Ch.41Let’s Make It (2)

The lifeboat is cramped. Up to three people can lie down somewhat comfortably, but with four, it becomes very tight.

Even so, there was nowhere else comfortable to lie down besides the lifeboat. So before Riyo completed the hammock, I thought all four of us would have to sleep together.

But I didn’t want that.

I had no aversion to the Valkyrie and the Holy Maiden since they were human and Lumina respectively, but the Engineer was different. I didn’t want to sleep while smelling the musky scent of a beast-person.

[“Wouldn’t making a stone bed be inefficient? I think it would be more beneficial for survival to use that mana to create more combat magic stones instead.”]

[“How can a person live by efficiency alone? A stone bed is a matter of great importance.”]

I brought rocks the size of my forearm and arranged them in rows and columns. I infused mana to flatten the stones, then performed additional work to make the pieces adhere to each other.

It was a task that consumed a lot of physical strength and mana. But what could I do? Once I started, I had to see it through.

“Hmmmm.”

The fox Engineer let out a meaningful hum. She hovered around me, watching each step of my work.

[“What is she doing?”]

[“Monitoring me, isn’t she?”]

[“Well, if I were her, I’d keep an eye on suspicious activities too.”]

It would be fortunate if she just watched quietly.

“What are you making?”

She even starts talking to me.

And keeps doing it.

“Aha! You’re making a stone bed?”

The Engineer clapped her hands and laughed vivaciously.

I was annoyed, but even more surprised.

After all, her sharp expression and voice from earlier today had transformed into something completely gentle.

“We foxes are good at making stone beds. Not that I’m particularly skilled at making them. But I love lying on them!”

I couldn’t sense even a speck of hostility from her.

The Engineer chattered non-stop until the bed was nearly complete.

Why?

Why is she suddenly acting friendly?

“It’s a characteristic of fox beast-people.”

When I asked the Holy Maiden, that was her answer.

“They don’t hold grudges. Even when angry, if something piques their curiosity, they’ll approach you.”

According to the Holy Maiden, their mood can suddenly improve or worsen. She said not to look for reasons behind it.

What the hell, then they’re no different from actual beasts.

[“Even more annoying.”]

It’s a dangerous personality to have as a comrade. How can I trust someone whose behavior fluctuates with their mood?

But I can’t withhold trust either.

The Valkyrie and the Holy Maiden are allies of the Engineer. If I don’t treat the Engineer well, the image I’ve carefully built could be shattered. I didn’t want to be branded as a beast-person discriminator.

“How do you build trust with fox beast-people?”

“There’s a signal.”

“A signal?”

“A signal that indicates ‘I should bow to this person.’ Keep showing a consistent image. Then someday, they might offer their shoulder or tail.”

According to the Holy Maiden, fox beast-people have more rigid criteria for ‘light relationships’ and ‘heavy relationships’ than humans.

“In light relationships, they can turn away at any time. Sometimes enemies, sometimes allies. They move flexibly according to their own benefit.”

Currently, the Engineer and I have a light relationship.

This meant that even if we got along well, she might become moody just because it rained one day and decide to chop me with an axe.

Of course, since beast-people are also human, they would have self-restraint, but still. I don’t know how much patience she would exercise toward me, her enemy.

“But when it becomes a heavy relationship, it’s completely different. They’ll give their body and heart, trying to do anything for you. They’ll even vouch for you.”

Anyway, it’s clear that I need to build a heavy relationship with the Engineer. That’s clear, but…

The relationship itself is determined by the fox beast-person, not by me.

Offering their tail to be touched, or presenting their shoulder or nape to be bitten—such requests indicate they want to advance the relationship.

“The shoulder is deeper than the tail, and the nape is deeper than the shoulder. Even in deep relationships, there are stages.”

I need to establish a heavy relationship with the beast-person. That is, if I don’t want to be suddenly chopped with an axe while sleeping.

But to enter a heavy relationship, I need to have some kind of physical contact with the beast-person. Whether touching their tail with my hand or biting their shoulder or nape with my teeth.

Just imagining it makes me dizzy.

I already feel aversion just looking at a beast-person, and now I have to touch and put my mouth on them?

[“Good luck with that.”]

She’s like a dog… no, a fox.

[“Just touching the tail should be sufficient. There’s no need to go into too deep a relationship.”]

Yes, David is right.

The Holy Maiden added that consistency is important in relationships with beast-people. She also advised showing empathy for their interests to gain favor.

I bowed my head to the Holy Maiden.

“Thank you. You’ve been very kind in explaining.”

“Why, did you think I’d continue to be prickly?”

“A little.”

“I know. We need to work together until we get out of here.”

“But there’s bound to be distance between us. After all, we’re enemies.”

“I must still be ‘light’ to you.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s right. We are enemies. But I want to know more about you. Really, how did it come to this?”

“I wonder the same. Anyway, thank you.”

I tried to face the Holy Maiden while greeting her, but her eyes were closed.

“Hmmmm.”

She seems sleepy.

“Monster! Monster!”

