Ch.32Castaway in the Rain

Though there was a minor incident with the ice water shower, the second day’s march toward Zemest proceeded at a much faster pace than yesterday.

Not only had our speed increased because Ancestor took charge of carrying the party’s luggage, reducing our burden, but we also found we could shorten our rest periods from one hour to thirty minutes without compromising our stamina management, as fatigue accumulated more slowly.

However, our celebration over covering 50% more distance than usual lasted only one night. On the third day of our march, an unexpected variable put the brakes on our rapid advance.

‘Swoooosh~~~’

“I knew we’d face something like this eventually. Yes.”

“The timing couldn’t be worse. It had to pour down right after we dismantled the drying magic.”

When adventuring, you naturally encounter not just clear or cloudy days, but rainy ones too. Awakened by the sound of rain before the barrier magic had even worn off, we hurriedly dressed and packed our belongings according to Jessica’s instructions, wrapping everything in waterproof tarps before loading them onto Ancestor’s back.

When encountering bad weather during a march, the top priority is to quickly pack up and use waterproof tarps and rain cloaks to keep clothes and supplies dry.

Whether you decide to push through the rain or wait at camp for the weather to clear, if you get soaked and your food becomes unusable or you catch a cold while deliberating, you’ll be forced into making desperate decisions under pressure.

“What should we do? Is it better to wait until the rain stops?”

“We were planning to reach Zemest by tomorrow afternoon, which would be our fourth day since leaving Ambers Ranch… it’s slightly risky.”

“Ah, right, that issue.”

“Let’s continue moving as planned. If there’s nowhere to escape the rain anyway, there’s no point in waiting.”

The limit for humans to endure within the influence of black mana is about five days—meaning we need to reach Zemest, the Second Western City, by the evening of the fifth day.

If we assume it will rain for several days, our marching speed would significantly decrease, making us arrive much later than the originally planned fourth day afternoon. If we waste an entire day hoping for the rain to stop and fail to reach Zemest by the fifth evening, it would directly threaten our lives.

Moreover, we’re coincidentally at the exact midpoint between Ambers Ranch and Zemest. Whether we advance or retreat, the time required would be similar, so our only option is to push forward.

Marching through the rain proved to be quite arduous.

Even with rain cloaks, they only reached our knees, and water splashing from the ground soaked everything below our knees within thirty minutes. Poor visibility and slippery ground made walking difficult, and as our body temperature dropped, our bodies felt increasingly heavy.

Most dangerous was our diminished ability to deal with monsters.

Seti’s keen sense of smell and hearing, which would have quickly detected approaching animals on a clear day, were useless in the rain. Jessica’s switch from Stone Bullet to Fire Bolt as her main attack spell couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The monsters seemed to know these conditions favored them. A group of lizard monsters called “Rock Lizards” surrounded us as we tried to eat lunch under a rocky overhang, ambushing us when we were at a numerical disadvantage.

“Ugh… that was the only place where we could eat while avoiding the rain.”

“Seti, how are your wounds?”

“I’m fine since Jessica healed me. We could have won if we’d met them elsewhere.”

“It couldn’t be helped. The ground was too uneven to move properly.”

Rock Lizards are large gray lizards about one meter long. They’re weak monsters whose only enhancement from black mana is increased defense, without any extraordinary physical abilities or special powers beyond those of normal animals.

However, unlike the Rock Lizards that crawled effortlessly over wet rocks, we struggled to maintain our footing on the uneven, slippery surface. Seti, who handles close combat, suffered scrapes on his leg and shoulder after slipping on a wet stone while dodging a Rock Lizard’s attack.

Realizing we were more likely to be seriously injured from falls and tumbles than from the monsters themselves, we abandoned our attempt to exterminate the lizards and quickly retreated, forced to give up a rare spot sheltered from the rain.

Although we couldn’t secure a place to escape the rain, eating meals on time remained important.

