Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 142: Hazard Reduction

"Wake up, replacement."

I groaned, burying my face straight into the thin, lumpy pillow.

Jian had relieved me from the first watch at exactly two in the morning.

The guy had swaggered up to the dark basin entrance with his sword already drawn, looking like he fully expected to duel the shadows themselves. I, on the other hand, had stumbled upstairs, found an empty bunk, and immediately passed out.

"It’s barely six," I grumbled, squinting up at the stoic archer standing at the foot of my bed.

"Breakfast," Toris stated flatly. Then he turned around and walked right out the door.

I let out a long, exhausted sigh, swinging my legs over the side of the mattress to stretch my stiff back.

Dragging my feet across the floorboards, I shuffled into the attached bathroom and splashed some freezing water onto my face just to forcefully reboot my brain.

[Four hours of sleep...] I noted internally, staring at my dripping reflection in the cracked mirror. [Peak operational efficiency.]

Drying my face with a rough towel, I grabbed my jacket and the shotgun, and headed downstairs.

The second I pushed open the doors to the ground-floor mess hall, a massive wall of noise hit me right in the face. It smelled heavily of fried meat, coffee, and unwashed dwarves.

The room was absolutely packed. The entire Iron Vanguard security detail sat crammed onto the long wooden benches alongside dozens of broad-shouldered miners, creating a chaotic, surprisingly cheerful morning feast. Wooden plates clattered. Tankards slammed. Loud, booming laughter echoed off the reinforced walls.

I grabbed a steaming bowl of thick porridge and a chunk of crusty bread from the dwarven mess lady, offering her a polite nod before navigating the crowded room toward the Iron Vanguard’s designated table.

I did a quick mental headcount as I approached, finally putting faces to the complete roster. Garek sat at the head of the table as the sole B-Rank, with Selene, the cat girl, seated quietly beside him, while a thug-like brute sat on Garek’s other side.

An unfamiliar, heavily scarred E-Rank sat across from the brute, rounding out the senior team.

Toris, Elara, and Jian occupied the far end. But no Mitsuki in sight.

"This is Nico," Garek grunted, gesturing vaguely toward me with his spoon. "The last-minute F-Rank replacement."

I barely had time to nod before the D-Rank thug leaned back in his chair. He crossed his thick, tree-trunk arms over his chest, looking me up and down with a greasy, condescending sneer.

"Hey, rookie," the D-Rank grunted, kicking out a leg to physically block my path. "I’m thirsty. Bring me-"

"Sorry," I deadpanned, casually stepping right over his leg to take the empty seat beside Jian. "... Can’t help with that. See, I just peed about ten minutes ago."

The entire table went dead silent.

Toris completely stopped chewing. Elara’s eyes went impossibly wide. Jian actually choked on his own spit, aggressively thumping his chest as he stared at me like I had just signed my own death warrant.

The D-Rank’s sneer instantly melted off his face before flushing a dangerous, violent shade of red, making the temperature around the table practically drop below freezing.

It was a standard rookie shakedown. I knew that. But my brain was fundamentally, instinctively hardwired to never take shit from people for no good reason.

I dipped my wooden spoon into my bowl, scooped up a glob of porridge, and took a casual bite, maintaining absolute, unwavering eye contact with the furious D-Rank.

[Do it...] I thought, chewing the bland mush with a completely blank expression.

The thug bared his teeth. He planted his massive hands on the table, shifting his weight to stand up and escalate the situation to physical violence.

But before his rear even left the bench, Garek’s massive, callused hand slammed down onto the table with enough force to splinter the grain.

"Sit down, Brant."

Garek didn’t even look at the D-Rank. His intense, bloodshot eyes were locked entirely on me.

Everyone else at the table probably thought Garek was stepping in to protect the squishy new rookie from getting his skull caved in.

But looking at the sheer, undeniable panic tightening Garek’s jaw, I knew the actual truth.

He wasn’t protecting me at all.

Brant’s face twisted into an ugly snarl, his thick neck practically bulging as he opened his mouth to roar, but Garek beat him to it.

"I need you out in the forest!" Garek stated loudly, his commanding rumble completely drowning out the D-Rank’s impending tantrum as he kept his eyes glued to my face.

"We need fresh rations..." Garek continued without missing a single beat, speaking just a fraction too fast. "Before the sun sets tonight, most of the Magic Beast population is going to migrate entirely outside the borders of the Outsider’s territory to avoid the Outsider. They will take about a week to return, and we currently only have enough rations to last four days, so I need you to hunt two days’ worth of game before sundown."

I gave a slow nod, instantly understanding exactly what the massive Cultivator was trying to pull.

If he wasn’t sitting in the middle of a crowded mess hall, petty bullshit like what just happened with Brant would have already escalated into a bloodbath, and my entirely abnormal conditions would be out in the open.

Getting me out of the camp was just hazard reduction on Garek’s part.

"How many people are we feeding?" I asked, casually setting my wooden spoon down.

"One hundred and thirty-two," Garek answered bluntly. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[That’s a lot of people...] I thought, but still agreed to the massive quota without a second of hesitation.

[If I actually come up short or can’t find anything to kill, I can just buy a few dead Magic Beasts straight from the System Shop.]

"Hold on, Captain," Jian suddenly interjected, leaning forward with a deeply concerned frown. "Perhaps I should accompany him. Hunting enough meat to feed one hundred and thirty-two grown men for two days is an impossible task for a single F-Rank rookie. And even if by some miracle he manages to fell beasts, transporting the carcasses back to the camp is another challenge entirely."

"No," Garek rejected the offer instantly, his tone leaving absolutely zero room for negotiation. "Nico goes alone."

I leaned back in my chair, genuinely admiring the sheer, multi-layered wisdom of the Cultivator’s play.

To everyone else sitting at the table, it looked exactly like Garek was heavily punishing the disrespectful new rookie, perfectly satiating their bruised egos.

But in reality, he was just keeping them safely out of my hair.

I had completely liquidated his nervous system in open combat just yesterday. Even if neither of us had been fighting seriously, that alone was enough to prove to Garek that I could handle a hunting trip by myself.

"I’ll get to it..." I sighed, pushing my chair back and standing up from the bench. "I lost my appetite anyway. Thanks to a certain someone."

I shifted my gaze right back to Brant before picking up my near-full bowl of porridge.

Walking around the table, I deliberately passed right behind the fuming D-Rank. And without breaking my stride, I casually flipped my bowl upside down directly over his head.

-Splat.

The thick, lukewarm mush splattered across his head, face, and broad shoulders before I forcefully shoved the wooden bowl right onto the top of his skull like a makeshift hat.

"Here," I deadpanned, looking down at him. "You can have it."

"YOU MOTHERFU-!" Brant completely lost his mind, letting out a roar that damn near echoed across the now silent hall as he surged upward to literally rip my head off.

But Garek’s massive hand instantly clamped down onto his shoulder, physically crushing the D-Rank right back down onto his chair with an immovable, terrifying force.

Jian’s jaw practically hit the floor, staring at the porridge dripping down Brant’s nose. Elara covered her mouth with both hands to stifle a squeak of pure horror, while Selene just watched me with slightly narrowed, intensely curious feline eyes.

I just let out a soft chuckle at Brant’s screams of pure rage, adjusting the shotgun strap over my shoulder and walking right out of the mess hall without turning back.

[Let’s go see what an Outsider Nexus looks like~]