needed to use it until now, I definitely had the trait of [Traveler] among my chosen positive traits.

Knowledge about edible things, knowledge about camping, ways to know the surrounding geography.

Those memories, which were foreign but somehow familiar, were unfolding in my head like a dictionary.

“Skylar, let’s head into the forest.”

“…What?”

“We lack food and water.”

“That’s right. We’re out of food and water, and we should quickly go to the city before we starve…”

“No, can’t you see the obvious?”

“…I’m not so dumb as to need you to point that out.”

“Yeah, you are that dumb.”

“Yes. Well, let’s hear your opinion first.”

Skylar frowned slightly as he looked at me.

I beamed with confidence, hands on my waist, looking down at him.

He glared at me as though displeased about something, while I glared right back. Skylar soon darted his gaze away.

…Why?

Let’s put that question aside for later. Right now, food and water are more urgent.

Time to use my traveler trait.

“Where there’s a forest, there are also animals.”

“Yes.”

“If there are animals, there are plants they eat, and there must also be water sources.”

“So, if we go into the forest and track the animal footprints and traces, we should be able to find food and water within a day… is that what you mean?”

“Yup.”

“Uh, um, well, it’s true that there’s no better option than this right now. It would definitely be wise to grasp the forest’s scale to compare with the map and surrounding terrain.”

Skylar nodded, agreeing with my suggestion.

Well, since I’ve convinced him… should I ask a question now?

I was a bit curious as to why he avoided my gaze earlier.

“Why did you avoid my eyes?”

“…You’re really clumsy with handling magic.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a symptom of someone who just started to handle magic. Just like a baby has a high body temperature… Selina, your magic is constantly circulating through your body.”

“And?”

“Magic is swirling in your eyes too. Continuously.”

…Oh.

Only then did I realize what I had done.

I had been practically tempting him.

In a panic, I tried to sense the weak magic flowing from me and began to suppress it slowly.

Suddenly, I felt something that had been constantly flowing come to a stop.

“Is it done now?”

“…Yes. But your illusion has dropped from your eyes again.”

“If it keeps dropping this frequently, it’s almost useless.”

“If you hadn’t been circulating magic, it wouldn’t have fallen off so quickly?!”

“Ugh.”

“Anyway, once we find the city again, I’ll use the scrolls on my eyes again. For now, let’s leave it be.”

Awesome!

I’ve returned to my perfect self! Perfect resurrection!

…Why did I just think that? Am I crazy?

Maybe I need a bit of a break?

Is it some kind of mental illness?

Regardless, let’s head to the forest.

While searching for food and water, I need to cool my head. I’m starting to get worried about my own thoughts and impulses.

*

As we entered the forest, we couldn’t find any signs of wild animals.

It was a sizable forest, and given the cave we briefly used as a resting place, I thought we’d see at least a few.

My expectations were completely off.

Instead, we found just a few wild mushrooms and some grass.

Well… my trait was insisting that these foods were edible.

Skylar looked at me skeptically for quite a while, then used one of the few remaining scrolls to ‘identify’ them.

“No, you really don’t trust me at all?”

“Yes.”

“…Hey!”

“Anyway, they are edible. I thought at least one would be poisonous.”

As Skylar said that, he pulled out a brightly shimmering rainbow mushroom and held it up in front of me.

“Uh, right. I guess you could be suspicious.”

“Right? Honestly, when you said you could eat this mushroom, I thought you were insane. It looks like it could kill you no matter how you look at it!”

“Let’s eat later. There are plenty of other mushrooms and herbs around too.”

“No, having the thought that we can eat herbs is nice, but there are also some that are bad for the body, you know? I’m a wizard after all?”

“And so?”

“I at least have some basic knowledge of herbal medicine. You can only distinguish between what’s edible and inedible. How will we know if we eat it and it has some effect?!”

“We haven’t eaten it yet, so chill. Besides, even if we can eat just the mushrooms, we’ve gathered a sufficient amount for a meal.”

“…Let’s find water first.”

Skylar calmed down, finally settling his emotions.

There’s a strangely childlike quality about him.

Ah, I remembered.

‘I forgot to ask an important question…!’

I wanted to blame myself for remembering only now, but I’ll put the blame aside for later.

I didn’t think I’d get an answer by asking now anyway, and I didn’t particularly want to bring up something that could ruin this strange atmosphere.

‘When Skylar uses magic, it seemed like a grown-up version of him overlapped.’

Yeah. It was a good-looking… I mean, so good-looking that even a guy would say he’s handsome.

It popped up in my mind that this is what Skylar would look like once he matures.

After wandering around for quite a while, we ultimately failed to find usable water.

To put it more accurately… we gave up looking and started packing small things instead.

Dew stuck to leaves.

Rain from earlier.

Little puddles.

The quality wasn’t sufficient for drinking water, and the amount was far from enough to last for a long time, but we had no choice but to be satisfied with this.

Fortunately, Skylar had some purification-related scrolls… so we were able to transform it into water of a decent quality.

A small blessing in misfortune.

I carefully packed a little less than a cup. Among my basic gear was waterproof leather for storing water.

I have properly prepared the items necessary for our adventure.

Sitting down, we began a modest meal.

We lit a fire using the dry twigs we gathered around and skewered the edible mushrooms sequentially onto a thin, long stick.

Skylar’s scrolls still had a reserve, so they kept popping out.

Thanks to that, I didn’t even have to put in the effort to light the fire.

The mushrooms started sizzling nicely, and just when they seemed cooked enough to satisfy my growling stomach… as I opened my mouth wide to take a big bite.

Skylar suddenly broke the silence.

“First, wipe your mouth.”

“…Okay.”

I rubbed the edge of my cloak against my eyes before bringing it to my mouth. It felt somewhat chilly… And the sensation of snowflakes melting on my lips came over me.

Skylar looked at me with a somewhat pitiful expression before starting to speak.

“I figured out where this forest is. We should be able to reach the city by tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“…Do you have more to say?”

“I have some basic knowledge to share with you before we reach the city.”

I wanted to say, why not let me know that earlier — but honestly, it would be somewhat funny for me to nitpick as a learner like this.

So I just kept quiet and listened to his lengthy explanation.

My stomach continued to rumble.