I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 863: Breakfast Comes Alive

The avian beast landed on a flat mountainside overlooking the entrance of the gorge, leaving amazed students disembarking from its back. Some used the broad feathers like slides, grinning as they jumped on flat ground after the hours-long travel. Others kept glancing at the beast, as if their clumsy dismount might offend it. They most likely believed they were too young to visit its stomach, even for free.

Adam didn't bother with playing or consideration, simply condensing a flight of mana stairs to the ground. Elliot followed, gripping the strap of his satchel, eyes darting to every corner of their landing spot for hidden threats.

Though the boy lacked experience, Adam came to learn that his mother had never been short on stories about terrifying creatures. Demons, werebeasts, intelligent species. You name it, and Elliot would answer that she had scarred him one night with a story that made him fake sleep to escape the retelling.

For a long time, Elliot believed it was her way of putting him to bed. Now? He realised she might have strange tastes.

Seeing the boy's exaggerated alertness contrast with the other students' carelessness, Adam disagreed with it all. They were like the stories about bears, and wolves, and evil ghosts he told Julius back then—survival lessons disguised as stories.

A loving mother, no doubt.

Diane stepped down in front of them. At the soft clap of her hands, the students gathered, satchels filled with basic provisions bouncing at their sides or backs.

"Four teams of five." She glanced at Adam's headshake, understanding it. "Since a certain troublemaker plans to slip away anyway, one team will be a member short. Jonathan, think you can manage?"

Jonathan tucked his ink-stained fingers around his chin as he answered, "If Albert and Lan join my team to compensate for the missing member, yes."

The two named students went to Jonathan and Brad, grinning at their powerful composition.

Adam offered Diane a mischievous smile. "I can't hide anything from you, can I? Thank you, teacher."

He turned toward Elliot, who nodded without surprise. "I'll prove myself by scoring well without you." The boy flipped his satchel open, taking out and handing a handkerchief wrapped around four round items. "Quintella asked me to give you breakfast once we arrived. I don't know why not before, or while travelling, but here it is."

"I know you'll surprise everyone today. But safety first, alright?" Adam took the handkerchief with one hand, ruffling the boy's blond hair with the other.

For three months, he had helped Elliot build a castle of self-confidence one brick at a time. By now, they had laid the foundation, and walls began to rise. But the sturdiness of these walls had to be tested, or they'd discover they couldn't weather the rains and storms of life.

This field trip was exactly that.

He watched Elliot join a team of eager teenagers, then focused back on Diane. She placed a hand on her hip, raising her other palm skyward with an arched brow. "The teams are formed, so what are you waiting for? Go. You have seven days. Oh, I guess it's useless to tell you how disappointed I'll be if any of you fail."

The students exchanged competitive glances before rushing down the mountainous area.

Adam, too. He leapt down with a flip. Wind rustled his robes and hair as he hurled a mana thread against the left wall of the gorge. The spiky end dug into irregular rocks, and, with a firm yank, he swung over the river at the entrance. With another flip, he landed in a dense cluster of shrubbery.

Small animals and birds scrambled away with distressed cries. He ignored them all, his gaze locked on the first village. It towered on the flank of a slope a couple of kilometers to his right.

Polished wooden walls rose four times his height, rugged spikes jutting out of the dark thorns covering them. Beneath arched roofs lit by a brazier on the walls, greenish humanoids scrutinised the horizon. They were tall, with arms the size of his thighs and chests four hands broad across, shredded muscles proudly displayed beneath leather straps, fur, and plates of spiked metal fixed around their forearms, shoulders, and feet. At their waists, he saw battle axes, cleavers, and longswords; gripped tightly in their hands, large bone bows.

Not only did they look intimidating with their fangs protruding from their lower jaws, but they also bore long scars, proof that they were warriors forged in blood. Well-versed in siege strategy, considering the architecture and positioning of the watch outpost. Adam didn't doubt that anyone who tried to charge the walls would end up skewered. This was likely one of the last villages built after the orcs' expansion, a trifling outpost compared to what he would find deeper in the gorge.

He shook his head and started moving, not toward the village, but into the gorge. The other students could raid it. The true cultural treasures would surely be where Diane told them not to go: the largest villages halfway through the canyon.

Adam jumped from the shadow of a tree to a protruding boulder, his steps soundless, his figure barely exposed before fading again. He passed a few outposts, their sizes growing each time along with their weaponry. But the most glaring difference was the patrols.

Orcs mounted on scaled beasts circled their territory. Adam wrapped himself in refractive mana, turning invisible to avoid them, then continued until he reached a village from which drumbeats reverberated across the air in an entrancing rhythm.

Taller walls with siege weapons lining the gates. The rest was about the same, including the patrols. He followed one of them, waiting until a helmeted orc roared something that sounded like guttural gibberish before dismounting and leaving his team for the shade of a boulder.

Hidden behind it, the orc pulled his tassets down. A wet sound and the pungent scent of urea spread in the surroundings.

Adam sighed. Shameful to strike now, but would the orc feel better if he killed it after he finished pissing? Probably not.

With a wave of his hand, he gagged the orc with mana strings. The orc barely had time to let out a muffled roar before a spear carved his back open, impaling his heart before the tip poked out of his chest.

Before the orc's equipment could clang to the ground, Adam hefted him, stripped him of his gear, and then made the ground swallow his corpse, along with the few drops of blood that had dripped from the wound.

Knowledge about the orc's anatomy filled his mind, courtesy of Lulu's inherited ability of the Grimoire Beastaria. Before morphing, he removed his robes, shirt, and pants. A frown creased his brow when he felt the four items in his pocket—the forgotten breakfast.

Well, Quintella would feel sad if he didn't eat it. He unwrapped the handkerchief, then threw the first macaron in his mouth. Sweat and pistachio cream merged with the mellow dough. The second and third macarons vanished as fast as the first, lemon and strawberry flavored this time.

The fourth... felt weird to the touch. First, it had black hair, and second, it shivered against his palm. The fur ball unwrapped itself like a packed gift, raising tiny paws with a delighted giggle.

"Bao?!" Adam gasped at the baby panda, who nodded cutely. "What the..."

On the handkerchief, he saw Quintella's uneven writing.

"Since I can't accompany you, Bao will. Take care of her, big brother. I hope her presence will warm your field trip... and make you think about me."

"Quintella..." Adam massaged his brow, his chest warm, but his lips twisted.

Bao cut through his torn feelings by jumping onto his shoulder. She pointed a clawed finger at his naked body before covering her eyes with a grimace divided between disgust and awe.

At least, she hadn't seen the orc's...