Chapter 8 : Onto the island

August 26th, 2022

The boat ran ashore on the sandy beach that narrowed into a cove.

I immediately pulled out a rope and tied the boat to a coconut tree that was growing on the waterside. Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen a real coconut fruit.

Just as I was absent-mindedly looking up at the coconut fruit, Chris jumped and cut off three of the palm fruit.

“Even though we have Shirou’s creation magic, securing food supply is still a fundamental aspect of survival”

“I understand. I’ll keep these fruits under a shade”

Since I just drank water, I’m not really thirsty right now.

“After we rest for a bit, let’s go explore around the area. If there are people we can ask where this place is, and if it turns out to be an uninhabited island we might encounter some monster”

“Monster…?”

“Yes. See, like the slime over there”

When I looked to the place she pointed at, I saw a jelly-like substance moving slowly in the sandy beach. Its size is as big as a man’s head.

“I see, so that’s a slime!”

Seeing me surprised, Chris had a puzzled look on her face.

“Shirou, is this the first time you’ve seen a slime?”

“Yes! I’ve seen them in games before, but this is my first time seeing the real thing!”

“Games?”

Of course she wouldn’t know what a game is.

“I mean, I’ve seen its pictures before”

“To think someone would create pictures of slime. Shirou, your country is weird”

To me it’s weirder that slimes are real and roaming around.

“Is it dangerous?”

“It’s fine as long as you don’t come near it. When surprised, it may pour digestive juices. If you don’t wash it off immediately, it will sting, and your skin will get rough”

So it’s not that dangerous…

“Slimes are beneficial monsters. It eats and decomposes human excrement and garbage. Don’t kill them carelessly”

I see.

It’s like a spider that eats pests; they are beneficial because they prey on mosquitoes and ticks.

——————————————————————————————-

After I hid the water-filled pot and the coconut fruit in the grass, we then set off for exploration.

By our initial survey from the direction of the sea, it doesn’t seem to be inhabited by people. Even Chris, using enhanced eyesight courtesy of body reinforcement magic, can’t find anything that looks like man-made object. That’s why she predicted that this island is most probably uninhabited.

We tried going along the coastline, but along the way there were many places that are either cliff, or covered with thick vegetation that doesn’t allow access to people.

Each time, Chris carried me on my back.

To be able to jump over 10 meters while carrying a man on her back, and jumping from tree to tree, is truly feats beyond what normal human can do.

Just like that, we spent half day going around the island. And during that time I was able to make four fist-sized loaves of bread.

We were also able to collect other wild fruits such as bananas and mangoes, so I put them in the rainwear hood and took them home. I should make a bag or something like a sack for later use.

By exploring around the island, we found out that the circumference is about 25 km, so it’s not that big of an island.

 Also, as we thought, the island is uninhabited since we couldn’t find traces of anything man-made. On the centre of the island there’s a small mountain, I think the altitude is less than 200 meters.

“Alright, we’ll need to find a place to sleep tonight, but I want to eat some fruits first. All that walking around really made me hungry”

“Well then, please try some of these too.”

Along with the banana and mangoes, I took out a bread I just made. The one I made earlier was already cold, but this one was done only 10 minutes ago; there’s still steams coming out of it.

“This… it’s also created using your magic, Shirou?”

“Yes. It’s my first time trying to create this one, so I don’t know how the taste will be, but…”

Let’s try teasing her a bit here.

“Even though I can’t guarantee the taste because it’s my first time, I did my best in making it!”

I put on the role of a hard-working cute boy. I wonder how Chris’ will react?

 “Cu, cute…!”

Wow. That’s a good reaction.

“Well then, shall we start eating, Chris-sama?”

“Ye, yeah”

We sat on the beach under the shade of a coconut tree, eating bread and fruits.

By the way, I didn’t know that some bananas have seeds. Like the one we’re eating now, it contained many large black seeds. I wonder if this is the case with wild, uncultivated banana, its taste is closer to Taiwanese banana than Philippine variant and had a fragrant smell.

The mangoes that we ate were also ripe and taste very sweet.

“This bread is really delicious. It compares favourably with what we eat at the royal palace”

It certainly is delicious.

It’s just a simple round bread but it has a nice chewy texture, and you can taste the flavour of the wheat. If I can produce this in large quantity, I think it’s possible to live in this world as a baker.

However, even if fruits and bread are delicious, I still want to be able to eat fish and meat.

I don’t know if I can hunt with a bow and arrow, but I feel like I can do something like fishing.

After all, I did manage to catch a talking flounder before.

I should include fishing rod into my next crafting list.

In the afternoon, we explored the mountain while I set my creative magic to make another bread.

Earlier in the day, we found a stream when going around the coast, so now we’re going uphill from there. Eventually, we came to a large bedrock area.

“It will be more convenient if there’s a cave around here”

“I agree. This place is quite near to a river, so it’s easy to get water”  

If it’s too close to the water source there will be a lot of insects, so I think it’s better to have some distance from the river. It will be bad if we get disease like malaria.

If possible, I want to quickly learn Medicine Production so I won’t be worried.

“Well, too bad there’s no cave around here. Otherwise it will be ideal”

Even if I looked around, the only thing I could find was rugged flat rock.

“So what. If there’s no cave, we’ll just have to make it, right?”

Like before, Chris’ hands glowed red. And just like that she cut the rock easily, like a hot knife through butter.

Deciding to leave Chris with building the cave, I went back to pick up our things from the beach; it was the pot and coconut that I left in the grass. I should be fine by myself since there doesn’t seemed to be anything dangerous around here.

On the way there, I found myself another banana which made me happy.

——————————————————————————————-

When I arrived back, Chris has completed a splendid cave.

“How about it, Shirou? Do you think it’s spacious enough for us?”

The entrance to the cave is cut rectangular, it also has a square-cut window. The inside is about 16 tatami mats in size. (1 tatami mat = around 18 ft2/550 cm2).

“It’s more than enough. Ah, I see you also made a bed, a table, and a chair out of stone”

“Might as well, right?”

Along the wall, there were tables and chairs that looked like box seats at a family restaurant. With this, we don’t have to worry about where to eat. I then put the pots and coconuts I brought on the table.

“I’m thinking of putting something on top of the bed. I will look for dry grass later, maybe I can find some that can be used”

“Eh, just leave it to me. I have some idea with using the dry coconut leaves. While at it, I’m going to look around the river, maybe we can find fish there”

I found a lot of animal tracks on the bank of the stream earlier, which seems to be the footprints of deer, goats, and wild boars. Probably may animals come to the river to drink water in the evening.

Hopefully we can have some meat tonight.

As for the seasoning, there is the salt that is the by-product of when I made fresh water out of seawater, so I should probably use that tonight.

If I have enough MP and time, I’ll try making herbs such as basil and thyme.

“I hope you can catch something. I’ll try to make some bag to put the harvest in, so I’ll look for plants that can be used as materials”

I already have three loaves of bread. I’m working on the last one now.

Currently, the experience gained is 72/100. If this bread is completed, it will be +6 experience points, so it will be 78/100.

Bread Production　    Time until finished    　00：21：17

If I search the forest looking for materials, time will pass quickly.

Chris and I started doing our separate works.