Roasted Flatbreads

Little Anty shook her dirty cloth bag, and three differently-sized potatoes fell out. She flipped the bag inside out, but all she found was a bit of dust; there was no more food inside.

Sighing softly, Anty threw the potatoes into the dying fire and frowned, watching the flickering sparks on the wood.

This place was the Frigid Ice Plain, also known as the Tolya Plain. The name came from the Goddess of Frost Wind, Tolya, who ruled over frost, snow, and the north wind. She was the shared belief of the people living in this land.

However, it seemed that the goddess wasn't showing mercy to her followers. This year, the Rizz hunters on the Tolya Plain faced the toughest winter yet. The blizzard, which came more than half a month earlier than in previous years, disrupted their plans for storing prey and trapped the food-trading merchants in Soma City. Repeated frosts also reduced this year's potato harvest. After realizing that the merchants would not come to purchase their furs in exchange for enough food to last until the next spring, the hunters decided to fend for themselves.

Grandpa Mori, the village elder who could predict the weather from the stars, said there wouldn't be any blizzards soon. He led more than half of the village's able-bodied men and women, including Little Anty's parents, on a hunting expedition.

Counting the knife marks on the wall, Little Anty realized her parents had been gone for eleven days, but they hadn't returned to the village yet. However, there was no food left at home. Her grandma had been ill recently, and although she was getting better, she still needed to stay in bed and rest. Without food, her grandma would suffer.

Little Anty used her small knife to poke through the ashes and pulled out the baked potatoes. She tucked the medium-sized potato into her arms and left the other two in the ashes to keep warm for when her grandma woke up.

She walked to her grandma's bedside and saw her still asleep.

These days, her grandma tried hard to sleep more to consume less food. That wouldn't do. Recalling how the village priest treated the sick, Little Anty imitated the actions, checking her grandma's forehead and heartbeat. Nodding with satisfaction, Anty confirmed her grandma had no fever, and her heart was beating regularly. However, her stomach rumbled loudly.

She needed to find some food. Those left in the village were elderly or infirm like her grandma, and their lives wouldn't be any better than Little Anty's. But she was already a big girl and knew where to find food.

Little Anty stealthily walked out, drawing a few symbols on the ground with charcoal. She put on her fur coat, filled her waterskin with hot water, closed the door, and stepped into the snowy wilderness.

—

Young master Edith refused Simon's offer to carry him for the fourth time. Everyone watched as he struggled to pull his legs out of the deep mud. Gwendolin waved her wand and cast a Levitation spell on him.

Edith gritted his teeth, feeling humiliated rather than helped. No one else needed the spell, yet the annoying magic prodigy chose to cast it on him alone!

Benson's gaze lingered between the genius girl and the noble young master, deciding to remain silent. He was always playing peacemaker between the two, like a clown swaying from side to side. Gwendolin would sometimes question him, "Don't you have your personality? You never get angry or lose your temper. Isn't it tiring to live like this? I don't think you agree with Edith's capricious behavior, but does your patience solve the problem?"

All Benson could do was smile bitterly. Didn't he want to be as sharp and straightforward as Gwendolin? But he was just an ordinary commoner trying to find a place for himself in the prestigious Star Academy, which was filled with nobles. His parents were simple, uneducated farmers who would repeatedly remind him not to offend the noble lords in the academy. They were already frightened by the nobles, even if it was just a minor baron. In the academy, Benson didn't know the right way to act, but he knew that silence couldn't be wrong.

Vale and Simon exchanged glances, both displaying an "I told you this mission wouldn't be so easy" expression.

Watching the tense mage apprentices, Vale quietly approached Old John and asked in sign language, "What if they start arguing or fighting and attract magical beasts?"

The "Scavenger" squad had developed great coordination and understanding over the years. Since making noise could be dangerous in many situations, they had learned to read each other's lip movements.

Old John replied, "Vale, be patient and think about the two gold coins you're about to earn! There's no simpler task than this. The Conjugation Tree isn't rare in the Midnight Swamp, and we only need to search the outskirts for this mission. Even if we attract magical beasts, we can handle them."

Vale pursed his lips, "Alright, the client comes first."

On the first day the mage apprentices entered the Midnight Swamp, they successfully... arrived at the mercenary camp.

"Because of someone's not worth mentioning pride, it seems like we wasted an entire day," Gwendolin sarcastically remarked.

