There are multiple kinds of idiots—one like me without any knowledge and full of recklessness heading straight to the path of my own demise without any sliver of optimism, quite the contrast right?
And the other kind of idiot is this sociopath who thinks training means dragging out your friend in the wilderness, expecting them to sleep in it all without any gear nor plan made in advance.
Much to my horror, as much as we wanted to leave the forest—the path Ysinia took, god bless her sense of direction I keep forgetting it's horrible, wasn't anywhere and something she couldn't remember at all.
Leaving us no choice but to sleep right there and then. Was it a pleasant experience at all? Hardly when my stomach was grumbling all night, normal result especially when you barely ate anything that day.
Was waking up in the morning any better? It was great!
At least great for the likes of Ysinia, the aforementioned idiot who just finished gnawing on her last pastry.
She's the first one to wake up and from the way she looks, she still remains clean and beautiful—at least in the perspective of young men.
But I can hardly be interested in the devil hiding in the guise of a young woman.
I couldn't recall how far we are from the academy but judging by the towering trees around us and the eerie silence, it's not far from the fact that we already got lost. Much thanks to this devil.
Albeit the silence is a bit odd, we should've seen at least small animals to hunt and cook by now but all I see were broken sticks everywhere and multiple trails of hooves going in different directions.
Although I did catch a glimpse of a shadow and heard a snap of a branch but seeing that Ysinia didn't even flinch or alert me, it's definitely just my hallucination because of my hunger.
A predator that's weak in Ysinia's terms? Definitely not. Even the strongest of predators wouldn't be that stupid enough to roam around here.
Although if there's any, I doubt it's something that could go toe to toe against the powerhouse accompanying me.
"Ysinia."
I called as she glanced over me with her half-lidded eyes. Don't tell me she's hungry already, she just ate something just a few seconds ago!
"You... saw anything on your side. Something we can probably cook?"
She shook her head, making me sigh, looks like the best choice is to find the nearest river so we could drink some water and hunt fishes.
My stomach is grumbling too, I don't think I have that much energy to even scold her about saving her food.
I just made her hold the end of my sleeves as we made our way northeast. Why? Just pure instinct.
Just kidding, I saw small footprints of animals going there and it seems that the terrain around here has a slope. A higher chance of finding it.
Not to mention the trees are getting denser making me think that we're on the right track.
But one problem—
THUD!
Looking at my back, Ysinia had fallen flat on the ground as I immediately rushed to crouch beside her and cradle her in my arms.
Her eyes are almost closing while she groans from hunger.
I started lightly slapping her left cheek to keep her awake somehow.
"Hey, hey, we're almost there."
She groaned something incomprehensible—probably her last words. I only caught 'sweet buns' before she went limp.
"Goddamnit..."
If the situation couldn't get any worse, well, she looked fine but the problem is—there's no way I'm fending off predators with my measly magic.
I did have experience dealing with some animals during the time I served but that's when I'm not even hungry.
Not to mention if someone saw us right now, they'd think I was the one assaulting a noble's daughter in the middle of a forest.
God this pile of problems just kept growing on me.
Cursing Ysinia's sense of direction, I adjusted her weight and slung her over my back. Thankfully she wasn't heavy despite the sugary sweets she devours from time to time.
Does she really have a void for a stomach?
"Next time we train, I'll pick the damn place myself."
All the response I got was just a soft snore, at least an insult would've been better.
I trudged forward with a steel resolve, following the slope and praying to god that it wasn't just my imagination and desperation from hunger.
For what seemed like a long while, all I heard were the annoying crunch of dead leaves and the cracks of broken stick under my feet.
Each one instilling a bit of paranoia in me especially for some reason I couldn't help but feel on edge.
This forest was too quiet. No chirping of birds. No rustling. Just the wind brushing against the trees like it didn't want to be here either.
Something's uncanny but nothing had come for me and Ysinia yet especially when we're at our most vulnerable. So I highly doubt it.
But then I heard it.
A flicker of hope in this seemingly eternal walk of doom when I thought I was gonna die for good.
The sound of river flow. Picking up my pace while holding Ysinia tightly, I nearly slipped over wet moss before I saw the clear flowing water.
