Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

9 – A Tiny Bit of Trust (1)

The rain had stopped, the sun was up, and what Rachel had to do was clear.

Find food.

Rachel glanced at the man lying prone and began to get ready to leave.

“Wait a minute.”

“Huh?”

“You should take this.”

“Ah, right. Almost forgot the most important thing.”

Rachel took the spear. She examined the stabbing point carefully. A stone spear. It looked like the man had recently reattached it. The stone part was full of Ekyrel.

Though Rachel shuddered at the thought of Mana, if it was neutralized Middles (中素) with the malevolent bits filtered out, then it was okay. Ekyrel itself could be converted to sacred power anyway.

“For a mage, you sure know how to look out for someone.”

The man coughed, a bitter smile on his face.

Even though he was an enemy, he was the one who had stayed by her side when she was at her worst. She couldn’t bring herself to frown. Rachel forced the corners of her mouth up.

“I’ll be back soon.”

And with that, she exited the cave.

As expected, there were no monsters. The weather was cool, and the sun was not yet overhead. It wasn’t too hot, nor too cold. It had been so long since it was this pleasant.

Of course, it wasn’t completely pleasant. She hadn’t washed in a week already. That stifling feeling was still there.

Rachel brought her sleeve to her nose and sniffed.

“…Ah.”

It was his smell.

It’s because I hugged that mage to stand the cold, that’s why. We were even skin-to-skin to dry our clothes, weren’t we? Must’ve been touching for nearly 70 hours.

Rachel’s face flushed hot. Is it because my fever still hasn’t broken?

Rachel shook off the thought. Her stomach rumbled. It’s been three days since she’d eaten anything but water.

Hunting needs to come first.

Just then, she spotted a rodent darting across the undergrowth. Rachel enhanced her body with sacred power and moved.

*

“Ughhh.”

My body feels like it’s being pricked by needles.

My face is burning, and my head is spinning. But my spine feels cold. This feeling of being hot and cold at the same time. It’s definitely a fever.

How long has it been since I’ve been this sick? With the good medicine they have these days, I don’t think I’ve ever suffered this much from a common cold.

“David, if I die, bury me in the rock mountain.”

[‘You’re not going to die from this.’]

“Then find a way for me to get better, you know. Cough, cough!”

[‘I recommend you warm your body.’]

I drank some boiled water, rainwater that is.

But it’s not enough.

I made a few more glowstones and arranged them in a circle around my sleeping area. After adjusting the output with some simple magic, and checking the temperature, it felt just right, and I laid down.

“Ughhh.”

Warm and cozy. It feels like I’ve become a hothouse flower.

“Stones. Give me. Strength.”

[‘I gave it to you.’]

“It’s a shame there’s not more. If there were mountains of glowing stones, I’d just cover myself in them like a blanket, front and back.”

[‘Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?’]

“Nah, I’m fine. I only use stone beds anyway.”

[‘Aren’t stone beds a beastfolk thing?’]

“I hate beastfolk, but I’ll admit, stone beds are good. Oh, and heated floors too.”

I was in the middle of a conversation with David when I heard crunching footsteps from the cave entrance, and a shadow fell over me.

It was Valkyrie, with a basket and spear. Our eyes met.

“Oh, you’re here.”

“You’re seriously out of your mind. You talk to rocks?”

“If you brought food, hurry up and cook it. I’m gonna starve.”

Valkyrie sighed and put the basket down. I held my throbbing head and sat up. Thump, thump, the stones that had been on me rolled off.

I examined what she had hunted. One squirrel, one creature that looked like a rabbit, and a few fish.

“Not bad. For a meal after three days, it’s gonna be filling.”

Even if I was starving, I couldn’t eat the meat raw. I needed to cook it.

I turned the glowing stones to maximum output. Then, I picked up some dried mushrooms and branches lying around the cave and made a fire near the entrance. Valkyrie, meanwhile, worked on preparing the hides.

“How’s your body doing?”

“Whew, the fire’s ready.”

“Ah, don’t get me wrong. I honestly don’t care about your state of health. I’m only asking because I think I’ll need you to survive.”

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Just come over here.”

“Huh?”

“What’s with that blank look? You’re supposed to be grilling meat for the patient, aren’t you?”

I gestured for Valkyrie to come over.

“Ugh.”

Valkyrie shook her head back and forth.

Oh, you think so?

“Hey, I took care of you when you were sick. You should do it this time, for conscience’s sake. Do you even know how annoying and tiring grilling meat is?”

“Fire is really too much for me.”

“Come here.”

Valkyrie stepped backward.

What is this? Wasn’t she hungry too? Is she saying she hunted, so I have to set the table? Or what, did she eat already? Huh? Thinking about it like that is making me suddenly angry?