Just as I was about to complete the bed, the Engineer howled. The Holy Maiden, myself, and even the sleeping Valkyrie woke up and prepared for battle.

“What, where?”

“I don’t see anything.”

“Look over there! Tree monsters are crawling toward us!”

Nothing was immediately visible. Partly because it was night and we couldn’t see far.

But the Engineer’s warning wasn’t wrong.

Rustle, rustle.

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

“…They really are tree monsters.”

“Still better than ghosts or corpse demons.”

We moved according to our pre-discussed formation. The Valkyrie and the fox Engineer at the front, the Holy Maiden and I at the rear.

My position was as important as the Holy Maiden’s, who was a healer. I needed to block attacks that the Valkyrie and Engineer couldn’t dodge.

The final count of trees that swarmed us was 13.

Being trees, they were easy to dismantle after knocking them down.

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

When the Holy Maiden’s exorcism divine art activated, the monsters turned into ordinary wood. Meanwhile, I was able to obtain dark green magic stones from the stumps.

“The monsters on this island approach unusually quietly. Thanks to Senior Sergeant Riyo, we were able to respond in time. Thank you.”

It was time to rest again.

“Major, please go back to sleep. You said you weren’t feeling well.”

“Ah, yes… understood.”

“Senior Sergeant Riyo, you should sleep too. It’s good to store up energy when you can. From tomorrow, we’ll be moving in earnest.”

The Valkyrie and the Engineer headed to their beds. The Valkyrie to the lifeboat, the Engineer to the stone bed.

“Stop right there.”

“Huh?”

“This is my bed.”

I pointed to the hammock.

“You should sleep where you made.”

“Ehh.”

“Or go sleep in the lifeboat.”

The Engineer made a sad face.

“But, Riyo. Riyo also wants to sleep on the stone bed. Our kind tends to toss and turn a lot when sleeping without a stone bed…”

“What?”

“That…”

The Engineer pointed to the hammock she had made.

“What, you want to swap beds?”

“Yes. Can’t we barter? I worked hard on it. I heard humans don’t like stone beds because they’re hard.”

“Ha.”

“I’ve seen you eyeing it since earlier. The bed I made, doesn’t it look soft and nice? I like that too, but the feel of a stone bed is better. It reminds me of home…”

I fell into tremendous contemplation for a moment.

[“Is this really something to contemplate?”]

[“It is.”]

[“The hammock seems better than the stone bed.”]

[“Lieutenant David. You don’t know because you haven’t lain on it, but once you taste the hardness of a stone bed, you can’t go back to a soft mattress.”]

Kalon is right.

A stone bed is essential for a pleasant and happy desert island life.

However, the beast-person’s eyes are too bright to refuse outright.

Yes, this one seems to know the charm of stone beds too.

Actually, it’s a bit backward to say it like this. Fox beast-people are famous for loving and being skilled at making stone furniture.

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

After much deliberation, I made my decision.

***

“He’s asking if we can lie down together,” Tiria translated the man’s words. Riyo’s mouth fell open.

“Gasp.”

Lying together.

In other words, sharing a bed.

Among beast-people, this had been common since ancient times. When the weather turned cold, they would often sleep pressed together like bean sprouts to maintain body heat.

However, Riyo was not only a beast-person but also a citizen of the Holy Spirit Kingdom.

In the Holy Spirit Kingdom, asking to sleep together—that is, sharing a bed—was often an expression used when proposing marriage.

“Well, that can’t be his intention!”

Riyo decided not to think too deeply about it.

The problem was that she had an aversion to mages.

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

They put strange machines on her head to run electricity through it and injected her with strange drugs, making her writhe in pain for a month.

She was eventually rescued by priests from the Holy Spirit Kingdom, but her sister Miyo died, and Riyo was left with various scars, including her tail splitting into two.

“Hmm.”

Thinking about it again made her anger rise.

[“Are you really okay with this?”]

“Honestly, I can’t resist…”

Just looking at this stone bed made by the mage, she was too tempted.

To be able to create something so elaborate in nature, and in such a short time.

“Okay, let’s sleep together.”

Riyo answered after much consideration. Tiria, who had to relay the message, seemed more embarrassed than Riyo. The man also appeared flustered.

Not her problem.

Diving onto the stone bed, Riyo stretched her limbs and swished her tail.

“This hard sensation, I love it!”

It was quite well-made. With a little more refinement, it could be sold as a product without shame.

The man lay down beside her. He wore an expression that even Riyo couldn’t understand.

[“To handle rock with such precision. He’s no ordinary mage. Be careful.”]

[“I will be.”]

When they encountered the tree monsters in the forest earlier today, Riyo was confident. Even if the mage pulled out a dagger right next to her, she could dodge it with ease.

Riyo retracted the claws she had extended during the recent battle. Her hostility was hidden along with them.

***

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

Didn’t the Holy Maiden say it? To have common interests.

Since the beast-person seems to like stone beds, I’m enduring this to build rapport.

[“To think you’d share a bed with a beast-person because you can’t give up a stone bed.”]

[“Oh my, how could you make such a beastly decision while wearing a human disguise, senior?”]

Both of you, shut up.