Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 89



88 – Adora (3)

Startled by the gunshot, seagulls fluttered and took flight.

“Ugh!”

The Major let out a groan and collapsed forward. She barely maintained her balance by stabbing her sword into the ground. She lifted her head with difficulty, her face contorted in pain.

Only then did I realize the Saint had a gun.

“I shot you in the leg. Don’t make such a fuss.”

“You… you speak the language of the Magic Kingdom…”

“Yes, I understand. I heard everything you said to Erich. That military chaplains and beastkin are to be executed on the spot, right?”

The Saint let out a hollow laugh. She pointed the gun and moved forward.

“I, as a military chaplain and a Saint, have the same authority. I can shoot a mage at any time. That’s originally the mission I was given.”

The day I first met the Saint comes to mind. If I had been even slightly cruel to her that day, I would have been a dead man. Shivers ran down my spine, but at the same time, my heart pounded. That Saint, now, smiles at me when she sees me.

The Major spat the words out like chewed grit.

“Fucking b*tch.”

“Don’t move. If you don’t follow instructions, next one’s for your head.”

You can’t deflect bullets with ki blasts. If you absolutely had to, you’d have to use other magic to block them indirectly. I thought the Major would surrender at this point.

“Hmph.”

“Drop the sword.”

“What if I say no?”

“I’ll make the other leg look just like that one.”

“Bluffing. A moment ago, you were going to kill me…”

*Bang!*

A bullet lodged in the Major’s other leg.

“Gaaah!”

The Major dropped her sword and collapsed. She clutched at both legs alternately, spasming. Crimson blood started to flow.

The Saint kicked the sword away. It would go from my hand to Valkyrie.

From noble mtl dot com

“Sephiron’s getting eaten, too.”

Valkyrie swung the blade a few times and gave a satisfied smile.

She traded a stone spear and axe for a modern-day longsword. And not just any sword, but an artifact of the Seven Stars. The Commander-in-Chief’s Zhen Dao, said to shatter mountains and split oceans. It was a steal for Valkyrie, with her proficiency in swordsmanship.

“Damn…to have the sword given to me by the Commander-in-Chief stolen like this…”

“Even with stars on your shoulders and superior magic skills, an individual is just an individual. I hope you learn how to read the room this time around.”

The Saint shrugged.

Liyo got a natural rope and bound the lieutenant commander. The lieutenant commander resisted several times even while being tied. Finally, Valkyrie, unable to bear it any longer, took out a caliper from Liyo’s toolbox. He quieted down.

Fishing was off. We took the lieutenant commander back to base. While the Saintess was administering first aid, Valkyrie and Liyo searched the lieutenant commander’s body.

All that came out were hardtack, bubblegum, a few lollipops, a warrant, and a first aid kit containing steroids and a blood donation kit.

And.

“……A gun?”

The lieutenant commander was also carrying a pistol at his waist.

“He had a gun, so why didn’t he use it?”

“Give it here for a sec.”

Valkyrie handed me the gun. I said jokingly.

“You just hand over a pistol to the enemy like that?”

“If it’s you.”

Valkyrie replied in a shy voice.

I took the gun and examined it. An old-fashioned revolver. I soon checked the cylinder and frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at this.”

Only one bullet was loaded.

*

[-Entrust your life to me. Then I will let you defy the fate that has been given to you.]

An ominous voice flashed through my mind. Adora’s consciousness slowly returned, forming like an image.

“Ugh.”

My legs have no strength.

I looked around. The ceiling was closed off, and walls existed too. Adora was lying on a stone bed. Living on a deserted island, and she even built a house in the meantime, huh.

“Are you awake?”

Tiria spoke in the language of the Magic Kingdom, sitting next to me. Adora, reflexively trying to spring away, froze.

“This…?”

“I knew you’d do this, so I tied you up.”

Adora was in just her shirt. All of her military uniform except the skirt was confiscated. No weapons either. Ropes made of vines and tree fibers were binding her arms and lower back.

“You’ll have to bear with the discomfort.”

“My legs…”

“I treated them. I took out the bullet, disinfected the wound. I even put on natural gauze, so they’ll get better over time.”

“You hurt me, then heal me.”

“I can’t just go around killing people, can I?”

“You were trying to kill me earlier, you hypocrite.”

Tiria stiffly raised just the corner of her mouth. Her own kind of sneer.

“You know why we saved you, don’t you?”

“Don’t have a clue.”

“The secrets of this island.”

Tiria’s voice becomes much more serious.

“After the naval battle at Tatankur, I received a message from headquarters. That the Magic Kingdom created a reverse barrier and was conducting strange experiments. And that this island chain was teeming with monsters.”

“Monsters. I don’t know anything about that.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re not gonna talk easy.”

Tiria knew how difficult interrogations were. Especially with Adora Gifford, this woman was a member of the Septet. The Septet were the Führer’s dogs. They followed the Archmagus President of the Magic Kingdom like a parent, gladly dying if he told them to.

