"This unique tenderness, without a doubt, this is a genuine red-eyed rabbit! I never thought that I could eat this thing again!" stated Ayano as she munches the rabbit meat in her mouth with her hands on its cheek. "Ayano, keep it down, you could wake up the others," reprimanded Ryu as he cooked another piece of meat.

"Then you should try it too. I'll kiss you on the cheek if you could hold your voice from leaking out!" Hearing this, Ryu perked up his ears before he begins to smirk, "Oh, was that a challenge just now? I'll take on that word."

Flinched a bit, Ayano hesitatingly answered, "Y-yeah, I dare you too!"

Determined himself to locks his voice no matter how delicious the meat was, Ryu quickly brings the meat into his mouth and bites it with his teeth.

About 3 seconds has passed, Ryu still chews the rabbit in his mouth without having any intention to let his voice slip. Of course, seeing this, Ayano begins to fidget with her hand as she stares attentively at Ryu's mouth. She actually already regretted the bet she has made when she saw Ryu brought the piece close to his mouth.

"Ah~," when this sound escaped from his throat, both of them immediately showed an expression that really contradicts each other. Ayano jumped in satisfaction from the log seat, and Ryu hanged his head down in disappointment. Besides, he was so ashamed by the fact that he could leaks out such a weird moan in front of Ayano.

Grinning, Ayano gave the peace-sign with her hand, "See, it's impossible to hold your voice." Perceiving that Ayano doesn't get bothered with the noise that he produced earlier, Ryu realizes that he just minded his own behavior too much while he's around her. 'And here I said that she could be herself with me when we're alone.'

"Ayano, for our convenience, I think it's better for us to eat this rabbit in the woods."

"Sure, I thought so too." Ayano chuckled.

Took some firewoods with them, Ryu and Ayano decided to move into their previous spots. Arrived in the middle of the woods, Ayano then used the fireball spell that stored inside her staff to make another fire.

"Yum~! Maybe I could eat this for the rest of my life!" stated Ayano loudly as she didn't have to mind her surroundings anymore.

"No argument there, the meat was already so savory even though we didn't add any seasonings in it. I can't imagine how heavenly the taste would be if Mia processes it."

Caught an unfamiliar name, Ayano spontaneously inquired, "Mia? Did we have that girl in our Division?"

"No, no, she's one of the Huner association receptionist that I daily meet before coming into this hill."

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Leaned forward, Ayano asked out of curiosity, "Is she a good cook?"

"The word good wasn't enough to describe it, she was like a goddess when it comes to cooking. Although it sounds like an overstatement, that's what I really felt every time I ate her food."

"Hmm, I'm looking forward to seeing her in person now."

"Well, it probably soon, subsequent to this hill training, you guys will instantly take the test to become a Hunter after all."

Nodded in agreement, Ayano proceeded to eat the meat with Ryu until there are only its inedible parts that are left.

"You're really an expert at skinning something." praised Ayano as she collected the rabbit skins that splattered around the fire. Suppose that the creature doesn't have its fur, perhaps Ayano could see her own finger under the rabbit hide.

"I'm honored that my skill could satisfy you, princess." Toward the joke, Ayano chuckled, "Yes, continue to give your best to serve me, my servant."

Have removed all of the evidence of the red-eyed rabbit presence, Ayano sat beside Ryu while observing him cleansing his weapon. "By the way, how long you intended to keep using that dagger?"

"This? I don't know. Lately, it's hard to find the time to order a custom-made."

"Is that a must? Was that a custom-made too?"

"Nope, it's just a normal iron dagger. But, the one who made it was Dartz."

Didn't know how huge the figure that Ryu mentioned was, Ayano tilted her head as she thought a mere name definitely wouldn't affect the weapon class.

"For your information, he is the leader of the Blacksmith Association."

"You have a connection with an association leader!?"

Ryu scratched his head when he saw Ayano looked at him, surprised.

"It was a stroke of luck that I able to meet him right on the first time I entered his association building."

"And? How can you get acquainted with him?"

"We just click, that's all," replied Ryu while shrugging off his shoulder.

"I see, you could just click with an association leader."

Poked Ayano softly on the cheek, Ryu giggled, "How about you, you could get along with everyone simply by introducing your name."

"Enough with that kind of joke, you knew I didn't ask for that," retorted Ayano as she also returned the gesture with a blow to his side.

"Anyway, shouldn't you take that medicine and rest now?" worried Ayano.

"You're right, damn, a blissful moment really passed far too quickly, isn't it?"

"Let's pray that our friends didn't know what has transpired tonight."

Furrowed his brows, Ryu sighed, "Why you said it as we just committed something taboo? We only need to keep it as our little secret 'kay?" Winked, Ryu swallowed down an oval pill on his hand before handed down the look-out duty towards the currently blushing Ayano and directly moved into the tent.

Living in a human body, especially as he physically still in his teenage, getting a few hours of sleep a day was definitely nowhere from being called healthy. It might have impacted his growth later on. But, thanks to the blue-white capsule that he has consumed daily from the very first day they camped in here, Ryu could wake up with the other three at the same time with the same energy. The herbal that contained inside the capsule has really boosted the quality of his sleep, it might've multiplied it. That's why Ryu didn't regret spending 7000 of his Disks to buy those Rest pills.

"Hey, Ryu, I heard from Mizuha that you planned to upgrade our training, that was just her being a jest, right?"

"Narukami, I think I should tell you in advance, I would never joke about those things," Ryu said while tapping on his best friend's shoulder, hoping that it could brighten Narukami's face a bit.