I didn't know if it's out of exaggeration but the water looked like something sparkling in my eyes but I could care less.
Lowering the unconscious Ysinia onto the dry patch of grass carefully who slept like a princess during our way here.
"Just hang on there for a bit, I'll get us some food."
While still feeling the sudden adrenaline on my veins after seeing this river, I stripped off my sleeves and waded towards the clear body of water, no net nor magic, just with my bare hands fueled by the desperation to survive.
"Don't underestimate me, world! I've done this shit multiple times more than I can count."
I roared out of excitement.
After four failed divings and nearly drowning once, I managed to yank out a particularly dumb fish—thankfully enough it's huge enough that it can feed us both, hopefully.
Tossing it over the ground, I began to contemplate whether to catch another one considering Ysinia's bottomless stomach, I decided to catch two more just for safety measure.
Strangely enough, it took me like an hour to catch the two—rivers like this would've given me at least three or more by now.
Either way, I couldn't be really that greedy or picky.
And now with three fishes flopping behind me and a half-dead girl sleeping like a noble, I was now faced with the brutal reality of my situation.
I don't have a way too cook those fishes and my stomach is already grumbling especially after I used my adrenaline. I can feel the exhaustion taking a toll on my body already.
No magic or flints around to use.
"Damn, think Clovis think. You did something in the military for a reason."
I mumbled, dragging my hands down my face looking around for any answers. And then probably the most obvious answer came to me, my brain juice is definitely depleting due to hunger.
I paced around a little, picking up the twigs and dry barks and breaking off what I could from the lower branches to bring nearby.
After stacking a pile enough to somewhat assure me it'll work—I stared at it.
"May god bless me, his strongest soldier with patience."
I tried.
Ten minutes later, I was rubbing my trembling palms cursing under my breath before finally seeing success as I saw a faint smoke coming from the wood.
I stared at it as I finally felt relief, a weight lifted off my shoulders.
My hands were shaking from the sheer effort, or maybe from hunger. Or the fact that my last functioning brain cell was at the verge of giving up.
Even though it was weak, the fire was still going and I carefully placed it over the pile.
I cleaned the three fishes by the water with a jagged stone but not without making sure they're completely dead first. I couldn't take any nore chances this time.
Skewering those fishes over the flame using whatever stick that I could find that's just strong and straight enough—I walked around for a bit more to pick up more piles of sticks to burn.
After a while, the skin started to sizzle. The smell hit me like a boulder almost making me cry, it wasn't a pleasing smell but it is food regardless.
"Take that you damn... fucking world."
Sitting down cross-legged, I muttered under my breath feeling unstoppable as I thought I conquered the forest itself.
A heard an incomprehensible groan beside me, oh right. I nearly forgot.
Little miss devil in guise of an angel is still here, I went over her and carefully cradled her once more attempting to wake her up with the smell of food.
She winced instead.
"Hey, we can't he picky eaters now, can we?"
I groaned before she weakly nodded. It nearly felt like I was her father already.
Ysinia leaned against my shoulder, nibbling at the half-cooked fish like a starving squirrel. Still too weak to speak much, but she was alive. That was enough for now.
I wanted to get a good sleep even if it's just afternoon. Leaning back on my elbows before looking up the sky, I haven't noticed that it's already afternoon—much thanks to that, it helped with the fire.
Letting out a sigh, I began to wonder if my decision of going to this river was a mistake instead of finding ways to go back.
For the first time in this place, I wasn't screaming or groaning in pain.
But peace doesn't last long in my life, there's always something bad that comes after, I should've learnt that already by now.
Sensing something, my instincts yelled at me prompting me to get the two used sticks with the sharper ends.
I was immediately on guard surprising the still weakened Ysinia.
The sudden spike danger wasn't from her. There are obvious red flags earlier, I should've noticed it a while back.
I was a fucking idiot.
Instinctively, I stepped in front of Ysinia the moment I heard rustling from the trees across the river. I wasn't just any medium-sized animal, it looked massive.
It doesn't help that I could see its crimson blood eyes while it's body was hidden behind the trees.
A low growl rolled over the clearing making me gulp. That growl was too familiar for me.
And as it stepped out of the trees, its hulking body towered over Ysinia and I, covering us in shade.
"... How on earth?"