Ch.58Heavy Relationship (6)

The engineer draped his shirt over my body. The distinctive tangy and savory scent of fox beastfolk hit my nostrils sharply.

It wasn’t unpleasant. But I couldn’t say it wasn’t stimulating either.

A smell I’d never encountered before. My head felt fuzzy. Was there some pheromone on it?

“So you don’t catch a cold…”

The engineer muttered in a small voice.

“Sorry, and thank you.”

Sorry and thank you?

That’s what I should be saying.

I hadn’t expected Miyo to master Mirkil so quickly. Thanks to her, I was able to receive pure mana from her. That mana saved my life and saved the Valkyrie. Miyo was my lifesaver.

“Can I sleep next to you tonight?”

The engineer crept onto the bed. She wedged herself between me and the Valkyrie.

“Mmm.”

The Valkyrie groaned. The engineer’s movements stopped simultaneously. She remained frozen in a prone position for a while.

The restless Valkyrie eventually quieted down.

The engineer, sighing with relief, resumed moving. She fidgeted for a while before lying down facing the Valkyrie.

Just as I thought. She just came over because she likes the stone bed.

But isn’t there another stone bed on the priestess’s side too?

Thump.

Something landed on my stomach just then.

It was too dark to see clearly. I could only tell it was soft and warm.

What is this?

I carefully placed my hand on my stomach.

I felt something fluffy and soft.

Like a well-made cotton blanket. The more I touched it, the more addictive it became.

Wait. Fluffy and soft?

Could this be…?

“Hic, hic, hiic.”

I was so startled that I hastily removed my hand.

The engineer made a whistling sound and turned around. Our eyes met.

[“…Pervert.”]

It wasn’t the engineer.

Miyo smiled sweetly.

[“Touching my tail without permission, how naughty.”]

“Huh.”

[“If you keep doing this, I’ll remember it and report you when we get back.”]

I was dumbfounded.

[“Report? What kind of report? You were the one who first…”]

[“Marriage registration.”]

[“What?”]

[“I’ve never shown my tail to anyone except family. Not just me, but most fox beastfolk are like that. In other words, touching my tail is equivalent to courting me.”]

Miyo brought her face close to mine.

[“What, are you attracted to beastfolk even though you’re a Mage?”]

[“…Hey.”]

[“I’m kind of attracted to you.”]

My astonishment doubled. A fox from an enemy country whom I’d met barely two months ago was playing hard to get with me.

Miyo’s smiling eyes in the moonlight were incredibly seductive. I could understand why ancient people told stories of being bewitched by foxes who stole their livers.

I gathered my thoughts and asked.

[“Are you joking?”]

[“Who knows?”]

[“If it’s a joke, stop right there. I don’t really like beating around the bush.”]

[“Oh? Is that so?”]

Just as Miyo was about to whisper in my ear—

“Sir.”

A low, thick voice. But unmistakably a woman’s voice.

The Valkyrie had awakened.

“M-Major?”

“Why are you here instead of standing guard? Go back to your post.”

“But…”

“Is it that time already? Still, you shouldn’t be here. The Mage has a hole in his stomach right now. He needs stability, so don’t make things difficult for him. Tonight, sleep where the Colonel is. That’s an order.”

Miyo left, looking dejected. In the end, I didn’t get to hear her true feelings.

I turned my head with difficulty. The Valkyrie was looking at me with calm eyes. Her irises sparkled like jewels in the darkness.

“Thanks, by the way.”

“Suddenly?”

“Mage, today, magic. If not, you, me. This.”

The Valkyrie made a gesture of slitting her throat. She meant that if I hadn’t supported her with the Piercing Blue Stone during that battle, her attack would have missed, and we all would have died.

I felt a chill. We really almost died today.

“Body, okay?”

I shook my head.

Can’t lie. It hurts like hell.

***

The priestess came to check my wounds as soon as morning arrived. She rubbed her darkened eye circles and yawned.

“Mage, you were so stupid yesterday. Who told you to use magic when you had no mana? What if you had died? Would you have been okay with a demon taking your soul?”

“If that happened, I hope you would save me, Priestess.”

“You! Haah…”

The priestess punched my shoulder repeatedly. It hurt quite a bit. The funny thing was that it was actually healing me. My muscle tension was rapidly easing. She really has healing hands.

“Wasn’t our goal survival? Didn’t you tell Major Brokenheart that we should get out with our limbs intact?”

“I was trying to survive. There was no other way. The Valkyrie’s attack had to hit. If it had failed, we would have been annihilated on the spot.”

“…I see. That’s a very Magic Kingdom-like judgment. You weren’t wrong. Because of that, the Sergeant and Major might end up falling for you.”

The priestess grumbled in a subdued voice.

“That shouldn’t happen…”

“Pardon?”

“Just talking to myself.”

Just now, the priestess’s eyes were a pale green.

Green? What did green mean again?

[‘It means jealousy.’]

