Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Don’t forget to prepare for winter, please!

Ayumi removed the stone chisel from Luke’s body using her magic in one motion and blood began to spurt out immediately. While I wash the wound with plenty of water I use consider on luke.

luke 51/109 (bleeding)

Thief

Damage was incredibly high, especially considering that a hit with all my strength using a stone spear should now be around 7 to 10 damage.

“As expected, a vital organ had been affected”

I commented as I poured some of the potion on the open wound

“Do it now Helena!”

.....

The potion’s effect along with Helena’s healing ability immediately closed the wound and greatly restored Luke’s health points.

“This definitely confirms that even though health points represent our life, being hit in different places can cause different effects. It’s important not to get overconfident despite having max health potions. Although now that I think about it, if we had had potions and your ability at the time Luke was injured, he probably would have spared himself these days of suffering”

“it’s okay, I kind of deserved it” says luke looking at the ground.

I still don’t like Luke, but since he regained consciousness he’s been a lot nicer to me.

“Can we go inside now? hurry up it’s raining!”

Hiraku yells from outside the cabin causing Ayumi’s anger

“how can you be so inconsiderate? What would have happened if we were at the critical moment and you interrupted us with that shout, eh? Hey?”

Sometimes, just sometimes, ayumi is really scary.

“But darling, it’s cold, please let us in, we can hear you”

A joint laugh relieves the tension of the moment, Luke has finally recovered and we are all fine.

The following days were much more bearable. Although not much worth mentioning happened, we largely achieved our goals, the new cottage is almost ready. thanks to Ayumi’s new ability to manipulate rock and stones we got a stone fireplace for both our old cabin and the new cottage.

Best thing about this is that now we can keep warm and have some light inside the cabin even when it rains, it changed our lifestyle completely. Now it’s easier to dry clothes, cook, everything is simpler and faster, as if that were not enough, we can not only use firewood, but also charcoal since the gases are expelled out thanks to the shape of the chimney.

I’d say that all of this happened at the right time as the weather is getting worse with each passing day and the hours we can spend outside have been reduced even more.

Of all the members of the group, without a doubt the happiest out of everyone is Mochi. It spends long hours sitting in front of the chimney lying on a jackal skin. He’s so lazy that I’m surprised its species can even survive in the wild.

Even so, its very strong for it’s size and I am really glad that there hadn’t been more accidents like the time it almost killed me.

Its an intelligent animal, if there’s food to gain, it learns quickly. Although it’s generally quiet and independent, it comes occasionaly to me or Helena for cuddles or playing.

It’s favorite game by far is chasing things, anything. from the fiber thread that Helena weaves to stones or anything that is thrown at it. Its agile, fast, strong and cunning, those are the best qualities of a good hunter. The only problem is that, although he’s very good at chasing and finding things, he’s not good at retrieving them.

In addition, its periods of activity are too short as he prefers to sleep most of the time.It kind of reminds me of the lazy heroes when I met them.

Still, Anne wants to take it on a hunting trip. After the situation with Luke was solved, she came to me and asked me to assign her a role like I did with the rest. Since my main worry at that moment was food, I told her that she could learn how to hunt, since she’s good at exploring and tracking.

But she’s been bothering me to take Mochi with her, I think she just doesn’t want to go alone. But according to her, its for the best. She believes that Mochi can be trained to hunt by itself. I’m really not sure exactly what she wants to achieve with that, this cat is way too lazy, and the only way Mochi will go hunting with her is if I go too.

As a test, we made some short hunting trips. We didn’t achieve much with this, just a couple of skinny rabbits. However it was indeed a good practice.

I dont have much time to spare, so I haven’t been able to actually learn something. So far, the only thing I’ve learned is that I feel compassion for the animals and its hard for me to do the killing. Even so, if it is about surviving, I think it’s more than justified.

“Hurry up Ryu, how much longer are you going to take?”

“Just one more moment, it’s better to be prepared than sorry, after all today we’ll go further away and even spend the night out”

“Yeah! But it’s only one night, you don’t have to exaggerate things”

“and what if we meet another pack of jackals?”

