“I’m really embarrassed about this, ugh. I’m also at fault for not thinking to just take out the treasure note and hide it inside my clothes, so I won’t scold you further… But I can’t just let this slide after recognizing the problem. Even if I ban storing only the treasure notes outside the capsules, with this method of stealing, there’s a risk of accidents like the one Pret mentioned happening everywhere, so I’ll have to overhaul the rules themselves…”
As he said this, Bjorn swept his gaze over us as if looking at a group of delinquents who might cause trouble at any moment.
It felt like we had lost a certain kind of trust that should never be lost.
Feeling both embarrassed and solemn at the same time, I was dropping my head lower and lower when—
A remark that forced me to snap my head up rang out.
“Since I need time to think, I’ll tell you before you finish eating and resume training. For now, those who need to receive punishment, come forward and get your headbands.”
“R-Right now?! I thought the punishment was supposed to happen during afternoon training…”
“Didn’t noon just pass? So that means it’s afternoon now.”
“But, isn’t this lunchtime?”
“Hmm? Isn’t the lecture schedule from 8 AM to 6 PM written as all lecture time?”
“O…”
That was precisely true.
This was also the reason Bjorn could, at his discretion, decide the menu of meals to provide us.
To overlook such an obvious fact.
‘Since the mountain is quite large, I was planning to hide and sneak around for four hours to avoid others’ eyes…
I never expected he’d include lunchtime in the punishment period.
What made it worse was—
Given the contents written on the treasure notes, there was a very high chance we’d be cooking together for today’s lunch.
If we had to cook together, situations where we’d inevitably have to call out to each other would arise.
‘On top of everything, there are people who’d intentionally call me even when there’s no need to…’
My head was already spinning.
But my misfortune didn’t end there.
“Why are you giving this to me..?”
Normally, ‘Handsome’ is attached to men, and ‘Pretty’ to women.
But Bjorn shattered these prejudices.
He handed the ‘★Handsome★’ headband to Hailga, a woman, and the ‘☆Pretty☆’ headband to me, a man.
The reason was as follows.
“I can’t help it, right? For someone nicknamed ‘Fire Fist,’ the title ‘Handsome’ suits them much better than ‘Pretty.'”
“What kind of…”
“Do you perhaps have a cool nickname too? Then tell me. If it’s cooler and stronger than ‘Fire Fist,’ I’ll exchange it for Hailga’s.”
The moment I heard these words—
The first word that came to mind was an otaku term with the initial consonant ‘ㅊㄷㄹ.’
This fact made me extremely embarrassed, but at the same time, it stirred a strange feeling.
‘I wasn’t actually called by that word all that often…’
Before I was possessed into this novel’s world, during ‘my’ school days.
The nicknames attached to me were truly numerous.
Including the narrator me, this might trigger someone’s trauma who’s reading this, so I won’t mention specific words.
Related to family circumstances, eye color, or intended to insult my character.
All sorts of negative slurs used to replace my name.
Whether by frequency or duration, none of them were called less than ‘tsundere.’
But.
‘And yet, this is…’
Whether it was because being called by malicious, demeaning titles was a long time ago, so time’s power had taken effect,
Or because someone teased me relentlessly, human effort brought about this result.
Or maybe both had an influence—I don’t know.
‘Anyway, none of those are words I can say now.’
Compared to the words that referred to my past self,
‘Tsundere’ is at a level that could be considered a term of endearment, and it’s not a word intended to insult me.
Still, being called that brings embarrassment and shyness.
And above all, it doesn’t provide even a speck of the feeling of being cool.
“Hailga. Do you like that headband?”
Instead of suggesting a nickname to Bjorn,
I decided to check if Hailga, who received the ‘★Handsome★’ headband, was willing to exchange…
“Of course I don’t like it!”
“Then..!”
“But since being called Handsome is less embarrassing than being called Pretty, I have no intention of swapping.”
As if telling me not to even expect a concession,
Hailga immediately put on the one that said ‘★Handsome★’ and said in a tone that seemed to drive the final nail in the coffin:
“Give it up, Pretty Tsundere Young Lord.”
“D-Don’t call me by all of them combined..!!”
I didn’t even break even; I only ended up with a loss.
“Tsundere? Is that Karbaldr’s nickname? But what does tsundere mean?”
It seemed ‘tsundere’ was classified as a trendy new word used by kids these days in this world.
The middle-aged mercenary professor expressed his confusion, and the protagonist of another novel, embarrassing wherever he goes, eagerly explained the meaning of the word.
And upon hearing this, Bjorn…
“If that’s what it means, maybe I should have given this headband to Karbaldr instead?”
He muttered this, taking out a headband that said ‘Cute’ from his inventory.
Then he looked at me, and his eyes showed he was contemplating whether to switch and provide it now.
I had to quickly put on the ‘☆Pretty☆’ headband to secure it.
Because being called ‘Pretty’ would be somewhat less embarrassing than being called ‘Cute.’
