Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

30 – Ghoul Altar (4)

15 Days.

Enough time had passed to gather information about the man. Who he was, what his goal was, and what could be learned from conversation.

Certainty slammed into me.

This guy ends here. If I’m going to strike first, it’s now or never.

[“Krrgh!”]

So I did it.

The man staggered, a flagstone pierced clean through him.

[“Cough, what the hell are you doing…!”]

[“Ever heard this one?”]

[“What, what saying?”]

[“If you’re going to betray someone, do it at the most opportune moment.”]

The following heat ray ripped through the right side of his head.

Sizzling sounds, blood spraying. A foul, burnt food stench assaults my nostrils.

Thud.

The bandages covering the man’s face unravelled, revealing a withered, bare face.

[“…Ugh, damn it.”]

Bloodshot eyes, a sunken nose.

He was a monster, pure and simple.

His sun-scorched skin burned a raw red. The man groaned low. Before he could even collect himself, I yelled.

“Valkyrie! Assistance——!!”

The next moment, a woman with golden eyes burst from the bushes. Her black hair whipped around her as she charged towards the man.

Thwack!

The spearhead sinks into the man’s abdomen.

A heavy blow, driven by divine power.

A violet fluid spewed from the man’s mouth, withered like an old tree.

“Back!”

The Valkyrie retreated. She came to my side and bumped my shoulder.

“I’ll explain later.”

“Got it.”

We stared straight ahead.

The man exhaled, blood dripping.

[“You, you scum with no damn manners.”]

His mask peeled away, revealing raw hostility.

[“From the start, you were planning this, daring to.”]

The ambush was a success. He looked completely flustered, probably never expecting an attack here.

I was just as bewildered, if not more so.

No, how is he not dead?

I attacked with that splinter shard. A fourth-order mana resonator, an industrial material with the highest cutting power of any existing magic stone.

One hit should have blown his body apart.

And it kind of did. He had a penetrating wound in his chest and a third of his head was gone. On top of that, he had a spear through his gut and divine force blasted into him. He should have been dead on the spot.

[“Damn it, just a severe injury.”]

*Just* a severe injury?

“Tsk.”

I can’t let it show. With a blank face, I prepared for the next attack.

[“Hehehe, so. When did you figure it out?”]

[“From the start.”]

[“You’re more meticulous than I expected.”]

[“Well, what did you expect? Sending a ghost skeleton to spy every day? That I wouldn’t notice?”]

I’d been responding passively to the man’s conversation. Saving my words, letting him talk as much as possible.

The more they talk, the more likely they are to slip up. Just as intended, the man let slip small but important details.

Piecing together the skewed clues, I could tell he’d been watching us in secret.

[“First, you tell people to go to a lake where water ghosts live, then, when they come back alive, you sow discord so we fight amongst ourselves. Do I look like a joke to you?”]

[“Hmm? A mage protecting the Holy Spirit beggars. Incomprehensible. Do you trust those girls that much?”]

[“More than a demon.”]

The demon bared its white teeth.

[“Looks like I was the one who got played. Alright, I admit it. You got me this time, mage. That look on your face says you know everything.”]

I don’t.

So how do I escape this island?

[“That’s right. Until you take me down, none of you are getting off this island.”]

He just tells me. Thanks.

I know everything I need to now.

My magic is running on fumes, but I have to take down the demon in front of me, even if I push myself. Now, while he’s badly injured, is the best chance.

Then the devil grinned, a flash of teeth.

[“I know my limits. Don’t have a hobby of fighting recklessly with a body like this, you see.”]

A hazy fog settled around the devil. I shot the lapis lazuli with my remaining magic power. The light refracted. There wasn’t a shred of feeling that I’d hit him.

Soon, the fog dissipated. The man was nowhere to be seen.

[‘He ran away.’]

The ominous presence was completely gone. All that remained were tattered bandage fragments and pieces of flesh turning to ash.

My legs gave way.

“Tsk.”

My mouth was bitter. A symptom of mana depletion.

The assassination had failed.

I never imagined he’d run off unscathed after being hit twice by the lodestone. Not anticipating this, that was my mistake.

“Mage!”

A familiar voice called out.

It was the Saintess. She hopped towards me like a rabbit, thrusting her face close. Red, orange, blue, violet, her eyes shimmered with various lights like opal.

“Explain. Now.”

It was time to tell her everything.