“Well, you take care of them, just like last time, there won’t be a problem”

I knew it’d be a problem. The fact that I was able to kill the leader of a pack was just luck, but now they believe I can do it whenever I want. To make matters worse, Anne rushes me too much and distracts me before my preparations, if I forget something we could be in trouble later, like the time I forgot my flint.

“Listen anne, I agreed to go hunting with you once in a while just because otherwise you couldn’t take Mochi with you. But remember the conditions, I’m in charge. if I say wait, then you need to wait”

Anne holds her defiant gaze for a moment before turning around and sitting on a log.

Sometimes I really forget that I’m surrounded by monsters, the fact that they have ten times more health points than me, also means that they could beat me ten times before I can even beat them once.

Anne is dressed entirely in a vegetable fiber outfit, not only to avoid ruining the clothes she brought from her home world, but also to better camouflage herself in nature. Once woven, the vegetable fiber takes on a lighter greenish-brown color until it finally turns yellow, at which point it becomes useless and more clothing needs to be made.

Because of that, Helena spends long hours manufacturing and weaving vegetable fiber, sometimes Anne helps her too. I’d like to help too, but my results have never been good, although I can make functional garments, both the quality and the appearance leave a lot to be desired.

In addition to the clothes she’s wearing, on her back she carries three stone spears made by me and on her side an imperial stone knife made by Ayumi.

My equipment is similar, but instead of carrying spears on my back, I carry a sack made of jackal skin. Since my back is occupied by the sack, I’ll carry a spear in each hand and Anne will carry a basket and a spear in hers.

I’d say that it’s the optimal arrangement. If it comes down to combat, Anne can quickly drop her basket and move around unhindered. In my case, I carry medicine, food and some useful tools in the bag. If we find danger I must hide, and the weapons I carry should be only a spare for Anne, except of course for my obsidian knife.

After verifying that we have everything in order, I begin to analyze the objects to see that their quality and durability are appropriate.

stone spear 98/100 good stone

spear 100/100 good

imperial stone knife 369/404

Lately I’ve realized that the more I craft an item, the easier I can craft it afterwards. This is not due to a skill, but rather to my own experience applied to the task. Once I learn an optimal method and get the best possible quality, I just have to repeat the process with similar materials and I will get the same result. for this reason every stone spear is of the same quality.

“Come on Ryu, if you don’t hurry up we won’t be able to reach the silver flowers that you like so much before nightfall”

“How impatient, well, I’ll take advantage of checking the durability of the rest of our gear while we walk. You win, let’s go”

Bob and Helena wave us goodbye. Anne picks up her pace and doesn’t turn around, while I can’t help but feel like I’m forgetting something.

The cat!

“Mochi! come over here!”

Quickly the agile feline joins us, running with its little short legs. It has grown a little, but its still just a small cat. The best advantage of bringing Mochi is that it will alert us if there’s prey or danger nearby, it could mean the difference between life and death. With its pointed ears and its animal sense of smell, we’ll hardly be caught off guard.

We follow the path from the shore of the lake to the river and, just like the last time we traveled using this path, it’s quite bumpy. Sometimes the ground rises and sometimes it falls, although in general I would say that it rises more and more. Especially since getting to the river was much more difficult than going back to the settlement last time.

The further we get, the more I regret not doing this trip with Helena. Anne has become more friendly and her treatment to me is more natural than before, even so, she hardly ever speaks. It’s the opposite with Helena, when I’m with her it’s difficult to find a moment of silence and peace.

A balance between the two would probably be best. Ah, I don’t know what I’m thinking anymore. As if she could read my thoughts Anne breaks the silence, bringing me quickly back to my senses.

“Don’t forget that we started this trip to hunt, we’ll only make a small stopover in the sector where we saw the flowers last time”

“That seems fine to me, I’d like to collect as many as I can. if only I could plant them back home it would be much more efficient”

after a brief moment of silence Anne speaks in a soft voice

“home... I like the sound of that”

After this brief interaction we continue walking with the sun getting higher and higher in the sky. I know that Anne walks slower than her usual to avoid leaving me behind, I know this not only because every one of them is faster and has more resistance than me, but also because from time to time she turns her head back to see me.

