Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

40 – Let’s Make it (2)

The lifeboat is cramped. It’s manageable for up to three people to lie down, but it becomes very tight with four.

Even so, there wasn’t anywhere comfortable to lie down except for the lifeboats. So, until Suin finished the hammock, I thought all four of us would be sleeping together.

But I didn’t want that, not at all.

Valkyrie and the Saintess were respectively human and Lumina, so I didn’t have any aversion to them, but the Engineer was different. I didn’t want to sleep smelling the furry, slightly musty scent of Suin.

[‘Even so, wouldn’t making a stone bed be inefficient? I think it’d be more advantageous for survival to make more combat magic stones with the magic power used for making a bed.’]

[‘How can a person live only chasing efficiency? A stone bed is a matter of utmost importance.’]

I brought over rocks the size of my forearms and arranged them in neat rows and columns. I poured magic power into them to flatten the stones, and then did some additional work to make the pieces stick together.

It was a task that greatly consumed both stamina and magic power. But what could I do? Once I’d started, I had to see it through to the end.

“Hmmmm.”

The fox Engineer let out a meaningful moan. She was circling around me, watching every single step of my work.

[‘What is he doing?’]

[‘Isn’t she watching to make sure you don’t pull any tricks?’]

[‘Yeah, if it were me, I’d be keeping an eye out to make sure nothing suspicious is going on.’]

It’d be fine if she just watched silently.

“What are you making?”

She even started talking to me.

And she kept at it.

“Aha! You’re making a stone bed?”

The Engineer clapped her hands and smiled brightly.

It was irritating, but it was more surprising than that.

Because, just earlier in the day, the expression and voice that had been so sharp and murderous had now turned docile and gentle.

“Stone beds, our foxes are good at making them. Not that *I*’m good, mind you. But I sure as hell love lying on them!”

Not a speck of hostility in his voice.

The sapper chattered non-stop as the bed neared completion.

Why?

Why’s he acting all chummy all of a sudden?

“It’s a fox beastkin thing.”

That’s the answer I got when I asked the saint.

“They hold no grudges. They can be angry one minute, but curiosity can make them approach you the next.”

The saint went on to say their moods can flip just like that, happy one moment, sour the next. Don’t bother looking for a reason, she said.

What the hell, that makes them no different from beasts.

[‘More of a nuisance.’]

Dangerous to have as a comrade. Their actions swing wildly with their mood; how can anyone trust that?

But I also can’t *not* trust them.

The Valkyrie and the saint are the sapper’s allies. If I don’t treat him well, the image I’ve painstakingly built could shatter. I didn’t want to be branded as a beastkin bigot.

“How do you build trust with a fox beastkin?”

“There’s a signal.”

“A signal?”

“A signal that tells them they should yield to that person. Show them consistency. Then, one day, they might lower their shoulder or offer their tail.”

According to the saint, fox beastkin have a much more rigid idea of what constitutes a ‘light’ relationship versus a ‘heavy’ one than humans do.

“In a light relationship, they’ll turn on you at any moment. Enemy one second, comrade the next. They shift fluidly to suit their own benefit.”

Right now, me and the Combat Medic, we’re light.

Like, we could be fine one minute, and the next, just ’cause it’s raining, he’s all gloomy and might decide to axe me.

Sure, he’s a beastkin, but still human, so he’s got some self-control, I guess. But, who knows how much patience he’ll have with *me*, his enemy.

“But if the relationship gets *heavy*, it’s a whole other ball game. They’ll give their body and soul, try to do anything for you. They’ll even vouch for you, they say.”

Anyway, I *have* to build a heavy relationship with the Combat Medic. That much is clear. It’s just…

the relationship itself isn’t up to me, it’s the fox beastkin who decides.

They’ll offer their tail to be touched, or their shoulder or neck, nudging you to bite. If they make these requests, that means they want the relationship to progress.

“Tail is one thing, shoulder another, but neck is the deepest. Even in a deep relationship, there are stages.”

I need to get into a heavy relationship with a beastkin. Unless I want to wake up with an axe in my skull one of these days.

But the only way to get to that heavy relationship is to have physical contact with the beastkin. Touching their tail, biting their shoulder or neck.

Just thinking about it makes me dizzy.

I already feel repulsed just *looking* at the guy, and now I gotta touch him, put my mouth on him?

[‘Good luck with that.’]

He’s just like a dog…no, a fox.

[‘Just touching his tail should be enough, I think. No need to take it too far.’]

Yeah, David’s right.

The Saint added that consistency was important in dealing with beastkin. And she advised that to gain their favor, I need to show understanding of their interests.

I gave the Saint a bow of my head.

“Thank you. Thank you for explaining so kindly.”

“What? Did you think I’d be prickly this whole time?”

“A little.”

“I know. We have to stick together until I leave.”

“Still, there’s bound to be some distance, isn’t there? You and I are enemies.”

“Looks like I’m still just a passing thing to you.”

“Huh?”

“You’re right. We are enemies. Even so, I want to know you better. Honestly, how did things turn out like this?”

“You tell me. Anyway, thank you.”

I went to bow towards the Saint, but her eyes were closed.

“Huummm.”

She looked sleepy.

“Monster! Monster!”

Just as we were almost finished with the bed, the combat engineer howled. I, the Saint, and even the Valkyrie who had been sleeping, all got up and prepared for battle.

