Seeing as neither of us knew anything about the island, there was no use in staying put on the beach. With that in mind, we tried walking along the shore for a while, but there didn’t seem to be any good sources of food or drinkable water. We couldn’t spot anything that looked like a ship on the horizon, nor were there any other castaways besides Reina. It didn’t seem like we would find anything more, so with no other option we proceeded in the direction of the tall, wooded forest.
“Are you all right?” I asked Reina, but she remained silent.
The island felt rather large. Quite some time had passed since we entered the forest, but there was still no change in scenery. From the perspective that I was planning to make this place my home, it would be inconvenient for me if it were a small, isolated island, but it would also be an issue if the island was so large that it was impossible to grasp its entire scope.
The ground in the dense forest was uneven, making it much harder to walk on than a flat path. Normally, I would’ve run out of stamina after walking just a short distance. And as a matter of fact, Reina had beads of sweat rolling down her forehead and looked drained.
“Why don’t we take a short break?” I said.
“Yeah, good idea,” Reina said, panting.
I found a fallen tree and was about to sit down on it when I suddenly remembered how Reina was dressed. I took off my coat, spread it out on the log, then sat next to it. Reina silently stared.
“Is something wrong?” I said. “You’re still recuperating. Maybe that isn’t the right word, but I don’t think you’ve gotten fully better yet, so you’ll ruin your health if you don’t take a break.”
“Um, thanks.”
Seeming to pick up on my intent, she gently sat down on top of my coat.
Reina was dressed, for lack of a better descriptor, like a magician out of a video game, but even then her overall defense was especially low. She had been about to hurt her pretty legs by sitting down on the bare log.
“You sure have a lot of energy,” Reina remarked.
“Yeah, I’m surprised too.”
“You’re surprised?”
In my last life, I had been too busy with work to think about exercising, so my body had been sluggish. Now, I felt so agile that it was hard to believe that this was my own body. As far as I could tell, the “strong body immune to illness and injury” I had received from the god was giving me a great deal of support on the stamina side of things.
Reina sighed. “At any rate, this island is a bit strange.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. This place shouldn’t be far from where my boat sank. But there’s no way the kingdom knew nothing about such a large island. What if...” Muttering to herself, she fell deep in thought.
Meanwhile, I idly surveyed our surroundings. There’s a tree, the ground, a wolf, some dirt, a tree, a wolf, a wolf on top of a large rock, a wolf, another—
“Wolf?!”
I scrambled to my feet and looked around. There was a pack of drooling, gray-haired wolves all like the one that had stolen my rabbit yesterday, and they had us surrounded. They clearly saw us as food and were ready to dig in. And this time, I didn’t have anything I could use to draw their attention.
“R-Reina?! R-Run awa—”
“What are you so scared of?”
“Just look: wolves! And these ones eat people! If we don’t run, there’s no telling—”
“Run?”
Reina casually stood up, a fearless smile on her face. Then, her scarlet eyes glinted and she nimbly held up a hand. In an instant, a wind that emitted a faint azure light began to blow around her feet, and her scarlet hair and white cloak fluttered in the breeze.
“Wha—?! C-Could this be?!”
“Would I, Reina Mistral of the Seven Celestial Archmages, do something so unsightly as run away from mere beasts? Not a chance.”
As she spoke, Reina moved her hand, and in conjunction with her movements, sharp blades of wind cut into the wolves. They were sliced cleanly in half with no time to run, and they died without even comprehending what it was that killed them.
I unconsciously exclaimed with wonder at the sight of this supernatural power that hadn’t existed in my previous life. “M-Magic?!”
“Well, that’s pretty much what it’s like,” Reina said, shooting me a self-assured smile and brushing a loose strand of hair to the side. She shone beautifully.