Summoned and Unwanted

The morning of the next day arrived. Vincent left to train as he didn’t want to hear the complaints of Melissa and her team. They weren’t satisfied with sleeping on a sofa, and Vincent didn’t want to continue repeating his threats of kicking them outside.

Lilith followed Vincent because she felt intimidated and anxious to remain near Melissa’s four teammates. The four of them didn’t act with kindness.

As if Melissa was keeping them on a leash from acting with hostility, they frowned at Lilith simply for the reason that she was Vincent’s woman when she wasn’t near them to witness the slightly hostile behavior.

Other than the complaints and their irritable behavior, nothing terrible happened on this day.

On the other hand, the first visitor to arrive decided to temporarily leave and possibly bring his teammates to sleep outside if they apologized for leaving him alone.

Vincent joked that it would be a great idea. It was a great way to stop Melissa and her team from complaining about the hospitality they were given.

Nick was also bothered by Melissa’s team and the gazes, so he walked with Elias and later left after walking some distance from the cabin.

Nick wanted to accompany Elias for a while and have some alone time. Be it tracking a boar or swinging his blade on branches. Nick did anything to pass the time.

.....

Clair had it the worst. Vincent told her how he wouldn’t summon the food cooked by personal chefs since he does not trust Melissa’s team. He will only summon the boar they prepared yesterday.

Clair has become the chef for ten people now. However, to her surprise, Melissa helped Clair when preparing ingredients.

The other four of Melissa’s teammates were too proud to help. They gave multiple excuses not to do cooking as, in their eyes, it was the servant’s job to cook.

*Crack* In the evening, Lilith sat on the grass and leaned her back on the same tree Vincent was using for training. She was reading the medical book when she heard a faint sound of wood breaking.

Lilith, “Vincent. Was that you? Did you do something to the tree?”

Vincent, “Yes.”

Lilith, “But you didn’t punch this tree once today. How can it make that sound?”

[You did it, Vincent! You managed to use some of the mana you rejected in one place. I think this might be Force Shock, but it is so weak that I can’t compare it with Ollie’s low-powered Force Shock.]

[If Ollie’s Force Shock is like a burp, your’s is less than a faint breath.]

-...-

Vincent stopped touching the tree and sat beside Lilith. “I think I managed to use Force Shock, somewhat. But now I feel tired.”He said while summoning a cup of water. “If I didn’t see Ollie become exhausted after forcing himself, I might have become greedy and tried to do more.”

“That is new, hehe.” Lilith giggled. “Normally, you keep on going until becoming exhausted or, as Ester told me, faint.”

“How will I be able to protect you from Melissa’s cronies if I faint? Even though Melissa acts arrogantly, Kazumi kept a close eye on them last night.” Vincent placed his arm on Lilith’s shoulder and continued, “Melissa isn’t a problem, but her four cronies are. Kazumi overheard Melissa telling them not to make a fuss, but later, the cronies woke up in the night and searched for food.”

“Haha. They complained in a hushed voice when they couldn’t find a lick of food to steal.” Vincent smiled at first, but a frown soon appeared. “I hope they didn’t want to add something to the food, though. I might have to slap someone if so.”

[I think it would’ve been funny to feed them the food they tempered with. Some people need to taste their own medicine.]

-I don’t want to waste food if possible.-

The time Vincent spent in Aero Forest made him appreciate food. He didn’t want to think of such a horrible thing happening to the food. Not after he is giving them a place to stay.

Lilith leaned her head on his lap and looked at Vincent. She smiled and closed her eyes. The time together in the serene forest alleviated all the stress Lilith had. She might have fallen asleep if it wasn’t for her belly grumbling half an hour later.

*Day 117 – 3 October – Saturday*

A new day dawned, and Melissa requested Jun Ye Rim to go with them to help them track a boar. As points decided the top place out of the twenty teams, Melissa not only spent a day without hunting any wildlife, but Vincent had stolen the wild boar from them.

Vincent didn’t like the idea. This was a recipe for disaster in his eyes.

Melissa could be somewhat trusted because her family is friends with the Lionheart family. However, the other four teammates didn’t look too trustworthy to leave Jun Ye Rim with them. Not to mention with her unique personality and a broken arm.

