"I FOUND ONE!!!"
After fifteen minutes, Sebek popped out from out of nowhere as he shouted this scaring everyone in the area and screams to echo in the tunnels.
"Why do you have to yell so loud out of nowhere…? That hurt my ears." Grim muttered before massaging his blue flaming ears.
Sebek raised a brow in confusion, "What's with that reaction? I found a gem fragment. Look!"
Crawling on all fours, Grim moved forward to see the tiny sized magic stone in his hands as he exclaimed in disbelief, "It's tiny! You only found this with some crazy luck!"
Sebek shrugged, "But it works. It's big enough to meet the challenge's guidelines. So with this, we cleared the challenge."
Silver paused mid-step and frowned, "…No, don't get too excited yet."
"Ha, are you mad that you lost to m—hm?" Sebek sneered before he paused as well, "…Something's coming towards us."
"Brace yourself!"
.....
It was sunset by the time they all returned to the campgrounds. Riddle, the sophmore and herself all got a badge.
"It's sunset! Time's up for your challenges!" Vargas announced under the night skies, "I'm going to check your progress of day one right now. When I call out your club name, answer me with the number of Vargas badges you have. Ready? Horse-riding club!"
"We have three badges." Riddle responded.
"Track and field!"
"We also got three." Jack raised a hand.
"Basketball!"
"Three." Jamil called out before he sighed in dismay, "…Just barely, though."
"Lastly, magift club!"
"Of course, we've got three." Ruggie replied with a confident smile.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Vargas cheered upon seeing a completed list in his hands, "Looks like all the clubs secured their three badges and got through the first day successfully. But if you were scrambling to get your challenges done minutes before sunset, you've still got a ways to go. I'll announce the challenges for day two tomorrow, but know that their level of difficulty can't even compare to the ones you had today. I wish I could say rest well and get ready for tomorrow… But the forest fairies might come to put out your campfires at any given time. So keep your guard up till morning. Alright… Dismissed!!"
Hearing this, Lotus began to cook their freshly caught fish with some large leaves from a large tree similar to a banana tree. She tossed in the herbs and grilled some veggies with a little salt. By the time it was done, she unfolded the leaf and looked up in time to see a group of boys staring at the food in her hands like a pack of dogs! She scowled, "If none of you sit down, this food is going to the fishes tonight! As for everyone else, didn't I already traded some veggies for some fishes with your club advisors?"
As soon as she said this, the horse-riding club immediately rushed to their seats around the campfire while the others glanced back to their club advisors and Ruggie.
"Seriously?!" Ruggie looked to them rather intimidated by their stares before sighing in defeat, "Hey, Lotus. Can you tell me what herbs you used?"
"That would depend..." Lotus smirked.
"Great..." Ruggie grumbled, "How much?"
"For the information and location of the herbs, prepare three fishes for us tomorrow for the next challenge."
"Just three?" Ruggie raised a brow curiously.
Lotus nodded, "Just three. I promise."
"You got yourself a deal." Ruggie smirked.
Seeing this, Riddle looked to her with a frown, "Must you bargain with another club like this?"
"Lotus smirked, "How else did you think that we have enough fish today?"
"Hm?"
"Actually..." The freshman she was with spoke up to him as he began to explain.
Because the horse-riding club was the smallest physical club on campus, she knew that it was impossible or unlikely tocatch enough fish for all of the members compared to the magift club and Leona's strategies. So, she decided to do something the others cannot do, which was identifying herbs and wild vegetables for food and trade.
"As soon as we brought back the vegetables, they were instantly picked up by the magift club." The sophmore responded in awe, "Apparently, some were having troubles eating just meat or having meat at all. So, our forage caught their attention immediately."
"For us who don't have enough meat against those who don't have enough vegetables. I see..." Riddle smiled, "Your idea actually isn't that bad. In this way, both parties will benefit. However, why did you give away the location of the seasonings for some fish? I just thought you weren't someone who was that willing to give away something greatly wanted in the middle of the wilderness."