“What, where?”

“I don’t see anything?”

“Look over there! A bunch of tree monsters are crawling up!”

There was nothing immediately visible. It was night, so it was hard to see far.

But the engineer’s warning was not wrong.

Shhhshsh.

Conifers with facial features were approaching, using their roots as legs.

“…They really are tree monsters.”

“Still, better than ghosts or ghouls.”

We moved according to the plan we’d discussed beforehand. Valkyrie and the beast-kin sapper in front, me and the Saint at the rear.

My position was just as important as the Saint’s healing. I had to block attacks that the Valkyrie and sapper couldn’t dodge.

The final number of trees that rushed us was thirteen.

Being trees, they were easy to dismantle once felled.

“Ooh, we won’t have to worry about firewood for a while.”

When the Saint’s exorcism magic activated, the monsters turned into ordinary timber. Meanwhile, I managed to obtain deep green mana stones from the stumps.

“The monsters on this island are awfully quiet when they approach. Thanks to Sergeant Liyo, we were able to respond in time. Thank you.”

It was time to rest again.

“Major, please sleep again. You said you weren’t feeling well.”

“Ah, yes… understood.”

“Sergeant Liyo, you should sleep too. It’s good to conserve your strength when you can. We’ll be really moving tomorrow.”

The Valkyrie and sapper headed for their beds. The Valkyrie to the lifeboat, the sapper to his stone bed.

“Freeze.”

“Eeeh?”

“This is my bed.”

I pointed to the hammock.

“You should sleep where you made it.”

“Eeeh.”

“Or you can go sleep in the lifeboat.”

The engineer’s face crumpled.

“But, Liyo. Liyo wants to sleep on a stone bed too. Our kind tosses and turns a lot when we sleep without a stone bed…”

“What?”

“That…”

The engineer pointed at the hammock he’d made.

“What, you want to swap beds?”

“Yeah. Can we barter? I worked really hard on it. I heard humans hate how hard stone beds are.”

“Ha.”

“I saw you eyeing that thing since before. The bed I made looks soft and comfy, right? I like it too, but the feel of a stone bed is better for me. It reminds me of home…”

I was suddenly plunged into a huge dilemma.

[‘Seriously, is this even something to be debating?’]

[‘It’s definitely something to debate.’]

[‘A net hammock seems like it would be better than a stone bed.’]

[‘Lieutenant David, you haven’t ever slept on one so you wouldn’t know, but once you experience the hardness of a stone bed, you can’t go back to soft mattresses.’]

Kalon was right.

For a comfortable and happy deserted island life, a stone bed was essential.

But I couldn’t outright refuse; the prisoner’s eyes were too bright and pleading.

So, this guy also knows the appeal of a stone bed, it seems.

Actually, saying it like that was putting the cart before the horse. The fox beastmen were a race famous for loving and being skilled at making stone furniture.

“If you let me use the bed, I won’t cause trouble until we leave the island.”

After agonizing for a good while, I made my decision.

*

“He says, ‘Let’s lie down together’?”

“Huh.”

Lying down together.

Meaning, sleeping together.

It was a common thing among beastkin since the old days. When the weather turned cold, they would often huddle together like bean sprouts to maintain body heat.

But Riyo was a beastkin and a citizen of the Holy Spirit Nation.

In the Holy Spirit Nation, the words “let’s sleep together,” meaning to share a bed, were often used when proposing marriage.

“Well, it probably doesn’t mean that!”

Riyo decided not to overthink it.

The only problem was her aversion to mages.

Before she was even ten, Riyo had been kidnapped by a group of mages and subjected to horrific experiments.

They’d put a suspicious-looking machine on her head and send jolts of electricity through her, injecting her with strange drugs as she writhed in pain for a month.

She was eventually rescued by the priests of the Holy Spirit Nation, but she was left with all sorts of scars, including the death of her sister, Miyo, and the mutation that gave Riyo two tails.

“Umm.”

Thinking about it all again, it made her blood boil.

[‘Are you really okay with this?’]

“Honestly, I can’t stand it…”

This stone bed the mage made, just looking at it makes me crave it.

To craft something this intricate from nature, and in such a short time.

“Okay, let’s sleep together.”

Riyo answered after much thought. Rather, it was Tyria, who should have been the one to say it, who looked more embarrassed. The man also seemed flustered.

Not my problem.

Riyo dove onto the stone bed, stretching her limbs and flicking her tail.

“This hard texture, I love it!”

The craftsmanship is quite high. With just a little more refining, it could be released as a product without a problem.

Following her, the man lay down next to her. He wore an expression Riyo couldn’t understand.

[‘To manipulate rock this precisely, he’s no ordinary mage. Be careful.’]

[‘I will be careful.’]

When she encountered the tree monster in the forest earlier that day, Riyo was certain. Even if the mage pulled out a dagger right next to her, she could dodge it with ease.

Riyo retracted the claws she’d taken out during the previous battle. Her hostility was hidden along with them.

*

It’s definitely not because I can’t give up the stone bed.

Didn’t the Saint say it? To have shared interests.

The beastkin seems to like the stone bed, so I’m just putting up with it to build common ground.

[‘To share a bed with a beastkin because you can’t give up the stone bed.’]

[‘oooh, how can you make such a beast-like decision while wearing a human skin, senior?’]

Both of you, shut up.