Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

110 – Awakening (3)

Training basically proceeds freely.

[“I can’t help you with mana manipulation or breathing. You’re too perfect.”]

[“So, all I have to do is starve?”]

[“Yep. If it gets hard or you’re missing something, just ask anytime.”]

Even though she was helping us, Salvia was nominally part of the Demon Lord’s army. She frequently went to the ‘Nest’ for the Demon Lord’s revival and all that. I didn’t have much time to see her.

Alright, I should just focus on training.

A month at most.

I have to raise my magic power to the level of an average person within that time.

I started Mir’Kill on an empty stomach.

“Hoo.”

From early morning until the sun was high in the sky, I spent four or five hours using Breath Weaving, and hunger washed over me.

I can still endure it for now.

Skipped lunch, then spent the afternoon working on the golem. They said I had to use up all the mana gathered with Breath-Weaving, so in the end, this was training too.

Stuffing magic power into the raw stone, building mana circuits, it made me breathless.

Fine sweat, starting at my forehead, trickled down my chin.

“You okay?”

“No, just a little dizzy.”

“Whoa, sweat.”

Riyo nuzzled my neck, sniffing.

“Erich… you smell like a male.”

“You’re getting too clingy?”

Anyway, I finished today’s work without incident.

I’m hungry.

Didn’t even get a drop of dew to drink, just sweated all day until evening.

Salvira came back in the early evening. She set down a bucket full of water, then held up a hand, stopping me before I could even ask anything.

[“This is just regular water.”]

[“Ah.”]

Thought she was bringing back mana-infused water.

[“I’ll tell you what to watch out for when drinking water. First, adding your own mana to it won’t do anything. Increasing your mana means drawing in and accumulating energy from the outside.”]

[“So you’re saying that only mana-infused water with someone else’s mana is effective.”]

[“You catch on quick. Also, making mana-infused water that’s over 50% pure isn’t easy. You can’t reach the target concentration with normal injection and circulation.”]

The core of that long explanation could be summarized like this.

A magician of some skill would only drink water retained within their own body.

[“Usually they pre-store refined blood or urine and drink that. But since the Awakening is only a month away… I guess we can’t prepare that much.”]

[“Do you have a better idea?”]

[“Your colleague.”]

It was then that the little spider brought someone in.

[“Beep-beep, beep-beep!”]

Glossy black hair. Eyes like ink spilled across a page.

A simple color scheme, but despite that, a woman possessed of radiant beauty.

It was Commander Adora.

For some reason, her cheeks were flushed.

[“When making Mana Water, the quantity of mana is more important than its quality. And this one has a *lot* of mana stored in her body.”]

[“So, that means…”]

[“The details have been sorted. I’m going now, good luck.”]

Salbira and the little spider left the residence. The beeping sounds gradually faded, disappearing into the mist.

The Commander’s eyes met mine.

Her cheeks were slightly puffed out, and she was slowly dripping water from below her lips. With just a few gestures, she explained the situation.

Not a single word was spoken.

Even so, I knew what I had to do to replenish my fluids.

The Commander moved closer, and I slightly parted my lips.

“Uhp…”

My lips meet the Major’s.

Glug, glug.

Warm liquid, laced with a sweet scent, passed down my throat.

It wasn’t gum, nor did it taste of mana. It was Adora Gipfel’s natural fragrance, soaking my insides.

The Major carefully pulled away, speaking with a subtly trembling voice.

“I… experimented. To see how long I needed to hold it in my mouth to exceed half-purity. Turns out, roughly 30 minutes. So I decided to hold it for an hour. That should accelerate your achievement.”

“Aren’t you ashamed?”

“My heart feels like it’s going to burst.”

Hot breath tickles the tip of my nose.

“Even if I move as little as possible, I’ll have to drink ten cups like this a day. I’ll have to hold water in my mouth all day long.”

“Won’t your jaw dislocate?”

“Still, this is the only way, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s alright. We’re all doing this to survive. Let’s see if we can make porridge or just end up with burnt rice.”

The Major scooped up the water Salvira brought and held it in her mouth. From now on, she’d have to kiss me for an average of one or two hours every day.

It was incredibly embarrassing, but there couldn’t be a more efficient method.

*

Right after Erich went into training.

The recovered Rachel, along with Tiria and Liyo, were busy searching for food near the Spider’s Nest.

It was nice that they didn’t have to gather as much food, since one person was fasting for a month, but the three of them weren’t at ease.

“Isn’t he going to collapse at this rate?”

Tiria was on edge.

“I don’t get why he trusts the spider monster’s words so blindly. Fasting to increase mana… I’ve never even heard of such a theory in my life.”

“Well, we’re not experts in that field. Mages know magic best, right? Erich must see something different.”

“Major Rachel, what do you think?”

Rachel, who was diligently picking berries, carefully opened her mouth.

