Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

5 – Sharing the Enemy’s Bed (2)

Clothing, Food, Shelter. The four things necessary for human survival.

Out of these, “clothing” wasn’t a worry. Both Valkyrie and I were in our military uniforms.

Next, “food”—we just ate, so that was taken care of.

“Shelter” was also sufficient. We brought a lot from the beach. Ah, I’m so happy.

Now, all that’s left is a place to keep out the wind and rain…

A lifeboat would be way more comfortable for sleeping. I’d left it to dry all day, and it’s all dried out. It’s a 4- or 5-seater, big enough for one or two people to stretch out comfortably.

“Let’s use the lifeboat in shifts. Like a bed.”

I drew a picture to express my intent.

It was a favor, if you could call it that. More like a kindness based on thorough calculation.

“If one of us gets sick, it’s just going to be a pain for everyone else. It’s better than sleeping on the bare ground, right? Don’t you think?”

I wonder if my meaning got across?

I glanced at Valkyrie’s expression.

Doesn’t look like it. Her face is practically rotting.

“Share a bed? With *you*?”

Her voice doesn’t sound good either.

Puzzled, I looked again at the drawing I made.

I’d drawn a lifeboat and a man and a woman. And connected them with lines. One was a dotted line, the other a solid one.

It was meant to show how one person could rest in the lifeboat while the other kept watch.

Could this be interpreted in a different way?

Well, no matter how much I think about it, I don’t see how.

“Hold on, draw something else. It’s not what I’m thinking, is it?”

Valkyrie pointed at the drawing and waved her hand. It was like she was saying to express it more clearly. So, I drew a comic-style panel showing me and Valkyrie taking turns, in sequence.

“……”

Valkyrie’s face grew even more profound.

“Hoo.”

Valkyrie fans herself with her hand, sighing.

“Heoh.”

I was just as pissed off as she was.

“Just a minute.”

Valkyrie said that and then rested her chin on her hand. Her face fell into shadow. This won’t do. I used the moment of her silence to pull a rock out of my pocket.

The star-shaped, smooth stone I’d picked up yesterday.

Not gonna make it into a magic stone or anything, just gonna raise it as a pet, pure and simple.

Let’s see. What should I name it?

“David, your name is David from now on.”

I decided to talk to David until Valkyrie spoke again.

“David. Will we be able to get out of here alive?”

[‘Yes, we will.’]

“I’ll take you with me when we escape this hellhole.”

[‘Thank you.’]

“If I make it back alive, you’ll be part of our family, too.”

[‘Really?’]

David’s happy about that.

See, it’s a rock. We’re vibin’.

“…?”

A sudden gaze made me look up. Valkyrie was staring at me like I was a lunatic. So I stared right back.

“Is he crazy?”

So what? This one understands me better than you do.

*

The Holy Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom face each other across a vast ocean. They’re on different continents, you see.

Different continents mean different environments. Different environments mean different cultures.

But not many people realize this immediately.

Rachel was one of them.

“Let’s share a bed.”

Strictly speaking, it meant sharing the life raft as a bed instead of the floor. One would keep watch while the other rested in the raft, and then they’d switch, the watcher going into the raft to rest.

The intent was communicated clearly.

The problem was, in the Holy Kingdom, the phrase “let’s share a bed” was more often used to propose marriage.

“Hoo.”

Rachel paused to collect her thoughts. She quickly remembered that she and the man were from different cultures.

Hazkhail, the capital of the Magic Kingdom.

Where was that again?

Right, high-altitude, harsh, snow-covered mountains.

A place where people froze to death every year, she’d heard. Sharing a bed, or sharing a scarce sleeping space, would be common there.

Yeah, that makes sense in this context.

Rachel, having accepted this, looked at the man. And he was talking to a rock.

Just for a split second, Rachel’s thoughts froze.

She’d been a fool to think, even for a moment, that a mage could be someone with a lick of sense. He looked for all the world like someone whose soul had been ripped away by some evil god. No doubt he’d been flinging powerful magic left and right.

Rachel clicked her tongue and glared at the man. He’d noticed her and was now glaring right back.

Yep, every single mage was nuts.

“Hoo.”

Rachel took stock of her own condition. Her body felt numb and her face was a little flushed.

Looks like she might be coming down with a cold.

*

The sun was already setting.

Unlike the previous day, when she’d been practically defenseless, today she was well-prepared.

She’d been weaving breaths to replenish her mana whenever she had a spare moment, and she’d drawn on her major knowledge and her experience in the military to create several military magic stones.

