The Pup (1)
"..."
That morning, Chester tilted his head in confusion as he inspected the garden. I only planted them two days ago. Yet, they had already sprouted. They weren't just tiny green shoots poking through the soil, either; they had fully unfurled their leaves.
Well, look at that. Are those stems on that one and that one? In the patches where he had planted the Kkae-gamja and pepper, actual stems were already shooting up. And they were quite long, too.
Are Kkae-gamja and pepper supposed to grow this fast? He had no idea. Since both were plants he had never seen before arriving on this island, he was entirely in the dark. Regardless, he knew one thing for certain: the rate at which these plants were growing was highly abnormal.
Is this just how things are on the Floating Island? The Floating Island was indeed unnaturally lush. He had already realized this from the bamboo groves he stumbled upon with minimal effort, and the fruits, herbs, and wild spices scattered around as commonly as pebbles on a road.
Farming is supposed to be the culmination of a year's hard work. You plant the seeds in the spring, battle pests and the elements to nurture them through the grueling summer heat, and finally reap the harvest in autumn. It was a sacred reward born of a farmer's daily devotion, their very breath, and their grueling sweat. To ward off pests, farmers prayed to the gods and relied on folk remedies passed down through generations. They sought answers in the wisdom of life, sometimes asking nature itself for guidance, tending to their crops with more care than they gave their own bodies or children.
Yet, as if mocking that sacred process, all Chester had done here was sprinkle a little water, and the plants were shooting up like weeds. This changes things completely. Just how fast would they continue to grow? What about the harvest? Where and how would they store the crops? There's so much to do. But above all else, his immediate priority had to be protecting these crops.
With plants growing this rapidly, the Floating Island should have been completely overrun by vegetation, but it isn't. That meant there were just as many creatures devouring and clearing out the plants as there were plants growing. To those beasts, this garden must look like a lavishly prepared buffet. Chester nodded to himself. "I need to build a fence."
He recalled seeing some thorn trees nearby. Chester headed toward the surrounding woods. He had left numerous carvings on the trees near their shelter. Bear territory this way; good foraging spot for fruit that way; river down this path... Like signposts, he had etched the information he gathered into the bark and rocks using simple symbols only he understood.
"Here it is." After scanning the trees and locating the thorn bushes, Chester decided to call Monia, who was likely back at the shelter playing with the pup they hadn't named yet. "Monia."
"Aww, who's a good boy? Yes, you are! Aw, did you miss Mommy? Mommy's right here! Oh my gosh, our little Ant! You're so cute!"
"..." It seemed Chester was the only one who thought the pup didn't have a name. Ant? Because it's an Ant-wolf? Talk about lazy naming. At that moment, Monia was rolling around on her bed, cradling the pup—no, Ant—in her arms.
Whine, whimper, yip.
"You're making him cry." Chester gently took Ant from Monia's arms, set him down, and explained the situation in the garden.
"What? Um, I don't really know much about these things, but do plants normally grow that fast?"
"Of course not. There are fast-growing plants, sure, but this is different." Chester shrugged. "It must be because this island is unusual."
"Hmm. So it's not just a simple island drifting aimlessly in the ocean?"
"It seems so." As Chester spoke, his gaze drifted to Monia. Usually, her striking beauty and breathtaking figure were the first things anyone would notice. But right now, what caught his eye was her dazzlingly fair, porcelain skin. How could someone who labored under the scorching sun every single day maintain such flawless skin?
The same goes for me. Neither Chester nor Monia had tanned at all. Of course, they had been careful to apply coconut oil to protect themselves, but considering their level of physical activity and the sheer amount of sunlight they were exposed to, oil alone shouldn't have been enough. They should have been sunburnt. Even her hair remained perfectly silky and lustrous, looking just as healthy as it did back in the kingdom when she had maids tending to it daily.
I should have realized how strange this was sooner. When you see someone every day, you don't notice the gradual changes. That meant you might miss a subtle transformation, but it also meant you wouldn't easily register when something that should have changed remained completely untouched. Chester looked down at his hands. They weren't the same. When they first arrived on the island, his hands had been rough and calloused, bearing the marks of a lifetime of hard labor. Now, they had somehow become as smooth as Monia's.
My wounds have been healing incredibly fast, too. And none of them ever got infected. Flawless skin, healthy hair, rapid healing. The abnormally fast-growing crops. And Ant, who had opened his eyes and started whimpering just a single day after they rescued him. What did all of these things have in common?
