Fibers and Snares
Until now, Monia had only ever stuck to a set path when wandering the Floating Island. Leaving the Beach Villa and entering the forest, she would pass the bamboo grove where they had first sourced water. Next, she would navigate a dizzying thicket of trees so dense it made her head spin, eventually emerging into a clearing where the trunks stood further apart. Veering slightly off-course from there, she would walk until exhaustion blurred her sense of time and distance. Just as her mind began to wander, the refreshing sound of rushing water would reach her ears. Shortly after hearing the river, the path would slope upward, and at the crest of the hill, the flowing stream would finally reveal itself. This was the entirety of the forest she had explored, the sum total of what she knew of the Floating Island—which, in reality, amounted to less than one percent of its actual size. But today, Monia stepped off her familiar path for the first time, venturing into uncharted woods. Of course, even calling it that was a bit of a stretch, considering Chester had only scouted this area for the first time himself this morning.
"Ah! What's this?"
"Hm? That's a toxic plant. You'd better not touch it."
"Eek! Poison?!"
"Well, touching it usually just causes inflammation—makes your skin itchy and break out in red hives. But some people have a bad reaction to the toxin and die of anaphylactic shock."
"Heeeeeek!"
While Monia shivered in terror at the poisonous weed, Chester examined another plant growing nearby.
...These leaves are fibrous.
He gave one a gentle tug, and it tore cleanly into thread-like strands.
I could make a thin cord out of this...
If he could make cordage, he could make a snare trap. Chester gathered a handful of the leaves and stuffed them into his pocket.
"This one is useful."
He then pointed to a different plant and sliced it with his stone knife.
"What's that?"
"If you peel off the outer skin, the pith inside is edible."
After peeling it, Chester took a bite to test it, then offered the rest to Monia.
"..."
Staring at the pale white pith held out to her, Monia nibbled on the tip like a rabbit chewing on a carrot stick.
"Ugh!"
"Does this taste bad too?"
"..."
Monia rolled the chewed piece around in her mouth, deep in thought. It wasn't that the flavor was terrible, but...
"The texture is dreadful."
"Hahaha. Hard to chew, isn't it?"
It wasn't exactly tough, but it required a lot of mastication before it could be swallowed. Chester actually preferred it for that very reason; chewing it for so long tricked the stomach, helping to stave off hunger. Snapping the pith in two, he handed half to Monia and popped the other half into his own mouth, chewing contentedly.
"Let's keep moving."
"Got it."
Still wearing a bizarre grimace as she gnawed on the pith, Monia fell in step behind him. Chester chuckled at the sight of her.
Well, at least she eats whatever I give her without being too picky. Actually, now that I think about it, ever since our first day here, she's put basically anything I eat into her mouth.
Fortunately, while she would instantly spit out anything with an offensive flavor, she seemed perfectly fine eating things that simply tasted like nothing at all.
"That one's a poisonous mushroom. Actually, just don't touch any mushrooms at all. Did I tell you this before?"
"Who knows?"
Chester tried to recall if they'd had this exact conversation already, but the memory was hazy. He quickly brushed it aside. There was no point dwelling on it anyway.
"This plant is medicinal. It's good to brew as a tea if you have an upset stomach. Let's take some."
"It smells weird."
"Well, even if it's called tea, it's going to be a far cry from the black tea you're used to."
Chester plucked the wedge-leafed herbs and tucked them into a different pocket, keeping them separate from the fibrous leaves.
"Aren't you going to put them in the basket?"
"If I do, they'll just slip right through the gaps."
"What kind of basket is that anyway? You should have made it properly."
"Fine. Next time, why don't you make a better one?"
"Ugh! T-that's... I mean... ugh..."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
"Mmmph..."
Chester snickered at Monia's pathetic groaning. Just then, he spotted a suitable spot and came to a halt.
"Now, what is the most important rule when setting a trap?"
He began his lesson on trapping.
"You set it near a path that animals frequently use."
Chester traced an imaginary line on the ground with his finger.
"I don't know what kind of creature it is, but this is a game trail."
