[Name: Ed Rothstaylor]
Gender: MaleAge: 17School Year: 2ndSpecies: Human
Achievements: None
Vitality: 6Intelligence: 5Dexterity: 9Willpower: 8Luck: 6
Combat Skills Details ≫Magic Skills Details ≫Life Skills Details ≫Alchemy Skills Details ≫
It was my long-awaited weekend, a time when I could finally take care of the things I had delayed the whole school week.
First, I washed my sweat-soaked clothes from hunting all morning and hung them out to dry on a stone by the stream.
It had already been two weeks since that troublesome Joint Combat Practice class.
Getting tied up with the main characters of the story had aged me by about ten years. I also felt twice as tired, like I was walking on a tightrope, always anxious about adversely affecting the main story while living my daily life.
Thankfully, after the combat practice, there hadn't been any time when I got involved with the main characters. It had been a comfortable time for me.
Being able to solely focus on my studies and survival, my stamina rose by an additional point. However, my relatively high Dexterity stat had begun to gain experience more slowly toward the next point. From level 10 onwards, raising it by even a single point wouldn't be easy.
My Vitality stat wasn't that bad. Of course, it would look pathetic to Combat Department students who had overwhelming combat specs, but it was already at a level that could serve me well as an ordinary person.
After all, the reference point for a high-performance stat was 10. Whether it be one's proficiency level or basic stat, the gains would become extremely low once level 10 was reached. From then on, bone-crushing effort would be needed to raise them even slightly.
And considering how the end specs were around 20, there was still a long way to go.
But that was for extraordinary playable characters who went beyond the standards of an ordinary person. My current stats were already enough to live my life.
Besides, thanks to my efforts, my body had already gained some muscle.
Having taken my top off, I looked at my body's reflection in the water.
"As I thought, the Vitality stat has a real impact."
I had continuously been on a tight schedule for the past two months, pushing my human limitations. In order to keep up, my body had started to adapt.
Even if I couldn't become a macho man with thick, wild muscles, at least my body had started to form muscle on my stomach, shoulders, and forearms. This was a great achievement, as Ed's original body had been as skinny as an anchovy.
Since this body had no physical talent to begin with, I thought it was fair to say I had made quite a bit of progress.
However, my proficiency level for both my bow and my dagger was very low. My dagger was one of my most useful weapons, but it hadn't accumulated much proficiency. I had been at this for quite a long time now, but I still had a very long way to go.
"I should be training now so I can afford to be more comfortable later on… This isn't the time to be unnecessarily lazy."
I had some pretty significant results, but I shouldn't be satisfied with them alone. I began to stretch my limbs, then bent my back and twisted my torso. I needed to start moving to take care of the work I hadn't been able to do all week.
I was planning to make more firewood and cut some logs again. Then I planned to weave a net with my remaining time in the afternoon. I would gather all my remaining silk threads and layer them diagonally, then twist them into each section to make a complex net.
But why was I making a net? While it would be for fishing, I planned to use it more importantly for fish preservation.
I usually stored my meat in underground storage, but since I hadn't been preserving it for long, it spoiled quickly. Salting everything had also become a problem since the salt I could harvest from my rock salt was never enough.
The method I thought of was smoking it. I could smoke the surface with wood, which would slightly cook it, then dry it out. Doing this would extend the shelf life of my fish by a few days and allow me to invest more time in my studies and other activities around the camp.
But smoked fish was still not as efficient as meat when it came to shelf life. Also, it tended to alter the taste, which made it harder to cook.
This was why I thought of making a net. I would hang it on a branch by the stream to serve as a fish farm. If this worked out well, then I could even store my fish alive. I could have both freshness and the real taste of fish.
I decided to quickly get on with making more firewood, then check on my school uniform, which should be dry by then, and then start working on my net.
"Zzz… Zzz…"
I stretched my body some more, warming up with my top off. But as I arrived at my workbench, I found Lucy curled up at the base of the tree, sleeping.
I naturally picked her up and carried her on my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, then threw her inside the wooden shelter.
"Ooo, aghk!"
Lucy tossed and turned on top of the soft marten- and squirrel-leather-covered bed. She then quietly breathed through her lips and fell sound asleep.
It was Lucy's nap time. Just when I was about to forget about her, she would come into my camp and use my bed. I didn't even sigh anymore when I saw her.
"I'll go cut 50 pieces of firewood and then check on my school uniform. I should be done in an hour."
I spat on both my hands, grabbed my axe, and swung it down on my first piece of firewood of the day.
Clank!
"Waaahk…"
I heard a loud crash behind me, so I turned around and saw Lucy gently stroking her forehead as if she had jumped up and hit her head on the wooden support beam.
Lucy never woke up unless you pinched both her cheeks. But now she had suddenly jumped up on her own.
"What are you doing?"
"…something stinks!"
She then grabbed her witch hat and ran out of my camp like the wind.