She still sounds hostile towards me at times, but I can feel her consideration towards me in her actions and that is something I really appreciate. I wish I could tell her, but knowing her as I do, I’d most certainly get some unpleasant comment from her.

We arrive at the part of the journey where the terrain begins to rise and its increasingly exhausting to advance. With Anne leading me I can’t help but stare at her butt, which is located almost right in front of me, its round and voluminous shape like a ripe peach partly contrasting with her slim and elegant body. It’s not my fault its in front of my face, is it?

Though I would normally avoid looking, with travel fatigue it’s the last thing on my mind. Moreover, taking advantage of the situation, I take the chance to analyze her plant fiber pants. It’s a garment made by Anne herself, and it fits her perfectly. Since it’s made of plant fiber it loosened a bit, causing it to fall slightly off her hips, though not enough to look indecent. She might have taken this into consideration when designing it.

plant fiber pants (good) 38/40

As I ponder the quality of the pants and why are they better than the rest of the clothes we wear, Anne turns around only to find my eyes sticking on her butt. I feel the heat rise to my face, but before I can say anything Anne cuts me off.

“Listen, I’m not going to tell you anything just for looking, if you want to entertain yourself while we walk be my guest, but don’t try to take advantage of me. Don’t forget I’m much stronger than you”

“Wait a moment Anne, I was actually looking at your pants”

“Yeah, yeah, of course you are. *sigh* Men are all the same. Can’t you see I’m giving you permission? You should thank me in silence instead of trying to deny the undeniable”

I have no way to defend myself, she knows exactly what to say to leave me completely speechless. Arguing with her feels like being stuck in quicksand, the more I struggle the more I sink.

Mochi walks without noticing anything, taking small hops in the vegetation, sometimes jumping the obstacles and other times surrounding them. With its small body walking this path is easy, I thought it would get tired much faster than me, but it doesn’t seem to be the case since I’m practically exhausted.

“How about if we take a small break? I’m a little tired”

“it’s not a good idea, if you can keep going for a while it’d be better, that way we can hunt as soon as we get there. we are close, you’ll be able rest in a safer place”

She’s right, I can go a little longer. This path was made by Bob who was making his way through the vegetation and because some time has passed, little by little nature is reclaiming this path again. we have no visibility to the sides, it looks like a long corridor that seems to disappear every time it changes its direction even slightly. It’s a strange feeling to be surrounded by greenery on all sides, It’s both soothing and terrifying at the same time.

A few minutes later I feel like I can’t take another step, even if I know it’s not a good place to rest I’m about to give up. Pain is overcoming my muscles and I start walking stiffly.

“How much left? I’m exhausted”

“don’t worry, just a little more”

It annoys me to see that she’s not tired at all, but she seems quite understanding with me. Being honest I expected her to put me down for my lack of energy. Not only that, the fact that she tells me that there is little left to go gives me a little strength to continue forward.

.....

health 13/14

*gasp*

“I lost a health point!”

“what!? How is that possible! Quick, sit on the floor. we’ll rest here!”

Anne exclaims with genuine concern on her face, no, she actually looks scared.

“How could I let this happen? I’m sorry, it’s my fault! I’m so sorry Ryu!”

She continues saying while she removes my leather bag, searches among its contents for a clay bottle and puts it in my hand while saying “Quickly! drink this!”

“Hey! this is a light healing potion, I shouldn’t drink it for so little. Don’t worry, it’s just a health point. I was just surprised, that’s all”

“No, I can’t let you suffer because of me. I’m sorry I was being selfish”

“Calm down Anne, I think I just need to drink water and rest”

If I think about it, even though my health points have increased little by little, my maximum health before leaving was 13 points. This means that more than losing a point, I got a maximum health point. So why do I feel so bad? My muscles ache so bad i can’t move at all. Now that I remember, whenever my maximum health points increase I also recover a point of health.