"How can you tell?"
"The leaves look a bit off."
Although the heavy rain had carpeted the ground in fallen leaves, obscuring the trail, signs still remained on the freshly laid debris. And if a trail left an impression on newly fallen leaves, it meant a creature of considerable weight had passed through. In other words, it was a path used by an animal with plenty of meat on its bones.
"It's a bad idea to build something directly on a trail like this. You want to set it up slightly off to the side."
"Why?"
"Because if something unfamiliar suddenly appears on a path they walk every day, they'll get suspicious."
Chester searched for a suitable spot adjacent to the tracks he had found.
"This should do."
He raised his hatchet and began chopping at a nearby branch.
"When making a trap, always use materials from the immediate surroundings as much as possible."
"Okay."
"And why is that? Take a guess."
"...I don't know!"
"...Use your head a little."
Prompted to think, Monia squeezed her eyes shut and pondered. After a moment of intense deliberation, she delivered her conclusion.
"I still don't know!"
"First: using materials readily available nearby conserves your energy."
Chester explained as he whittled the branch.
"Second: local materials carry the scent of the area, which helps fool an animal's sensitive nose."
He shaved one end of a branch into a wedge and carved a notch on the opposite end. Then, he took two more branches, shaved one end of each, and carved two notches into them—one near the flat end and one near the wedged end.
"Is that the trap?"
"Yeah."
He interlocked the notched sticks to form a cross, carefully balanced them on the ground, and then wedged the single-notched stick diagonally to create a figure-4 trigger.
...This should do it.
Having assembled the wooden figure-4 trigger, Chester set it aside for a moment and began searching for a heavy object to place on top of it.
"This will work."
Finding a log of suitable size, Chester dragged it over, set up the figure-4 trigger again, and carefully rested the log on top of it.
"W-won't it snap under that?"
"Just watch."
"...Huh?"
To her astonishment, the flimsy-looking wooden structure easily held up the heavy log. Chester pointed to the end of the diagonal stick jutting out from the top of the trigger.
"These sticks distribute the weight among themselves through the interlocking notches. It's balanced on a hair-trigger, so even the slightest touch will cause the whole thing to collapse, and..."
"The log goes bam."
"Exactly."
Chester opened his bundle of leaves, pulled out a small piece of animal entrails, and scattered them near the trigger.
"The moment a beast pokes its head in to eat this, the trigger will slip, and the log will crush its skull."
Careful not to disturb the delicate trigger, Chester camouflaged the area with leaves. To avoid leaving any human scent behind, he quickly ushered Monia away from the site.
Once they had put some distance between themselves and the trap, they found a sunny spot to sit down and rest.
"While we rest, let's make some cordage."
"Y-you said we were resting! And I'm hungry!"
"So?"
"Besides, we don't even have any tree bark!"
"We're going to make thin cord out of this."
Chester held out the leaves he had gathered earlier, prompting a skeptical look from Monia.
"Those are just leaves."
"Some plants are highly fibrous. You can make rope out of any of them. We're just going to spin this into a thin thread first."
Chester split a leaf as he spoke. Instead of tearing, it miraculously separated into individual, thread-like fibers.
"Whoa..."
"This is too thin to twist using the method you know."
Chester pulled the thread-like fibers taut and began twisting them between his fingers.
"So, you twist the whole strand in one direction first, then fold it in half and let it twist back on itself."
As he folded the pre-twisted strand, it wound tightly around itself, instantly forming a sturdy cord.
"Pull the twisted cord tight, tie off the end, and—voila."
Stunned by how quickly he had fashioned a fine piece of string, Monia held out her hand.
"Let me try!"
"Want to give it a shot?"
Chester handed her a leaf, and Monia began splitting it. When she quickly finished twisting her cord, Chester praised her, then held up his own string to capture her attention.
"Alright, now I'm going to teach you some knots."
"Knots?"
"Yeah. There are as many ways to tie a rope as there are uses for it."
Lesson number one.
"This is a slipknot. We'll be using it a lot, so make sure you memorize it."