*

Complex words were exchanged, taking time to understand.

So, to summarize, that black monster had been monitoring them through ghosts and skeletons, preventing communication. He was sowing discord, so the mage had used a counter-strategy.

Put simply.

“A trick… a *trick*?”

Tiria’s shoulders slumped.

“Why didn’t you give me a hint?”

“The core of a counter-intelligence scheme is keeping it from your own side. It was going to be over quickly anyway. I wanted to show you, not tell you.”

The first feeling Tiria had after hearing the mage’s words was resentment.

Someone else had been agonizing over it, yet he was sitting there, completely nonchalant, as if it was nothing.

“Here, these are the magic stones I got from defeating the skeleton monsters. They have properties for sending and receiving signals. This was the crucial evidence.”

“Okay, is there anything else you want to say?”

“Uh, um. I’m sorry?”

“Fine.”

Tiria, who had been glaring down at the mage with the intent to kill, nodded.

The mage had a half-bewildered expression. *We’re enemies, so why am I apologizing to this woman?* That thought was palpable.

“Do you even know how much my heart ached, thinking you were betraying us?”

“That will never happen.”

“But mages are supposed to lie and deceive like it’s second nature, right?”

“I am a magus. I’m practically a corpse without loyalty and rocks.”

“You *want* to be a corpse?”

“If it’s by your hand, Saintess, it might be an honor.”

“Haa, never mind.”

It was the man who was suffering from mana depletion, but it was Tiria who felt more drained.

Even so, after gathering herself, all that remained was a sense of relief.

It’s a real stroke of luck that the mage didn’t betray us. I don’t know why it’s lucky, but it just is.

Searching for the reason why, Tyria thought, it’s because, like Major Brokenheart said, his tool-making skills are incredibly proficient.

Because it helps with survival.

Yeah, that’s it.

Though another self within her screamed that there were other reasons, Tyria diligently ignored it.

“Anyway, from tonight on, we need to prepare thoroughly.”

“You mean for a night raid?”

“Since we openly made an enemy of that demon, stronger monsters will be swarming tonight. It’s mostly my fault. I’ll take the longest watch tonight.”

The mage got up, swaying.

He looked like he was pushing himself while being drained of mana and not feeling well.

She felt a pointless irritation.

She had been agonizing because of him, and yet the other party just got off with an apology. It felt unfair.

“Hey.”

She wanted to at least see the mage look flustered once.

With that thought, she boldly blurted out,

“Since we’re preparing for a night raid anyway, to be able to wake you up right away if anything happens, h-how about, y-you, a-also, stay, a-attached to the life, boat, and s-s-sleep….”

“Okay.”

And so it came to be.

“Huh?”

I came to, and it was night.

A man entered the lifeboat where Tyria lay. It was a historic moment—the Magic Kingdom reclaiming the Goto, lost to the Holy Kingdom for a month.

“Uh, uhh?”

“You were the one who suggested it first?”

The wizard grinned slyly.

Covered with a palm leaf for a blanket, the wizard placed a stone beside him. He and Tyria lay facing each other. A rhododendron bloomed in Tyria’s eyes.

“Wh, why are you lying down facing this way?”

“David finds this side more comfortable.”

“Who’s David!”

“This friend here.”

The wizard covered the star-shaped stone with a fallen leaf.

“Sleep well, our baby.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Shush. You’ll wake him.”

Tyria felt her blood pressure skyrocket.

“You’re treating a rock like a baby? Are you really sane? Or have you gone mad from being on this deserted island for too long?”

[“Waaah.”]

“…What was that just now?”

Goosebumps erupted. A whimper had definitely sounded very close by, but the wizard’s lips hadn’t moved at all.

“Have a good night.”

The mage was out like a light in no time. He must have been dead tired.

She needed to get some sleep herself, not knowing when a night raid might come, but for some reason, Tyria couldn’t seem to close her eyes.

“Haa, seriously!”

Tyria’s gaze fell on the stone.

A star-shaped suiseki.

It was beautiful, with its precise crafting, lacking any unevenness.

The surface felt smooth as she touched it. She could kind of understand why the mage was so attached to it.

[“Ooh, oooh, oooh.”]

“Hick?!”

Tyria, startled, dropped the stone as if she were throwing it.

She hadn’t misheard.

“D-did the stone just talk?”

Her heart thumped wildly.

“What the hell is this guy carrying around…!”