Dea and the group saw the same people running towards them that they saw this morning running from the bear.
The other group also noticed them, already tasted the defeat in using this group as cannon fodders, but that group still wanted to try once again.
"Run forward," the boy that looked like he was in charge shouted at others.
They also guessed what he wanted to do and the group hesitated for a second, but seeing the beast catching up to them, their survival instincts kicked in and followed the boy's lead. Seeing all this, Dea amusedly shook her head.
'Ah. Some people just never learn.'
Compared to what the other group hoped, the situation this time was exactly the same.
This beast ignored Dea's group too and chased after them. As they cursed, they all saw Dea smiling happily while waving at them as if sending them on the trip and not to their deaths.
Anippe, Lucas, and Zora, although didn't like these people, but seeing how Dea dealt with them, they could not help but pity the bunch.
Even though they all thought so, none of them criticized Dea or thought her move was wrong, and neither of them tried to help the other group. This situation died down as fast as the previous one.
In a bit, it became dark, and the group already made a small camp to spend the night. As the wild was making her hungry, Dea took out her barbeque set and started cooking.
Soon the heavenly smell of food flooded everyone's senses of smell, and they all started drooling, including Zora.
"Dea, what are you making? It smells so good." In the end, Anippe couldn't hold herself back anymore and asked.
"I am just making a barbecue. Want some?" Dea asked nonchalantly.
"Really?" Anippe asked with expectant eyes.
"Hmm." She answered, then looked at the other two in the back and saw the same expectant eyes.
"Do you want some?" She asked while her lips unnoticeably turned upwards at their reaction.
Both Zora and Lucas nodded mechanically, no longer able to keep straight faces and unbothered about their appearance.
"Why don't you come out as well?" After hearing Dea's voice, she and Lucas were both surprised, but Zora didn't have much reaction.
"How did you know I was here?" A child's figure came into sight.
"Weren't you here all this time?" Dea said with a smile, not bothered by the kid's distorted and grumpy attitude. "So, want to eat?"
He wanted to refuse but was unable to do so after the heavenly smell assaulted his nose.
"Well, since you made this, I guess I will try some."
"You don't have to, we will gladly finish it all ourselves." Said Anippe as she tried to take the kids' portion.
"You," Isaac muttered with anger and took his food first. Afraid someone would take it, he sat a bit far from the others.
The atmosphere turned warm and quiet as everyone ate their portion with relish.
"Let's take turns being on the watch tonight, this forest is not safe we should be vigilant." Said Lucas.
"I will take the first part. I am not sleepy." Said Dea.
"I will stay up with you." After hearing Zora's voice, Dea turned his way but didn't say anything.
"Okay, you two take the first part. If you get sleepy, just wake us up." Said Lucas, while nodding at them. Anippe didn't talk all this time. She didn't care much about the arrangements and would follow whatever her goddess said. Isaac didn't care much either.
As Anippe, Isaac, and Lucas went to sleep, Dea and Zora stayed near the fire and didn't let their guard down even though they both looked nonchalant.
They didn't even let down their guard towards each other, or more correct would be they didn't let their guards down towards each other even more.
Neither of them was afraid of the dangers of this forest, after all, they have experienced far more horrible things. Finally, Dea decided to break the silence.
"How is he?" She asked Zora, who sat next to her.
This question surprised him, but he still asked.
"Who?"
For a second, Dea didn't answer and just looked at him. A second of silence felt like an eternity for Zora, but then Dea asked again.
"How is Anthony?"
After confirming that he heard the name correctly, he still didn't know how to answer. Seeing his confusion Dea continued.
"Could it be that you don't even know your own father's name? After all, he sent you here."
Hearing this, Zora finally understood who she was talking about, but this confused him even more, killing intent came over him.
'This girl is dangerous, should I just kill her?" He thought but didn't move.
"Oh, come on. Why so serious? After all, your daddy must have told you to only observe and report, otherwise, you would have killed me already this morning when you were following."
The more she talked, the darker his face became, and Zora knew that this girl was harder to deal with than he thought.
At first, he was a bit dissatisfied when his father gave him this task; he thought he would have to babysit some spoiled princess. Now he understood how wrong he was, but why did this girl call his father Anthony?
"Judging from your expression, I am right, and you don't even know your father's real name. Well, he always had a habit of picking up broken things from the street, just like me." Said Dea, with a mocking smile on her face.
Facing Zora's killing intent and angry face didn't faze her at all.
"Poor child, how old were you when he picked you up? 6? 7? That guy hasn't changed at all huh? Well, can't say I don't understand him, after all, I too like collecting broken toys, especially when they are as beautiful as you." As she continued to speak crueler and crueler words, her smile didn't disappear at all but instead became brighter.
Zora would be fascinated if only her every word didn't pierce his heart like the sharpest knife.
"Shut up! You don't know anything about him." He finally muttered.
"Really? Maybe, but I definitely know more than you."
"Just because you know some name doesn't mean anything. If you continue to spout more nonsense, I will kill you."
"Really? Then did you know that he had a daughter? Not like you, I mean a real one, his own flesh and blood. Want to know what happened to her?" Dea whispered in his ear.
"No." He finally managed to mutter it through his clenched teeth.
"Hmm. How boring." Dea's face changed in a second like her smile before was just an illusion and the only thing Zora could see on her face now was boredom. For some reason, he felt a bit disappointed.
Unfortunately, his mind was too occupied with other things for him to notice this.
Two people sat near the fire, one with a troubled face too invested in his own thoughts to notice a mischievous spark in the other person's eyes.
And so, the first day ended in the trial forest of survival skill class.
The next day was not as eventful as the first, and all five of them came out of the forest unharmed, which can't be said for other groups. Some of them were annihilated in the end out of 112 students, only 27 came back. When they came out, they saw the other 85 students that were supposed to be dead there.
"Well, it went better than expected. I hope you have gotten well acquainted with your teams, you will be spending lots of time together from now on." After Professor Carlo dropped these words, he disappeared.
The place became a lot quiet and more awkward as lots of students here sacrificed each other for survival, and now they found that these people actually survived.
Well, all this didn't matter much to Dea. She couldn't care less if these people were alive or dead.