This Novel is not my Novel

"I'm honestly so embarrassed I can barely stand it. Ughhh—. It's partly my fault for failing to anticipate that you might take the treasure notes out of their capsules and hide them inside your clothes, so I won't lecture you any further... But now that I've recognized the problem, I can't simply ignore it. Even if I prohibit you from removing the treasure notes from their capsules, with the current method of stealing them, accidents like the one Pret just mentioned could occur all over the place. I'll have to revise the rules themselves somehow..."

As he said this, Bjorn swept his gaze across us as though looking at a band of delinquents who might cause another incident at any moment.

It felt as though we had lost a kind of trust that should never have been lost.

Just as I was lowering my head farther and farther, feeling both embarrassed and solemn,

I heard something that forced me to snap it back up.

"I'll need some time to think, so I'll explain the new rules before you resume training after your meal. For now, those who need to receive the punishment should come forward and collect their headbands."

"R-Right now?! Wasn't the punishment supposed to be during the afternoon training...?"

"It's past noon, so it's afternoon now, isn't it?"

"But this is lunchtime."

"Hm? Didn't the syllabus say that everything from eight in the morning until six in the evening counted as class time?"

"Ah......"

It certainly did.

That was also why Bjorn had the authority to decide what meals we would be provided.

How had I overlooked something so obvious?

The mountain is fairly large, so I was planning to spend four hours hiding diligently while avoiding everyone else's eyes...

I had never imagined he would include lunchtime in the punishment period.

Worse still,

judging by what had been written on the treasure notes, there was a very high chance we would all be making lunch together today.

If we had to cook together, situations where we needed to call one another by name would inevitably arise.

There is already someone who would deliberately call me even when there is no need...

The situation was dizzying enough as it was.

Yet my misfortune did not end there.

"Why... are you giving this to me...?"

Normally, "Cool Guy" was a label used for men, while "Pretty Girl" was used for women.

Bjorn shattered that stereotype.

He handed the female Helga a headband marked ★Cool Guy★, while giving me, a man, one marked ☆Pretty Girl☆.

His reason was as follows.

"It can't be helped, can it? Someone nicknamed 'Fire Fist' suits the title 'Cool Guy' far better than 'Pretty Girl.'"

"What kind of reasoning is that...?"

"Do you happen to have a cool nickname too? Then tell me. If it's cooler and stronger than 'Fire Fist,' I'll trade yours with Helga's."

The instant I heard that,

the first word that came to mind was an otaku term whose initials were "T-D-R."

The fact embarrassed me greatly, but also stirred a strangely complicated feeling.

It isn't as though I was actually called that very often...

Back when "I" was still a student, before possessing someone in this world,

I had many nicknames.

Since naming them outright might stir up the trauma of someone reading this—including the person narrating it—I will refrain from listing the specific words.

Some were related to my family circumstances or the color of my eyes.

Others were simply intended to insult my character.

All manner of derogatory names had often replaced my actual name.

Whether measured by frequency or by duration, not one of them had been used less often than "tsundere."

And yet... this is rather...

Perhaps it was because so much time had passed since I had been called those malicious and demeaning names.

Perhaps it was because one particular person had teased me so relentlessly that the power of human persistence had produced this result.

Or perhaps both had played a role.

In any case, none of those are words I can mention now.

Compared to the words once used to describe me,

"tsundere" could practically be considered a term of endearment, and it was not meant to insult me.

Even so, being called that still inspired embarrassment and shame.

More importantly, it did not sound even slightly cool.

"Helga. Do you like that headband?"

Instead of offering Bjorn a nickname,

I decided to ask Helga, who had received the ★Cool Guy★ headband, whether she was willing to trade.

"Of course I don't like it!"

"Then...!"

"But being called Cool Guy is less embarrassing than being called Pretty Girl, so I'm not trading."

As though warning me not to expect even the slightest concession,

Helga immediately put on the headband marked ★Cool Guy★ and drove the point home.

"Give up, Pretty Girl Tsundere Karvaldr."

"D-Do not combine all of those...!!"

Not only had I failed to gain anything, I had somehow made the situation worse.

"Tsundere? Is that Karvaldr's nickname? What does tsundere mean?"

Apparently, in this world, "tsundere" was classified as slang used by young people nowadays.

The middle-aged mercenary professor expressed his confusion, and the embarrassing protagonist of someone else's novel eagerly explained the word's meaning.

After hearing it, Bjorn muttered,

"If that's °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° what it means, perhaps I should have given Karvaldr this headband instead?"

He then pulled a headband marked ♥Cutie♥ out of his Inventory.

As he looked at me, his eyes showed that he was seriously considering switching them even now.

To defend possession of the ☆Pretty Girl☆ headband, I had no choice but to put it on immediately.

