“Looks like we’re going to have to stick it out here, just us students, until they come to help us.”
Saying this, I looked around. Most of the students were sitting around with fatigue in their eyes.
“Apart from some of the high-achieving students like Nor and Danita, most of the other students look totally exhausted.”
“Yes, it appears so.”
Unlike Leonie and I, who had gotten here at our own leisurely pace, most of the others had pushed to arrive as fast as possible. I bet many of them had stepped into traps or needed to fight monsters along their way. But since they’d believed everything would be fine as long as they could cross the finish line, they were in dire straits now. Plus, we had all only been given enough food and water to get us through the scheduled exam period.
“What should we do, Leonie?”
“Huh?”
I asked Leonie what she thought our next step should be.
“Just guessing here, but if we leave everyone like this, people’s lives could be threatened. But with your powers, I think we can save them.”
Leonie had her convenience magic. If she wanted to, she could use it to extend the time we could feasibly survive here by leaps and bounds.
But that was if she was willing to use it.
“Obviously, I plan to do all I can to help. This is an emergency situation; we should work together to overcome this hardship,” Leonie answered without hesitation, as if it went without saying.
“You plan to help them, even after they bullied you?”
The other students had started ganging up on her after learning she had some shortcomings despite being the Almighty Hero’s daughter. There was no reason she had to help them.
But—
“That doesn’t matter. They’re my classmates. And this type of situation is exactly what we did all that research on convenience magic for.”
Leonie’s gaze was unwavering.
—So this is the kind of person Leonie is.
Yep.
And because that’s how she was—
“That’s why I love you so much, Leonie.”
“Stop it with your nonsense and help me, please. First, let’s secure our drinking water.”
After that, we began working at full speed. With Nor helping us, we prepared all the urgent supplies we would need to live here. For example, Leonie had that magical device that would change sewage into drinking water. Originally, she had brought it for our personal use, but she had found a way to disassemble and reconfigure it to allow a larger number of people to utilize it.
But that wasn’t all. We were able to set up a cooking space that used fire magic and a first aid station where students who weren’t feeling well could rest, and we assigned several students to be in charge of the various stations. The other students were deeply impressed by Leonie’s skill and leadership after only knowing her as a student who was failing in her practical training. Now they had really gotten a taste of her true abilities.
“I think that’s about it…”
“Great job, Leonie. Let’s take a break.”
Having briefly left her side, I walked back up to her and handed over something small and red.
“Wild strawberries?”
“Yup. There were a bunch of them growing out in the mountains. I gathered some other edible plants, too.”
“Thank you, Ruchika. That’s very helpful of you.”
Leonie popped one of the wild strawberries into her mouth. I always thought eating something sweet was a good way to refresh myself.
“How long do you think we can last out here?”
“As long as everything goes smoothly, maybe five days. I’m not so sure about any longer than that.”
“When you think about the distance between here and the capital, we’ll just barely fall short…”
I had gotten some information about the island’s location in the kingdom before coming here. If it took two days for someone at the school to notice something was off, then three days by horse to the nearest port, and two more days to get here by ship, we could estimate it would take about a week for our teachers to get here.
“There are already some people in bad shape due to their fatigue and the stress of the unfamiliar environment. For their sakes, I hope a rescue team will come as quickly as possible…”
Leonie’s face was downcast.
“Don’t overburden yourself with all this, Leonie. Your abilities are amazing, but you’re just a kid.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Hmm…I bet if I phrase it this way, it’ll get through to you. Right now, you’re our lifeline. So if anything happens to you, we’re all back to square one. You have an obligation to take care of yourself.”
“…You’re right. I’ll be careful.”
She said this with a serious look on her face, and then her expression softened.
“You’re getting pretty good at dealing with me, Ruchika.”
With that, she put on a playful smile.
Afterward, the two of us kept on working hard. Using convenience magic and the island’s natural resources to the best of our abilities, we worked on making sure all the students would be able to get back to safety.
It was during the fourth day of our group campout when the trouble started.
—Ruchika. Wake up.
……?
I was in the middle of a catnap when Proto’s voice woke me up.
“Well, what’ve you got to say about this?!”
“Aaah… What’s going on…?”
As I yawned, I heard some kind of commotion outside our tent. I woke up Leonie, who was sleeping next to me; let her know something strange was going on, and quickly started getting ready to get up for the day.
“I-it wasn’t me!”
“Then why are Danita’s rations gone, huh?!”
“I—I don’t know… Maybe some wild animal took them…?”
“Huh?! Don’t play dumb with me!”
The commotion was happening around the food pantry.
—That sounds like trouble.
It’s one of Danita’s gang. I wonder what happened?
The pantry was a space where we kept all the foodstuffs we had gathered from the mountains; it was maintained at a low temperature thanks to one of Leonie’s devices. And the person in charge of this station was Nor.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, Ruchika, Leonie! Help…!”
“What happened?”
“This girl thinks she can get away with pocketing Danita’s food rations!”
“……”