“Mason!”

Mason, who caught them skillfully, checked the condition of the gun and bullets once, then quickly put the items in his inventory. The items disappearing from his hands in an instant was like magic.

Harper waved her hand holding the food and joked around.

“There’s only one serving per meal, but there’s a good way to share it. Leave it to me.”

How reliable. Anaïs thanked her and put the items she received in her inventory. Now she had a sleeping bag, 3 matches, and rope.

The three people who finished reorganizing began to set off. Mason led the way, checking the compass hanging around his neck.

“First, we need to sweep up anything useful on the way.”

Though it seemed like there were only trees, useful things might be scattered here and there. If not that, small cabins might be visible too, so never miss them. Harper taught Anaïs survival tips throughout their walk.

“Inventory is limited, so there are priorities. For example, bullets or……”

Anaïs had to concentrate to not forget what she was saying. While listening seriously and nodding, she habitually tried to push up her glasses and suddenly felt something was off. She wasn’t wearing glasses.

When exactly had they been missing? She couldn’t remember. Whether she hadn’t been wearing glasses before falling into this place, or had lost them in between.

Her face suddenly flushed with shame. But greater than shame was fear. They were her mother’s glasses. The scarf and sweater her mother had knitted—she had lost everything and this was the only thing left.

‘You lost such a precious item? No matter how confused you were……’

“What’s wrong?”

When she was half-listening to the story while blaming herself, Harper asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Anaïs was startled and made an excuse about seeing a very large bug. She couldn’t whine about being embarrassed to show her bare face when she was in a situation where her survival was threatened by suddenly falling into a jungle.

‘Anaïs Everhart!’

Anaïs smiled while trying to ignore the hallucination ringing in her ears. Fortunately, Harper didn’t notice her lie.

“It’s understandable to be surprised seeing it for the first time. I’ve never seen bugs as big as the ones here either.”

Harper frowned, saying she hated bugs. And she told a story about how once while sleeping, she felt something suddenly fall on her face and it turned out to be a huge bug. Thanks to this, Anaïs could perfectly attribute her agitation to the bug.

Mason, who had been walking far ahead without participating in the conversation, suddenly turned around. He silently pointed with his finger at a box right in front. The wooden box was sealed on all sides with nails, without a lid.

Mason used an iron rod with a hook at the end to break the seal. Then 5 food rations and 1 healing medicine came out from inside. Harper put all the items from the box in her inventory.

Similar work continued throughout their journey. The boxes were sometimes wooden barrels that seemed to contain alcohol, but the process was generally similar. When Mason opened them, the three people divided and stored them according to what each had agreed to handle.

Anaïs’s inventory had become a sleeping bag, rope, and 10 matches before she knew it.

“Are you A or B?”

Harper, who had been watching Mason break boxes from behind, asked. Anaïs, who had been standing quietly beside her, honestly answered that she was B. Then Harper sighed as if feeling sorry.

“Oh dear. The road of hardship is clear.”

“Is B not good?”

When her complexion darkened with worry, Harper burst into giggles.

“No. That doesn’t really matter. A or B, we all suffer equally in this shithole.”

She explained it was like the difference between playing with white or black pieces in chess. Anaïs felt relieved while thinking she was a bit mischievous. If there wasn’t much difference, she didn’t need to say it that way. She got scared for nothing.

“If we keep going, there’s bound to be at least one A who hasn’t formed a pair yet.”

“Is that so……”

“Since quite a bit of time has passed, there might not be any.”

“What happens if you don’t form a pair within the time limit?”

Anaïs asked, recalling the text that said there was a 6-hour limit.

“You die if you fail!”

Harper giggled and laughed. Anaïs thought she was deliberately exaggerating to tease her.

It seemed a bit too much to say you die just to scare someone. Well, what problem would there be from being teased a little? She was taking care of a complete beginner and traveling with her. Anaïs felt displeased with Harper’s attitude but tried to ignore it.

Fortunately, they found one more iron crowbar like the one Mason had. Now she wouldn’t have to stand around embarrassingly while Mason worked. Anaïs felt relieved.

“We can’t make a beginner do dangerous work.”

But Harper didn’t allow it. Kind to beginners, she volunteered to hold the iron crowbar and work together with Mason. Thanks to this, Anaïs became twice as embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.

In the end, Anaïs had no choice but to pick up a nearby stone and fight with the boxes. Though it didn’t work as well as the crowbar, it was still better than just standing still alone.

It was fortunate that she didn’t have to stand around blankly. She worked hard to try to help the two people.

They were walking along opening boxes they discovered one by one when Harper suddenly saw something and shouted.

“Good. Finally a cabin appeared!”

She whispered to Anaïs in a small voice. She said she thought Mason was going the wrong way since no matter how far they went, not a single cabin was visible.

Mason glared at Harper briefly, apparently having heard everything. Unlike the confident Harper, only the innocent Anaïs flinched her shoulders like someone caught doing something wrong.

When they entered the cabin, there were as many as five wooden boxes, unlike before when there had only been one or two.

“Let’s eat something after checking all the boxes.”

Harper suggested, saying it was about time to get hungry. It was welcome news to hear. Anaïs, who was exhausted and had almost no strength left in her hands, squeezed out strength she didn’t have at the thought of being able to eat something.

She barely managed to strike down with the stone and tear off one side of a plank, then put her hand into the box. There seemed to be torn wood pieces inside, and her arm got stabbed through her clothes.

Anaïs momentarily frowned and pulled out her arm. Since the inside of the wooden box was dark, she couldn’t see exactly what had stabbed her. When she rolled up her sleeve, several drops of red blood had formed on the inside of her elbow. Still, the wound didn’t seem serious and looked like it would stop bleeding soon.

“What was there?”

Harper, who was checking another box, asked. Anaïs quickly pulled down her rolled-up sleeve. She didn’t want to be branded as a nuisance who made a fuss over just a few drops of blood.

She was in the position of a beginner who had to depend on those two people. She wanted to look good somehow.

Anaïs put her hand back into the box and found 8 bullets and three sticks of dynamite. When she handed them to Mason, he opened his mouth for the first time.

“You found a jackpot.”

Only then could Anaïs hear Mason’s voice for the first time after traveling together for half a day. His voice was rather thin, unlike his well-ripened, heavy pumpkin-like face.

Harper also praised her for what she found, saying she did well. Especially the dynamite, saying it was a rare item.

Though she hadn’t been criticized for only finding matches until now, they had shown disappointed expressions. While sighing deeply.

This time both Harper and Mason looked very pleased. Thanks to this, Anaïs felt she could enjoy the meal in a light mood.

The three people decided to bring torn wood pieces and sit down to eat. But Harper couldn’t quite choose a chair to sit on. She gave reasons like it seemed like it would break soon or it was too tilted to be comfortable.

When Mason, who couldn’t stand watching, got up to help her—

MONSTER APPROACHING!

The text that had been periodically showing messages to form pairs suddenly changed. In large red letters as if it were quite important content.

It didn’t seem like the text appeared only to her. Harper took out a gun with a surprised face, and Mason also turned the gun he had been carrying on his back to the front.

Wasn’t that strange? Weren’t all weapons supposed to be left to Mason? Then how did Harper have a gun?

Anaïs was curious about the reason, but she couldn’t ask right away because the two people ran outside.

“If it’s coming out from around here, it’s a big one. I’ve met it once before. It’s fast and persistent too. It won’t give up until it catches one.”