The Survival of the Third-rate Villain

After resting for a few minutes...

About 8 AM...

"I’m going to go out for a while."

Raye said that and stood up from sitting on the folding bed.

"Hm, okay..."

Lycus simply replied to him.

"Mhm."

And Lena just nodded her head in response.

"..."

Allen and Leon were sleeping, so Raye just ignored them.

And so, with that...

Tap- tap- tap—

Raye headed out of the tent.

*****

Outside the resting tent...

"Huh?"

Raye saw someone familiar not far away from him.

It was Old Man Rey!

Jerusha, Zephyrus, and Pyro were also with him!

And just then...

"Ah!"

Jerusha saw Raye!

And with a sweet smile on her face...

"Raye!"

She exclaimed that and started running toward him!

"Hm?"

-Huh?

-Meep!

Old Man Rey, Zephyrus, and Pyro noticed Raye too at that point.

They started heading toward him too...

"..."

Raye just let out a smile, seeing them get near.

And when they reached him...

"Good morning. You guys are here early, huh."

Raye muttered that.

"Yeah! And we saw what happened earlier! Congratulations on winning the Set A!"

Jerusha excitedly said, looking at Raye.

"Thanks."

Raye responded, scratching his cheek. He was slightly embarrassed for some reason.

But then, opening his mouth...

"Where were you guys watching?"

He asked that out of curiosity.

And this time...

"At the cabin. Jerusha brought her communication stone so we could watch there comfortably."

It was Old Man Rey that answered.

Raye turned to him.

And before he could even say anything...

"Congrats."

The Old Man added that while smiling.

"..."

Raye became silent, hearing his words.

The corners of his lips started to rise and form a smile on his face again.

And with that smile...

"Thanks, Old Man."

He replied to the Old Man.

Following that...

-You did good, well done.

-Meep! Meep! Meep!

Zephyrus and Pyro greeted Raye too.

Fwoosh—

Zephyrus then flew on top of his head, and Pyro landed on his left shoulder.

"Haha, thanks, guys."

Raye said to them with a laugh.

And after that...

The five of them started talking, catching up with each other.

Raye was away for barely a day...

But Jerusha and the others felt like they hadn’t seen him in a week or more!

*****

Raye and the others talked about what happened inside the Northern Forest—about the competition.

"You were amazing!"

-Meep meep meep!

Jerusha and Pyro kept on praising Raye’s performance, how he responded to the ambush earlier, and how he dealt with Ignis and the others!

"Really? I don’t think I did something that amazing or hard, to be honest."

Raye responded to the two of them with a shrug.

On the other hand...

"You hungry?"

-Any injury?

Old Man Rey and Zephyrus were checking on his condition.

"Hmm, I’m fine. Kinda hungry, though."

Raye answered.

And hearing his latter words...

"Then here, we brought you roasted deer meat."

Old Man Rey said that and handed Raye a paper bag.

"Hm?"

Raye took it from him, and looking inside the bag...

"..."

He saw three big roasted deer meats!

’Wow...’

Raye dumbfoundedly thought, his mouth salivating.

Then, suddenly...

"You already ate earlier, Zephyrus. That’s for the brat."

Old Man Rey muttered that, seeing Zephyrus salivating too on top of Raye’s head!

"You’ll become fatter if you don’t stop eating."

He added!

-Ah...

Zephyrus snapped out of his stupor after hearing the Old Man’s voice and words.

And when he came to...

-...

He just saw everyone looking at him!

"Haha, you really like that dish, huh."

Jerusha said with a laugh.

-Ugh...

And Zephyrus became slightly embarrassed because of this!

-meep meep...

Even Pyro was laughing at him!

"Pfft..."

Raye laughed too, remembering Old Man Rey’s words just now about Zephyrus being fat!

And seeing this...

"You guys are mean."

Zephyrus declared that, feeling betrayed!

Fwoosh—

And then he flew away with his tiny wings!

Zephyrus looked like a flying white cotton candy! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

’He’s so cute.’

Raye and the others thought, watching him get away.

*****

After Zephyrus flew away from everyone...

"I’ll be going back to the cabin first. I’ll process the meat that I left behind earlier."

Old Man Rey said that.

-Meep!

Pyro also decided to come with him. After all, he is the Old Man’s bodyguard.

And so with that...

The two of them left.

"..."

"..."

Leaving Raye and Jerusha on their own!

’Hmm, I don’t know what to say.’

Raye thought, avoiding looking at Jerusha directly.

’We’re alone again. I’m getting nervous.’

Then Jerusha said in her head. She kept on glancing all over the place and onto the ground.

She’s looking at everything except Raye!

And so, normally...

"..."

An awkward silence covered them.

But breaking that silence...

"Erm... I’m going to eat first."

Raye muttered that.

