Yue watched as her classmates all began setting up their fancy tents that they took out of their space pouches and mumbled: "What is the point of a tent if it will be of no use inside the temple and would also be like a prison if you were attacked in the middle of the night?"
Unlike her classmates, Yue did not bring a tent and opted for climbing a nearby tree and finding a thick branch to sleep on. She preferred a high place over a low place. Mainly because the only things you would need to worry about in a tree were snakes, and it was rare to find a snake in a tree in a forest like this. Knowing these things, Yue found a nice sturdy branch with plenty of privacy, with the leaves blocking the view of her from others, and laid down, resting her head on the tree trunk.
Clara had also set up camp in a tree. When she saw the rest of her students setting up tents, she let out another sigh. When she didn't see Yue anywhere, she looked around the trees only to spot a silver furred tail through the gap of some tree leaves in a tree not far away. Seeing this, she smiled and perched herself on the tree branch, scouting out the surroundings. She did not yell at her students this time. She felt that no matter what she said, nothing was going to get through to them except real life experiences.
A tent was good, but it could also become a coffin. When camping out in a monster infested forest, it was best to find higher ground to not make yourself a target. This was all taught in the first month of the academy and repeated when the practical was announced by Clara herself. But here they were building their fancy tents with great effort and failing at that.
The whole group of students were a mess. Each of these tents were indeed high quality, but the students who bought them had no idea how to put them up. Those who should be sleeping now while they could before the first watch was up, were still awake, struggling to put up their tent. On the other side of things, Yue was already sound asleep with a silly grin on her face as a stream of drool rolled down her chin. What she was actually dreaming about only she would know. Even her sleep talking made no sense. "Hehe…. Yummy..."
Clara kept a close eye on the stars, and around midnight, it was finally time to switch shifts. She looked down at the students, most of whom were still struggling to set up tents, and yelled out: "Time to switch lookout shifts!"
"What!? But I haven't slept yet! I was still getting my tent up!" One girl complained. Her tent was still flat as a pancake on the ground.
"So? Did anyone tell you to sleep in a tent? I believe I said tents were bad for situations like this when I discussed the practical with you all. Did you listen? Whether you slept at all or not, is none of my business. But I will say this… Anyone who falls asleep while on lookout tonight will have automatically failed the practical and can find their way out of the forest!" Clara was done playing miss nice teacher. She was now putting her foot down. They either wanted to pass, or they didn't. Her words brought about plenty of whines, but no one dared argue.
Yue, who was still on her tree branch, stretched her arms and sat up. She whipped the drool from her chin and looked down at the tired face of her classmates with a hint of a mocking smile on her lips.
"Wait, where is Yue!? Is she not going to come and take her shift on watch?" Van yelled out. He was hoping to make Yue stay on watch by herself while he took a nap. It wasn't just him, but quite a few people also had the same thought.
"She has been here this whole time. She also got a good six hours of sleep while you all did not. Where she is at now is none of your concern. I will say this again. If a single one of you falls asleep, I will fail you." Clara repeated herself. She was not dumb. They all wanted Yue to be their scapegoat so they could sleep. This was not how classmates and comrades in arms should act. After saying this once more, Clara climbed up the tree to the tree branch she set up for herself and was fast asleep. She did not need to worry about not being woken up if they were attacked.
Van saw Clara climbing a tree causing him to think for a moment before quickly looking around. When he did, he spotted a pair of feet dangling from under a patch of leaves. Her small toes were wrapped in a pair of brown sandals. Just seeing her dainty feet caused Van to blush. He couldn't understand why she was so shameless to expose her feet like that. She was nothing like the other noble girls who had their feet covered like proper young ladies.
Yue wore sandals for a reason. The boots and shoes the others were wearing were not good for trudging through a forest area where they could run into wetlands or even a temple like this where parts of it were underground. The lower levels could be flooded out from previous rains causing them to have to wade through these sections. Their boots and shoes would become soaked, and if they had gotten any cuts on their feet at any point, those cuts could end up getting seriously infected. Having opened toed sandals like this, while they are not as protective as boots or shoes, at least if they got wet, any cuts or scraps would be less likely to become infected from being soaked for longs periods of time. In a place where you may not have the medical supplies to tend to such things, it was a safer bet. At least that was how Yue saw it.
Yue, who was watching her surroundings, had felt Van's eyes on her. When she looked over and saw him looking in her directions with a face slightly blushed but full of disgust. She sneered and wanted to really punch the stupid boy in the face. "Humph! I hope the goblins mistake him for a girl and drag him off to become a breeder."