After eating breakfast, Ericka and Aurora helped him change his bandages.
"Your wounds…" Ericka's face was filled with disbelief. He had seen his injuries yesterday and it should have taken him a few weeks up to a month to fully recover. However, the wounds on his body had already healed considerably. Going by the rate of his recovery, it would be possible for him to fully recover in less than five days.
As a medical student, Ericka was aware that this rate of recovery was impossible to achieve. 'Are my bandages that powerful? No. That shouldn't be the case. Sir Ralph was pretty injured back then too, but it took him some time to recover to this degree.' She thought deeply.
"Is there something wrong, Ericka?" Aurora stared at her in confusion. She wasn't a medical student so she didn't know what was going on. She just thought that Rendell healed faster than she had anticipated.
Ericka looked at her and shook her head. "It's nothing." She then turned her gaze back to Rendell. 'Is it because his level is high or is it related to his Gift?'
"Can you get me some water?" Rendell saw the surprised look on her face. 'Did she discover the nature of my Gift?' He thought.
"Sure." Ericka stood up and went to get him a bottle of water.
After she left, Aurora sat beside him and asked. "Does it still hurt?"
Rendell shook his head. "No." It was a lie. His body hurt like crazy and he wanted to scream.
Aurora smiled upon hearing that. "That's good. If you need anything, feel free to tell me or Ericka. You can't move around excessively before you have fully recovered."
"Mn." Rendell nodded.
A few moments later, Ericka returned and handed him a bottle of water. "Here. You should save this bottle until tomorrow. There are more than ten of us in the group so our water consumption has increased. Kent even told us that we should not take a bath to save more water. I hope we'll find more supplies along the way." She sighed and sat in front of him.
"Is that so?" Rendell furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn't good for the group. Water was essential for their survival. "How about our food?" He asked.
"We haven't checked our food supply yet so I'm not sure, but there should be enough to last the group for a month. That is if we don't eat a lot." Ericka replied while shaking her head. The group had to do a lot of physical labor so they needed more nutrition and energy. It wouldn't be good for them if they ate less.
"That monster… What happened to its corpse? Can we consume it?" Rendell suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Ericka and Aurora stared at him in shock.
"Are you asking if we can eat that ugly thing?" Ericka asked with a look of disbelief.
Aurora also felt sick just by thinking about it.
"We can't afford to choose what we eat now. If you guys want to survive, we must use every resource at our disposal. If that meat is edible, the group doesn't need to worry about food for a while." Rendell muttered in a serious voice.
Hearing this, Aurora and Ericka lowered their heads in embarrassment. He had already thought far ahead, while they were still complaining.
"Tell Kent to cut a piece of the meat and bring it here. I'll test it out myself." Rendell wasn't worried that he would be poisoned. With his Gift, his body would recover with a few days of rest.
"No! How could we let you do that?" Aurora shook her head. She was worried that he might be poisoned by the meat so she was against the idea.
Rendell stared at her deeply and muttered. "We don't have the luxury to hesitate. If we can't find more supplies, the group will have nothing to eat."
"That…"
"Alright. I'll ask Kent to cut a piece of the meat." Ericka finally relented. Rendell's words made her realize that there would come a time when they had to eat the evolved creatures. The processed food would expire in a few years and by then, everyone would have nothing to eat.
"Ericka." Aurora grabbed her hand while shaking her head.
Ericka stared at her and said. "We have no choice, Aurora. Sooner or later, the evolved creatures will become our only source of food."
Aurora bit her lip and responded. "Then I'll test it out myself."
"No! You can't do that! Your Gift is very important to the group. We can't afford to let you take the risk." Rendell immediately rejected with a stern voice.
Aurora turned her gaze to him and muttered in a sobbing voice. "Then why are you willing to take this risk? Why do you always have to do the most dangerous tasks?"
"That is because…" Rendell was at a loss for words. Seeing her cry made him unable to speak.
He looked away from her and sent a signal to Ericka through his eyes.
Ericka understood this. She nodded with a grave look and left.
***
"Did he say that?" Kent asked with a frown.
Ericka nodded. "Mn. He wanted to test it out himself. Please cut a piece of the meat and have someone cook it."
Kent was silent for a moment. It was true that their food supply was limited. Soon, they would have to find more supplies, but there was no guarantee that they would find something. He also thought about using the meat of the evolved creatures, but he was worried that it might be poisonous so he discarded the idea. He didn't expect that Rendell would also think of it. "Alright. I understand."
"I'll take care of it. You should tell everyone about this." Kent said while pushing up his glasses.
"Alright." Ericka nodded and left.
Kent searched for Phillip and asked for his help. Ordinary knives might not cut through the skin of the evolved creature. Among them, only Rendell and Phillip had a dagger which they got from the drops.
"What do you want me to do?" Phillip stared at him in annoyance.
"I need you to cut a piece of that creature's meat."
"Huh? What will you use that for?" Phillip was stunned by his words. Just what was this guy planning to do? He wondered.
"Just do it. You'll know later."