Sleeping with the Enemy (5)
David asked.
"Didn't you bring the magic stones you took from the monsters?"
"Ah."
I rummaged through my pockets.
There they were.
Even when my head was a mess, I always made sure to pocket at least one stone.
"These are magic stones never before reported to the academic community. Try a simple analysis. Among them, there might be one that produces fire or heat."
A fair suggestion.
I laid out the magic stones harvested from the monsters and calmly studied them.
The endless fighting had left me nearly drained of Mana, but that was fine. The stones were packed with it. I could use that to cast spells.
"By the way — those fish-people. Are they actually monsters?"
"Most likely."
When I tapped a magic stone, changes flickered through them one by one.
Some gave off light. Some grew darker. Some circulated the Mana they held; others released power outright. A few even converted Mana into Ekirel.
"Can't use them as-is."
I recited Whieon.
"Turn."
At the same instant, the Valkyrie flinched hard. She tried to pull away from me.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to start a fire."
The Valkyrie narrowed her eyes.
"Just wait. I'll warm you up soon."
Combining magic stones to create new functions was a lot like weaving circuits into a scroll. More than the raw materials, what mattered was the skill of the hands doing the work.
I figured out each stone's role in no time.
"It would be best to create a heat source from the warmth released when Mana converts to Ekirel."
"You thought the same thing I did?"
"What?"
"Not you. I was talking to the stone."
Bottom line: with the magic stones I had on hand, fire was out of reach.
A lantern, though — that was doable.
I gathered the dark-gray magic stones taken from the Walkers and set the magical power inside them circulating. The Mana cycled, then gradually faded. What took its place was light, heat, and Ekirel. The stones glowed bright.
"Not bad."
I could feel the temperature climbing. Nowhere near a campfire, but warm enough.
As the light spread, the cave's interior came into clearer view.
"Looks like a fairly deep cave."
I stretched an arm toward the back and felt a chill. Cool wind seemed to be flowing up from somewhere far below.
"We'll tough it out with this for today."
"Hoo."
The Valkyrie let out a breath.
"It's cold."
I pulled the lantern closer. Imagination or not, the cave felt colder than it had a moment ago.
"Hey. Stop fidgeting."
The Valkyrie drew back — then a gust hit her, she shivered hard, and pressed her shoulder against mine again. Her eyes wandered, with nowhere to settle.
"Ugh."
Stuck between one bad option and another, she finally chose to bury her face.
It was uncomfortable.
The position was awkward enough, but the psychological discomfort was far worse. And the whole situation itself was endlessly, thoroughly unpleasant.
Shelter. Lifeboat. Water and food. All of it — gone.
Was there anything that expressed the word despair better than this?
"Ha. Fucking military."
"The air force is such shit…"
What's so great about the air force? My situation was more like a honeybee getting wrecked by hornets.
Still — I was glad I wasn't alone. Knowing that this woman from the enemy nation was suffering the same pain as me brought a small, ugly measure of comfort.
I knew how pathetic that was. But without rationalizing it somehow, I would fall apart.
The rain only grew heavier. There was nothing we could do today.
Until we went back, cleared out the monsters, and set up proper defenses, rest was the only answer. We had no choice but to hole up here and recover.
On top of everything, chills were starting to set in. Looks like I was coming down with something. Damn it — coming on fast.
Fine. Whatever happens, happens.
If I was going to get sick anyway, better to be a little warmer.
I shifted positions. Placing the lantern behind the Valkyrie's back, I wrapped my arms around her from the front.
"Hik—"
"Stick close. Keep the wind out."
"Wait — this is too — too close."
"God, it's cold."
"Move back a little. Ah — hoo. Never mind. Better to just stay like this."
A lotus scent rose from the Valkyrie's hair.
I held her with both arms and rested my head against the cave wall. Then I closed my eyes.
Ah.
This was truly my limit.
Rachel curled her body tight. More than the cold air, it was the man's body heat that occupied her mind.
His breathing sounded close. She could feel his heartbeat too. Without meaning to, Rachel lowered her eyes.