Being called Pretty Girl would at least be less embarrassing than being called Cutie.

"Now that the owners of the headbands have been decided, let's move on. You've all checked what the 'treasures' really are, so you must have realized that you'll be making lunch yourselves today."

"Professor, may I ask a question?"

The person raising her hand to speak was last year's top-ranked student.

"During our previous class, you taught us that we should always keep preserved food in our Inventories. Why are you making us cook now?"

"Good question. As expected of a Cool Guy."

"......"

Helga's face instantly filled with regret, as though she were wondering whether she should have simply stayed quiet.

However, even after seeing her reaction, Bjorn showed no sign of teasing her and continued in a serious tone.

"There are three main reasons. The first is to prepare for a situation where you fail to properly check the food's shelf life and all of it spoils. Though that can be prevented easily enough if you stay alert."

In truth, that was little more than a nominal reason.

It existed to remind us not to grow complacent merely because food could be preserved for a long time and to check its condition regularly.

"The second is that there are any number of situations in which you might run short on food. A Demon Realm expedition could last longer than expected, you could become isolated and have to endure for an extended period, or a new Demon Realm could form around you before you've had time to replenish the food consumed in the previous one."

After mentioning these practical problems,

Bjorn added,

"To properly prepare for those situations, I should really have you gather ingredients yourselves from the mountain... But I don't think you're ready for that yet. So today's treasure hunt was conducted under the assumption that a Demon Realm had formed in an inhabited area."

Then he revealed the third and most decisive reason.

"The third is that a special Demon Realm where 'Inventories cannot be used' has recently appeared."

"......!"

A Demon Realm where Inventories could not be used?

Nothing like that had existed in the original novel I read.

That meant it was a new setting added by the original author during the remake.

Then I need to sufficiently practice not only my fighting style of instantly drawing thrown weapons from my Inventory, but also a more conventional method of combat.

It was fortunate that I had received advance warning instead of simply being thrown into such a Demon Realm without preparation.

Even so, it was an enormous headache.

Still, if spatial abilities themselves aren't restricted and only one of the functions granted through awakening becomes unavailable...

Yor's wish-granting orb might still be usable.

No. If spatial abilities were blocked, then Fjodora would be unable to use 【Spatial Leap】.

Therefore, it was clearly only the Inventory function that would become unavailable.

I'll have to ask Yor's permission and stock more food inside her wish-granting orb.

The sudden thought occurred to me that perhaps the original author had added this setting precisely because Yor possessed the wish-granting orb.

How dare the original author attempt to exploit my baby dragon's ability without permission?

It was deeply displeasing.

"Since the subject has come up, I'll explain in advance. Next week, we'll conduct training to prepare for the possibility of entering a Demon Realm where Inventories cannot be used. So make sure you're prepared."

With that, Bjorn finished answering Helga's question.

Then he returned to what he had been saying earlier.

"That should be enough explanation. Let's divide into cooking teams and start preparing the meal!"

"We aren't all cooking together?"

"If nine people all cling to one dish, someone is bound to have nothing to do. So you'll split into teams, each prepare a dish, and then share everything together."

This time, Pret raised the question, and Bjorn immediately answered him as well.

"This way, even if one team ruins its dish, you can avoid going hungry. And if both teams do well, you'll get to eat two different dishes. That's good for you too, isn't it?"

"Oh~! That's true! Then how are we dividing the teams? Are we drawing lots again like last time?"

"No. This time, the two people who obtained the most ingredients will serve as representatives and take turns selecting team members. That way, each team will be guaranteed at least a minimum amount of ingredients."

Since we were going to share everything in the end anyway, it would have been better to pool all the treasure notes and let everyone use all the listed ingredients together.

Apparently, however, Bjorn intended to impose a restriction that each team could use only the ingredients obtained by its own members.

How petty.

"I found nineteen treasures. Did anyone find more than me?"

No one answered Pret.

Everyone merely reacted with shock.

I was no exception.

I had assumed he had secured more treasures than anyone else, but I had not expected quite that many.

"Huh? Why is everyone so surprised? Don't tell me no one found close to as many as I did. How many did the rest of you find?"

In response to Pret's question, everyone except Helga and me, who had nothing, revealed their totals.

Sveinn, Vigdís, and Ríolíkin each had exactly five.

Lissy had six, Fjodora had seven,

and Reisir had eight.

That damned protagonist of someone else's novel had anticipated the possibility that I might fail to find a single treasure.

Even then, he had intended to make absolutely certain that he avoided punishment himself, which meant he had secured five treasures before setting out to find me.

The realization was so infuriating that I glared at him.

"Professor! Pret found far more ingredients than I did, so please let me choose a team member first! I think that would make the teams more balanced!"

The protagonist of someone else's novel was too busy arguing with Bjorn for first pick to care how I was looking at him.

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