A Morning Routine on the Warming Island
As part of their daily morning routine on the warming island, Chester and Monia showered under the cascading waterfall. While Chester could treat minor ailments like stomachaches or headaches with his stash of medicinal herbs, an infection from an open wound was a different story. In an environment completely devoid of proper medical facilities or expertise, even a tiny scratch had to be treated with extreme caution. That was why, ever since Chester discovered the waterfall, he made sure they both washed here every single day to maintain their hygiene.
"Phew! I'm all done."
"Y-Yes."
Monia, who had been hiding in the bushes near the waterfall, stepped out cautiously. Regardless of whether she was watching or not, Chester stood stark naked by the campfire he had built, using the heat to dry himself off quickly. Although the weather was hot, the high humidity meant that simply waiting around to air-dry took much longer than one would think.
"Don't look this way!"
"I'm not."
Stealing glances at Chester, Monia carefully began to slip out of her dress. Since Chester had previously ripped apart its overly complex layers during the storm to force her out of it, she could now put it on and take it off by herself. Once undressed, she folded the garment neatly and stepped into the edge of the waterfall, shivering.
"Eeeek! It-It's freezing!"
Monia gritted her teeth against the cold, vigorously scrubbing her body with her palms. A luxurious bath—where firewood was generously burned to heat the water, scented oils were added, flower petals floated on the surface, and maids trained in the art of pampering tended to her every need in a sweet-smelling haven—was a distant, impossible dream.
"Hic! H-Hic! Hiiii!"
Instead, she had to wash herself in a frantic race against the biting cold and the clock, constantly on edge because she never knew when debris washed down by the river might strike her.
"Haaah! I-I'm done! Haaah!"
Emerging with her skin flushed bright red from the cold, Monia immediately threw her arms around a nearby boulder. The rock, which had absorbed the sun's rays and grown pleasantly warm, wrapped her freezing body in a cozy embrace.
"Haaah... Haaah... Ahhh..."
She makes a fuss every single time, Chester thought.
Once she had soaked up enough warmth from the boulder, Monia scurried over to the campfire.
"*Sniffle.* It's so cold."
"Deal with it."
"Okay..."
Sniffling, Monia diligently dried herself off and got dressed.
"Let's go check the fish traps now."
"Yes!"
After preparing their new bait, the two headed downstream along the river to inspect the traps. Unfortunately, they had only caught a single fish today.
"There's only one..."
"We have days like this."
Some days were good, some were bad. Chester dispatched the thrashing fish with a well-aimed stone, tossed it into the basket, and examined the trap. He removed the twigs blocking the slightly larger gap he had intentionally left, then peered inside. Untying the leaf pouch that had held the old bait, he tossed it into the river and brought out their new bait.
The new bait was a "snail-like creature" they had gathered from the beach that morning. Anyone who knew what this creature actually was would have screamed at them for wasting it as mere fish bait, but to Chester and Monia, who were completely ignorant of its identity, it held no special value.
"Do you think this will work as bait?"
"I hope so. These things are all over the beach anyway. If they make for easy bait, it's a win for us."
"True."
They wrapped the bait in a leaf, crushed it underfoot, secured it to the trap, and lowered it back into the river. After finishing up with all three traps—including the newly made third one—the two returned to the campfire to roast their fish and eat breakfast.
While Chester gutted the fish, Monia hummed happily as she lined up the bamboo canisters she kept slung beside her basket. Two of them were her usual water canteens. Another was her salt shaker, and the last one contained dried herbs she had gathered from the forest. These herbs were the result of Monia's meticulous selection process, chosen from various forest plants for their delightful aroma.
She placed some Kkae-gamja into a bamboo cup filled with river water, added a pinch of salt, and set it to boil. Since the Kkae-gamja were so tiny, they cooked incredibly fast, allowing her to move on to her next preparation immediately. She pulled out some smoked pork. Unlike Chester, who operated under the simple philosophy of 'as long as it's edible,' Monia had put immense care into smoking this meat to suit her refined palate, making it as delicious as possible despite their harsh circumstances. If anyone were to ask her what the most valuable treasure on this deserted island was, Monia would undoubtedly choose this smoked pork. After all, Chester was a person, not an object.
"Hehehe."
Letting out a strange chuckle, Monia drew her knife. The weapon she held was the very first claw knife Chester had crafted with painstaking care. He had poured every spare second of his day—outside of hunting, managing traps, exploring, inventing and crafting daily necessities, gathering materials, observing mysterious flora and fauna to assess their danger, and building his workshop—into making this knife.
When I put it that way, it sounds like it was rushed...
