There was a problem.
The two of them had no supplies. Rhos had not realized it until now.
Once the possibility of the Wrath chasing after them crossed his mind, they had abandoned the tree shelter without a second thought. Any supplies they might have had are now lost on that hill of the massacre and they cannot risk going back there.
But still, they had not even bothered checking if there was anything useful inside the tree before fleeing. And now, several hours later....
That decision had come back to haunt them.
The giant elephant they had hidden from was long gone and they had walked a considerably long distance from that location, but the sight of its enormous body casually creating craters with each step and tearing branches with its massive trunk lingered in Rhos’ mind.
Reality had set in, making him realize two things.
The first was that if that thing had been hostile, they would have stood absolutely no chance against it. They were injured– Rhos in particular– and exhausted from their hours of walking without rest. Besides that, neither of them possessed the strength to bring down a creature of that size.
Their only option would have been to run.
The second was...
"....I’m hungry"
Rhos had spent the last hour trying to tune out Nimra’s whining. She had been quiet for ten minutes so when she began to whine again, he was shaken that he nearly tripped over an exposed root.
"I’m really, really hungry"
He did not bother looking back at her and continued walking.
"I think my stomach is starting to eat itself. I’m tired too, my feet hurt"
"...."
"Hey, Red Deer, are you hearing me? If I collapse, I want you to know it wasn’t my fault. Also, you’re gonna have to carry me!"
Once she started being loud, that was when he decided to give her the attention she was craving for.
"You’re making too much noise, are you trying to attract some monster to us?!"
She groaned.
"I won’t stop till we’ve rested. And had something to eat"
At this point, frustration was starting to accumulate but he kept his emotions in check long enough to give her a response.
"We’re in the middle of a forest crawling with giant wild animals, what the heck do you expect a weak, tiny Prey like me to do about it?"
She suddenly puffed her cheeks.
"Hmph! You could at least pretend to be sympathetic"
Despite how annoying her complaints were becoming, Rhos could not deny the truth. His own stomach had begun protesting a while ago too. The last proper meal he had eaten was yesterday morning before Ranger Division 14’s departure from the Biome.
It was now already sometime in the afternoon of the following day. More than a full day without food.
However, that did not matter much because with his Patron Spirit, he can go on at least 50 more days without needing to eat anything. Even then, the occasional sounds of stomach grumbling were still a present annoyance.
He looked over his shoulder.
"Endure it. I told you we will arrive at the Biome tomorrow so just be patient. Your leopard cat should still let you last a while"
She suddenly began to scratch her cheek awkwardly.
"Well.... actually...I haven’t eaten anything for 30 days now"
The instance he heard that he stopped walking and turned around to look at her with wide eyes, letting these words flow out in a cold tone.
"Are you insane?"
Nimra flinched and immediately waved both hands.
"O-On second thought, I-I’m fine! I don’t feel hungry anymore, really! Let’s keep going!"
Rhos blinked, then blinked again while following the woman who was passing him.
"Cat, what the hell do you spend your salary on?"
She looked strangely embarrassed by that question, it took her a moment before she mustered the courage to talk again.
"I’m not wasting it if that’s what you’re implying. All of it goes to my...something important. Important enough that most of my earnings disappear every month"
She played with her fingers while trying not to make eye contact with him.
"So...I usually don’t have much left"
Rhos looked at her for several long seconds, thinking how careless she must be.
"The Ranger Corps pays you a full Division member salary, and you still somehow end up too broke to eat? How important is that ’something’ if you even neglect yourself?"
It was not that he cared about what she did with what’s hers, he knew all too well how to mind his own business. But if it affected their health and overall performance, it became a problem.
"I-I can’t say what, but it’s the one thing keeping something bad from happening. So I don’t mind"
Rhos could see the seriousness in her green eyes. She did not appear to be lying nor did she seem ashamed. If anything, she looked strangely content with her decision.
He sighed and resumed walking.
"You’re unbelievable. Fine, let’s find somewhere clear and settle down there"
Nimra smiled sheepishly then let out a cheerful ’yay’ before walking alongside him.
It was at this point in time he found himself recalling one of the lectures from the Academy. Centuries ago, before the merger of the Spirit World and Material World, humans of that time were astonishingly fragile creatures.
According to old historical records, an ordinary person could survive roughly a month without food if water was available, without water, three to five days at most.
Modern humans were different.
Every person was born with spiritual essence or most commonly known as a Patron Spirit, the manifestation of an individual’s deepest spiritual nature, and sentient beings within one’s soul.
Because of that, no two Patron Spirits were completely alike. Even if two people awakened the same species, what they inherited would differ drastically depending on who they were. Though that distinction was made by Classes of Gamma and above. Those below possessed more or less the same instinctual traits.
Which was the depressing part because it meant Rhos had no real offensive advantage in a battle, leading to him running from most encounters.
He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by the subtle sounds of branches bending then springing back repeatedly. Other sounds of low chatter made him look up to the trees.
’What the...?’
When he scanned the treelines, he could not see anything to warrant caution. But after seeing a tail disappearing behind a trunk, and another, then another, having dealt with something like this before he understood what was above them.
"Monkeys!"