[‘It’s jealousy.’]

Jealous? The priestess?

About what part?

The priestess cleared her throat with a “Ahem.”

“By the way, don’t you have something to say to me?”

“Ah, thank you for healing me.”

“Don’t mention it. But make sure to repay this favor someday, okay?”

“How should I repay you?”

“Don’t overthink it. When I call for you, just come to me.”

When she calls, come to her? That’s quite vague.

Still, I nodded.

“Yes, I’ll find you wherever you are.”

Only then did the priestess smile gently. She left to prepare breakfast. I lay in my sickbed, pondering last night’s events.

First, I understand that Miyo has developed feelings for me. It’s natural. We saved each other’s lives. Our bond was bound to deepen.

However, I’m not sure how deep the fox sisters’ feelings for me are. Do they simply trust me as a lifesaver and comrade, or is it something more?

Marriage registration? That must have been a joke given the flow of the conversation.

“Ms. Kasten.”

I couldn’t help but speak to the priestess who had brought breakfast.

“Last night, that fox let me touch her tail.”

The priestess dropped her bowl.

“What did you just say?”

“The fox Sergeant let me touch her tail. She came to me in the middle of the night.”

The priestess, looking flustered, hurriedly brought her face close to mine. She said “excuse me” and burrowed into my chest, sniffing my clothes.

“What are you doing?”

“Just bear with me for a moment.”

I was embarrassed enough to feel my face heating up. But I couldn’t resist. I was a patient after all.

“…Fox scent.”

The priestess who raised her head muttered as if chewing on the words.

“Mage, did the Sergeant say anything to you yesterday?”

“She called me a pervert.”

“And?”

“She said if I kept touching it, she’d file for marriage registration.”

“Did you keep touching it?”

“I touched it once and that was it.”

“Then that was… a joke. And what else?”

“She said touching her tail was like courting her, and asked if I was attracted to her. What’s this all about?”

“Haah…” The priestess let out a deep sigh. She sat down on the edge of the bed, almost collapsing, while holding her forehead. Her eyes had a green tint. Darker than before.

“It’s nothing special. She’s just showing great gratitude to the person who saved her life.”

“Is that it?”

“The world of beastfolk is complicated. Touching a tail doesn’t directly correspond to human behavior. That’s why misunderstandings often occur.”

The priestess clapped her hands.

“Anyway, this is good news. As our relationship deepens like this, our chances of leaving the island increase too.”

The priestess seemed to be right. Several more days passed, but the engineer didn’t rub her tail against me again.

After that day, it was the Valkyrie who shared my bed. It’s been a while since we slept together. Of course, sleeping together didn’t mean anything special. We were both patients, just lying there like slabs of stone.

Still, the Valkyrie recovered quickly. While she started walking again, I was still fighting for my life with the hole in my stomach.

I don’t know how much cold sweat I shed every night. The area where I was pierced would tingle at every opportunity. Without proper painkillers, I endured by gritting my teeth. It was hell every day.

The one fortunate thing was that there were people who came to check on me during those times.

The Valkyrie, the priestess, and the engineer. The three of them took turns looking after me.

While I expected it from the priestess and engineer, the Valkyrie was surprising. Did she not want her enemy to die so pathetically? Or had her anger toward me faded with time?

I’d prefer the latter, but the Valkyrie didn’t seem like that kind of person.

More time passed, and I endured this too. The wound was healing. A period of stability had arrived.

“Can you walk now?”

“Yes, though running is still difficult.”

I got up, taking only a water canteen and a few berries for food.

“Let’s go.”

We couldn’t delay any longer.

Our destination was the forest where the tree monster had been.

The goal of this expedition was to find clues leading to an exit.

***

When the island’s leader is eliminated, one noticeable change occurs.

The number of monsters.

Since defeating that tree monster, the number of monsters attacking us had greatly decreased. As if to prove this, the daytime forest was as quiet as a grave.

“Whew, this is pleasant.”

The priestess spoke up.

However, she didn’t seem to be in a good mood. Her eyes had been a light green for a while now.

The priestess looked at me and the engineer and said.

“Um, Sergeant Riyo?”

“Yes?”

“Since the Mage seems uncomfortable, maybe you could give him some space?”

The engineer was supporting me. It was because I still had difficulty moving.

But it was a bit excessive for mere support.

“You don’t need to use your tail to support him, do you?”

As the priestess said something, the engineer wrapped her tail around my waist. The priestess’s eyes narrowed even more.

“Sergeant, you look tired. Should I support him instead from now on?”

“Colonel, the Mage is my lifesaver. He ended up like this because of me, so I should be the one supporting him.”

The atmosphere was peculiar. It was already cold in the center of the forest, but it felt even colder. The voices of the priestess and engineer were somehow chillier than usual.

At that moment, the Valkyrie, who had been walking ahead, spoke in a nonchalant tone.

“I think it would be better to let the Mage decide who should support him.”