CH 325

“Good morning.”

“Ah, good morning.”

Carina woke up a little later than Shana, just as everyone was eating their evening meal.

“Were you able to evolve into a cat-beastman?”

It seems that when a beastman evolves, they generally becomes a beastman specialized for its kind of beast. So that’s why bequa, would be a bear beastman. Come to think of it, I may not have asked what species she actually became.

“I became a demon cat beastman.”

“A demon cat beastman?” (TN: As usual, the names in this series can be very confusing, the ‘demon’ here is different from the demon race but more like a demon spirit or ‘yokai’.)

But Carina says that she became a demon cat-beastman, not a cat-beastman. She said this was an evolutionary destination that appeared under the influence of the contracted Nekoma. Is that the reason why she came to make a contract before Carina evolved, even though she couldn’t use it yet? Incidentally, there seems to be no change in Carina’s appearance even though she evolved into a demon cat-beastman. She has purple hair, but it seems to have turned black.

“Does being a demon Cat-Beastman mean that you can now use magic?”

“Umm… I can’t seem to use magic in particular.”

Just because you are a demon cat Beastman doesn’t mean that you can use magic. I thought they could do something magical since they are called “demon”.

“So what’s the difference between them and normal cat beastman?”

“I have a higher magic defense than a normal cat beastman, and my compatibility with Nekoma is better.”

Other than that, she won’t know the difference until her level is raised from now on. Rather, it seems that the characteristics of the cat beastmen themselves are not yet well understood. However, for Carina, it seems that the effect of being more compatible with Nekoma is enough.

“Now that Carina is awake, let’s have a serious discussion about what we are going to do.”

After serving Carina, we all sat around the campfire and talked about what we were going to do.

“It’s already dark today, so we’re going to hunt monsters, right?”

There were no objections. It would be no problem even if it was dark, as long as we could run back outside the deep forest. It would just be safer in the morning. Well, safer would be better.

“How about we start the hunt a little later today, and go home tomorrow morning?”

Sophie suggested that we start later than usual to reduce fatigue and return tomorrow morning.

In fact, I would like to start hunting at the usual time and finish earlier than usual. However, the monsters keep gathering without considering our convenience. So it is very difficult to finish early.

“Is there anyone who disagrees with Sophie’s idea?”

No one was opposed to Sophie’s idea either.

“Then what time should we start?”

“How about starting at midnight?”

If we start at midnight, as Shana suggested, we would have five hours of rest, which would be much later than usual.

“But then how would we divide the time?”

Elira is right, there are five of us for seven hours, so no matter how we divide it, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to divide it neatly.

“If that’s the case, how about we divide it up first with my brother getting 2 hours alone, then me and Shana getting 2 hours and 30 minutes, and then Elira and Carina getting 2 hours and 30 minutes?”

The reason I only have 30 minutes less time is because I’m the only one hunting alone. Still, that’s a lot of time for one person. It was Sophie’s way of showing her concern for my participation in the tournament.

“Is there anyone who disagrees with this division?”

Sophie asked everyone, but there were no objections, and the decision was made to go this way. Then we decided on the time slots: I would do from midnight to 2:00, Sophie and Shana from 2:00 to 4:30, and Elira and Carina from 4:30 to 7:00.

Then we would come home at 9:00 a.m. after breakfast, a little rest, and clean up.

“I’m going to go hunt.”

“Take care.”

“Good luck.”

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“All the best.”

Thus began the last hunt in the deep forest.

The hunt ended without a hitch in the order in which it was scheduled.

Carina didn’t use the beastification either. When I quietly asked her why she did not use it, she said that if she used it and got tired and went down, she would cause trouble on our way back home. I didn’t think that much of it. I would make a time in the near future when it would not be a problem even if she went down, and let Carina beastify herself there as much as she wanted.

After that, we took a leisurely rest, had breakfast, and cleaned up.

“You didn’t forget anything, did you?”

“I put everything in the magic ring, so there’s no way I could forget anything.”

I did, but I did check to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. We went back to the royal capital with a light run.