Kotori hurried to leave her short alcove and began to search for a source of food. The forest was quiet. The lizard was unlikely to be near. She was still very tense. At any moment, she could once again be running for her life.

[What Am I going to eat though] She wondered

When she was in the village Kotori would often eat assorted food that was foraged from the forest by the men of the village.

When she moved through the forest, she saw some similar-looking plants. But was unable to ascertain if they were the same as the ones that she ate.

Kotor was especially wary of the mushrooms since she knew if she ate a poisonous mushroom it would likely doom her.

She gave a few plant tentative bites and once she thought it tasted close enough, she began to gather them. She tried to avoid moving too much as to not alert the monster. Collecting a few different plants, she began to have enough and started to prepare to find water.

She found a gurgling stream nearby and also filled her small waterskin.

As she was beginning to head back, she heard a rustling and stiffen.

Kotori grabbed her father’s flutes and prepared herself

[This feels familiar] She thought as she looked around

[wait wasn't it like this with Amelie before?]

"Amelie is that you?" she asked into the still forest

She heard another rustling and soon an orange haired head poked out of the bush.

"Hi," Amelie said

She sounded very enthusiastic but looked very tired. There were bags under her eyes. And her clothes had rips in them. Amelie had a nice figure and Kotori was finally seeing it for the first time. Kotori tried to avoid any indecent thoughts and mentally pushed them away.

Amelie ignored Kotori's wandering eyes and was looking over at the food in Kotori's hands.

Kotori noticed her longing gaze. Amelie probably hadn't had time to eat either. 

"Wanna uhh… eat?"

She had foraged enough plants for dinner later, but if she split the portion it would be enough for two people. Kotori herself was only 6 years of age and thus didn't eat much anyway.

Kotori led Amelie to the tree alcove she had been hiding in earlier. When Kotori was hiding in it she felt there was plenty of room. Now with Amelie hiding in it with her, it was starting to feel unbearably cramped.

Kotori and Amelie began to crunch on the plants Kotori had collected. But she soon realized that although she had collected the plants, eating them was quite boring. So she had Shu make them mud bowls and she began breaking the plants down and making a simple salad. She used the leafier vegetable coupled with a fruit that was exclusive to this world. It was like a cross between an avocado and a tomato. The fatty flesh was surprisingly sour but it made a decent dressing all things considered. They used a few small sticks as makeshift forks and began to eat.

Munching on her salad Amelie began to recount what had happened when they split up. She was chased by the lizard for quite a bit and found out that the lizard was quite slow at making turns. She began to zig-zag to gain distance and with that distance, she found the time to climb up a tree. The lizard tried to jump up but was unable to and soon gave up, and that's how she got away.

[This girl is a damn monkey.]

The fact that Amelie had managed to climb a tree while being chased by a lizard was impressive.

[Wait doesn't that mean the lizard is actually quite easy to get away from]

If it was true the lizard had a slow turning radius then that would mean enough zigzags and a person would be able to get away from the lizard quite easily. This gave Kotori a thought. What if they tried to kill the lizard. She herself was unsure how this world worked in terms of monster kills. She knew that basic stats could be trained if one worked hard enough at them. She also knew that as a child she was still maturing physically and that her stats were also going up as a result of that. But she still didn't know what killing monsters would do. She wasn't even sure if this world had an EXP system in the first place.

But for some reason she felt like killing the monster would bring good things for her.

"Maybe we should kill the lizard"

Amelie looked at Kotori in shock.

"Are you sure you didn't eat any funny mushrooms Kotori?" She asked incredulously

"Mari's going to be here tomorrow we don't have to try anything risky"

Amelie was right. Killing the lizard would be an unnecessary risk but for some reason, Kotori felt compelled to do it. It didn't make sense but she instinctively knew that killing the lizard would help her in some way. It was unnatural and unnerved her but she still believed it was the right choice.

Amelie looked at her expression and sighed.

"I guess I can't help it. You look like you'll do it regardless of it I help or not" she said defeatedly

Indeed, Kotori was prepared to kill the lizard regardless of whether Amelie agreed to help or not.

"So how are we going to do it" Amelie asked?

Kotori had managed to think of a plan while eating. The lizard had high stats but no defensive capabilities. With the new information, they learned Kotori thought it would be possible for her to simply run and kite* the lizard with her [Magic Musician] skill. Kotori knew that her mana pool had expanded enough that she could likely be able to harry the lizard until it eventually died. She knew Amelie was also capable of using a small sling and thought that if she and Amelie worked together they could probably manage it.

*"Kite" is a gaming term that refers to attacking an enemy target while also running away. Ideally, this keeps them at a perfect distance away from you and looks similar to as if you were keeping them held like a "kite"

She told Amelie the plan and she slowly nodded.

"This seems stupid but I'll trust you"

Amelie gave her a grim expression that told Kotori she wasn't really ready to trust Kotori and only want to make sure Kotori didn't get hurt.

[This plan makes enough sense. I played enough games to know you can kill big slow targets like this]

Kotori was finally beginning to get a sense like this world was a game for the first time.

"Skill potential acquired: [Hunter!]"