It had been a week since Katima came to see us. During that time, I thought that our development of the forest had made a lot of progress.
“How’s that? I’m pretty amazing, huh?” Katima said.
“Yes... You really are,” Reina replied.
“Hmm hmm.” Getting Reina’s agreement, Katima chuckled happily, though her face was expressionless.
“I mean, this really is amazing,” I said.
My eyes were turned to the extreme state of the forest, which looked as if a localized, supermassive typhoon had just passed through. Katima had gotten a huge stone axe from who-knows-where and started mowing down trees one after another, and this was the result. There was only one word that could describe the sight of her small body sending trees flying like they were in a storm: stunning.
“I can hunt an Emperor Boar on my own too!” she said.
“Seriously, the people here can be so...” Exasperated, Reina looked up at the sky. I unconsciously followed her gaze.
The trees around here were quite tall, which must have originally made it hard for sunlight to get through, but thanks to Katima it was now pleasantly clear. Up until now, I had been responsible for both cutting down the trees and collecting them, but doing two types of work at once was unexpectedly tiresome. With Katima’s backup, the work had instantly started to progress faster.
“I’ll go pick up the large fallen trees, so can you tidy up the road, Reina?” I said.
“Okay,” she replied.
“What should I do?” Katima asked me.
“For now... Why don’t we go on ahead?”
“Got it!”
She made a couple practice swings with her giant stone axe like it was a baseball bat. The power contained in her small body was unimaginable, but pretty much everyone who lived here was absurdly strong, so this was nothing new.
“Let me know if you get tired, Reina,” I said.
“All right. Though if it’s only this much, I still have plenty of energy. Or rather, I’d be a disgrace to the name of the Seven Celestial Archmages if I was the only one to quit so easily.”
“I guess so, but the other two have already thrown in the towel.”
Reina paused. “Look, they can’t help it. They have a lot on their plates.”
Zelos and Merlyn had joined the construction, but they were specialists in fire and water. They weren’t as good at the earth elemental magic that was needed right now, so they were quitting rather early.
“Heeey! If you don’t come quickly, I’ll leave you behiiind!” Katima shouted.
“Anyway, let’s get to work so she doesn’t beat us,” I said.
“I’ll probably call it quits midway through, so take care of the rest for me,” Reina said.
“Of course.”
It was incredible that an ordinary human like Reina could keep up with us this much. With that thought in my mind, we went on clearing land, following the rapidly advancing Katima along the way.
✦ ✦ ✦
After work, it was time to eat. And yet...
“What do we do, Arata? There’s no food...” Katima looked at me with desperation.
“You’re right, there isn’t.” I just solemnly nodded.
Of course, this didn’t mean that all our ingredients had disappeared. After all, I had packed a large quantity of them inside my Storage spell which far surpassed the amount Reina had brought with her in the beginning. However, just because you have the ingredients doesn’t mean food will make itself. You need someone who possesses tremendous skill: a cook.
“If only...I was stronger,” Reina said.
“It isn’t your fault, Reina. So don’t push yourself, and go rest inside,” I said.
“Ahh... I’m sorry.”
I laid her down in her bed, then headed to Katima waiting outside.
“Now, Katima, you know Reina doesn’t have enough mana and is down for the count.”
“Yeah.”
“That means we’re the last ones left.”
Aside from Reina, the only people around were Katima and I, plus Zelos and Merlyn. However, the latter pair had also already used too much of their mana and were bedridden. Normally, Reina would have made sure not to surpass her own limits, but Katima had gone all out on the road today, which had apparently messed up her usual flow.
“It’ll be fine,” Katima said. “The elders always say that I can do anything if I put my mind to it.”
“Uh-huh...” I had a feeling they’d told her that to try and get her to contribute when she otherwise didn’t usually do much. But those words were motivating her now, so I didn’t contradict her. “Also, I’m often next to Reina and watch her as she cooks,” I added.
“Oooh, then that’s perfect.”
Katima looked at me with a hopeful sparkle in her eyes. I hoped to answer her expectations, but unfortunately Reina pretty much never entrusted me with anything important while cooking. I’d really done nothing more than watch her. In other words, there was no way I could make anything approaching a meal. Sadly, my copy cheat didn’t seem to apply to cooking.
“At this point, we have two options,” I said.
“Okay?”
“One is roasting.”
“I see.”
“The other is boiling.”
Katima paused, then asked, “What’s the difference?”
When pressed, it was unexpectedly difficult to put into words. I had an intuition or maybe a mental image of both actions, of course, but I didn’t have the firsthand experience to properly explain it.
“Anyway, those are our only two remaining options,” I said. “I’ll leave the choice up to you.”
“Easier said than done...”
Katima seemed confused. However, this was all we could do. Reina had cooked for me ever since I’d come to this island. That meant I had no useful experience with making my own food.
“If I hadn’t met Reina, and I’d just wandered around the forest alone, I might’ve starved to death...”
I had asked to be reincarnated on an island without any people, but thinking back on it now, that wish might have been something totally absurd. I realized anew how indebted I was to Reina, and to that god too.
“I made up my mind, Arata! I choose roasting!”
“All right, then let’s roast.”
First, I took some meat out of my Storage spell. The Emperor Boar meat looked like it was going to run out soon.
“Hey, Arata? I’d really prefer bird meat.”
“That’s Luna’s, so I can’t use it without her permission. Oh, I know.” That reminded me of something I had forgotten to ask. “Hey, Katima. Does dragon meat taste any good?”
“Dragon? Yeah, it’s the best. Strong dragons are really powerful, after all. Even we hardly ever get a chance to eat their steak.”
“Oh, really? What a waste...”
I really should have just brought that calamity dragon or whatever back with me. Besides, I had only needed to ask Tailtiu, and if she seemed against it, I could have just eaten it in secret.
“Now that you mention it, there are lingering signs of a strong dragon here,” Katima said.
“You can tell?”
“It’s because I’m an expert. Also, as a rule, Alfar don’t fight back against anyone who’s strong, so we’ve got good instincts sniffing out that kind of thing.”
“I see.”
“Oh, but we’ll fight strong foes if it’s for the Great Spirits!” she hurriedly added.
I smiled awkwardly. I was reminded of Elga explaining that the Divine Beastfolk didn’t get along with the Alfar and had gotten into a dispute in the past.
“You see, I was thinking of eating a strong dragon recently,” I explained. “In the end, I didn’t do it, but now I’m thinking that I wasted my chance.”
“I see... Well, that dragon is pretty strong, so it should be perfect.”
“Hm?”
Katima pointed her finger in the direction of Tailtiu, who had transformed into her human form and was already looking at us with tears in her eyes.
“Oh...” I said.
“A-Are you going to eat me, darling? I-Is that how you see me?”
It seemed she had been listening to our conversation just now, and had totally misunderstood what I was saying. I wondered how to reply, but...
“I-It’s not what it sounds—”
“Darling, you... You idiooooooot!” She ran off straight into the forest.
“Ah, Tailtiu!”
“Oh, I know this. This is what they call a lovers’ quarrel.”
I ignored Katima and hurried into the forest to chase after Tailtiu.