17: The Hunting Party

Caleb carried the bucket of water along the way with his right hand. Even now, the other four couldn't believe what he was doing and how he was doing it with ease. Honestly, For Caleb, who has the strength of two adults combined, such a feat wasn't worth mentioning.

Just like that, half an hour passed with Caleb and the other four going back and forth from the well to the house, transporting buckets of water continuously. Due to Caleb, they managed to bring 15 buckets of water in such a short time.

"Johan, it seems your health is really getting better. But this is still unbelievable. Now, we're only short of five buckets, and our daily task is done!" Fatty said excitedly and raised his hands in the air in triumph.

Luna looked at Caleb and smiled at him.

"It's all thanks to Johan, really. I could still not believe it. Last week, he couldn't even complete three times going back and forth without stumbling along the way and looking exhausted. He wasn't even carrying anything, and he was just following us. Now, he can go back and forth fifteen times while carrying a bucket of water and he didn't look tired at all!"

Caleb shrugged.

'Damn it. These brats are too noisy.'

The shirtless one, whose name was Andre, flexed his biceps. Then he went beside Caleb and raised the hem of his sleeves. There Caleb's biceps were shown... Andre looked at his own vascular biceps and Caleb's toned one. Caleb's arms looked powerful, as if containing endless force. Not something that he had expected from him. In their group, Caleb has always been frail and sickly. Andre scratched his head and gave Caleb a confused look.

"This is unreasonable! How the heck did you grow muscles when I haven't seen you lifting anything!? Shit... Are you training some different stuff secretly?"

Andre let out a bitter laugh.

"From now on, you're the strongest in our group. With your contribution, we don't need to spend five hours of our time bringing water to the house. We can do it within one hour or just even half an hour like now! Still in our group, I have the highest chance of being selected for the hunting party. But now... It seems we are two now! Congrats Johan."

'Hunting party? What the hell is that!? Can't you give more explanation?' Caleb complained inwardly.

This time, the one with a chubby face glanced at Caleb with an envious expression. His name was Clifford. The one responsible for tying and untying the ropes.

"Hunting party! I also want to join that but I'm not strong enough. I won't even survive fighting those weakest dire wolves they hunt. With Johan's strength, he just needs to pass the test and he can become one of them! He can eat more shares of food, train with those adults, and have more say in the house!"

'It seems this so-called hunting party has the most important role in the group.' Caleb habitually caressed his chin as his mind began to wander. 'And they are the ones responsible for the food we eat.'

Now Caleb finally saw the entire picture of the situation in the house after the final piece appeared. The hunting party had the highest authority, and it was the most important part of the system. Without them, they all would just starve to death. Although Caleb didn't know what was going on, why were they in such a place far from civilization?

Andre put down the other bucket of water in his arm, breathed raggedly, and patted Clifford on the back. He smiled at Fatty and Luna.

"That's why you have to train guys. You know... It's too boring just carrying water every day. Let those darned old men do it themselves! They're just lazying around under the cover of monitoring! They obviously still have the sufficient strength to do such mundane tasks but they forced it upon us instead of receiving basic training with the adults!"

Luna nodded.

"I would also like to fight. But I'm a woman. Is there a chance to get as strong as you guys?"

Calen stopped in his tracks and stared Luna directly in the eye. He put down the bucket of water on the ground and seriously said:

"Don't underestimate yourself. You know, although women aren't as strong as men in terms of physicality, you guys are more flexible and agile if you train in the right way. And if it's just hunting beasts, physical strength might be important but that is not all that there is to fighting. Skill, style, weapon, and technique also play a major part, you know. If physical strength is really that important, humans wouldn't have stood at the top of the food chain for a long time, instead, it would have been grizzly bears or silver-back apes. It was our wits that made us strong, the tools we developed with it."

Suddenly, Luna, Fatty, Clifford, and Andre looked at him with strange expressions on their faces and asked in unison:

"Why do you know so much?"

With a shrug, Caleb coughed out of embarrassment. Why does he know so much? Of course, he lives a damn hundred lives fighting for his life but also dying repeatedly in every one of them! Not to mention, his father taught him how to fight personally. Unfortunately, he can't say it, can't he?

"Isn't it common sense? Look at the hunting party as an example..."

Andre raised his eyebrows. A second later, a look of enlightenment appeared on his face.

"Guys, Johan might be right! Look at Captain Fushigiro. He's not the best in terms of physical strength and yet he was the strongest in the hunting party and became the leader."

As he said this, a sly smile made its way to his face.

"Why do you guys think so?"

'Good save!' Caleb gave a thumbs up to Andre in his heart. Who knew that he would interpret his nonsense so perfectly?

Fatty has a look of disdain on his face. "Why so? Bastard, isn't Captain Fushigiro the strongest in terms of physical strength?"

"No..." Andre shook his head. "Jin has the strongest physique, not their captain."

Suddenly, Clifford raised his hand, and he had a confident look on his face. Caleb, Luna, Fatty, and Andre stared at him. After seeing the attention, Clifford straightened his back and said:

"Captain Fushigiro is the captain because of his combat IQ, tactics, and versatile battle style. He can take on Jin and three other members alone because he's always one step ahead of them in battle. He has a good grasp of the rhythm of the battle, even though in terms of physical strength, he's just the third."

"That's what Johan means!" Andre gave Clifford an approving nod.

With an amused expression, Caleb watched their interaction.

'That's what I mean? Well, in a nutshell.'