I couldn't help but admire her lightning-like movements. In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared. All that was left was the aftermath of the wind magic she used to blow away my sweat.
"What's with her?"
But it didn't take long for me to realize the reason.
"Who's over there?"
Out from the grass came Belle Maya, a senior maid at Ophilis Hall, Sylvania's most prestigious dormitory.
I knew the detailed setup for the maids of Ophilis Hall.
Ophilis Hall was where all sorts of nobles and talented students lived. As the people who managed this dormitory, the Ophilis Hall maids all worked with the same skill and pride as royal maids. They were usually specialists in their field and had received special education for it since childhood.
But that was just part of their setup. I couldn't remember anything particularly memorable about them having a huge influence on the game's story.
They were just meant to emphasize how special Ophilis Hall was, but none of them had a significant impact on the main story.
In other words, the Belle Maya I had just encountered had no real recognition. If you were to look at her level of importance in the story, she was just a side character comparable to Ed Rothstaylor, a villain who was written for a few scenes and then discarded.
"I was thinking about walking deep into the forest for the first time in a while, but I didn't expect to meet the young master Ed here."
"Ah, yes. It's been a while."
"You don't have to speak formally to me."
Belle Maya was a very minor character in the story, but she would show up every so often and deliver a meaningful line.
She never actually did anything to solve the problem, but she would give the player the confidence that the problem would be solved. She was a necessary character who actually seemed kind of unnecessary.
Other than that, she was the only person Lucy, a magician who only did whatever she wanted, was scared of.
Whoever she was wouldn't really change, no matter how much meaning was put into it.
She was just a member of the 'Side Character Club' like Ed Rothstaylor.
"I'll just speak formally."
"I'm more uncomfortable with you speaking so formally."
"Either way, I am no longer a noble."
"But you are still a student at Sylvania."
Her neat black short hair and modest behavior explained how she became a senior maid at Ophilis Hall, a place full of professionals.
Even though she had come this deep into the forest, her elegant maid uniform didn't have a single wrinkle, despite her being unable to use beginner-level magic.
"If I'm speaking honestly, I am quite surprised."
She didn't look the slightest bit sincere despite saying such words.
"Your tone of voice has changed quite a bit, and you now have such a strong physique."
Only then did I realize that I was half-naked. I rarely get embarrassed, but seeing her unchanged, poised expression was rather embarrassing.
"I think it's quite a wonderful change. I am happy."
"Oh, yes…"
"You can speak casually."
"But I don't want to."
"..."
I couldn't tell because of her expressionless face, but I may have poked at her strange pride just then.
"You have to."
"But I don't want to."
"When you lived in Ophilis Hall, you did so."
"That was then, when I used to live in Ophilis Hall."
All of the Ophilis Hall maids had a strange stubbornness that was hard to understand.
I saw that Belle was holding a big basket in one hand. Glancing at its contents, it seemed like it was filled with all kinds of mushrooms, wild vegetables, and fruits.
Meals at Ophilis Hall mostly used high-quality ingredients delivered from various stores. But when fresh ingredients were essential, there would be times when the maids obtained them locally.
The students didn't have to do anything; all they needed to do was sit still and open their mouths.
"I knew that you still attended the academy. I help the young lady Janica with her morning preparations, and she always talks about you, young master Ed."
"Is that so?"
"But I had no idea that you were living like this. When you left Ophilis Hall, your face looked like it was the end of the world. I thought you would end up leaving the academy."
How strange for maids like her to feel uncomfortable when someone talked to them with respect. Just what kind of education did they receive to have this kind of mindset?
But what caught my eye was the basket she was holding.
It was full of all sorts of mushrooms, wild vegetables, and fruits.
I felt limited by the knowledge I was getting from books when it came to edible plant life. Since the contents of that basket should all be edible, if I could just get one, then the types of plants I could collect would increase dramatically.
I never touched mushrooms and fruits in particular because there were quite a few toxic varieties if not handled properly. I couldn't help but drool at the opportunity to open my door to more options.
Belle Maya might appear quite cold, but she was actually quite nice. She would willingly help if I were to ask.
Just as I mentioned, she was just a side character with little influence on the story. Nothing big would change or happen if we interacted or became closer.
In fact, there might be more benefits than harm. If we became a bit closer, then wouldn't I be able to ask for ingredients, fabrics, and other various work tools left around Ophilis Hall?
At this point, wouldn't it be more foolish to push her away coldly?
The faces of the Ophilis Hall maids were rarely even shown throughout the entire game. That's right! It shouldn't matter if we became close.
After I came to that conclusion, I adjusted my voice and spoke to Belle Maya in a welcoming tone, with a comfortable smile.
"Coming all the way deep into the forest to procure such ingredients—you've been through a lot. But as for that basket…"
That's right, it should be fine if we become friends!
And that was a choice I would regret making until the end of the story.