Regardless of his thoughts, Jun Ye Rim accepted for some reason. She weirdly glanced at Vincent and left with Melissa and her team.

‘Did she want me to tell her to stay? I will go look for them if they don’t return by noon.’ Vincent pondered after seeing Jun Ye Rim’s expression.

*Melissa’s Team*

“At least an exiled elf can be useful to us.” One of the teens said.

“Those eyes are so scary it gives me the chills. Can you even see from them?” Another teen rudely asked.

“Don’t forget the old people’s hair, hehe.” The third continued mocking.

“Ahem. We need to let Jun Ye Rim concentrate, or we will not be able to find a boar.” Melissa interrupted.

“Yeah, ~girl~ we all know how you like to concentrate.” The fourth teen said.

“Concentrate? You mean my good meditation form?” Melissa smiled before asking the question. As if Melissa was confident she was being praised.

*Grumble* “Sorry, it is my stomach. I saved breakfast from having something to eat. How about I share it with everyone?” The fourth teen offered food.

As the breakfast wasn’t abundant, taking another bite of food was enticing. Only Jun Ye Rim didn’t want any. However, after being kindly offered a couple of times, the loner elf succumbed to peer pressure and joined them for a light snack.

Later, the fourth teen shouted while pointing to her side, “I saw the silhouette of a boar over there! Let’s hurry to catch it before someone like Vincent Lionheart steals our prey!”

*Sigh* Jun Ye Rim sighed and ran after the speeding five teens.

*Pocket Cabin*

“It is noon now. Lilith, could you go and tell the others that I will look for Melissa’s team and Jun Ye Rim. If I don’t find them by the time, it gets dark. I will return to see if they returned.” Vincent told Lilith, who was sitting beside the tree he trained with.

Just as Lilith got up, she noticed Vincent frowning suddenly. She turned her head and saw one of Melissa’s teammates running and waving. She later shouted for help. The teen was the same one who offered food for a light snack.

Nick was training not too far away from them. He approached and listened to what had happened.

“We found a wild boar.” *Huff* “But it ran away when we started casting spells. Melissa wanted to hunt the wild boar before it was stolen again.” *Huff* “We lost Melissa after she told us to separate and surround the boar to remove its escape routes.” *Huff* “But that’s when I lost track of everyone after we all went our separate ways.”

The teen spoke while breathing heavily. She looked exhausted, as if she ran as fast as she could to ask for help.

[Vincent. Let’s go. We can leave Jun Ye Rim and Melissa without shelter tonight.]

Vincent felt this was a little bit strange. ‘How could some get lost?’ He thought. But finding Kazumi was going to be a cake with her around.

“I will help too.” Nick offered.

“No. You stay here and protect the area. I don’t want to find my cabin taken by someone and the girls hurt.” Vincent declined Nick’s offer of assistance in a heartbeat.

Nick understood what Vincent meant. He nodded and responded, “Leave the cabin and our teammates to me.”

Vincent left alone while Melissa’s teammate went inside to rest.

Vincent ran while Kazumi searched from above. Their teamwork was efficient, but no matter how much ground they covered, and how much they walked in the direction Melissa’s teammate pointed, no one could be found.

-Kazumi. Be honest with me. Doesn’t this feel strange to you?-

[Yes. Something happened to Jun Ye Rim, and they are trying to cover what happened for sure.]

-If you knew from the start, then why didn’t to suggest interrogating her?-

[Interogate her? When someone is hiding something, lies exit their mouths. Like this situation, for example. We will find nothing on this path.]

Vincent stopped running. He used Overheat and sight and puff of green steam.

“Let’s cover more ground. ” Vincent said before he faced a different direction and bolted on the new path.

Vincent sprinted as fast as he could. After mostly using Overheat to train Overflow, even he was surprised with the swift movement speed.

Kazumi found Jun Ye Rim, and three of Melissa’s teammates on the ground five minutes later. However, Melissa wasn’t with them. This made both Vincent and Kazumi wonder why the person who should watch over them didn’t appear.