Chapter 35: Skirt and Hunting Trips
"Alex, how are you still fine?" Sophia curiously asked as she tried to get up but failed.
"Yeah, how are you still getting out of bed?" Mary asked in jealousy.
"I just exercise. What can I say?"
Seeing Alex heading out to wash their faces, Katherine turned her attention back to the girls, who had finally got up from the bed.
But both of them couldn't stand up, which made her realize how much they had walked yesterday.
"Just relax, okay? Mommy is going to solve it."
As Katherine closed her eyes, she began chanting something that caused a green light to appear.
The two girls could feel the sore disappearing, almost fully back to normal, as Katherine opened her eyes again.
"You two feel better now?"
Both of them nodded, finally getting off the bed as they stretched out their body a little.
"Mom, can you teach us that?" Sophia asked curiously, and Mary looked just as curious.
"Not now. Go wash your face first, okay?"
After Katherine kicked them out of the tent, she began taking her pajamas off before going inside her backpack to change.
Just as she was about to put her clothes back on, all three of them came back inside.
"Forgot we left our clothes in here."
Both of the girls didn't look at Katherine a single bit as they headed straight to their backpacks and began changing inside.
But Katherine noticed Alex kept turning his eyes rapidly, almost as if he was trying to hide the fact that he was looking at her naked body.
After she put her bra and her clothes back on, Alex finally stopped looking at her and turned his attention back to his backpack.
"Alex, what's wrong? You looking for something in your backpack?" Katherine asked as she rested her hand on top of his shoulder.
"I-I'm just looking for something to cover my legs." Alex nervously replied as he started digging inside his backpack again.
"But you're already wearing leggings. Your leg is already covered."
Alex fell into silence, not wanting to admit that the leggings were a bit small around the crotch.
It was clearly meant for women, with an obvious outline that made it impossible to hide anything.
"No wonder why men always wear shorts underneath their men's leggings..."
After an internal fight in his head, he reluctantly took out the knee skirt from the backpack.
"Alex, you..."
Katherine looked a little shocked as Alex finally put on a skirt for the first time in his life.
Sophia and Mary, who just finished changing, both turned their attention to Alex as well.
"S-Stop looking at me. This is all your fault."
Alex shyly covered his face in embarrassment as all three of them kept staring at him.
Seeing him wearing a girl's outfit, with his short hair and feminine face, made it almost look like a little girl rather than a boy.
"Alex, you're so cute! I never knew I could have a brother this cute! You almost look just like me!"
Sophia suddenly ran up to Alex in excitement, hugging him before the other two finally snapped back to reality.
"Brother is actually wearing a skirt," Mary murmured, still unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Alex, you don't look that bad in this. You should wear this more often——"
"Hell no! I'm never doing this again."
Alex instantly interrupted Katherine, his face still blushing red as he let out a sigh of relief inside his head.
The skirt was at least enough to hide the outline, just enough as long as he calmed himself down.
"Ahem, let's go hunting now."
---
As Katherine led the three back to the forest, Alex slowly got used to the wind blowing past his leggings.
It was much warmer than he expected compared to the pants he usually wears.
"Okay, you three ready? There's an animal within ten steps from us."
All three of the kids nodded to show they were ready, but they couldn't see a single animal.
Suddenly, a barrier appeared behind Sophia's head as it blocked a stone being thrown at her.
As they all turned to their back, they still couldn't see what was the thing that threw the stone.
"Where is the animal?" Sophia asked in confusion, and the other two were just as confused, as everything around them was just trees and vegetation.
"You can't use your eyes in a forest to see it. For now, you guys can use your mana to detect living beings around you."
All three couldn't understand what Katherine meant until they felt the mana in the air becoming unstable.
It was almost as if someone was scanning all the elements and moving the mana around them.
"Just let your mana go freely rather than letting it stay inside your body. Then try just to direct the mana in a random direction."
After following Katherine's instructions, they could feel the mana giving visual feedback into their mind as they absorbed it back in.
They could sense a clear hitbox of everything that they sent their mana toward.
From the solid tree to the ground, even to the birds watching from above and their family members.
Most importantly, they finally noticed the animal hiding next to a tree where they had just come from.
It was a small boar in the process of casting another stone as their mana gave them back the visual feedback into their heads.
Without any hesitation, Sophia was the first to cast a spell to direct a rock right back at the boar.
A loud ugh sound could be heard before the boar dropped dead as the rock pierced right through its head.
"Good job, Sophia... Alex and Mary, you two need to do it faster, okay? Don't try to reserve your mana."
Both of them nodded in agreement, as they now realized most of the mana would always come back to them in the end.
"Now, get ready to scan your surroundings occasionally. We're going to keep going until we find something else better."
As the three headed down the path and took turns after the mana in the air stabilized, they figured out a pattern to minimize mana loss.
"Remember, do not use your mana to scan in public or at any living settlement.
It's considered rude and might even lead to trouble. One of my classmates was turned into an ordinary person after he scanned an archmage."
Seeing the three nodding and noting it in their head, Katherine continued down the path until all four of them stopped.
This time, Katherine didn't need to say anything as all three of them cast a rock spell towards the side.
"Nice, you three are getting the hang of it... Look like we can pack it up now."
Katherine stepped into the bush before dragging out a rabbit-like animal that was severely bruised by the stones.
"Can we hunt more?" Alex curiously asked, feeling a little unsatisfied with just a small animal.
The other two supported him as well, wanting to hunt something bigger than just rabbits.
"Too bad. Unless you guys don't want to explore the dungeon."
None of them spoke up again as they headed back all the way to the camp.
The three watched as Katherine began teaching them how to skin and remove all the meat from the small animals.
None of them were disturbed at all, as they had already seen live animals being killed back in their hometown.
After gathering all the meat, Katherine pulled out a pan and a bottle of animal oil from her pocket dimension.
As she began to cook the meat, they could smell the flavorful smell coming from it.
"You guys are lucky we killed this Lunibbit. They usually are super agile and hard to kill.
They are one of the best animals to get in the wild, as their flesh is perfectly tender yet firm enough to feel full."
With the food fully cooked and seasoning added, Katherine handed each of them a fork to eat straight out of the pan.
"Hmm. This is so good!" Sophia excitedly pointed out as she chewed down a small piece of the meat.
Both Alex and Mary had the same thought as they chewed down a small piece as well.
Katherine only took a small piece just for a taste before letting them finish up the rest.
"Okay, here's your milk for today. Are you all ready to go explore the dungeon?"
All three of them said yes as they drank down the milk that Katherine handed over from her pocket dimension.
"Great. Then let's go back inside."
As Katherine got up from the ground, the other three quickly followed.
This time, they didn't really need to make a light as the sun outside was perfectly angled to light their way in.
With the two statues switched back to the correct position, the stone entrance began to open once again.
"Wait, You guys can't explore a dungeon with only three mages. Someone needs to act as the knight in the front."
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