Calmness

Walking away from the death scene, Shina takes a look around the camp, despite the confrontation and huge fight that broke out. Nothing seems to be damaged within the camp itself.

The landscape however, could be called a battlefield; footprints from hazlos lay around their perimeter and the dislodged dirt from the pounded spear leaves scars that will remind them of what occurred here.

She goes towards the guy's tent, seeing Howi standing outside resting against the tent; it yields to his body, allowing him to hang slightly while leaning back.

“They stopped the bleeding, at least for now,” his casual tone returned; the contrast of how he could switch from the most serious person to just a laid-back freeloader was shocking.

Entering the tent, her eyes scan downwards towards Toki’s side, seeing bandages wrapped around him; the school uniform was thrown to the side of the tent, mixed with a red tint around it. The wound must have been deep.

Ayuri gives a wide smile. “He’s going to be fine! Don’t worry, it might take a couple of days for him to be back at full capacity.”

Her gentle bearing quickly turned off. “I wasn’t worried; having only three members to fight is unideal.”

“You're right, the sun is setting in a couple of hours, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue since I doubt we're going to get attacked.” Ayuri turns her gaze back to Toki, lying down, worry still etched within her. Seeing a close person to her being this hurt doesn’t stir good emotions.

Shina, taking in the unfolding scene, figures out an idea: “Let’s summon the goddess and ask for anything that could help us in this situation, where we can find either medical herbs or food sources, as we haven’t had anything to eat for hours.”

Ayuri nods before standing up. Taking one final look, she leaves with Shina outside the tent, where Howi still leans over. “We’re summoning—”

“I heard; I have the guidebook ready.” Howi takes out the guidebook from his pocket, expecting this moment to come. He opens the summoning page, taking in the information.

While reading the page, he goes over to the logs that surround the campfire, and he roughly pushes them to form a triangular shape with the campfire itself in the middle.

“Now we have to light it, and I have to say a couple of words.” With a sigh, gleaming his disappointed mood towards all the work that goes towards the campfire supplies, he finds a bunch of matchsticks and lighting material to instantly start a fire.

Ayuri protests, “We shouldn’t waste such precious materials, especially this early. Let’s go out and find some natural burning materials.”

“We can’t do that; we don’t know anything about this area. That's why we're summoning her in the first place, after all. So we could find those supplies anytime, anywhere.”

Without speaking much further, he throws the lighting material into the centre of the campfire, its grey, rough surface yet softness hitting the wood. He pulls out a matchstick, lighting it by the side of the box that came with it, setting it ablaze.

He doesn’t wait further and throws it in the campfire, which causes the flames to shoot upwards, causing smoke to gush out. Looking down at the guidebook, he starts chanting.

“Goddess, we, your representatives, seek your guidance at this moment. Please give us your knowledge. Give us your strength!” The chant finishes, and silence follows as the campfire flame turns black. The smoke darkened, and an ominous aura erupted.

From the darkened smoke, a black peasant dress flutters wildly in the air, hair cascading down her back as ut blew with the wind. The hollow eyes stared down upon her summoners, and a little smile complemented her pale complexion.

The sound of black heels thudding through the air, like air itself was a staircase for her, she floats down despite not having her wings out this time towards the grass, which seemed to part away just for her entrance. The air felt cold, freezing, rather, to the three summoners.

Her mature voice instantly grabbed their attention. “What a fight you all put on. I'm impressed even if you let one of them slip away.”

The three of them bow in front of her, trying not to cause any disrespect, but also slightly worried after she mentions pursuit. Hiwo speaks up, knowing not to waste time; both the goddess and they needed to be done as fast as possible to attend to important matters.

“We would wish for you to give us information about all the nature, food sources and possibilities we could find in this world,” he had a firm voice, stating clearly what he wanted.

In that moment, the goddess instantly reacts with shock, her voice shifting and changing to one of surprise, “Is that really it?! All you're asking for is basically a map.”

She starts going off on a tangent.

“I'm one of the most powerful goddesses ever! I can do so much more!” Her reactions sent the group into a panicked state; they had no idea what to do in this situation at all.

Before letting out a final sigh, the goddess lets their decision be final.

“Take this,” she manifests map and then throws them towards the three of them and a spare copy for Toki for later.

Skimming through the maps, it was filled with images of various food sources, herbs and advice on how to obtain and use each one in various ways on the other side.

The goddess takes in their eyes; all seem to shimmer with hope and thankfulness. “Summon me tomorrow as well if you need anything; having you all die so early would be a waste of my time.”

Despite the condescending tone of the goddess, none of them took any offence; they knew, in fact, they were just mere mortals in her eyes for the games. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for them. Shina even takes pride in it, turning her gaze upwards.

“Thank you, goddess.” Her voice was back to above a whisper, but it was sincere.

With a flick of her hand, the goddess made herself vanish, dousing the fire in an instant, causing the area to darken. Her presence was gone.

“Our beloved goddess is always so nice,” her admiration beaming.

Hiwo steps towards his tent, leaning into it, “I will head out tomorrow. Can’t be bothered today.”

Before Ayuri can protest, Shina grabs her shoulder and shakes her head slightly. Their bodies were exhausted beyond functioning levels, especially with the lack of food they had eaten. Getting rest was better than going out into the wild.

Both tents close up, blocking out the feebleness of the light trying to enter their tents. Hiwo lies down at his side of the tent.

“Are you doing alright?”

Toki turns towards him, “Can’t you tell me I'm healing well?”

“I mean, mentally and emotionally. You aren’t the type to take death so easily.” He had a hint of concern; it wasn't easy to go from a normal student to a fighting warrior within a day.

Toki looks back up at the tent's ceiling. “I haven’t killed anyone yet, so I'm fine, but I still refuse to kill anyone who is defenceless and half dead.”

Hiwo’s mouth lifts itself. “Just keep doing what you're doing then; let Shina do the rest.”

“We did pretty well. She got more powerful, but it isn’t a concern of ours yet; we're lucky Ayuri can cancel out the absorption.”

Hiwo nods in agreement.

“That's the scariest part about Shina; her ice queen demeanour is intimidating,” Toki reminisces about the encounter with the goddess before coming here.

He smiled one more time.

“She's still human; however, anytime the goddess speaks, you can see that light within her.” Toki then turns to his side, facing the wall.

“You're right.” Hiwo lies down at his side.

“Last thing, Hiwo, would you kill us if you found out that you had to survive?”

Hiwo deeply considers the question. “I don’t think I could, but if I had to, I think I would naturally, due to my fear of dying, but I wish to say no because I do really care about this group.”

It was a good reply, one filled with both the harsh reality of instinct, coupled with care, and left with a wish not to kill one another.

He's right, we hadn't really spoken to each other before we got transferred to this world, but I am growing to like them, even Shina, despite her hatred towards me. I wouldn't wish for her to die for my sake. I should just continue doing my best to support everyone.

A small flicker of a smile appears on his face as he tries to close their eyes, attempting to go to sleep.