“Regardless, there are two undeniable truths.”

“And what are those?”

“The spider woman saved me, and Erich Ronstein has us by his side.”

The old Rachel would never have been able to say such things to an enemy.

Only now can she speak like this.

Having received help so many times whenever she was in danger, now she will help him when something happens.

“Colonel, Sergeant. I learned one thing while risking my life alongside that man. And that is, in life-or-death situations, worrying about things that haven’t even happened is the biggest luxury of all.”

“Major, you’re…”

“This is… just me repaying a debt.”

She wanted to act aloof, to pretend to be nonchalant.

But her heart felt like it was burning from a feeling that was becoming more and more certain, yet she saw herself enjoying the blaze.

Who the hell is the firefighter here anyway? That arsonist b*stard…

Avoiding Tiria’s and Liyo’s gazes, Rachel turned her back, the corner of her lips twitching upwards.

Having gathered the food and returned, the three of them finished their meal and decided to go see Erich.

“Maybe he’s concentrating, so let’s go in carefully.”

I wonder if he’s really hungry.

What if he gets malnourished?

Should I give him some divine power instead of rice?

Waiting for the three female soldiers as they stepped inside, filled with all sorts of worries, was the sight of a woman from the Magic Kingdom straddling Erich and pouring water into his mouth.

“……”

“Oh.”

“O-oh?”

None of the three could process the scene unfolding before their eyes.

“Haa… Haa. Eleventh.”

“I think that’s enough for today.”

“Then I’ll hold tomorrow’s portion in my mouth beforehand.”

Adora, panting heavily, moved to the side. Turning her head, her gaze landed on the three women.

Tiria, flinging open the woven cloth screen, strode in.

“What, what were you doing just now?”

“Replenishing moisture.”

“What kind of moisture replenishing is done like that?”

“High-concentration mana water is needed to increase the total amount of mana. I’m giving the lieutenant the water containing mana directly from me. Why, is there a problem?”

“There’s a lot of problems. A lot!”

Tiria’s eyes, as if it were only natural, began to gleam with a green light.

“It was just a quick match because of the artificial respiration! What about you? You’ve been using watering the plants as an excuse to kiss him this whole time?”

“Yeah. Eleven times. No, counting the one on the foothills, twelve.”

“You could have just spat it into a bowl and given it to him!”

“Well, yeah. I filled my own desires in the process.”

“Pervert.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

You b*tch! Evil b*tch! Lucky b*tch!

While Tiria swallowed every curse she knew inside, Adora continued.

“I didn’t think I’d experience it like this… It’s like the excitement is less, or something, it’s nice but it’s a little… boring.”

“Huh? What a load of privileged crap!”

“Honestly, it feels like I’m doing it with a husband, not a boyfriend.”

“……?!”

At her nonchalant reply, Tiria’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. She mumbled in the Holy Spirit Kingdom language that Adora wouldn’t understand.

“I… I called dibs first…”

And Rachel’s gaze was fixed on the back of Tiria’s head after hearing those words.

Just because you met someone first doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll love them first. But why. Tiria’s mumble felt more bitter to Rachel than Adora’s actions.

I was first.

I met him first.

If I wasn’t there, Erich would have died on the first island a long time ago. Then neither the Saintess nor the Fox Sisters would have met him.

She found herself having such useless thoughts.

This feeling, could it be… jealousy?

While Rachel clenched her hands tight, trying to calm her mind, Liyo had already slipped out of the tent and was circling around the back.

The tent itself had a gap at the bottom, making it easy to squeeze in from any direction.

Liyo, cat-like, dug in from the rear and ambushed Erich.

“Hello?”

“I figured you’d come in like this.”

Liyo switched to Miyo and continued,

[“You must be so hungry. What should I feed you?”]

[“I shouldn’t eat anything, remember?”]

[“It’s okay. I’ll give you something you *can* eat.”]

[“What on earth is it?”]

[“Love.”]

Miyo’s tongue plunged between Erich’s lips.

In that instant, Erich realized.

Liyo and Miyo shared the same body, but their minds were separate. Miyo’s saliva, though a mere trace compared to Adora’s, contained a large amount of mana.

Accepting various kinds of mana would speed up the expansion of his own mana.

In other words, swapping spit would help his training, not hinder it.

“Umm, smack, smack…”

The loud and vulgar sounds made the three women, locked in their cold war, turn around.

“Why are you all so jealous and fighting? There’s barely enough time just to express love.”

Miyo, having thoroughly erased Adora’s scent with a deep, wet kiss, licked her lips and gave a bright, eye-smile.

“Even if there’s a girl you like, you have to make them turn around and look at you.”

[‘Commoners. The victory belongs to the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan.’]

The other stones threw a fit at the Fox Sisters’ and Kalon’s declaration.