The remaining day involved a lot of walking and not much fighting. We scared off a few monsters and slew a horned boar. Technically it was in the range of acceptable monsters for the students but it attacked once we encountered it. I made sure to keep any necrotic attacks away from it so the body remained edible.

Hatsumi joined our group in the afternoon. She had dealt with the spiders. Surprisingly, nothing went horribly wrong.

There were some cheers in the evening as we returned to camp, because of the boar. While the soldiers began butchering it I reported to Captain Sarah.

"So the boar attacked you?" She asked, after listening to my report.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"And your scouts did not spot it early? There was no way to avoid it?" She asked.

"Um… maybe we could have gone around it if we had been more careful." I admitted.

"I am well aware that a horned boar tastes good. But it is important to leave some enemies for the students. They are supposed to hunt, we only take care of anything too dangerous. Like those mushrooms. Next time make sure you avoid a fight." Sarah said. Despite her words I noticed her eying the boar. And she did not sound terribly upset.

I saluted. "Yes ma'am."

"Dismissed."

While I had delivered my report Hatsumi was helping with the boar. She had volunteered to cook. I was tired and hungry, so I was rather grateful. I sat down in front of our tent and yawned.

I blinked my eyes open. I might have fallen asleep for a few minutes. I looked around and noticed Helena returning. Somehow her pants were completely covered in mud and there was some blood on her chain shirt. Yoru walked next to her, looking perfectly clean.

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She did not look injured and all of my zombies were still around, so I did not worry too much. I watched as she made her report, then she walked towards me.

"What happened?" I asked.

Helena looked slightly embarrassed. "So, we found some creatures called horned weasels. They are about the size of a cat and look pretty cute. Their horns are pretty sharp though but only about 5 cm long."

"Did it stab you?" I asked.

"Sort of… You see, they are not that dangerous so I did not want to kill them. There were five and I wanted to herd them into the student area. They would be a fine monster for them. I used some water magic to nudge them in the right direction but one tried to dig and got stuck in the mud the water created. So I decided to rescue it…"

"You wanted to rescue a monster stuck in your spell?" I asked.

"It was cute and not that dangerous." She replied. "But I slipped and fell in the mud my water had created, then stabbed my hand on its horn. I only bled a little. My hand is fine though, I healed it. See! And I managed to free the weasel." She showed me her hand.

"Why would you approach a monster like that? You could have ordered a zombie to grab it! And where was your ice armour?" I chastised her.

She sighed. "I was a bit careless, yes. I did not have my armour deployed because it's hot. Keeping it going takes a constant stream of mana. I can't do that the whole day. I should have taken them more seriously."

"Meow." Yoru agreed, nodding. Helena patted the cat.

"Otherwise it was fine though. We slew like one bear, nothing else seemed too dangerous. How was your day?"

I told her about my encounters and the evil mushrooms.

"That sounds problematic. It's good that nobody walked into those spores.." She shuddered. "Do you think they could take over mages? Or could we fight them with the magic inside us?"

I scratched my head. "That is a good question. I suppose if I flooded my body with death mana no evil mushroom could survive."

"Dinner is ready!" Hatsumi announced, walking towards us. "I made you a nice hearty stew from the boar. I also have some fresh pan-cooked flatbread."

I licked my lips. "You are amazing!" I said.

She smiled at me, then she looked at Helena. "You should change into a fresh set of pants after dinner, I can clean those."

"Thank you, Hatsumi." Helena said, looking a bit embarrassed.

We enjoyed our food, then went to bed early. It had been an exhausting day.

The next morning we got up early again. There was more patrolling to do. This time I brought all the undead and had a designated squad for Hatsumi. Captain Sarah watched approvingly as I gave the orders.

I did not encounter anything truly threatening on the second day. The scouts did not report anything either. I wondered if we had missed something. In the evening I asked Captain Sarah about it.

"That is normal. This area was chosen because most threats here are not that big. But dangers like those mushrooms can happen. That is why we are here. The main challenge is covering a large area in the time we have, and making sure nothing too bad wanders back in while the students are here. So get some sleep. Tomorrow the students arrive and we have to keep them safe during their time here." Sarah replied.

I guess it made some sense. They would not send the students here if most monsters were strong. Having the child of a duke eaten would look bad for the academy. Actually, it would look bad for the soldiers here too, including me. I groaned. With my luck someone would surely get ambushed.

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