Professor Melissa's alertness immediately kicked into action as she activated a wind type cultivation art while yelling at the students.
"Anyone who has wind type art or spells utilize it quickly."
She herself summoned huge gusts of air which snuffed out the flame of the bonfire.
With the help of the students, they successfully drove out the weird smell she smelled earlier.
Before she could give further commands though, a student near one of the tents yelled.
"Professor Melissa! A lot of our food portions have spilled on the ground. There are also plenty of our food pills among them."
Her mind immediately sprang up in action as she headed towards the tent.
Fuck, Rodrick doesn't want to wait at all. But I can't alert him, not now. He doesn't know his plan is already exposed, he is in the open while we are in the dark.
I'll just resolve these issues without arousing his suspicion.
"Everyone stay where you are. I do not want any ruckus. Don't move! Keep an eye on each other. The sedative properties of the air were suspicious."
She witnessed the prepared food spilled on the ground.
Melissa remembered her students placing it securely to avoid such a situation.
Her mind was quick to deduce plausible explanations.
It would need a certain strength and angle of wind to push the container of the food like this.
Our wind spells just happened to move like the most unfortunate way? Is this the power of misfortune at work?
She realized that her reaction to use wind to drive out the weird smelling air was predicted by Rodrick and was a part of his plan.
Just to ruin the food?
Just in time, she heard Rodrick calling out to her.
"Professor, I happen to have a few supplies here. As you know my brother is the Mayor of this town.
"He said this was his way of helping since there isn't anything else he could help much with."
Before giving her a chance, Jeremy replied to Rodrick.
"Phew, thank god we have Rodrick here. Let's clean up the mess and light up the bonfire again."
Melissa took a deep look at Jeremy.
Wasn't he mind controlled by Rodrick too? A self directed play huh?
She glanced around at the camp which had a few students speaking in favor of Rodrick. She recognised them, it was a small group of their friends.
She coughed loudly, garnering their attention before she spoke.
"Tell thanks to the Mayor, but we can't use unverified items during anomaly containment missions. This is mentioned in the rule book."
Amidst the disappointed wave of murmurs, she continued.
"We'll salvage what we can of the spilled food and there should be some backup left in a few students' bags.
"It's just a matter of thirty six hours, talk less, move less and eat less. This mission will be over in no time.
"No need to whine about less food, unexpected circumstances crop up everytime. Life isn't easy, deal with it."
Rodrick smiled helplessly at those who were sending him glances before taking a look at professor Melissa.
Although disappointed, he didn't feel there was anything wrong with how professor Melissa acted. It was indeed all according to the rules.
But since he had used the Anomaly of misfortune and fortune, he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with everything.
He hadn't forgotten the miasma of misfortune upon his head when he used that anomaly before leaving the house.
But the allure of the Mystical Artifact was too strong to resist, not to mention he could further strengthen his anomaly by killing so many strong living beings.
He gathered his small group of friends and sat a distance away from the campfire.
"If you feel hungry you can come to me no worries. I'll secretly give you some delicious food packed by the cook of the Mayor's mansion personally."
He smiled at them. But then, his attention was attracted by the group sitting by the campfire where people were shuffling about.
Soon, he got the news that professor Melissa was checking all the bags for suspicious items due to the sedative gas a moment earlier.
Rather than the work of some Outer Domains or Heretics, professor Melissa thought something was wrong with the group itself.
Rodrick cursed inwardly.
Taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't completely illuminated by the campfire due to sitting a distance away from it, he discreetly moved his hands and legs to bury a few packets of sedatives and anesthesia.
A few students protested but were quickly silenced by professor Melissa who explained that the safety of the group was of greater importance than privacy and must not be compromised.
Later it became clear about why those students were against the search as some of them had barrier protection rubbers while some had suspicious grass in ziplock packets.
The hassle amongst the group settled down after back to back episodes of things going wrong.
There was a heavy atmosphere in the entire team due to suspicion against each other and another possibility that there might be an external enemy attacking.
Professor Melissa kept a strict eye on the group, a complete opposite of how she handled the team outside the mission or even during the reconnaissance phase.
This is bad.
Rodrick thought. He needed chaos to get his plan working.
The highest probability of things going wrong were when people weren't in the right mind to respond correctly.
If he orchestrated something in times of peace then professor Melissa could easily take control and settle things down.
Rodrick glanced at Jeremy who had lied down near the campfire while gazing at the stars.
A useful pawn. But you need to go.
He controlled Jeremy to slightly tilt his body and gradually reduce the talks with his friends.
When he was sure no one was paying attention, he stood up and headed towards where he had buried the sedatives.
After taking a quick but heavy sniff, he covered them once again before returning to his spot.
Rodrick slowly closed Jeremy's eyes and let the sedatives take effect before quickly breaking off his mind control.
He was unsure whether the Anomaly would target him or Jeremy if it was him who slept but used Jeremy's body.
So, to be on the safer side, he used sedatives to put Jeremy into sleep instead of performing the act himself.
Immediately after though, he noticed professor Melissa waving her hand, slapping Jeremy awake with her hand spell.
"Fucking hell."
Rodrick muttered under his breath. Just then, his watch beeped.
Hearing that, his expression changed. He had put a few sensory devices on the perimeter to alert him if anyone approached, and one of them had been triggered just now.
The uneasiness in him deepened as he gazed at professor Melissa with a dark look.
I have no choice. You forced my hand.