"You're back already? And why did you bring home so much stuff?"
When Kael and the others returned to the Polar Star Dormitory, Fumio Daimido couldn't help smiling at the sight of their arms full of bags.
"These are all treasures! The hunt went amazingly well. Kael took down ten wild boars and even a bear. There's a ton of boar meat and bear meat in here."
Yuki Yoshino spoke excitedly about Kael's haul. And that didn't even include the smaller game he shot along the way—there were so many that Kael kept only a little and gave the rest to the hunting team.
"What? You're telling me Kael hunted TEN boars AND a bear?"
Everyone in the dorm froze. They had assumed Kael would tag along and maybe shoot some rabbits or pheasants. Instead, he came back with the culinary equivalent of a boss fight.
Ten boars? A bear? What kind of fairytale was this?
"Strictly speaking, it was three large boars and seven smaller ones," Kael clarified. Ten boars wasn't wrong, but it did invite… misunderstandings.
"That's still insane. Ten boars and a bear?"
Ryoko Sakaki couldn't hide her awe.
"Yeah! And how'd you hunt them? A gun?" Soma Yukihira asked, suddenly fired up.
"Not a gun—this."
Alice Nakiri pointed to a long cloth bag beside the Seven-Star Knives case.
"What's that?"
"A bow. It belongs to Yuki's family. Kael hunted using this bow, and Yuki's father gave it to him as thanks for helping her improve her cooking."
Alice pulled the bow out of the bag as she spoke. Just like she said, Yuki Yoshino's father had gifted it to Kael—not only in gratitude for all his help, but because no one else could even pull the bowstring. Only Kael could draw it with ease.
Yuki's father clearly understood social favors very well.
"That's huge. Can I try it?" Soma looked eager but still turned to Kael for permission.
"Go ahead. But it's not easy to draw."
Soma grabbed the bow and immediately strained every muscle… only for the string to move the tiniest bit.
"This is ridiculous! I used all my strength and it barely budged!"
He gave up. One glance made it obvious—this bow was completely out of his league.
"I wanna try too."
Satoshi Isshiki stepped up with a grin—but his attempt ended exactly like Soma's.
They were strong, sure, but still ordinary people. And this was a two-stone bow requiring more than a hundred kilos of force to pull.
"You two can forget it. A two-stone bow needs over a hundred kilos of draw strength," Yuki said, amused.
"Over a hundred kilos? Can a human even use that?" Soma's jaw practically hit the floor.
"Of course. Kael uses it easily. In fact, with this bow in his hands, he's basically a sniper. Every boar he shot was killed with a single arrow to the eye."
"And that five-hundred-kilo bear? Shot right in the eye and the mouth."
Alice described Kael's hunting performance—using his Divine Hearing like a radar, firing arrow after arrow with perfect accuracy, taking down ten boars in seconds.
They hadn't seen the bear hunt themselves, but judging from the wounds… the bear must've died in utter despair.
"Every arrow to the eye? And ten arrows in seconds? And the bear weighed more than five hundred kilos? What kind of monster is Kael?!"
The more they heard, the more unreal it sounded. But when Kael casually drew the impossible bow to full length right in front of them… they had no choice but to believe it.
"The bear paw is huge… it's bigger than my whole face."
Everyone stared at the massive paw in shock.
"Alice, let Senzaemon-sama know. We'll have bear paw for dinner tomorrow night. It can't sit too long." Kael said.
Preparing bear paw took time—tomorrow was the earliest they could eat it.
"I've never eaten bear paw in my entire life… this is gonna be a treat."
Fumio chuckled, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh right—someone delivered a bunch of medicinal herbs this morning. That was for you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Alice, the medicine will only be ready tomorrow."
Seeing the anticipation in Alice's eyes, Kael explained.
"I'm not that desperate," she tried to say calmly, though her excitement was obvious.
"You're making medicine for Alice? Is she sick?" Ryoko asked in confusion, and the others looked at Alice with concern.
"No, it's not for an illness," Alice explained. "It's a medicine that enhances eyesight. Kael can make a special eye-enhancing formula—and the main ingredient is fresh bear bile."
Everyone finally understood. They were surprised, of course, but not jealous. Alice had helped Kael a lot—and the bear bile belonged to him. Who he used it on was his business.
"What about the bear pelt? With a bear that size, the pelt must be amazing."
"It's at Yuki's place. Her family knows how to process leather, so they'll handle it. Once it's done, they'll send it over."
Kael wasn't giving that away. A bear pelt was valuable.
After dividing the meat among the dorm members—earning cheers all around—Kael headed back to his room to prepare the medicine for Alice.
Making this formula didn't take long, but the proportions had to be perfect. Even a tiny mistake would turn it into poison—ruining the eyesight instead of enhancing it.
Kael had also asked for extra herbs as a safeguard. Even if the Nakiri family wanted to learn the recipe, they couldn't. Especially because the key ingredient—fresh bear bile—was nearly impossible to acquire. Dried bear bile was useless.
After half an hour, he finished a small vial of glowing green medicine. Then he began processing the bear paw.
Normally it took days, but with the Kaiyu inheritance, Kael knew how to drastically shorten the time. By tomorrow night, it would be ready to eat.
───
The next morning, Kael walked into the main hall. Alice was already there.
She definitely hadn't slept much.
"You look like you stayed up all night. Here's how to use it—treat it as eyedrops. One drop in each eye, morning and night, for one month."
"During that month, your sight will steadily improve until it reaches its limit. Even if you made another batch, it won't go any further."
Alice nodded quickly and applied the drops immediately.
A cool sensation washed through her eyes. Everything became sharper, clearer.
"Just one use and my eyes already feel stronger… it's incredible."
She was truly amazed—and deeply grateful. Even if this wouldn't awaken a Special Ability, having vision beyond normal humans was more than enough.
With her talent plus this new sight, her future achievements were guaranteed.
She clenched her fists, fired up. The Autumn Elections were coming. She intended to shine.
Yes—Kael would definitely take first place, but that only meant everyone else would fight for the spotlight beneath him.
When the others woke up later, they were shocked by the medicine's effect. Of course, they didn't have any themselves—but they congratulated Alice sincerely. Jealousy just didn't exist among Polar Star's residents.
Since they were hosting guests for dinner, everyone began prepping ingredients. While helping out, Alice suddenly noticed something on Soma's face.
"Soma, what happened to your face?"
Only then did Yuki notice the bruise. Yesterday they were too busy unloading meat and talking about Kael's hunt to pay attention.
Kael had noticed—but wasn't surprised. When they left for Yuki's home, Soma had gone to visit Jun Shiomi.
Back when Jun first enrolled in the dorm, Joichiro Saiba used her as a guinea pig for all kinds of bizarre dishes. And because Jun was adorably airheaded back then, she fell for the same tricks over and over. She suffered a lot at his hands.
So when she encountered Joichiro's son… she didn't hesitate.
In the original story, Jun knocked Soma out cold the moment he said "Saiba Joichiro."
Soma's bruise was clearly from that punch.
"Yeah… all thanks to my idiot dad."
Soma sighed, touching his swollen cheek.
"Your father? Joichiro-senpai? He came back and punched you?" Yuki asked, stunned.
"No, he didn't come back. He tricked me into visiting someone he wronged. I introduced myself… and she punched me."
Fumio nodded knowingly.
She knew all about the history between Jun Shiomi and Joichiro. Even after all these years, just hearing Joichiro's name triggered her.
All she could do was sigh. "That man really caused trouble… poor kid. The psychological damage must've been enormous."