In such downpour, our meal was reduced to lifting the edges of our cloaks to shield against raindrops while tearing pieces of bread—a crude scene indeed. Yet even after such a meager meal, a warm cup of coffee was enough to calm our minds and lift our fallen spirits.

How did we manage to light a fire and brew coffee in the pouring rain?

“I never thought Fire Enchant could be used like this.”

“If we’d known this method yesterday, we wouldn’t have needed that ice water shower.”

“I’m not so sure… getting the right temperature would be quite difficult. One mistake and you’d be dousing yourself with boiling water instead of ice water.”

My idea was to place Seti’s spear with Fire Enchant on the ground and set metal cups containing coffee and water on the blade.

Though Fire Enchant only lasts about ten minutes, it took less than a minute to boil three cups of water. The heated spear blade itself radiated a gentle warmth that helped thaw our bodies chilled from marching in the rain.

Initially, I considered putting the enchanted spear blade directly into a pot of water, but feared a steam explosion might occur. I also thought drinking coffee made with water that had metal soaking in it wouldn’t be hygienic, so this was my alternative solution.

“If our body temperature drops too much, we can just cast Fire Enchant like this and gather around it.”

“Ah~ that reminds me of a fairy tale from my homeland, which makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“What fairy tale?”

“The story of a little girl selling matches who uses them to endure the cold but eventually runs out of strength and freezes to death.”

“Eeh… that’s so bleak.”

“I know, right? The child even has hallucinations and hears things before dying. Her deceased grandmother appears and—”

‘Help me—’

“Yes, yes, the grandmother begging for help like that and then cruelly… Huh!?”

That’s not how the Little Match Girl story ends! More importantly, whose voice was that just now? Am I hearing things?!

To determine if the voice mixed with the sound of rain was real, the three of us held our breath and listened quietly. The voice calling for help came again about 30 seconds later.

‘Help me~’

“…Everyone heard that, right? Is it coming from the lizards’ den?”

“No. The opposite direction… it seemed to come from the foothills over there.”

“Let’s go!”

After rinsing our cups with some water to wash away the coffee grounds and stuffing them into our bags, we quickly moved toward where we thought the voice calling for help had come from.

If someone was requesting rescue in this downpour, they might be in a desperate situation—caught in a landslide, rapid waters, or hanging from a cliff—so we needed to find them as quickly as possible.

‘Help me-!’

The voice sounded louder than before, confirming we were getting closer to the person in need, but the exact direction and distance remained difficult to gauge.

With no visible places where people might be, nor any signs of monsters or combat, we stopped walking and decided to wait for the voice again before calling out ourselves.

‘Help me-!’

“Is someone there?!”

“Where are you~!”

‘At the collapsed part of the foothills-! I’m trapped by a landslide-!!’

Someone trapped in a landslide?

Thinking it remarkable they had survived and could still call out, we looked around carefully and spotted a pile of collapsed rocks and soil at the foot of a rocky hill about 20 meters away. Cautiously approaching the burial site while watching for further landslides, we called out to the person requesting rescue.

“Are you in here? Are you alright?!”

‘Help me! The soil collapsed and I’m trapped inside my tent!’

“How many people are in there? Any injuries?”

‘It’s just me trapped! I’m not injured, but I can’t get out by myself, so I’d appreciate if you could dig away the soil from outside!’

“Is there any danger of further collapse if we dig?”

‘It’s a miner’s tent with a cage installed, so it should be fine even if it collapses a bit more! My pickaxe and shovel should be lying around nearby if you need them!’

“Understood, hang on!”

Looking around carefully after hearing this, we spotted a shovel handle and pickaxe handle partially buried at the edge of the soil pile.

They looked a bit short for an adult man to use, but certainly better than tackling the job with just our small shovel.

“Well then, it’s digging time.”

I took the shovel, Seti grabbed the pickaxe, and Jessica retrieved the small shovel from Ancestor’s back as we set to work rescuing the survivor buried in the landslide.