"A monster is coming." After glancing at her, Takeru said calmly.
"Eh!" Hearing this, Raphtalia became completely tense. Her hands holding the short sword trembled slightly.
When she saw the balloon monster appear, she was so frightened she sat down. Just as the balloon monster was about to pounce on her face, she closed her eyes.
But after a long while, feeling no pain on her body, she cautiously opened her eyes.
She saw the fierce-looking balloon monster caught directly by Takeru's hand. She felt relieved but also a bit tense.
"Raphtalia, never close your eyes in battle unless absolutely necessary. It will only hasten your death." Looking at Raphtalia, Takeru's cold voice reached her ears.
"Yes." Hearing Takeru's words, Raphtalia pursed her lips. Because the Takeru now seemed somewhat unfamiliar compared to before.
Via watched quietly from the side because she understood that Takeru's current coldness was to make Raphtalia understand that battle was not a game.
Any lapse in focus could lead to death.
"Now stand up and kill it." Then, Takeru spoke again.
"Yes." Hearing this, Raphtalia's heart raced. But thinking of what Takeru had said last night, and the short time she had spent with Takeru, she was already certain she didn't want to leave him.
Thinking this, she stood up. After taking a deep breath, she thrust her short sword directly at the balloon monster. Unfortunately, because her strength was still too low and her attack power was weak, her strike naturally did not kill the balloon monster.
"Use more force. Don't show any pity." Looking at Raphtalia, Takeru spoke loudly again.
"Yes." Hearing Takeru's voice, Raphtalia gritted her teeth and responded loudly. Then, with a dash, she stabbed hard, killing the balloon monster in Takeru's hand.
With the explosion sound of the balloon monster's death, Raphtalia stared blankly at the now-dead balloon monster. She also gained 3 experience points.
As for Takeru and Via, they also gained 1 experience point each. After all, Takeru and the others were now at a much higher level. Getting 1 experience point was only due to the party experience bonus.
"Next time, be more decisive. Remember, once you've confirmed someone as an enemy, don't show mercy." Looking at the panting Raphtalia, Takeru instructed seriously.
"Yes, Takeru-sama." Hearing Takeru's words, she nodded again.
Then, Takeru led her to hunt quickly in the surrounding area.
After the first time, when encountering balloon monsters again, she quickly got the hang of it.
However, being new to battle, although quite talented, she still suffered quite a few setbacks before slowly mastering the techniques.
With increasing battle proficiency and rising levels, she soon became more and more skilled at killing balloon monsters.
In one morning, Raphtalia's level directly rose to level three. The reason it was so slow was that Takeru and Via basically only acted once or twice the whole time.
With the party bonus, this experience gain rate was considered neither fast nor slow.
Since they were already in the wilderness, Takeru decided not to return to the city to eat.
He went directly to a river near the forest, easily caught some river fish, and, combined with the ordinary ingredients he had bought in the city, simply prepared a lunch.
Although Takeru only did ordinary cooking, his culinary skills were not something those others could compare to.
With the variety of cooking methods he used, even though they couldn't match special ingredients and delicacies, the food could still easily surpass the cuisine of this world.
"Takeru!" Just as the meal was almost ready, a surprised voice came from behind Takeru. The person arriving was Naofumi, who had just finished leveling.
Because the scenery here was very nice, he had temporarily set up camp nearby. He had just come to the vicinity when he smelled the aroma.
Following the scent, he saw Takeru, Via, and Raphtalia.
Raphtalia looked at Naofumi with some curiosity. Then she noticed two bouncing slimes beside Naofumi. As the slimes quickly hopped toward them, she nervously drew her short sword and stood up.
"Those are Takeru-sama's pets." Seeing Raphtalia's reaction, Via quickly spoke.
Hearing Via's words, Raphtalia was stunned. Then she looked questioningly at Takeru, who was cooking.
After seeing Takeru nod, she relaxed. She looked at the two slimes with curiosity, finding them indeed quite cute and seemingly harmless.
"Stay and have lunch together." Takeru was not surprised by Naofumi's arrival. After all, although Naofumi's tent was several tens of meters away, Takeru had long noticed it.
"Would I be intruding too much?" Hearing Takeru's words, Naofumi spoke hesitantly.
"What intrusion? How have your past two days been?" Hearing his words, Takeru directly shook his head.
"Ah, yes, here you go." Hearing Takeru's words, Naofumi quickly took out a large pile of balloon monster corpses, many Rabbity and Needleboar corpses, and even some herbs. He had passed by a pharmacy and thought these herbs might be useful, so he had picked them as well.
He had also used some of them to upgrade his shield, which allowed him to enhance the medicinal effects of the herbs he picked.
"Looks like you've had a good harvest." After bringing the last dish to the table, Takeru walked over. After a brief glance, he directly manifested a large metal box, put all the materials into the box, and placed the box into his item bar. He also put away the herbs.
Then he directly manifested a pouch and tossed it to Naofumi. Because Takeru's manifestation movements were very similar to his retrieval movements, Naofumi, Via, and the others had no way of knowing that this pouch of gold and silver coins Takeru had was conjured into existence.
"No need. After all, these are thanks to your pets." Watching Takeru pay him, Naofumi quickly waved his hands.
"Take it. This amount means nothing to me. But you can use it to buy yourself some good equipment and also to recruit companions." Looking at the embarrassed Naofumi, Takeru said calmly.
"Companions... forget it." Hearing the word companions, Naofumi thought of Myne. He felt extremely angry.
"Finding good companions is indeed very difficult. But this world has slaves. They are one hundred percent obedient. They are even more reliable than companions." Hearing his words, Takeru continued.
"Slaves?" Hearing this, Naofumi was stunned.
As for Raphtalia, upon hearing this, she pursed her lips, feeling a bit bitter inside. But then she felt somewhat fortunate.
Because of Takeru, she had completely escaped that kind of life. However, to stay by Takeru's side, she still had to work hard.
"Come eat first. It'll get cold." Shaking his head, Takeru had already said his piece of advice. He sat down directly at the table. Via and Raphtalia also sat down beside Takeru.
Seeing an empty spot remaining, Naofumi sat down as well.
"Can you tell me more about slaves?" After sitting down, he continued to ask.
"Of course." Looking at him, Takeru nodded gently and then told him some knowledge about slaves and the location of the slave merchant...
As for Raphtalia and Via, after tasting the food Takeru had made, they narrowed their eyes in delight and began to eat ravenously.
Although these dishes couldn't quite compare to the milk they had drunk that morning, they weren't far off. For them, it was definitely top-tier cuisine.
"Eat slower. There's plenty." Watching Raphtalia eat with oil all over her face, Takeru took out a towel and helped her wipe the corner of her mouth.
Feeling Takeru's gentleness, Raphtalia smiled, and her tail began to wag quickly, indicating she was in a very good mood. Via and Naofumi watched this scene with some envy.
Via naturally envied Raphtalia for receiving such doting care from Takeru. As for Naofumi, he envied Takeru for having such good companions.
At the same time, he became more attentive to the slaves Takeru had mentioned earlier. Although he had Takeru's slimes to keep him company sometimes, being alone could still feel lonely.
After lunch, Takeru said goodbye to Naofumi. After a simple cleanup, he once again led Raphtalia on the path of leveling up.