In other words, this time I lost a point of health, but gained a point of maximum capacity. In itself, it’s actually not a bad thing, however, I lost the health point due to fatigue, which means that if I keep walking I’ll continue to lose health points until I end up dead, and I am not naive enough to believe that I will continue to increase my maximum capacity. I’d be dead before I got another point.

“I really need to rest, otherwise it might be dangerous.”

Anne looks really unsettled, as if she doesn’t know what to do to fix things, I probably just need to rest for a while but she’s looking everywhere as if she was to find a miracle cure on the spot. I take a long drink of cool water and lean my back against a large tree.

When Anne sees me do this, she sits right next to me, puts her arm behind my head and draws me to her chest. A faint fragrance blows over my face and I find this position incredibly comfortable, using her chest as a pillow my body relaxes and it somehow eases my pain. I’m so tired I don’t even feel anxious for being this close, I can even hear her breathing.

After a few minutes I start to worry about this situation, still I don’t want to make a fool out of myself. I guess before I lost my memory I didn’t have much luck with women since anxiety begins to take over my thoughts.

“are you upset?”

Anne says as if sensing that something is bothering me.

“It’s not that, but...”

“Is it that you, perhaps, don’t find me attractive? I’m sure you’d rather be like this with Helena. If it really bothers you I can let go”

she says that, but she doesn’t let go of me, surely she expects me to answer. I can only give up, it’s not that I feel bad or anything like that.

“You really don’t mind?”

She then presses me a little closer and starts stroking my hair. Her fingers feel cool and I allow the wind to lull me to sleep and I close my eyes a while longer feeling the softness of her breasts.

When I woke up Anne was still caressing me and Mochi was sitting on my lap.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Just a few minutes, how do you feel?”

“Much better, thank you, I’m ready to leave whenever you want”

“If you don’t mind, could you... I mean, if you want, can we stay like this for a moment longer? don’t get me wrong I... No, the truth is that I’m enjoying this, resting under a tree on a sunny day with a guy. It makes me feel that my life is normal, as if this were my old world”

“I understand”

As I slept in the position I had been left in, I’m somewhat uncomfortable now. This may be a bit daring, but I extend my arm around Anne’s waist to find a more comfortable position. She allows it without saying anything and we stay like that for a long time.

A dark cloud seemed to turn off the sun suddenly, only then did we realize the sudden change in climate that was taking place. Although it doesn’t rain, the mere presence of the clouds is enough for the cold to pierce our bones.

Without a word, we got up and continued on our way. This time much more quickly since there’s a lot of terrain to cover and we’re behind schedule. We arrived at the river, found the place where Helena had found the flowers and I quickly started digging to get the ones we couldnt bring last time, trying to take the root intact.

As I did so, Anne set out to walk around with Mochi.

Beyond the forest there’s a plain where you can see practically only grass, but there doesn’t seem to be many trees or bushes. Although with the distance I couldn’t be sure either.

Once I harvested most of the flowers, Anne came running towards me.

“I found a cave, let’s spend the night there... if it’s okay with you”

“Yes, that’s okay, I’ll go get firewood”

“Let’s go together, the wind is getting stronger and I have a bad feeling”

We walk slowly through the forest, bending down from time to time to pick up some branches. After getting enough I start to follow Anne to the cave.

“It’s this way, we have to cross the river but if we jump over the rocks there shouldn’t be a problem”

“In that case wouldn’t it have been better to collect the firewood from the other side of the river?”

Anne blushes slightly.

“Actually, it didn’t occur to me”

I feel like I’m getting to know a completely different facet of Anne, a much kinder and more humane one. She takes with her most of the firewood we collected and we jump from rock to rock until we cross to the other side.

The cave she found is narrow but quite deep, it doesn’t seem to be inhabited by any animal and it will be a good shelter from the cold wind. While I make a fire at the entrance of the cave with a flint Anne goes out to explore the surroundings to explore the terrain. She returns just before nightfall with the basket full of berries, nuts, mushrooms and some herbs that she hadn’t seen before.

While we roast the mushrooms in the heat of the fire, a soft and light white powder begins to fall outside.

“it’s snowing!”