Chapter – 20
“No, you don’t have to answer.”
I could tell the answer just by looking at her face.
“We’re trying to take Marina to a nearby survival camp—”
“No!”
I took a step back at Marina’s strong resistance and observed her face more closely.
`…Fear?`
Various emotions were mixed in, but the one that held the greatest weight was fear.
She’s afraid of the survival camp?
Why?
“Then, is another survival camp okay?”
“Jade?”
“…Yes.”
His nonchalant question and the child’s answer.
`Does he know the reason?`
As I looked back and forth between the two of them, Luca tapped me on the shoulder. Then he whispered near my ear.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Okay.”
Anyway, the atmosphere wasn’t right for an explanation right now.
“But I think we still need to stop by a survival camp.”
At Isis’s words, Marina’s face hardened again.
“We came here to scout the situation of this place.”
“Th-that place is……”
“I can roughly guess, but it’s better to check for ourselves and take any measures we can.”
A soft smile spread across Isis’s face.
`Ah, that face.`
It’s the same face he made for me back at the mansion where I first woke up.
***
“I don’t know how you got here, but I’ll help you.”
“I’m a fairly capable person, you see.”
***
It was the kind of face that made you want to trust him even if you were meeting him for the first time.
Wearing that exact same expression, he reached out his hand to Marina and said.
“We’ll protect you, so don’t worry.”
I stared blankly at Isis and Marina taking his hand. It felt like I was watching my past self and Isis.
Perhaps because I was staring too intently, Isis looked at me, ahem, and averted his gaze.
“Shall we go then?”
To the survival camp.
At Isis’s words, we prepared to move again, but Luca let out a deep sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m already tired, and it feels like we’re about to get into something even more exhausting.”
“Something more exhausting?”
The surrounding creatures were all burnt to a crisp, so there shouldn’t be anything to fight, what could be so exhausting?
When I tilted my head in confusion, Luca came close again and whispered.
“Dealing with people is several times more bothersome than dealing with creatures.”
“…I see.”
…Well.
Come to think of it, this world was a place with harsher conditions than a battlefield. There were no special laws or regulations, and people lived together relying on flimsy morality. In such harsh environments, humans tend to reveal their true nature.
Not everyone there was exactly normal.
I glanced at Isis.
I was lucky that the first person I met was someone with well-established morality and character, who hadn’t abandoned their humanity.
***
* * *
***
With Marina’s help, we were able to find the location of the survival camp much faster.
Although its appearance was quite different from what I had imagined.
The scene inside, secretly observed from a tree a short distance from the camp, was quite shocking.
“Hey! Can’t you move faster?!”
“I’m sorry!”
A man sitting with his legs crossed on a plush-looking sofa of unknown origin.
Many people attending to him.
Just secretly watching that scene was enough to know who the master of the camp was.
“Drag that one out.”
Someone who had upset the man was dragged to a secluded spot and kicked.
I had expected a hierarchy to form due to differences in power, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent.
The current camp was no different from a small kingdom with that man as its king.
“That man is James Shale. The leader of the survival camp.”
Marina said in a small voice.
“He has a skill that lets him freely manipulate water.”
“Ah, so that’s why people gathered around him.”
Clean water is essential for survival.
There are no rivers or streams around here. The wells are quite far away too. Apart from collecting rainwater, there’s really no way to get water.
The existence of a survival camp of this scale was all thanks to that man’s skill.
The ability to control water is a good skill in many ways, as it can be highly offensive if utilized well.
“If only his personality was as good as his skill……”
“Exactly!”
Luca actively agreed with my words. His clenched fists were trembling.
Just then, I saw a woman approach James.
She whispered something in his ear, and he sprang up and followed her. The two disappeared from view.
“Anna Brown. The second-in-command of the survival camp.”
Marina hesitated for a moment before adding.
“That unnie… is a good person.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Unnie Anna always gave me food.”
Isis, who had been quietly listening to Marina, spoke.
“What’s her skill?”
“It’s an attack skill, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”
“Have you seen her use it?”
“Yes, but the creatures suddenly started convulsing and then collapsed.”
Based solely on Marina’s words, it was hard to judge what kind of skill it was.
After observing the survival camp a little longer, Isis reached a conclusion.
“We’ll infiltrate.”
Just peeking from here wouldn’t give us much information.
“Lariana and I will go together.”
“Yes……”
It was only after I answered that I belatedly understood the meaning.
“What?!”
Me? Just me and Isis alone?
Isis nodded at my question and handed Marina, whom he was holding, to Jade.
“Jade, stay with Marina. Marina, is that okay?”
“Yes!”
“Wait, Isis, just the two of us? What about Luca?”
“Luca will also stay here. He has a separate task to do.”
After jumping nimbly down from the tree, even before I could fully grasp the reality, the group split into two.
Watching Jade, Luca, and Marina move further away, Isis and I began preparing for infiltration.
“We need a cover story for the infiltration.”
“A cover story…?”
“Shall we pose as lovers?”
“Huh?”
*Cough.* Startled by the sudden suggestion, I swallowed my breath wrong.
“Someone inside might know my face or Lariana’s, so siblings won’t work. And if we just say we’re acquaintances, it might be hard to move around freely inside.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Isis’s thinking was extremely logical.
We began deciding on a few things to become fake lovers.
A cliché beginning where we met three months ago and fell in love at first sight.
After that, we stuck together every day, and are currently in the midst of a passionate love affair.
“Memorization complete.”
“That was fast.”
Well, it’s simple.
“To what extent are you comfortable with physical contact?”
“I don’t mind.”
I stepped forward first and linked my arm with Isis’s.
Perhaps because of the suddenly reduced distance, I felt Isis’s body stiffen. But soon, he moved closer.
Pulling me closer to his side, he leaned me against his chest. Then he wrapped his arm around me. In an instant, I was being held in an embrace.
“Shall we go as far as hugging?”
“Um, if Isis is okay with it…”
I stood on my tiptoes to get closer to Isis.
Feeling Isis’s warm breath on my skin, for some reason, I felt myself growing warm as well.
`It’s… closer than I thought.`
I had originally approached intending to kiss his cheek, but I froze in place. It felt as if everything in the world had stopped, and only Isis and I remained.
As I stared blankly at Isis, I heard a *pong* sound that I hadn’t heard in a while.
***
[Affection for ‘Isis Klentaine’ has increased by 3.]
[Current Affection: 26/100]
***
I snapped back to my senses.
I immediately lowered my heels and averted my gaze. Then I cleared my throat and said.
“L-Let’s just stick to hugging.”
“…Right.”
Isis also turned his head away.
Once the situation had somewhat settled, my mind began to grow noisy.
What, why did the atmosphere get so weird? Why did the affection points go up right then?!!
This is for the mission, so why…?
`Wait a minute.`
The atmosphere getting weird… isn’t it actually good for me?
My goal is to raise Isis’s affection to 100, and the number 100 probably requires Isis to love me.
Until now, I’ve been trying to show Isis my usefulness, but from now on, I need to make him see me as a ‘woman’.
In a relationship between a man and a woman, this kind of tension… is quite necessary.
I glanced back at Isis.
Yes, this infiltration was a great opportunity for me. A chance to build a different kind of affection with Isis!