"Hm... You'll see." She responded with a wide smile.
Hearing this, they looked to one another in confusion as Sebek couldn't help but feel rather annoyed at her.
The remainder of the meals were rather enticing, especially after everyone had ended up working throughout the morning and afternoon. Everyone ate till they were full and There were now eagerly looking forward to the next day while some just wished they could just stay in their tent. As the time to turn in for the night closed in, Lotus was more than unwilling than everyone else to go to sleep in her tent.
"How did I end up sharing a tent with Silver?!" She grumbled in dismay, "Why not have someone else share a tent with him instead?"
As she grumbled and frantically thought of a way out, Riddle whispered over to Silver in confusion, "I know the two of you don't get along, but how come it's this bad?"
"I'm not too sure either." Silver shook his head in disappointment, "Fa- Lilia said that he wouldn't bother me too much since he isn't illogical, but, perhaps because Lotus's so tired from making food, he's probably too cranky to put up with it."
"So, that's why you requested to share a tent with someone else." Riddle muttered in disbelief, "Where's Sebek?"
Looking around, they were shocked to find that the half-fae was nowhere to be found.
"I noticed him sulking over in your tent, Dorm leader." A Heartslabyul sophmore whispered to him quietly, "He teased Lotus for not being able to put up with sharing a tent with Silver, so Lotus snapped at him once. It sounded like another language, but whatever he said got Sebek so distressed. Sebek tried to push him into the tent, but it made Lotus more upset. Lotus booted him into your tent. I checked on him after he didn't come back out. He's sulking."
"You're sure?" Riddle looked to him in disbelief. Sebek distressed after being snapped at once? Is this really the proud and crazy powerful Sebek they were talking about? And he was booted away by a small guy?!
"Guess I'll watch the fire for now." Lotus surmised with a sign and made her way to the camp fire.
Watching her walk away so non-chalantly, Riddle was finally snapped out of his daze and sighed, "I was about to tell him off for not warning us about the fairies earlier, but now I don't really feel like it anymore."
"What do we do?" One of the freshman looked to them nervously.
"What can we do?" Riddle frowned, "Although he booted Sebek, Sebek was the first to shove him. Not further creating conflict was already enough here with professor Vargas being absent. We forgot that we left the cooking chore all upon Lotus without any help. It's no wonder that he is so cranky and upset."
"Maybe we should just stay up for the night to make sure that the fairies don't put out our camp fire. Then, I'll switch places with Lotus after he calms down a little. I'll give him some time to cool off and Sebek to clear his mind a little. Honestly, I've never seen Sebek's confidence so quickly stripped away before."
"Then, this is also your first time?" Riddle glanced over to him nervously.
"It is..." Silver sighed, "But he's strong, so he'll bounce back very quickly."
"I hope so..."
With that being said, Riddle quickly rushed over to Lotus and told her of their decision to stand guard around the camp fire for part of the night. Hearing this, Lotus returned to her tent and went to sleep.
As the other two remained to stand guard, Lotus snuck out of the tent and into the forest.
"Princess, did you really have to be like this with these children? There's no need to use violence on that young man." Uncle Fern sighed and he flew out of the bush, "Why, you should've locked the rude fellow in his tent with a barrier without food or water for the next month for shoving you!"
Hearing this, the other fairies looked to their chief in exasperation. Now who was it that said not to use any violence? How was this any different from violence?!
"Okay. Peony will take Uncle Fern's advice to heart, Uncle Fern." The girl responded very obediently.
Hearing her say this with such sincerity, the other fairies couldn't help but shudder and sigh in their hearts. Who knew that their chief would have obtained such a sincere and loyal daughter from the royal family?! It was unfortunate that she became the god child of a dark fae, otherwise, the chieftains of the lake and forest here would've been more than willing to make her their god child instead! Yet with their chieftain's strict and determined character, they fear that this princess would just become another "chieftain" for them to a higher level... One thing for certain is that she has already been regarded as both of the chieftain's unspoken god child, regardless if she had been taken in by the dark fae general. God, help them!