And that wasn’t all – she’d filled her belly to bursting.

There was nothing to fear.

“Crrrk, crrrk.”

As soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, the monsters crawled onto land. Most of them were the same ones she’d seen yesterday – slow, weak, long-armed fish-men.

She’d decided to call them ‘Walkers’. A fitting name for walking fish, she thought.

Anyway, they were intercepting the monsters from atop the knoll.

“Over there!”

Valkyrie shouted. Rachel turned her head in the direction she was pointing.

A new one had appeared.

It was a monstrosity, with a body like an abalone shell and a pair of snail-like antennae for eyes. It was the size of a large dog.

Six arms, three on each side, sprouted from its torso, and it used them to scuttle closer. It looked exactly like a cockroach.

[“Pierce it.”]

I flicked a stone.

A pea-sized mana stone flew, drawing a blue streak. Instantly, it pierced the abalone monster’s forehead. *Chwaaak!* The sound of tearing reached my ear, and a fountain of purple blood gushed out.

“That blue-green stone is paying its dues.”

The blue-green stone was a military mana stone I’d developed. It maximized penetration power for the mana invested. It was also easy to produce. Thanks to that, even 4th-class mages could easily ignite them, and they were a big help in many battles.

Efficiency to the extreme.

It wouldn’t have the same output as using it to enhance regular bullets, but in a situation like this, nothing beats it. As long as we’re on this island, I’m gonna be using it a lot.

“That spell, that mana stone… no way.”

Valkyrie mumbled something. Her tone was a mix of admiration and shock. I couldn’t understand it, of course.

“More are coming.”

With that, we split up again. For now, securing our positions came first.

The initial fight ended only after the sun completely set. We kicked the monster corpses over the edge of the hill.

“Cleared it. It’s clean.”

“The rough cleanup is done. That should be enough for now.”

Valkyrie and I gathered around the campfire.

I was thirsty after my post-meal exercise. We took turns sipping from the water we’d brought and sat down to warm ourselves. Valkyrie took a breath and spoke first.

“Cough, today was alright.”

“Yeah.”

Objectively speaking, the monster headcount had increased since yesterday. And yet, today was easier. Both Valkyrie and I were at full strength, we fought in advantageous terrain, and we were finally somewhat in sync.

“Wow, first time I’ve ever coordinated moves with the enemy.”

“Ha, figures, the one time I ever sync up with the enemy.”

It was so absurd, it was funny.

Valkyrie got up first. Her complexion was bad, like she was incredibly fatigued. She gave me a nod as she headed for the lifeboat.

“Wake me in three hours.”

I’d agreed to take first watch. After three hours or so, I’d wake Valkyrie and we’d switch.

I spent the time with David, dealing with the occasional monster that showed up. I counted another 10,800 seconds. The moon’s position had already shifted.

I let out a long yawn. It was almost time to swap out.

“Hey.”

I approached Valkyrie.

But, something was off.

“Ughh…”

Was she having a nightmare? Valkyrie was whimpering softly.

Come to think of it, falling asleep being protected by your enemy probably wasn’t the most psychologically comfortable thing.

But whatever, who cares?

Whether Valkyrie was having nightmares or not. Whether she had trouble sleeping because of me or not. What mattered now was that I was goddamn sleepy.

“……Huh, haah…”

Hold on, this is seriously weird.

Her breathing was not right. She was breathing like someone with pneumonia. She was even sweating buckets.

Just in case, I reached out and touched Valkyrie’s forehead.

“Whoa.”

She’s like a walking furnace.

“Why is she suddenly like this?”

Now that I think about it, I did hear her cough a few times this morning. She seemed fine running around, so I didn’t think anything of it.

“Cough, cough!”

Anyone could tell.

It’s a fever.

I can guess the reason why. Wasn’t she soaked to the bone last night? She slept in clothes that weren’t even dry, no wonder she caught a cold.

If this keeps up, I’ll have to do everything myself for the next few days.

Gathering food, checking for ships or planes, fending off monsters. Everything.

“Ha.”

I’m screwed.

“You get sick right after we call a truce?”

Even a simple cold is deadly on a deserted island like this.

If Valkyrie dies like this, my own chances of survival will plummet. That’s the problem. Even if she becomes a burden, I can’t just ditch her.

“Sniff. Sniff.”

“…….”

Ugh, seriously.

I’m not the type to look after someone like this.

“……Repay me later, double.”

I took off my shirt and draped it over Valkyrie’s shoulders.

Another all-nighter, guaranteed.