Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

16 – Saint of Purification (1)

The future of a person thrown into the middle of the ocean without a life vest usually boils down to one of two things.

They either die, or miraculously survive after being rescued.

And mostly they die.

Especially in the waters near Tatankur, with their deep depths and unstable currents; even a swimmer would have a hard time surviving there.

I was lucky to have had the lifeboat. How Valkyrie survived that day is still a mystery to me.

This chaplain is the same.

“…She’s breathing.”

How did she survive?

It’s awkward for a mage to say this, but there’s no other way to put it. God must have helped her.

I checked her condition.

Her body was soaked from head to toe, with seaweed clinging to her headdress. The cleric’s uniform was torn in several places. It’s likely she was washed ashore from quite far out at sea.

“Looks like there’s no airway obstruction.”

I’m no doctor, so a detailed diagnosis is out of the question. I could only discern that the woman wasn’t in critical condition.

Alright, let’s think this through.

I’m a military chaplain. A colonel, at that.

The Valkyries were formed after the war broke out, but the clerics of the Holy Kingdom have always been notorious for hunting down and killing mages with rabid zeal.

Keeping this woman alive could lead to a lot of headaches down the line.

[‘Will you kill her?’]

David asks.

I shook my head.

We have the Valkyries, practically allies, at our side. What would happen if I killed or abandoned this woman? They’d immediately turn hostile.

There’s a silver lining to being a chaplain. If I can win them over, we could expect very humane treatment as prisoners when the Holy Kingdom rescue ships arrive. Though, I have no idea how likely that is.

I stole a glance at the Valkyrie’s face.

Her expression was complex. She seemed happy to meet someone on her side but also frustrated that a high-ranking priest was left to fend for himself like this. I spoke.

“Let’s move her.”

“Move her?”

“Fire, wood, shelter.”

“Ah, okay.”

The Valkyrie nodded. She was carrying spears and other tools, so it fell to me to move the woman.

I grasped the cleric by her nape and the backs of her knees and slowly lifted her. Her body temperature, chilled through the soaked fabric, felt icy.

If we left her like this, she’d catch a fever just like the Valkyrie and I probably would that day. I had to take action before that happened.

The Valkyrie came back with a few broken branches. I laid the woman down and sparked a fire by striking my carbon steel knife against a spirit stone.

The moment I got the fire going, I gestured to Valkyrie. Mimed taking off clothes and pointed to the silver-haired woman. Valkyrie’s bottom lip sucked inwards.

“Uh, um.”

“You undress her. I’ll look away.”

Valkyrie nodded. I turned and stood up. Went to the dinghy and grabbed the tools, the food, and the combat magic stones I’d brought.

*Shkk, shkk.*

The sound of fabric loosening echoed over my shoulder.

“Don’t you dare turn around.”

“I won’t.”

I’m a guy, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by that sound. But right now, whatever lust might be there, it’s gone. I’m just exhausted and hungry from rowing all the way here.

Come to think of it, how am I going to divide the food now? The moment that woman wakes up, it’s one more mouth to feed.

“Ughhh… Ugh? Huh? Uhhh?”

Speak of the devil.

“aaah!”

The sound of flailing followed.

[‘You mustn’t turn around, even if curious. There’s a saying that curiosity killed the magician, o, oh, oh, ohhh.’]

Damn it, you little shit. You’re a rock, for god’s sake.

Valkyrie and the chaplain started talking.

“W-where am I?”

“Colonel, this is Major Rachel Brokenheart of the White Lotus Legion reporting for duty. Please calm down and listen carefully. This is an emergency. We are stranded on a deserted island.”

“A deserted island? Stranded? Wait, did you just say the White Lotus Legion?”

“Yes, sir, Colonel.”

“If you’re from the White Lotus Battalion, that would make you a Valkyrie. And Brokenheart… you’re the famous ‘Black Cat’ Rachel? I heard you went missing during the Tatanku Battle?”

“My Ironclad Dragon did its best to get me here at the very end. I was lucky.”

I don’t understand a word of that. Maybe it’s like they’re introducing themselves. I just hope the Valkyrie is explaining things well to the Chaplain.

“I have someone accompanying me, though I’m not sure if I should call him a comrade.”

“Who is it?”

“Hey, you can look back now.”