“No, I did everything a few days ago. I nursed you, chased away monsters, and even set the table! Now it’s your turn! Is this really fair?”

“Ah, no way. Really no way. Just being near the fire is enough to suffocate me. Please…”

Valkyrie looked pale and shook her head even more.

“Ha.”

In the end, cooking the food was my job again.

As always, I stared into the fire, turning the skewers, sweat pouring down like rain. I glanced back and saw Valkyrie sitting quietly a little ways away.

Contrary to my expectation of her having a shameless expression, she looked apologetic. Seriously, I’m only putting up with it because of that face. There must be some reason, I guess.

“Here.”

“Okay.”

“You must be starving after hunting. You eat first.”

“No, you eat first. You must be starving.”

“Just eat. If you eat, I’ll eat right after.”

It was a calculated move, though obviously so. I was just as famished myself. I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth. Okay, hold it in, Erich. Filling your stomach is temporary, but a kindness lasts forever.

“…Thanks.”

Valkyrie took the meat and bit into it. At first, she nibbled cautiously, but soon she threw off her restraint and started devouring it with explosive speed. Watching her, I tore into the rabbit hind leg.

“Wow.”

Seriously. This is… unbelievable. It’s so delicious. It’s dry, unsalted, and even smells gamey. But there’s never been a more ecstatic taste.

Eating a meal, eating meat. Back when I had the protection of civilization, I took it all for granted. Eating that garbage food, I’d thought even a dog wouldn’t eat this shit. Looking back, I was wrong. Eating a meal, eating meat. What is this, that it brings tears to my eyes?

“*hhhk*.”

Valkyrie was actually sobbing. I pretended not to notice. It makes me realize, how easily a person can be weakened by trivial things, how we are powerless, prone to tears over the simplest things.

The abundant food supply vanished in an instant. I’m full. But we’d have to secure more food for tomorrow too.

There was no guarantee we’d be this lucky every time. There could be a long downpour, keeping us stuck inside, or the weather might be good, but we could still fail to hunt.

“Cough, hey.”

I caught my breath and spoke to Valkyrie.

“Once I’m a little better, let’s go find the lifeboat. We’ll drag it over here, get properly prepared, and then make our escape.”

Whether we’d escape towards the Holy Kingdom, or the Magic Kingdom. I didn’t even bring that up. For us right now, that would be a luxury.

*

It’s been almost two weeks since we were shipwrecked on this monster-infested island.

Thanks to Valkyrie consistently bringing food last week, we didn’t have any food issues. There were two days of rain where we were stuck in the cave all day, but we consumed our stored fish and slept all day to conserve energy.

Of course, we’d sometimes end up sleeping cuddled together, too. That was really, truly unavoidable. The cave was surprisingly cold.

“Alright, that should do it. We can move now.”

I checked the magic stones I’d made while resting.

“Azurite, Umbrastone, True White Stone, Crimson Stone…”

Except for the Azurite, they were all heavy mana-consuming b*stards. They took a decent amount of skill, but I managed to make them somehow. If the same situation happened again, I’d be ready this time.

“Got everything you need?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

When the sun was high in the sky, we set off towards the beach where we first met. According to Valkyrie, a few monsters were still hanging around there, even during the day. That’s why she couldn’t retrieve the dinghy.

Our goal was simple. Concentrate as much firepower as possible, take them down in a short burst, and bring the dinghy back to the cave.

“Look over there.”

“They’re actually there.”

Even in broad daylight, a few monsters were patrolling near the dinghy. We watched their movements for a while. When one went back into the sea, another one came up to stand guard.

“They seem to be…on sentry duty, don’t they?”

“They might be smarter than we thought.”

“Let’s be careful going in.”

I started weaving my incantation, and Valkyrie began her prayer.

Since we couldn’t understand each other, we used hand signals to communicate. Go, wait, and so on. We standardized on the hand gestures often used in the military and decided to move after that. And we agreed that Valkyrie would take the front, and I would take the rear.

*Whooom.*

The attack magic stones went into standby mode.

“Move out.”

I gave the signal and Valkyrie charged. In a flash, she popped the heads off the pedestrians standing directly in line with our path to the life raft.

Beside them, the octopus monster, the ‘Spitter,’ was about to fire ink. That’s when I shot my lapis lazuli.

*Thwack!*

The Spitter’s head exploded instantly.

No rain made the cleanup easy. My condition was peak. If things kept going like this, we could definitely get the raft back.

That’s when it happened.

[“oooh.”]

A new one appeared.

It was huge, a monster covered in barnacles. It wore tattered, ripped-up trousers on its lower half.

[“Ah, for the Lady.”]