Ch.46The Price of Environmental Destruction (1)

Dawn breaks.

Being able to see the sun is like a miracle. Every day, countless people close their eyes without seeing tomorrow. Even now, someone somewhere is dying. That’s why we should live more earnestly.

I got up with a yawn. Rubbing my sleepy eyes and fiddling with my water bottle, I recalled what happened yesterday. Come to think of it, didn’t I build a desalination facility?

I dragged my feet forward. The thought of drinking water and washing up at the tap made me grin.

But there was a problem.

Someone was already there.

Golden eyes that shone brightly even in the dim light stared at me. The woman shook her head. Her wet black hair swayed with a glossy sheen.

Rachel Brokenheart, the Valkyrie of the White Lotus Battalion. She had woken up earlier and was washing her face.

“…Mage?”

“You’re up early. Did you sleep well?”

I waved my hand lightly. Her hesitant hand followed suit. After that awkward greeting, we continued our conversation.

“So, how does it feel to use plumbing on a deserted island?”

“This?”

The Valkyrie smirked.

“I’m annoyed. But I like it. Thanks to you, we won’t have to worry about drinking water or showers anymore.”

“I made it partly for you.”

“What, me?”

The Valkyrie pointed at herself with a puzzled expression. I nodded.

“You always sweat after combat. You go to sleep without properly wiping it off, so your body deteriorates whenever it gets the chance.”

Lately, I’ve been paying attention to the Valkyrie again. I can communicate with the Holy Maiden, so misunderstandings can be quickly corrected, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Beast Engineer during the day, so we’re becoming friends quickly.

In the short term, the Beast is the variable, but in the long term, the Valkyrie is the biggest problem.

This woman tried to kill me that day with a clear purpose. Remembering the killing intent from then gives me goosebumps. I don’t want to experience the same thing twice.

“Even if we escape, we should escape in good health. If you go back in a decrepit state, it won’t do any good.”

“…”

“Take care of yourself.”

The Valkyrie narrowed her eyes. She stood in front of me with a sulky expression. And then.

“Ah, cold!”

She splashed water on my face with all ten fingers.

“…Hmph.”

The Valkyrie walked past me with quick steps. I could only stare blankly as she walked away.

“Is this right…?”

[‘A woman’s heart.’]

[‘Is like a reed, sir.’]

Indeed, she’s the most difficult. I just don’t understand.

I turned on the water and took off my clothes, intending to wash up. As I was bent over washing my back, I heard hiccups not far away.

I turned off the water and stood up.

“…Hic.”

“Ms. Kasten.”

“…”

“I’ve seen everything, so you might as well come out.”

Matted silver hair gradually emerged from behind a rock.

“Excuse me.”

“Y-yes, what is it?”

“Are you really a Holy Maiden?”

Cherry blossoms scattered in the morning breeze.

***

After that, the Engineer and I continued to build various things. Our passion showed no signs of cooling.

“Now that we’ve completed the water supply, let’s build a palisade!”

We brought thick logs and placed them densely around the base.

Ground work? Leveling?

No time for that. It’s not like we’re staying here long anyway.

“We’ll need a roof to block the rain too.”

We made a frame with bamboo and filled the upper part with palm trees. We carefully coated it with mud and sap from trees to prevent rainwater from leaking.

“Ta-da, our shelter is complete!”

With that, we had built a house.

Actually, it’s rather shabby to call it a house. But I think we did pretty well for being on a deserted island.

[‘If you were thinking of sheltering from wind and rain, finding a cave would have been several times more efficient.’]

[‘David, if everyone thought like you, humanity would have lived in caves from ancient times until now. As humans, shouldn’t we endure a little inconvenience for a better life?’]

Anyway, we had all the basic facilities. It wasn’t abundant, but it wasn’t lacking either.

In that sense, I was grateful to the Engineer. Life had become much easier since she joined.

Now that our quality of life has improved, it’s time to focus on exploration.

“We need to go deep into the forest. We need to find out where the leader is.”

I conveyed my intention to the Holy Maiden. She nodded in agreement.

The four of us divided into two teams of two: an exploration team and a food team.

The exploration team would be me and the Engineer. The Engineer’s eyes and ears were advantageous for exploration, and if monsters used incantations, I could hear and understand them.

This made sense from a combat perspective too. The Engineer and I could protect ourselves, but the Holy Maiden couldn’t. She would need to stay with the Valkyrie, the strongest among us, to protect herself.

“You two, don’t go too deep looking for food.”

“I know that much. But what if you go deep and something happens?”

“We’ll mark the trees along our path. If we don’t return by sunset…”

“That’s too uncertain.”

The Holy Maiden suddenly put her hand on my shoulder. She stood on her tiptoes, fidgeting.

“Face, please lower your face.”

“…What’s this all of a sudden?”

“Quickly.”

I did as she asked. The Holy Maiden pressed her forehead against mine. For a moment, I thought my heart would stop. Our faces were close.

“Don’t move.”

Close enough to hear each other’s breathing.