The Valkyrie called to me. Turning, I saw the Chaplain wearing just the Valkyrie’s outer coat.

Silken silver hair, obsidian eyes.

A beauty with delicate, doll-like features. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was like a true goddess had descended right before my eyes.

But there was something else to note.

It was her eyes.

The black irises instantly turned pink the moment they met mine.

[‘Lumina, is it.’]

The Chaplain frowned, pulling the Valkyrie’s coat tighter. She pulled her legs in closer, curling up like a hedgehog.

[‘She seems embarrassed.’]

Now that I think about it, I heard that the Holy Kingdom priests are very strict about exposure. Especially high-ranking clergy. They wouldn’t even wear sleeveless tops in front of the opposite s*x unless they were with their loved ones.

And yet, the Chaplain’s bare legs were in plain sight. All thanks to the Valkyrie taking off even her stockings. As a Chaplain, she must be mortified.

The woman cautiously opened her mouth.

“So who is this man?”

“He introduced himself as Erich Ronstein. A mage from Hazkail, but we got shipwrecked together, and spent a month cooperating on another island.”

“Erich Ronstein?”

The woman murmured.

“You… from the Magic Kingdom?”

I was taken aback.

No, they can speak our language?

*

I came to my senses on the shore. The woman tried to retrace her memories of reaching this place.

Her mission was to search for the dragon knights who had gone missing in the waters near Tatangkul. If they were alive, it was the Goddess’ doing, and if they were dead, she had to recover their souls.

But what had happened?

She’d encountered a sudden storm, and after that?

She couldn’t remember. Really, not a thing.

Anyway, the important thing was to assess the current situation. Luckily, she met a woman who introduced herself as ‘Rachel Brokenheart’ immediately.

“You’re the one who went missing from the Tatangkul naval battle. Rachel, the Black Cat.”

“Yes.”

“Ah, the Goddess has intervened. Everyone will be overjoyed to learn that a war hero is alive.”

“Perhaps the Colonel came to rescue us?”

“That was the plan.”

“Was?”

The woman sighed deeply. She recounted everything she remembered. Rachel’s face rapidly darkened.

“No way.”

Rachel muttered, dazed. The woman’s gaze had been directed elsewhere.

“So, you were cooperating with that man?”

“…Yes.”

Rachel bit her lip slightly.

“He’s the enemy who killed my comrades. I didn’t want to cooperate, believe me. But there was no other way. Fish-shaped monsters suddenly appeared…”

“Fish-shaped monsters?”

One word floated into the woman’s mind.

“Demons, then.”

“It seemed that way. I never thought they’d survive into this era, let alone not be extinct.”

“I had a rough idea.”

The woman fiddled with the holster at her waist. Fortunately, she hadn’t lost her pistol. Now all that remained was deciding whether to shoot the man in front of her, the mage.

Not yet. Gathering information came first.

“Hey.”

The woman spoke in the language of the Mage Kingdom.

“Name?”

“Erich Ronstein.”

“I’ve heard of you.”

“You know me?”

“I’m a Saint. Of course, I would.”

“……Saint?”

“Tiria Casten.”

Tiria gave a curt nod. It was a mere formality. Normally, she would have added that she was the Saint of Purification, but alas, she was only capable of basic conversation.

“You wrote a paper a while back. The one that argued mana and Sephiron were essentially the same element….”

Tiria paused, then finished her sentence.

“Blasphemy.”

*

The name Tiria Casten sounded vaguely familiar, or perhaps not. A Saint, though.

I’d never cared much for their religion. It wasn’t like I’d memorize the names of every saint from every era, especially not some obscure one from a single age.

For that matter, it wasn’t even certain if *she* was truly a saint. So, I searched for truth and falsehood in the Valkyrie’s expression.

[‘There seems to be no room for doubt.’]

The Valkyrie was bowing her head with absolute devotion. Was she always this pious?

No, that wasn’t the point right now.

“Blasphemy.”

“Excuse me?”

“This word. Difficult. But, understand. Because of you.”

The military chaplain struggled to push out each sentence with her limited language skills.

“Your paper was banned by the church even before the war. How dare you insult the Goddess’ grace with the false claim that magical power and divine power are equal? You deserve to be punished by heaven.”

The sentences were awkward and halting, but one thing was clear.

“May the Lord judge you.”

This woman, she really hates me.