The next morning, Margo and Juno, who had been staying at the blacksmith workshop, were both still asleep. I did my daily routine of tending to the livestock, morning training and then preparing breakfast. 

The two of them woke up to the smell of breakfast. 

Just what are you guys doing eating a meal as you please? Go and make your own portion. Really, these two are so carefree. 

What should I do for today? First, I needed to replace the ankle snare traps since the serpent had destroyed a lot of them. After that… Maybe I should go to the forest to forage? Nah, I had these two guys with me today so I should go foraging first. 

I gestured to Margo and Juno to accompany me foraging in the forest and they gave me the ‘okay’. 

We thoroughly made a plan on how to deal with the monsters that might appear and our coordination strategy by drawing a picture on the ground with a wooden stick. 

10:00

The three of us went to the forest. Ash was coming with us too. As soon as we entered the forest, we immediately encountered a kobold and hellhound. Ash was the first to notice the enemy. Him growling to warn us had been very helpful. 

Margo and Juno were there as the vanguard while I was as the rearguard. I fired donur poison arrow from behind to bring the enemy down. A cockatrice also appeared.

This time, I was serving as the vanguard because of my petrification resistance skill. Using ‘fortress’, I served my role as a tank and attacked the cockatrice with the flame from the hellfire sword. The cockatrice then attacked me with its petrification attack.

My skin was starting to harden. 

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK…

Hiii!!!

The petrification was progressing slowly but surely. I drank paruna detoxifying potion in a haste. 

While I was distracting the cockatrice, Margo and Juno flanked the cockatrice from behind. They attacked the cockatrice and we were somehow able to bring it down. 

『Individual Name: Keigo Okuda level went from 12 to 13.

HP: 27→28

MP: 16→17

Vitality: 20→21

Strength: 26→27

Intelligence: 76→77

Dexterity: 32→33

Speed: 26→27

Acquired Fortress level 6 and Petrification Resistance level 4.』

It had been a while since I last leveled up since I had been doing nothing but running away recently. As I thought, defeating a cockatrice alone was not a simple feat. 

The three of us then continued to hunt and forage in the forest until afternoon..

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T/N: I feel like our MC is being too hard on himself. He already hunted so many merman to make the water dagger. It’s not like he literally only runs away at every chance he gets!