“Now that the owners of the headbands are decided, let’s move on. You’ve all likely checked the identity of the ‘treasure,’ so you probably caught on that we’ll be making lunch ourselves today.”
“Professor, may I ask a question?”
The one who raised their hand and spoke was the person who ranked first in our year last year.
“Professor, in the last lecture, you taught us to always keep preserved food in our inventory. So why are you suddenly making us cook?”
“Good question. Indeed, Handsome.”
“……”
In an instant, Hailga’s face colored with regret, as if thinking, ‘Maybe I should have just stayed quiet?’
But even seeing that, Bjorn showed no sign of teasing and opened his mouth in a serious manner to continue his answer.
“There are three main reasons. The first is to prepare for cases where food spoils because you failed to check the preservation period properly. This is something that can be sufficiently prevented if you keep your wits about you.”
In truth, this was merely a nominal reason tacked on.
To convey the advice not to be complacent just because food can be preserved for a long time, and to periodically check the food’s condition.
“The second reason is that there are plenty of situations where food might run short—like when the demon realm conquest period extends longer than expected, or you end up isolated and have to hold out for a long time, or you get caught up in the creation of a new demon realm before replenishing the food consumed in the previous one.”
After mentioning these realistic issues, “To properly prepare for such situations, I should have you gather ingredients directly from the mountain… but I don’t think you’re at that stage yet, so today I conducted the treasure hunt under the assumption that the demon realm was created in an inhabited area.”
He added these words, then—
Finally, he stated the third and most decisive reason.
“The third is because, recently, a special demon realm where inventory cannot be used has appeared.”
“……!”
A demon realm where inventory use is impossible?
Such a thing didn’t exist in the original novel I read.
This means it’s a new setting the original author added while remaking the story.
‘Then I’ll need to sufficiently practice not just the combat style of immediately taking out throwing weapons from Inventory, but also the standard way of fighting.’
It was quite fortunate that I was told about this in advance rather than being thrown into such a demon realm without warning, but—
It’s still quite a headache.
‘Still, if it’s not that spatial abilities are restricted, but only that some of the functions given upon awakening become unusable…
Yor’s Yeouiju might still be usable.
No, if spatial abilities are blocked, then Fjodra won’t be able to use her [Space Leap] skill.
So it’s clearly only the Inventory function that becomes unusable.
‘I should ask for Yor’s understanding and store more food inside the Yeouiju.’
It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps because Yor’s Yeouiju exists, the original author added this setting.
Trying to use my baby dragon’s abilities without permission.
That’s quite unpleasant.
“While we’re on the topic, let me explain in advance. Next week, we’ll be training to prepare for cases where we enter a ‘demon realm where Inventory use is impossible.’ So make your preparations accordingly.”
With these words, Bjorn finished answering Hailga’s question and—
Brought up the story he had left unfinished earlier.
“I think that’s enough explanation, so let’s divide into cooking teams and start preparing the meal!”
“Were we all supposed to cook together?”
“With nine people all focused on one dish, it’s obvious someone would end up idle, right? So we’ll split into teams, each prepare food, and share it all together.”
This time, it was Pret who raised the question, and Bjorn immediately provided an answer.
“This way, even if one team messes up the cooking, you won’t go hungry. And if both teams do well, you’ll get to eat two kinds of food. Isn’t that good for you too?”
“Oh~! That’s true! Then how do we split the teams? Do we draw lots again like last time?”
“No. This time, the two people with the most ingredients will come forward as representatives and take turns selecting team members. That way, we can secure at least the minimum amount of ingredients.”
If we’re all going to share the food anyway, it would be nice if we could collect all the treasure notes and use all the ingredients written on them together.
But it seems Bjorn intends to impose a restriction that each team can only use the ingredients secured by their own members.
How cheap.
“I found 19 treasures. Is there anyone with more than me?”
No one answered Pret’s words, and everyone just showed shocked reactions.
I was the same way.
I guessed he secured more treasures than others, but I didn’t expect it to be to this extent.
“Huh? Why is everyone so surprised? Is there no one who found a similar amount? How many did you all find?”
In response to Pret’s question, everyone except me and Hailga, who had nothing, revealed the number of treasures they had.
Svein, Vigdis, and Liolikin had exactly 5 each.
Risi had 6, Fjodra had 7.
And Reysir had 8.
This damn protagonist of another novel had assumed the scenario where I might not find a single treasure.
This means he secured 5 treasures first to ensure he’d avoid punishment, then came looking for me.
This fact was so infuriating that I glared at him, but…
“Professor! Since Pret has overwhelmingly more ingredients than me, please give me priority in choosing team members! I think that’s necessary for balance!”
The protagonist of another novel was too busy raising his voice to ask Bjorn for priority in team selection to care what kind of eyes I was looking at him with.
Our Hailga’s headband is very fitting! Too bad that Kar didn’t end up with the cute one tho also his reputation is probably in the gutter after his nickname reveal
Poor Kar really went through it this class lol. Reysir left him with no dignity—maybe Karbaldr can make up for it by showing off his cooking skills (^w^)