The two looked up with a start as Azul walked over with the rest of the group. Azul turned to her and asked, "I don't camp at all, so I don't know much about camping. Hearing you say this, I can't help but wonder what if nothing goes well and the majority of the wood have a lot of moisture?"
"Then you dry them." Lotus huffed as she responded bluntly.
"But that will take too long." Azul frowned in confusion.
"Not naturally dry them under the sun." Lotus shook her head and sighed.
"Huh?" Azul grimaced in annoyance towards her attitude.
"You." She pointed to a nearby Heartslabyul member of their club.
"A-ah, yes?" He looked to her in surprise.
"What do you do when your clothes are wet but it's night time and you're camping?" Lotus responded, "Even if you have never camped before, what would you do?"
"I'd make a fire and hang it out to dry." He responded naturally and paused upon revelation with wide eyes, "Ah!"
"That's right." Lotus nodded, "You would hang the clothes out to dry by a fire place. So if you only have a limited supply of dry wood. Use it as fuel to dry out the ones with moisture so they can be used later. Then rotate them to their other sides once one side is dry."
"We hang the wood out to dry?" Someone muttered in confusion.
"Idiot." Idia huffed, "You don't do that. You stack firewood, right? So we just got to stack them."
"There's also a special way to stack the wood when you fry them by the fire." Lotus explained, "Like a bonfire, stack the wood adjacent from one another in a square shape as the fire is going on."
As she continued to explain the steps, the others began to catch on quickly and it wasn't long before they had gone to pick out firewood. However, it was clear to see that Idia had not given up trying to get their favor by working hard. Lotus shook her head and sighed before turning to the pond and went to go check to see if anyone has gone fishing. Looking around, she looked on dejected to find that Yuu was not anywhere near her as she muttered, "And there goes my amusement for the rest of the day. And the mines…"
"Lotus? What are you doing here?"
Lotus looked up in confusion when she noticed Rook and Trey coming up behind her. Seeing them brightened her a little as she strolled on over to them with a bright grin on her face, "Hey, Trey! Hi, Rook! What are you two doing here? Are you heading to the mines down this direction? Can I stroll along with you?"
"Stroll along?" Trey wore a dry smile, "Looks like you got bored again, huh? We are going to the Mines just like you guessed. But don't you have to go check on the other clubs?"
"Ugh…" Lotus grumbled in disdain, "But Jade is there. Why should I go there too?"
"Because we will need food for tonight. It will be better for you to go help Cater and those guys." Trey pointed out in exasperation, "Please do your job properly, Lotus."
"Urgh…" She pouted in disdain, "And you said that camping would be fun."
"It would be fun as long as we each do our job as planned. Come on now, Lotus." Trey urged her nervously, "I heard from Yuu and Grim that you bought more marshmallows this time. Once we have fish tonight, you can use the fire to toast marshmallows again. I even brought enough supplies for s'mores…"
"That's…"
"Oui! Not to mention, Trickster Yuu and Monsieur Hirsute was heading to the lake just now." Rook added with a chuckle.
"They did?" Lotus looked to him with wide eyes and a bright smile, "Then, I'll get going!"
"Ah!"
"Yes?" Lotus turned back impatiently.
"What do we do about this guy?" Trey motioned to the student in the back with a hesitant look on their face.
Ah, that must be the guy who sold them out and isolated them! Lotus frowned in deep thought, "Hm… It looks like he gets along well with the literature club and the arts club."
"Then should we kick him out?" Raaji spoke up hurriedly with a twinkle in his eye.
"Ah, this…!" The student hesitated greatly in horror.
"Eh? Why do we have to do that?" Lotus looked to them in confusion, "Since the guy likes selling people out, the other clubs wouldn't want him, yet they don't know he sold us out yet. But, it does mean he gets along well with other clubs through this. Rather than kicking him out, let's have him go help the literature club and the art club! So, I'll have him!"
"Help them?" Trey looked to her in bewilderment.
"That's right." Lotus smiled, "Let's make him my messenger and have him run errands and teach the guys for me."
"What?"