“Just so you know. From now on, you’re a prisoner of the Holy Empire.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Colonel Tiria Karsten.”

Adora shut her mouth. It was a famous name. A name that was also at the top of the Septet’s blacklist.

The Saintess of the Holy Order.

The Führer used to say it like a mantra to himself. The Holy Order and those pathetic beastmen must disappear from this world. Only then could humanity move on to a new era. Religion is opium, and beasts are inferior.

But Adora didn’t show any hostility. Actually, she couldn’t give a damn about the new era. She was just carrying out orders.

“Where did the other b*stards go?”

“Looking for food. You know I’m stuck here alone because of you?”

Tiria gripped her pistol and waved it. A bullet from that gun pierced Adora’s thigh. It hurt even more because she’d never been shot before.

“I don’t know how much classified information you know. But right now, all we see is monsters and hunger. Every day, without fail, we have to find something to eat.”

Besides, now there’s one more mouth to feed, Tiria added.

Adora chuckled.

“So, you’re going to at least feed your prisoners.”

“Don’t they feed you in the Magic Kingdom?”

“They feed us gas instead.”

Tiria frowned. Cheap provocation.

“Trying to play mind games with me?”

“How about a real fight instead of this mind game? I’m confident in a bare-knuckle brawl.”

“As I suspected, a provocation. Not worth my time.”

Tiria got up and sat by the campfire. Adora repeatedly clenched and unclenched her hands, bound behind her back. A slight numbness, but it’s alright. Better than the feeling of her heart being squeezed, at least.

“…….”

Maybe… since I’m classified as a prisoner, it’s okay for now?

No. I don’t know yet.

A while later, Erich and the others returned. They not only caught a lot of fish, but also brought back meat from a boar and two snakes. They also gathered herbs and other fruits.

“We had a good haul today!”

Riyo smiled brightly as she unloaded the supplies. She and Erich began skinning the animals. The meat was set aside to be eaten, and the hides were put aside for tanning. The cleaned entrails were placed in a stone pot and sealed with grass.

The boar had several large wounds. *That kind of hide isn’t worth anything,* Adora thought, lost in her musings. Rachel approached her and whispered.

“Hey, your knife was badass.”

She didn’t understand what she meant. And that made her feel even worse.

Tiria filled a stone pot with water and boiled it. Erich crushed rock salt to make salt. Rachel was in charge of cutting up the vegetables and meat. In the meantime, Riyo cleaned up and grilled the fish.

Adora thought.

*The cooking scene… it’s like a family.*

They made a stew and grilled fish. Rustic but it smelled good. A feast you wouldn’t dare dream of seeing on the front lines during war.

Tiria and Riyo sat around the fire and ate. Rachel disliked the flames, so she sat on the stone bed with Erich, picking at her food. Adora was simply amazed by this sight.

*Just… how?*

The three female soldiers are from the same country, so okay. But Erich Ronstedt blended into this picture too well. Like he was a Holy Nation person from the start.

Look at that.

“I offer prayers to the Goddess and Jeriem. Thank you for our daily bread today.”

Erich joined Tiria in prayer, clasping his hands. Holy Kingdom style. He must know the Holy Church sees mages as absolute evil, and yet he does that.

It didn’t seem forced. If anything, the Saintess’s eyes went all soft and dewy when Erich prayed with her.

Yellowish gleam.

Lumina’s eyes took on that color when she was happy, or felt joy.

He understood that being stranded on a deserted island, enemies or not, they had to cooperate. But this was something beyond simple cooperation. Even the word “trust” didn’t fully explain it.

More like, the eyes of a girl in love.

And the Valkyrie’s and the Fox Beastkin’s eyes were the same.

“Hah.”

Adora snorted. Indeed, she understood a little about what kind of relationship these people had.

Erich turned his head towards Adora’s sniff.

“Are you hungry?”

“Not at all.”

“We were going to eat first and then offer you some.”

“Shouldn’t I be first, based on the distribution order? I’m the highest rank here.”

“You have to act like a person to get rank treatment.”

“How impertinent.”

“Wow, a General acting like garbage.”

At the word “garbage,” a vein popped out on Adora’s forehead. She had always been a role model to others, receiving not only awards but also a pile of medals. And yet, to be called garbage by a mere Major.

“Fine. I won’t eat.”

“Still, take a look. Doesn’t this look similar to Eintopf? If you’re one of the Seven Stars, shouldn’t you follow the Führer’s rationing policy?”

A monthly helping of thank-you stew.

It looked too delicious to refuse. I rushed here for the mission and hadn’t eaten properly. The hardtack I packed as rations had been stolen.

Grrrruuummbblllle.

My stomach kept wailing.

“I’m indebted to Captain Giffold. Don’t worry about the situation, just eat.”

“…Huh.”

Indeed. So this face, this gesture, is how he picks up women.

I was about to open my mouth with a hollow laugh.

Suddenly, my heart throbbed, and something rose up my throat.

“Ugh!”

Adora vomited blood from where she sat.