When the four of them had eaten roughly two-thirds of the bear—
A gap opened nearby.
"Yo. Runes?"
Yakumo Yukari raised an eyebrow at Baiye, who was holding a skewer of bear meat in one hand while drawing runes in the air with the other—each rune lingering for a breath before dissolving.
"Good eye," Baiye nodded.
"It's that obvious," Yukari said dryly. "If I couldn't recognize it, that would be weird."
She grabbed a skewer that was still half-raw, then used the "boundary of raw and cooked" to make it perfectly seared outside and juicy inside.
"…."
Esdeath glanced at Chika and Utaha.
"Hey—our situation and Yukari's are totally different!" Chika protested. "Yukari's world already has the occult, and in the Norse region there might even be a real Odin. Of course she can recognize runes. But in my world and Utaha's, who studies an ancient foreign script no one even uses anymore unless they're deeply into it?"
"Sorry to disappoint," Yukari said lazily, waving the skewer. "In my world, the Norse gods have already passed with the Age of Gods. Maybe one or two got lucky and survived the great collapse, but Odin as god-king is definitely gone."
"Speaking of that…" Baiye asked, "is the rune system you know different from the runes I'm using now?"
He drew all twenty-four modern runes reconstructed by Aozaki Touko, refined again under Morgan's guidance, and showed them to Yukari.
"You're better off asking whether the Norse gods left any 'rune dictionary' behind after Ragnarök," Yukari shrugged. "Recognizing them is already good enough. I haven't even fully understood my own boundary power—why would I spend time researching runes?"
"So you do know where the Norse gods' relics ended up after Ragnarök?" Baiye asked, deadpan, following her bait.
"…"
Yukari stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"Are you overestimating me just a little? I'm just a youkai."
"Fine," Baiye said, dropping it, and returned to eating and rune-drawing.
He had a reason to keep scribbling while chewing.
Draw all twenty-four runes with mana once: +1 proficiency.
Stay intensely focused, or catch a flash of insight: bonus proficiency.
The efficiency was ridiculous.
Meanwhile, Yukari didn't stop talking.
"Yukari, did you find anything on your trip out?" Chika asked.
As she spoke, Esdeath's gaze sharpened—clearly the one who cared most.
"I got a rough picture," Yukari said, opening multiple gaps to show what she'd found. "The reason Danger Beasts have been acting up is them—tens of thousands marching south. Weak Danger Beasts get eaten as rations; strong ones only escape if they can fly, burrow, or otherwise run the moment instinct screams."
"Northern tribes… so it really is them," Esdeath murmured, eyes flickering.
"Northern tribes—so that means…!" Chika started, then Utaha elbowed her, and she snapped her mouth shut.
Yukari's scouting trip had been at Esdeath's request. Esdeath had noticed the area's Danger Beasts behaving strangely—like the winged lion Esdeath hunted for the group's first gathering. Normally, it shouldn't have been anywhere near here.
Yukari confirmed the source within two days.
But the answer hit hard.
Chika remembered Esdeath's mental state when she first joined the group half a year ago: the reason she was like that was because the northern tribes had invaded and wiped out Esdeath's people, the Balutes tribe—Esdeath alone survived because she happened to be out hunting.
"Don't worry about me," Esdeath said, looking through the gap at the marching army. "My father and everyone died because they weren't strong enough… and I'm still not strong enough either.
"So I'll go for them when I'm strong enough. Not for revenge—just to prove I'm more suited to survive in this world… Hey, you—what are you doing? Let go of me!"
"Relax~" Yukari ignored her struggling and ruffled her hair. "Getting revenge isn't some shameful thing. 'Only the strong deserve to survive' isn't wrong, but it doesn't mean the strong can't have thoughts and feelings…"
"I told you I don't!" Esdeath struggled harder. "They're just my target because I want to prove I'm stronger and more qualified to live!"
"Uh-huh, sure~" Yukari deployed the universal brush-off. "Here's a fun fact: the more someone insists they don't care about something, the more it proves they care."
"…."
Esdeath silently opened the task interface.
Yukari: "Eh?"
The next second, Yukari vanished. The gaps closed on their own.
In the group chat:
[Youkai Sage]: Hey, hey—if you don't like hearing hard truths, you can just tell me, you know?! Sending me back with no warning—what is that?! @Esdeath
"Beautiful work," Baiye said, giving Esdeath a thumbs-up.
....
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