Monia, who spent her entire day just trotting along behind Chester, couldn't fathom how he found the time to craft such things on top of everything else. Of course, knowing Chester's obsession with knives, it was anything but rushed. Compared to a crude stone blade, it was unimaginably smooth, sharp, and durable. Unlike stone knives, which frequently chipped on hard surfaces or wore down quickly and required constant replacement, this claw knife would last a long time. Naturally, because Chester was a perfectionist who had intended to make a masterpiece, he wasn't fully satisfied with this first attempt, which was why Claw Knife No. 1 had ended up in Monia's hands. While Chester went back to using a stone knife, he was already working on Claw Knife No. 2.
"Ooh!"
Slicing through the smoked pork with the claw knife, Monia finally began to understand why Chester was so obsessed with high-quality blades. Although the wild boar meat was incredibly flavorful, it was still tough wild game. Yet, the claw knife Chester had meticulously sharpened sliced through the smoked meat as if it were butter.
"Wow!"
"You react like that every single time you use it."
"But it's amazing! It cuts so well!"
"It dulls easily, though, so you have to sharpen it often."
"I'll sharpen it well! I'm going to use it for the rest of my life!"
If you keep sharpening it, the blade will eventually get too thin to use, Chester thought, but he decided to keep that to himself until the knife actually broke or became unusable. There was no need to shatter her dreams when she was so enthusiastic.
As the mouthwatering aroma of roasting fish filled the air, Monia pulled the boiled Kkae-gamja off the fire. Draining the water, she took a small block of wood and mashed the tiny tubers. As she mashed them, she folded in torn bits of her dried herbs and finely chopped pieces of the smoked pork. Using a thin sliver of bamboo as a makeshift spoon, she took a small bite to taste it.
Hmm. It needs more salt.
After adding a pinch of salt, she began the finishing touches on her dish: 'Mashed Potatoes Infused with Herbs and Rich Smoked Pork, Finished with a Refreshing Touch of Fruit.' The final flourish of that ridiculously long name was achieved using the candy fruit she despised so much. Monia squeezed the candy fruit in her fist, crushing it to drizzle its sweet juice over the dish.
"Done."
Though the portion was small, her elaborate culinary creation was complete. Monia scooped her dish into a halved bamboo bowl and handed the bamboo cup over to Chester. Chester, in turn, handed her a roasted fish split down the middle and began preparing his own meal. As always, he tossed water, Kkae-gamja, scraps of meat and fish, and various wild greens into the cup and boiled them together. It was the same hodgepodge soup he made every single day.
"Hey, couldn't you put a little more effort into your meals?"
"I don't know about that..."
Using her bamboo sliver, Monia ate her mashed-potato-and-whatever dish, then used a fork carved from a wider piece of bamboo to spear a large chunk of fish. Next, she took a sip of the tea she had brewed earlier that morning, which she had kept in her cup. The floral tea, made with pale pink blossoms, was a favorite of hers due to its delicate honey-like sweetness and floral aroma. Of course, the 'honey-like sweetness' was merely an illusion played on her tongue by the fragrance of the flowers; there wasn't actually any honey flavor to speak of.
Having finished boiling his hodgepodge soup, Chester lifted the bamboo cup and gulped it down.
"Phew."
While Monia drank her floral tea, Chester drank his usual medicinal tea. No matter how careful they were with what they did and ate, they could fall ill at any moment. Thus, Chester made sure to regularly brew and drink a medicinal tea made from certain leaves and roots to prevent headaches and stomachaches. Even Chester didn't know the names of the plants; he had simply learned from his father that one was for stomachaches and the other was for headaches.
Once Chester finished eating, Monia would use the cup to cook her food, and once she was done, Chester would boil his soup again. Sharing a single bamboo cup between them, they finished their breakfast, wrapped up their morning routine, and headed into the forest.
"I'm out of flowers. Let's pick some more."
"If we find any."
"Should we try boiling some fruit? Like that strawberry paste you made?"
"I told you, that's emergency rations. Don't touch it. It can easily keep for a year. Why would we eat our emergency rations when we can find other food?"
"Tch. I'm curious about how it tastes."
"You're not having any."
"Are you going to finish the workshop today?"
"Yeah. I took my time with it, so it dragged on a bit."
"Even though it's smaller than our shelter? Didn't you build the shelter in just two days?"
"Well, it's a lower priority. When other things come up, they take precedence."
Just before they stepped into the forest, Chester stopped and pressed some leaves into Monia's hand.
"Apply this again. The scent probably washed off when you showered."
"It's such a hassle."
Despite her grumbling, Monia squeezed the leaves tightly in her fist to extract the juice, then rubbed it all over her exposed skin.
Chester did the same as he gave her a blunt piece of advice.
"Do it if you don't want to get eaten alive by bugs."