We wash ourselves every day. We clean our wounds with fresh water daily. They watered the crops, and since they had nothing else to feed Ant, they had given him plenty of water. Of course, the pup had only opened his eyes; he hadn't undergone any massive physical transformation like the plants.
Still, for a creature on the brink of starvation to become this energetic without eating a single bite of food is remarkable. Was there something special about the island's water? Chester resolved to investigate it eventually. But that's not the priority right now.
"We can figure out the mystery of the plants' growth rate later. Let's eat first, and then we'll go gather some thorn branches."
"Okay. Oh! What about Ant?" At Monia's question, Chester looked down at the pup. Though his eyes were open, he was still nothing but skin and bones, unable to walk and barely able to crawl.
"We should feed him some meat, right?"
"What? Shouldn't he be drinking his mother's milk?"
"Well, neither you nor I can lactate."
"Ugh..."
"Let's mash some meat up as finely as possible and try feeding him that."
"I'll do it!"
"Would you?" A moment later, Monia was diligently mashing smoked meat beside Chester, who was busy preparing a pot of wild stew. As he cooked, Chester gently handled Ant, getting him accustomed to human touch.
Fortunately, he isn't injured. The other animals must have cleared out of the area, leaving no predators to bother him. Ant was incredibly lucky. He hadn't been hurt, and Chester and Monia had rescued him just before he starved to death. Moreover, because he was a newborn and so emaciated that he was practically a skeleton, Chester hadn't viewed him as potential game. There was simply no meat on him.
If that hadn't been the case? Chester would have chosen to slaughter the beast for meat rather than take the risky gamble of taming a wild animal that was old enough to have its own instincts.
"All done!" Having finished mashing the meat, Monia snatched Ant away from Chester's hands. "Hey."
"Time for num-nums! Yes, it is! Num-num-nums!"
Whine.
"Were you hungry? Were you? Mommy's got food for you~!" Watching Monia baby-talk the pup, Chester let out a soft chuckle and began eating his stew.
She's obsessed. It was only natural to be overly enthusiastic for the first few days when you got something new. Whether it was a baby, a pet, or even just a simple tool. Whenever Chester bought a new knife, he would find excuses to use it on everything, even when there was no need, claiming he was just "breaking it in."
She'll calm down in a few days. Just like how having a baby makes the world feel like heaven, only for it to turn into a living hell the moment actual parenting begins. It was the way of the world.
Waking up late at night for his watch, Jordy secretly pulled out the drug herb he had hidden in his clothes. Refined into a brown powder and smuggled in, this drug herb was a precious commodity he had acquired by bartering items looted from enemy soldiers.
"Phew." Trembling with the fear of spilling even a single grain of the powder, Jordy closed his eyes and snorted the drug up his nose.
"...!" Jordy shuddered, desperately suppressing the surging wave of euphoria to avoid getting caught. All his worries, suffering, resentment, and hatred melted away, replaced by a sensation of floating in a heaven filled with rainbow-colored clouds.
"Mmm..." Although he would plummet straight back to hell once the high wore off, this fleeting moment of bliss was the only thing keeping him going.
"Ah, oh..." Jordy believed he was doing a perfect job of acting normal while on watch, but the people around him already knew the truth.
That bastard's high.Look at this rookie piece of shit. The other soldiers on watch with him glared in disapproval, disgusted that a recruit had the audacity to score drugs and get high on duty.
"Uh, ngh..." Jordy swayed on his feet before collapsing to the ground, instantly falling fast asleep.
"Ha! Wow, seriously? Unbelievable!"
"What a crazy bastard."
He was even snoring loudly. That very snoring was the opening bell for Jordy's military life to go completely down the drain.
"Oh my gosh! Look, Chester! He's eating! He's actually eating the meat!"
"Oh, so he is. He's eating much better than I expected."
"Right?!"
"It's dangerous to overfeed a starving animal, so stop after that piece."
"What? But I want to give him more."
"Well, if you want to watch him get sick and die, feel free to feed him more."
"Eek! Okay, I won't! Why do you have to say it like that?!"
"Ant is still a baby, so we have to be extremely careful. I'm just making sure you understand that."
"...Fine. I'll do my best to raise him."
"Good." Chester smiled, gently stroking Ant with his finger as the pup nestled in Monia's arms. "Let's raise him well together."
"Y-Yes, absolutely!"