"Was that too hard to understand?" Lotus hummed to herself, "Why not make him my assistant?"
"Why?" Gabriel questioned curiously.
Lotus shrugged, "It's boring running around giving advices to students that don't want my advice. At this point, I just say it because I have to but I don't expect them to listen and that's tiring. Since you're all doing just fine, why not spare the one who knows what he's doing to help me? Then we'll finish the job quicker. I'll put in a word for the staff as well and let them know. Besides, if I'm the next coming club leader, I should have the rights to make these decisions, right? No rule was made or broken in this situation."
"This…" Trey sighed, "Very well… We can manage while one man short, but please be careful."
"Yes, sir~! Let's go!"
She grabbed the guy and hurried back to the lake much to the surprise of the guy.
"W-what?!"
Once gone, Malleus spoke up curiously as they continued heading to the cave, "Why didn't you stop him? That guy… he's the one who sold you out right?"
"That's right…" Gabriel nodded hesitantly and turned to Rook and Trey.
Trey shook his head, "If it's him, he has a plan. He's so mysterious even the club leader had to beg him to accept the position."
"Eh?" Malleus looked to him in confusion, "what do you mean?"
"Well…" trey recounted the science competition incident and sighed, "Turns out, he only wanted to take advantage of the event and show those from Pomefiore something but he ended up creating such a high bar for others, they immediately dropped out. Either from intimidation or awed by his speech. Because of this, even if he tried to drop out too, there would be no one to select from in the end. So we had to beg him to take the position because we can't gather more materials and funds to put up another competition. Such a thing never happened before according to the staff who was around when the club first started."
"Seriously?!" Gabriel jumped in disbelief once he heard this.
"It's his responsibility." Raaji grumbled in annoyance, "He dug the whole, he should refill it."
"So you say, hehehe…" Rook sneered, "But you two and a Pomefiore student helped him sneak into and out of the round. So that makes the both of you fellow accomplices."
The two shivered in fright under his sharp eyes as Trey chuckled, "All right, Rook. What's done is done. At least we finally got him to accept the position. As for the others… Remember not to create trouble for him. Even if he doesn't seem like it, he knows how to hold a grudge rather well and appropriately too."
"We know…" The two muttered rather depressingly with dropped shoulders upon hearing this.
"Oh dear…" Trey wore a dry smile upon seeing their reactions, "Was I already too late?"
"Sorta…" Raaji grumbled.
"Barely avoided it." Gabriel sighed, "However…"
Gabriel added after some hesitation, "However, Lotus has his own boundaries from what I've seen. Even if he knows how to hold a grudge, he is forgiving on some points and generous enough to help protect us from trouble when he predicts it. Even if he can't tell us, he will still warn us despite the dangers."
"True…" Raaji nodded reluctantly, "When I did something against him, he still protected me even though I went against him during our first encounter. Even gave me advices. Thanks to that, my perspective around me has grown a little wider now."
There was a moment of silence before Rook chuckled, "I see… So that would also mean that he found your pet monkey too."
"W-w-what?!" Gabriel looked to him in confusion.
"Rook-senpai?!" Raaji cried out in bewilderment which also confirmed it.
"Oh dear…" Trey sighed nervously.
"Pet monkey?" Malleus noted in surprise.
"I-it was an accident. An oversight." Raaji hesitated before explaining the situation.
After hearing it, Trey sighed, "There's nothing to be done then… Make sure the other dorm Leaders don't find out about this. Including the other vice dorm leaders. I'm sorry about this, Malleus, but can you also help us keep this a secret?"
"Ah, we don't mind." Malleus responded bluntly as he continued, "There's only us here right now and it was an accident. However, do remember to take him back home as soon as you get the chance to before the school finds out about this."
"Y-yes, sir." Raaji sighed in relief, "Thank you very much!"
As the two students pondered how Rook knew about this, Trey noticed the Fae prince was rather quiet and whispered with concern, "Is something the matter, Malleus?"
"No…" Malleus shook his head, "Not at all."
As they continued walking, Malleus whispered to himself in confusion, "So even she can be nice to others… So why was she so angry whenever she sees me?"