"Ah..."

Jerusha was surprised by his words.

But immediately after that...

"Can I join you?"

She went and asked shyly!

"..."

Raye looked at her, and with a smile...

"Sure, I like being with you, after all."

He just went and said that!

"..."

Jerusha was silent, hearing his words.

Her face was turning red and her heart was beating fast!

She was so happy to know that Raye was happy with her presence.

And so, while blushing and with a smile...

"Hehe, I feel the same."

She simply replied to Raye.

*****

Except for the resting tent...

There’s actually another tent where the eliminated students can get free food while they were waiting for the competition to finish!

And it was full of fancy and expensive dishes!

But nevertheless...

"I like Mister’s cooking better."

"Same here."

Jerusha and Raye still decided that they wanted to eat the roasted deer meat that the Old Man brought and cooked!

So instead...

Raye just borrowed utensils for him and Jerusha from that tent.

And after that...

"Thanks for the food."

"Thank you."

Nom- nom- nom—

"Hmm, thish ish gooshd..."

"Yea... I agreesh!"

The two of them started eating while sitting side by side to each other on a fallen tree trunk.

As they were eating though...

"Where’s Devin and Kyle?"

Raye stopped for a second and asked that.

Gulp—

Jerusha swallowed the food in her mouth first, and after that...

"Kyle is busy in the store, and Devin was resting. He’s pretty beat up after the first round of the small tournament alongside the monster hunt competition that you guys are in."

She replied.

"Oh, is that so..."

Raye muttered.

"Did Devin win?"

He followed.

And with a big smile on her face...

"Of course. Devin is strong."

Jerusha smirked and mumbled that.

Raye was happy to hear that.

And after that...

Nom—

He started eating again.

...

Raye and Jerusha talked after eating, and they were happy to catch up with each other.

They were always awkward at first when left alone, but once they started talking...

They almost didn’t want to stop.

But not long after...

"Well, I should head back to the tent and get some rest now."

Raye said that with a weak smile. He’s really sleepy now after eating.

"Alright. See you later, Raye."

Jerusha replied warmly.

"Rest well!"

She added.

And with that...

"Thanks, see you later."

Tap- tap- tap—

Raye stood up and walked back to the resting tent.

...

After returning to the resting tent...

Raye lay down on the folding bed.

Exhaustion and lack of comfortable sleep from today’s events finally caught up to him.

"...I’ll just sleep for a while."

He mumbled to himself, closing his eyes.

Lycus and Lena were already asleep when he came back.

And soon...

Raye drifted off into a deep sleep too.

*****

After waking up a few hours later...

The sun was lower in the sky, and the resting tent was quieter than before.

Stretching his arms and yawning...

"Man, that was a good nap."

Raye muttered.

Then, looking around...

He noticed Leon, Lycus, Lena, and Allen were already awake.

And as a matter of fact, they were preparing to leave!

"I’m going back to my dorm. I’m still beat."

Leon mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, same here."

Allen followed.

"..."

Lycus and Lena were also feeling the same.

And noticing that everyone was planning to go back to their own places...

"Ehh, wait for me for a bit."

Raye stood up from the bed and started preparing to leave too.

"..."

The others just silently waited for him to finish.

And after a few minutes...

Tap- tap- tap—

The group—Raye, Leon, Lycus, Lena, and Allen—they left the resting tent.

They were still really tired.

...

Raye got back to the cabin not long, it’s not far away, after all.

And when he got there...

He found Old Man Rey busy, he’s cooking.

"You’re back, kid."

The Old Man greeted him without turning around.

"Yeah. You’re cooking dinner?"

Raye asked, stepping closer.

"Obviously. Sit down and wait. I can handle this."

The Old Man then said, waving him off.

But shaking his head...

"I’ll help. Let me do something."

Raye insisted that.

And even though Old Man Rey keeps pushing him away...

Raye still didn’t back down!

And so, in the end...

They finished preparing dinner together.

...

After cooking...

The two of them sat down at the table.

Pyro and Zephyrus joined them too.

-Meep!

Pyro chirped happily.

"Don’t eat too much, Zephyrus. You’ll get fat."

And then Raye teased, grinning!

-Ugh...

Zephyrus let out a small noise of protest but kept eating anyway.

And so, the four of them enjoyed their dinner together.

...

After finishing the meal and cleaning up...

"I’m heading to bed. Goodnight, Old Man."

Raye said that with a tired voice.

"Goodnight. Rest up."

Old Man Rey then simply replied to him, he’s a bit tired now too.

And with that...

Tap- tap- tap—

Raye headed to his room.

Phuff—

He immediately lay down on his bed.

His body was feeling heavy because exhaustion.

Raye then closed his eyes.

And just after a few seconds...

"..."

He lost consciousness.