I looked over the animals in front of the fire I had made from the principal and vice principal signs.
"The water is gone, but we finally found a river! If we move upstream from here, we should reach the source! Clear whatever is damming it, and we get water! A little more. Just a little more!"
The animals listened. They may not have had the words, but they got what I meant. They all called back at once.
"All right. Then let's eat! A party as an early celebration! Fish are free in this river!"
The meat-eaters went down into the muddy bed and bit into the fish still flipping there. I took fruit and nuts I had gathered on the way out of my pocket and scattered them.
"Here! You can eat as much as you want too!"
They had been holding back, so the plant-eaters were delighted. They caught fruit and nuts in their mouths like people catching bills falling from the sky.
Mark brought me a big fish.
Morsan
Quantity: 1
Quality Level: 12 (Material Level 12)
A fish born in a river, that goes to the sea, then returns to the river it was born in to breed. The ones that have come back, just before they breed, have the most fat, and that is the season. Grilling or using it in soup gives a cooking bonus.
"Oh, Morsan! That's my favorite! Thanks!"
I dressed the Morsan with the great boar knife.
I cut it in rounds, put it on skewers I made from branches, and grilled it. The skin burned. Fat dripped.
Grilled Morsan
Quantity: 5
Quality Level: 20 (Material Level 12 + Dexterity Bonus 1 + Cooking Bonus 2 + Season Bonus 5)
Only grilled Morsan, but the taste of the material comes out in full. Very fatty, and very good.
I bit into the hot grilled Morsan like a thick cut of ham. After the crisp of the skin came a firm chew.
Fat packed with the blessing of this river where the Morsan was born, and the rich taste of the sea where it grew, spread through my mouth. I filled my cheeks with both.
It was only grilled fish, and I could not stop. I thought it was my ears again, but from somewhere I thought I heard throats swallow.
"That looks so good..."
"Lucky! I love Morsan!"
"Me too! I haven't been able to eat it since I came to this academy. I've been holding out!"
"We've been on academy emergency rations ever since the state of emergency..."
"Dry stuff that doesn't taste like anything..."
"Why does that trash get something that looks that good...!"
"Damn it! I'm so jealous!"
The truth is I was a little unhappy myself. I did not say it. I only thought it.
If I put salt on this, it would taste even better...
I had salt Akemi gave me in my coat pocket. I could not sprinkle it.
It would make me thirsty. I had not put a drop of anything you could call water in my mouth for a week.
Status kept me moving. My throat was dry enough to sting. I could not show that weakness.
I had understood that when I saw the principal and vice principal's Sorry signs. They had to be watching me from somewhere.
If they were not, they would not write shout at the sky and cry. That is why I was enjoying the best meal I could.
Your scheme does not move my happiness even a little. I would show them that.
After a meal much richer than usual, the fawn and the young boars came over and started licking my face.
"You're thirsty. Wait a bit."
I took the canteen from my pocket to pour the water I had saved on the way...
There was not a drop left.
"Muhohoho! Everyone, look, zamasu! The canteen is empty at last, zamasu! Now we get to see that trash cry out, zamasu!"
I ignored that imagined voice and stroked the young ones.
"Wait a bit. I'll make water right now."
"Muhohoho! He's finally lost his mind, zamasu! Making water is something only a god can do, zamasu! If an unemployed nobody can do that, I, the vice principal, will turn water into wine, zamasu!"
I ignored that too and took a wooden cup from my coat. I punched a small hole in the bottom with the tip of the knife.
I turned the cup over and packed in stones, gravel, and sand. Layered like soil, coarser toward the bottom.
To finish I took off my coat and tore one sleeve off my shirt. It looked uneven, so I tore the other and made it short sleeves.
I packed the torn sleeves in the top of the cup.
Gisu Wood Cup Filter
Quantity: 10
Quality Level: 31 (Material Level 12 + Dexterity Bonus 1 + Job Bonus 18)
A device that uses a gisu wood cup to purify dirty water. With the bonuses, the filter speed is very high. It can also remove harmful matter, and wipe out even moderate poison completely.
I set another wooden cup under the finished filter.
"Now I put the mud from the slough on top..."
"Muhohoho! He's started playing in the mud, zamasu! He's so far gone he has gone back to being a child, zamasu! What a pitiful sight, zamasu! Watching trash fall is fun! Truly fun, zamasu! Muhoho... ho?"
The moment a clear liquid started dripping from under the filter, I thought I heard the trees stir.
"Wh-why!? He puts dirty mud into a cup full of dirty dirt, and it turns into water!?"
"And that water is so clean...! It shines like a gem...!"
"It's true...! It's like magic..."
The vice principal screamed.