"This is… a humiliation…"
The soaked clothes were the cause. If not for the downpour, she never would have ended up skin against skin with a man. She hadn't shown it in front of him, but for Rachel it was intensely, uncomfortably stimulating.
And of all people — an enemy soldier.
Cold or not, to be held in the arms of the mage who had killed her friends — there was no greater humiliation. Daisy and Olivia, watching from heaven, would have thrown stones and then some.
Rachel bit down hard on her lower lip.
Time passed. Gradually, the strength was leaving the hands of the man holding her.
"…Asleep?"
She poked his thigh with a finger. No response.
"Cough — already out cold."
Rachel tried to ease herself free.
Whooooosh.
That was when a strong wind blew up from deep inside the cave.
It slipped straight into the gap between her and the man. Bone-chilling cold hit her from front and back. Reflexively, Rachel pressed herself close again.
Survival instinct was speaking clear as day. If you want to live, share his warmth.
"Why… why am I with a man like this…"
Rachel's eyebrows trembled faintly. It was shameful. It was repulsive. The man was one thing — but more than anything, she felt pathetic about herself.
Because she was feeling relief.
The situation was desperate. But she wasn't alone.
As much as she found this mage detestable, she had also — unconsciously — thought it was fortunate he was with her. That duality filled Rachel with guilt.
"Ah."
The warmth at her back suddenly felt different.
The stone lantern the man had made from magic stones. It was casting a soft light, pushing the darkness back even a little.
In front, the man's body heat. Behind, the magic lantern. Both of them holding Rachel's temperature steady.
It was strange. If this mage had turned his back to the lantern and held her, he could have been warm on both sides. And yet he had chosen this arrangement.
Intentional? Or not?
Simple consideration for a patient with a cold — or had the thought simply never occurred to him?
She hoped it was the latter.
"Hooo."
Soon Rachel's strength ran out too. Enduring the tightness boiling in her chest and the throbbing headache, she closed her eyes.
And so, for the first time, she slept with the enemy.
Perhaps because she wasn't alone. It was a more bearable night than she had expected.
Having made the cave our temporary shelter, the Valkyrie and I decided to stay near the forest for the time being. And when it rained, we would not set foot outside — only rest.
The downpour didn't let up quickly, and now and then we heard monsters roaming about. Each time, the Valkyrie and I extinguished the light stone, held each other close, and held our breath.
There was the fear that the monsters might find us. But the bigger problem was hunger.
Venturing out through the rain to find food was suicide. The only thing I could do was collect rainwater and purify it.
And so we starved for three straight days. Because the rain would not stop.
"Ugh."
Just being in the cave brought up cold air, and with the continuous downpour, the slightest misstep meant catching a chill. Because of that, the Valkyrie and I stayed close even under ordinary circumstances.
As the physical distance shrank, the psychological resistance that had initially been so firm gradually lessened. A week after being shipwrecked, the walls between us were slowly crumbling — bit by bit.
And the fate of someone who spent prolonged contact with a cold patient was grim.
"Cough — cough!"
I finally caught it. Fucking hell.
The Valkyrie glanced my way with a helpless look.
Her cheeks, lit by the light stone, were red as a beet. It wasn't just the cold. I didn't particularly want to recall what position we'd woken up in that morning.
"Cough. You. How's your body?"
"You caught my cold."
"Looks like mine's just starting."
"I never meant to pass it on, though."
"I feel like I'm going to die from not eating."
My stomach had been growling for dozens of hours straight. The Valkyrie wasn't any better off. We gulped down the remaining water in place of food.
At least our clothes had dried — a silver lining. The Valkyrie and I put on our musty military uniforms and straightened the front flaps. We no longer had to sit around in just our undergarments.
Having fixed our appearances, we sat side by side. The Valkyrie hugged her legs and buried her head against her knees. She muttered something.
"…Sorry."
From that afternoon onward, I was properly racked with fever.
Five days after catching the cold, Rachel had recovered reasonably well. In her place, the mage had started running a fever.
The man lay there like a corpse. A lantern at his side, a stone clutched in each hand. There was even a stone by his head.
Rachel sighed and looked outside the cave. When was this rain ever going to stop…
"Huh?"
Sunlight was coming in.