I stayed with my forehead against the Holy Maiden’s for a while. I didn’t question further because I could guess what she was trying to do.

After a while, the Holy Maiden moved away from me. Her cheeks were as red as honeysuckle.

“I’ve memorized your mana trace. Now we just need to not get too far apart.”

Mana trace.

I’ve heard that high priests of the Holy Spirit Order have a divine spell that allows them to memorize and track a mage’s mana trace for a certain period. In the old days, they used this method to easily hunt witches…

“Am I being hunted now?”

“Yes, try to run away. I’ll find you. Wherever you are.”

The Holy Maiden answered proudly. I smiled back and raised my left hand. And then.

Flick!

I flicked my finger against the Holy Maiden’s forehead.

The Holy Maiden let out a short, high-pitched scream. She covered the spot with her hands. Her pretty eyes turned orange.

“Hiiiii, w-what are you doing?”

“Someone who peeks at others bathing is saying romantic things?”

“What’s the problem? Did I say something wrong? Huh?!”

“There’s a difference in nuance. You should learn more Hazkhail language.”

“How rude! You should learn Ascalian instead! I’ll teach you anytime! Idiot! Monolingual!”

“Well, if you insist.”

“…What?”

“I’ll learn from you starting this evening. Is that a promise?”

The Holy Maiden’s face went blank.

I gathered my magic stones and tools and turned to leave. Before departing, I showed the Holy Maiden and the Valkyrie which direction we were heading, and exchanged goodbyes.

The Valkyrie expressionlessly waved her hand. I thought she was upset until this morning, but apparently not.

“Mage, let’s move quickly.”

The Engineer tapped my shoulder with her spanner. It was a signal to hurry.

The exploration begins.

Our combat method wasn’t much different from before. It was enough to chop down the tree monsters scattered throughout the forest with an axe.

We continued deeper into the forest, defeating the creatures that appeared.

“This is where we usually go.”

It’s a bamboo forest.

[‘It’s quite sparse.’]

[‘Like Professor Strogen’s hair, sir?’]

[‘Well…’]

We have been using a lot of bamboo lately. It was a useful material in many ways.

This isn’t today’s goal.

We need to go deeper, deeper.

We moved while recording the surrounding geography. Since I couldn’t imagine how large the island might be, I constantly checked the position of the sun.

“After the bamboo forest is the pine forest, and after the pine forest is…”

“…”

“Hey, doesn’t something seem strange?”

The color of the forest changed at some point.

After passing the pine forest, we entered a wisteria forest. But all the wisteria vines were dark and murky.

[‘I have a bad feeling about this.’]

[‘We should explore a little more, and if it doesn’t seem right, we should withdraw immediately.’]

It would be best to follow David and Kalon’s advice.

At that moment, the Engineer gritted her teeth.

“There are monsters not far from here. Many of them. We need to either turn back or break through. Choose.”

Of course, I couldn’t understand what she meant. But since she, with her good detection abilities, was showing signs of caution, I needed to be careful.

Sure enough.

We hadn’t taken more than a few steps when eerie voices echoed in our ears.

[“Hehehehe.”]

Not just one or two. At least three or four.

I’m not fooled anymore. This isn’t an incantation uttered by humans. This island is uninhabited. It must be the devil’s voice coming from intelligent monsters.

I looked up at the sky. It seemed like only about two hours had passed since we left the base, but the sun was already high in the sky.

The flow of time is strange.

[“You noticed?”]

[“If you noticed, we definitely can’t let you go.”]

I gestured to the Engineer. We need to retreat.

The moment I tried to turn back, the path we had come from was gone.

“Huh?”

“Damn it.”

Huge vines had taken its place.

Swish.

Tree-like creatures with human forms emerged from between the vines. They had forms close to naked female bodies.

Their hair was covered with leaves, and their limbs were like old trees. Only their torsos resembled humans. They blocked our retreat path.

[“Where do you think you’re going?”]

[“You can’t leave.”]

[“You’re trapped here.”]

The tree monsters giggled. The one standing at the front approached and continued speaking.

[“Hey, don’t you know? The moment you set foot in our Dryad territory, that was the end.”]

[“Here we go again.”]

At my incantation, the monsters, Dryads or whatever they were, opened their eyes wide.

[“Oh my, you can speak the mantra language! Are you of our kind?”]

[“It doesn’t matter. Since these creatures appeared here, many of our comrades have been sacrificed.”]

[“How dare they axe our kin… I’ll never forgive them. You’ll have to create as many new ones as the comrades you’ve killed so far.”]

The monsters raised their arms. Their hands, which had been tangled like kudzu roots, slowly unraveled and aligned into the form of sharp needles.

[“What should we do?”]

[“The beast woman is useless. Kill her and turn her into nutrients, and offer only that man to the master.”]

[“Of course, after making him bear our children first.”]

The one at the front shouted.

[“Kill the female and ravage the male!”]

No sooner had those words ended than the tree monsters all rose and began to charge at us.