Multiple sounds of sleeping breaths could be heard from inside the small tent.
"Sphee, sphee..."
"...So this is how it ends, huh."
After returning to the campsite, Rest received a thorough scolding for his independent actions, and then turned in for the night.
It was already close to dawn, but... that didn't mean he could go without sleep.
The worm meat had left him too excited, and he hadn't been able to get even a wink of sleep tonight.
His mind was awake, but his body, exhausted from the fierce battle, demanded rest.
If possible, he wanted to sink into sleep like plunging into a swamp... but that wasn't an option, due to circumstances.
"Munch munch... No more eating... a classroom full of pig's trotters is no good. If a cow comes jumping in too..."
"...What kind of dream is that."
The one mumbling such unusually clear sleep talk was, once again, Yuri.
Yuri was sleeping while clinging to Rest.
Her slender, supple limbs were wrapped around Rest's body.
Even though they were a girl's thin arms, her muscular strength was far greater than Rest's.
Not only was escape out of the question, he was terrified she might squeeze him to death at this rate.
Rest had decided to return to the campsite and rest, but... to make sure he couldn't run away again, he'd been forced to sleep in the same tent as Yuri.
He was supposed to be sleeping alone because he needed to maintain the barrier, but... after he proved that he could maintain it even at a distance by infusing it with sufficient mana beforehand, this was the result.
Just a moment ago, he had poured mana back into the barrier. It should hold well until dawn.
"Ohhh... the pig's trotters and the roast are fighting..."
"Muu..."
Yuri clung to him as if refusing to let him go.
Her chest and thighs pressed against him without mercy, asserting their soft presence.
At this point, the situation was one that could only be explained after the fact.
If Yuri's father had been here, he would have gone berserk and become a raging barbarian.
"Meat... meat..."
"...You're the meat. Want me to take a bite?"
Being able to say things like that meant he still had some composure left.
If this had been right after eating worm meat, he was confident he would have definitely pounced on her.
"Purrr... purrr..."
Rest was enduring through his ironclad self-control, but... there was one more reason he couldn't lay a hand on Yuri.
It was the girl sleeping on Yuri's other side.
"Purrr... purrr..."
"You too, huh... Urla."
There she was — Urla Lavender.
Urla was sleeping in the same tent as Yuri.
He had considered having her move to a different tent... but for some reason, she was simply there, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Purrr, purrr..."
"...Please don't look at me like that."
And what was truly terrifying was that Urla, while fast asleep, had both her eyes wide open, staring straight at him.
There are people who sleep with their eyes half-open, but... it seemed that Urla was the type to sleep with both eyes wide open.
Her eyes were fixed straight on him, so wide that he wouldn't be surprised if they popped out of their sockets, and for some reason, he felt a twinge of guilt.
"......"
(Still... what an unusual iris color...)
Rest stared back into Urla's eyes and found himself thinking.
At first glance, they seemed to be colored like amethyst, but upon closer inspection, her pupils appeared to shimmer with a rainbow hue.
It was a morbid sort of observation, but if those eyes were gemstones, they would surely fetch a handsome price.
(There's nothing unpleasant about seeing myself reflected in those eyes, but honestly, it's uncomfortable feeling like I'm being kept under surveillance...)
"Spee, spee... chicken crunch..."
"Zzzzz..."
"How can anyone sleep in this situation... seriously..."
Sensing an awkwardness that ran on two separate levels, Rest somehow managed to snag thirty minutes of sleep.