"Your name is Erdrich, right?" Wondered Patricia.
"Eh? Ah, yes." Erdrich felt surprised someone was talking to him other than us.
He had a rather bad reputation in the class, even though he was very nice and calm, everyone was always afraid of him due to being a half-demon. Nobody bullied him or something, they were afraid after all, but they evaded him like the plague.
However Patricia out of the blue decided to talk with him. I am no gossiper or something, but when it comes to matters between my friends, I do get… slightly interested.
"Those moves you did… And that tyrannical, wrathful aura… Those fists you used, and those amazing kicks… And your well-toned body, filled with such beautiful muscles…" Patricia said, blushing with fascination. "Y-You were… amazing…"
"E-Eh?!" Erdrich felt shocked. The most manly ant tomboyish girl in the class, with a harsh and silent personality and with origins as a commoner similar to us suddenly showed an amazing interest on him. "I-Is that so? Well… I learned it from Blake, he taught me those techniques but I mastered them and changed them around, making my own battle techniques."
"I see!" Patricia seemed surprised, giving me glances as well, but mostly being focused on Erdrich. "I know its awkward coming out of nowhere… But can we be friends?"
"Huh? Why out of the blue?" Asked Erdrich.
"I just… I…" Patricia showed her more feminine side, many other students were left speechless.
"Wait a minute Patricia, we'll give him back to you right away." I said, dragging Erdrich with me. Eric also came.
"What the heck do you want?" Erdrich felt annoyed.
"Hey dumbass! What are you doing?! Just say yes!" I facepalmed.
"Huh?! Why?!" Erdrich was more oblivious than I imagined.
"Sigh… I've always thought you were a bit oblivious, but you're seriously dumb." Eric sighed.
"Eh? Why are you two bastards picking on me now?" Erdrich wondered while crossing his arms.
"She likes you!" Eric slapped Erdrich's head.
"Ah? She… oh." Erdrich quickly realized it. "But she's being so weird about it…"
"I saw her fascinated when you fought, she really likes your muscles too. Just accept her friendship." I sighed. "You can trust her, I've researched the background of all the students in our classroom, she's affiliated with Clarice's country and was a former guard and soldier."
"Y-You're a creepy bastard sometimes." Erdrich muttered. "Fine… Ugh, not like we'll marry or something, but fine."
Erdrich quickly went back to his girl.
"Sure, let's be friends I guess…" Erdrich blushed a bit.
"Ahhh! Nice!" Patricia said. "H-Here!"
Patricia suddenly gave him something I saw her carrying around, a sandwich she made herself. Her eyes seemed filled with honesty, and I made extra sure she wasn't some cultist spy by reading her mind a bit, she was just… genuinely interested.
She just had a big obsession with strong people, and liked Erdrich due to his manliness and incredible strength. It seemed she was the only one here that didn't gave a damn he was half demon.
"Thank you, it's good." Erdrich sighed, eating the sandwich.
"R-Really? I am glad…" Patricia said with a warm smile.
Erdrich couldn't help but blush a bit, these were all first experiences for him. She's rough at socializing though, going straight to the point.
"D-Did you see how Patricia get?" Clarice wondered.
"I-I've never seen her talk this much." Clark said.
"She's… is she in love with the demon boy?" Wondered Alianna.
"So cute…" Mimy smiled.
"Man, I want a girl too…" Ashen sighed, the other girls quickly glanced at him with cringe clear in their faces. "W-What?"
Like that, as Erdrich seemed to finally begin his romantic life, we continued our journey, finally reaching the end of the cliff's road and into the depths of the canyon.
"We're here." I said, as I used Familiar Connection to check the area with Falcos and Huggins, I had mostly scanned the entire place and made a mental map which I quickly scribbled into my own grimoire. I painted red all the spots I saw with monsters and demons. There were four more.
I showed the map I made using the familiars to everyone, showing them the amazingness of being a Summoner once more.
"These are the four spots leftover with the highest concentrations of monsters left. We will continue straight from one to the other, taking small breaks in between because all of you are too weak." I sighed. "We'll first go to the Rock Goblins' nest. They're all D- Rank with D+++ Rank Rock Goblin King, so it's not going to be easy."
"Rock Goblins? Never heard of them before…" Clarice said cluelessly.
"Me neither…" Said Alianna.
The rest of the students seemed clueless, but Eric quickly began reading his monster encyclopedia we bought for a very expensive price in the city.
"Rock Goblins are powerful Earth Attribute Ogre-type monsters. Their bodies are muscular unlike normal goblins, and they are covered by natural rocky armor, so physical attacks are quite ineffective if they don't have defense ignoring capabilities." Eric said. "It is recommended to use Water Attribute Magic to damp them and then lightning to electrify them.
Though anything would do if we all gang on them. We need to be careful of their earth magic though."
"I see…" Clarice nodded. "Wait where did you even got that book?"
"Huh? I bought it for a 500k Gold in the market." Eric said with a carefree smile.
"500K?!" Everyone panicked once more.
"N-Not even I, as a noble, get that much allowance…" Clarice sighed.
"Well, we make money working by selling products we make using alchemy…" Laughed Eric. "You guys should really stop relying on your families to make money, hahaha!"
Eric roasted them harder than I imagined from his usually gentle nature…
And like that, we moved forward, reaching the entrance of the Rock Goblin Nest, there were four goblins on guard outside.
"I'll infiltrate first using my skills and open the way for everyone to enter." I told the students. "Eleanora, Saphira, Hendrick, come with me."