Chapter 12
I looked at Isis, and he spoke.
“Luca and Jade have always been paired together.”
“…I see.”
“We’ll just patrol the first and second floors.”
I followed Isis down the corridor.
As soon as a creature appeared upon hearing our footsteps, Isis threw a dagger coated with poison, and the creature froze and collapsed immediately.
I checked to make sure the creature was completely dead and retrieved Isis’s dagger. I let out a small sigh of admiration as I looked at the neatly killed creature, which hadn’t even bled much.
“Poison skills are really useful.”
Isis’s skills are “poison” and “buff.”
I didn’t know exactly how the “buff” worked, but the “poison” was incredibly convenient because it came out directly from his fingertips whenever he wanted.
The one he just used seemed to be a paralysis-type poison.
Even a slight touch of the poisoned dagger to the creature’s skin was enough for the poison to absorb into its body and immobilize it instantly.
Since Isis fought so well in front of me, my role was mostly just following him, swatting away anything that flew toward him, and retrieving the daggers he threw. That alone was enough.
After patrolling all the way to the second floor, we returned along the peaceful route to the main lobby.
I suddenly asked Isis a question that popped into my mind.
“By the way, Isis, do you use honorifics with everyone?”
He used honorifics with most people, including me. But sometimes he slipped into casual speech.
“I speak casually with Jade, Luca, and Teon. Jade is the same age as me, and Luca is younger.”
“And Teon?”
“He’s two years older than me, but before the world fell apart, he was my subordinate. After the world changed, I told him to speak casually to me too, but he said honorifics felt more comfortable.”
I see.
Could that be why Teon’s tone always seems somewhat formal?
“From my perspective, it must feel like facing a professor who says it’s okay to speak casually since the world has ended, right?”
I chuckled quietly at the thought.
Noticing Isis quietly observing me, I cautiously made a suggestion.
“Then speak casually to me too.”
“That’s fine.”
“You’re the only one speaking formally to me among those on this patrol.”
“……”
He didn’t answer, so I quickly added.
“If you don’t want to, at least just speak casually when we’re all together. Don’t use honorifics because of me.”
“……I will do so.”
Even if he used honorifics with me, there was no need to do so for Jade and Luca because of me alone.
“I thought speaking casually would make him see me as a little closer and maybe increase his favorability toward me.”
Too bad.
I thought this to myself as we walked, and soon I spotted Luca and Jade in the distance.
“We caught four creatures.”
“We caught three.”
We briefly shared how many creatures each of us had killed and entered a room with a large fireplace.
It seemed no creatures had entered this room before; except for the thick layer of dust, it was relatively intact.
“Let’s eat first!”
Luca pulled out a bundle of biscuits from his bag. They were food Marsha had painstakingly baked and packed.
“For battle rations, biscuits are the best.”
They didn’t spoil easily, were easy to carry, and, most importantly, packed a lot of calories into a small space.
I received my share of biscuits and was about to take a bite when Luca pulled something else from his bag.
“This is a special treat~”
He handed out neatly cut pieces of jerky!
How on earth did he get meat?!
“There’s not much, so eat it sparingly!”
I watched Luca happily tear pieces of jerky and eat them.
“I’ll take a bite too…”
Though it was dry and the texture wasn’t great, the salty flavor of the jerky spread through my mouth.
Together with the biscuits, the flavors complemented each other, making it quite edible.
“I need to eat as much as I can while I can…”
It hadn’t even been a full day since leaving the safe hideout, but I realized this truth immediately. I was sure the others were thinking the same way.
Focused on eating, no one spoke. Only the sounds of chewing jerky echoed.
We ate quietly like that for a while.
After the meal, we prepared sleeping arrangements.
It was still a bit chilly to sleep without a fire, so we had to light the fireplace.
“Firewood…”
“There’s plenty around, isn’t there?”
Luca pointed at the furniture in the room.
So we had to break it…
Since it required physical strength, I volunteered.
I tore the wooden furniture into manageable pieces and threw them into the fireplace, and Jade used his pyrokinesis skill to light the fire.
In disaster movies, people often rub sticks to make fire, but thanks to Jade’s skill, there was no need to do that.
I stared at the roaring flames, warming my chilled body.
“Originally, we all slept in the same room…”
At Isis’s words, three pairs of eyes turned toward me.
Ah?
I immediately understood. Before I arrived, all the people patrolling were male, so they must have slept in one room without thinking.
Since I was the only female, they were probably trying to be considerate.
But…
“We’re basically in a war zone right now; is it really necessary to worry about that?”
“Is it uncomfortable?”
“No.”
I answered quickly. I actually disliked the idea of being sent to another room just because I was female.
“Sleeping together is for emergencies, right?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“But if I sleep in another room alone, I’d just be putting myself in danger.”
Jade chuckled.
“That’s right.”
I decided to speak clearly this time.
“You don’t need to treat me specially just because I’m a girl. It’s my first patrol, and I’ve lost all my memories, so I’m inexperienced, but I want to avoid causing trouble as much as possible.”
“……”
“And! I don’t want to sleep alone because it would be more dangerous.”
Sleeping alone would just make me more vulnerable! I said cheerfully, and Isis smiled slightly.
[‘Isis Klentain’ favorability increased by 4.]
[Current favorability: 19/100]
“Oh!”
I just said what I wanted, and his favorability went up!
“I’ll do as you say, Lalliana. Still, please allow me the minimum consideration.”
“Pardon?”
“A small consideration, like being closest to the fireplace.”
Well, that’s acceptable…
“Okay, I’ll do that.”
We found some slightly worn blankets lying around the mansion and shared them out. And…
“The order for the night watch will be Lalliana, me, Jade, then Luca. Each for two hours.”
We assigned the night watch in case creatures suddenly broke in while we were sleeping.
“I’m first? They say the first and last shifts are the best…”
No need to wake up in the middle. At least tonight, I should be able to sleep relatively well.
“The watch order rotates, so don’t think you got lucky with the order.”
Even so, Luca looked happy as he sprawled down to lie on the floor.
“Hehe, I’m sleeping first!”
“Alright, alright, sleep.”
Jade lay down where he had been sitting and closed his eyes.
I spoke to Isis, still sitting beside me.
“You should go sleep too, Isis.”
“Since it’s your first night watch, Lalliana, I’ll stay with you for thirty minutes.”
“…Alright.”
I felt a little sorry for the tired Isis, but having some alone time with him was good for me.
It was the perfect opportunity to raise favorability!
In truth, there wasn’t anything special about the night watch. Everyone else slept while I stayed awake, just keeping an eye out for any incoming danger.
If I considered myself a guard dog, time passed surprisingly quickly.
Sitting next to Isis, I began to hear the regular breathing of those beside us.
Luca and Jade had fallen asleep.
Seeing these people, who could easily beat creatures in the daytime, sleeping so defenselessly felt a little strange, when Isis spoke.
“They both sleep so deeply that they wouldn’t notice even if someone carried them off. You can speak freely.”
“Oh, they definitely need a night watch…”
If their hearing was truly this bad, even if creatures attacked, they probably wouldn’t wake up.