Edith retorted, "I remember someone diving headfirst into the city library under the pretext of buying food. How much time did we waste then? 24 hours? Or 29 hours?"

vila and Benson had gone to the other mercenaries to inquire about the Conjugation Tree. vila had given up trying to mediate the relationship between the two and now just wanted to complete the task and leave as soon as possible.

A few mercenaries said they had seen the Conjugation Tree before, but couldn't remember the exact location, only the general direction. Still, this provided some help to Vila and her group. When they returned to the campsite, they saw Edith and Gwendolin silently turning their backs on each other, facing opposite directions, and sulking.

How childish! vila sighed inwardly.

In the camp, mercenaries were gradually starting fires and cooking. They all ate simple food like dry bread or smoked meat. Only a few even cooked meat soups; most of them just boiled water to drink.

Sage approached the apprentices and asked if they needed hot water. vila declined, "We brought our cooking utensils and food. We can cook ourselves."

Sage looked slightly embarrassed, "Today is not our 'hot meal day'. If you want to cook, you need to purchase a cooking slot from the mercenary team that has an allotment today."

vila's eyes widened slightly. When she had last visited the Midnight Swamp as a mage apprentice, she had only needed to follow her senior and had not known about the unspoken rules of the mercenary camp.

Seeing her puzzled expression, Sage carefully explained, "The Midnight Swamp is a dangerous place, especially during the night. The fog-shrouded sky has no stars or moon, and nothing can be seen clearly. That's why we have to gather together to resist the magical beasts. In addition to having one person from each team stay up for night duty, the number of people allowed to cook with fire each day is limited to prevent the aroma of heated food from attracting magical beasts."

"However, for mages like you..." Sage hesitated for a moment, knowing that most of the people here were mage apprentices, but he eventually omitted the last two words. "If you really want to have heated food, you can buy slots from the mercenaries who haven't cooked on their 'hot meal day' yet. As long as they get the money, they won't mind eating smoked meat and hot water one more time."

"Thank you for explaining all this to me. I'll consider it," Vila sincerely thanked him. She informed the other three of the news with a somewhat worried expression. Edith and Gwendolin both immediately expressed their desire to buy slots from others. vila glanced at Benson without changing her expression, seeing his head slightly lowered, and his thin face shrouded in shadows.

"I'm a little tired today and don't feel like cooking. You two can go ahead," Vila said with a smile.

A few people, including Vale, were discussing these strange mage apprentices at a distance.

"There are only four of them, and they still want to cook separately?!"

"Weren't you napping during the day? With their relationship, would they eat from the same pot?"

Sage put his index finger to his lips, signaling everyone to be quiet. Benson approached, and Sage quickly covered his mouth with the finger, pretending to scratch his chin.

"Gentlemen, could I have two cups of hot water, please?" bensen asked in his usual gentle tone.

"Of course." Sage hurriedly filled two cups with hot water for him.

Bensen stood in front of Vila by the bonfire with two cups of hot water, "Do you want to drink some water, senior sister?"

Viola quickly took the cup and thanked him.

"The cup is new," Bensen said before he left.

Vila originally wanted to go over and talk to Bensen, but Edith and Gwendolin came over, and the familiar quarreling sound reached her ears.

"You bought slots for all four of us without consulting anyone else!" That was Gwendolin.

"The mercenary team's slots had to be sold as a package because they had to eat together! Since you're so dissatisfied with the fact that I paid for your share, why didn't you pay for another share yourself?" That was Edith.

"Why should I pay for another share? That would make me look like a fool!"

The good news was that everyone could now cook, but the bad news was that Sage appeared again to inform them of a new unwritten rule.

"Heated food cannot have a strong aroma; magical beasts have a keen sense of smell."

"What kind of aroma is considered strong?" Gwendolin asked.

"Probably no stronger than the scent of meat soup. Look, it's being prepared over there."

The four of them looked in the direction Sage pointed and saw that it was just two meters away from them, but they hadn't smelled the aroma of the meat soup at all.

"What can we eat then, flour soaked in water?" Edith complained. He paced angrily and finally plunged into the tent, giving up on dinner for the day.

Bensen suddenly spoke up, "If it's something like flatbread, which doesn't have a strong smell, to begin with, it won't emit an aroma if it's only heated to warm."

Vila and Gwendolin gladly accepted his suggestion, and the three of them ate some roasted flatbread around the bonfire. Even though they had been hungry all day, the roasted flatbread wasn't really delicious. The outer crust was somewhat hard due to the fire, while the inside remained cold because they didn't dare roast it for too long.

In the end, Vila brought two warm roasted flatbreads to Edith, but it was uncertain whether he ate them or not.