Multiple updates today.
This is episode one.
I had promised Mifumi and the others to practice deep magic in the afternoon.
But before that, we agreed to share the results of our explorations between the two teams.
“Yeah, let’s do it! Thanks to Mashiro, our team found a ton, huh? Right, Sōsuke!”
“Ah, and I can even make scented soap.”
Apart from the sea itself, we had primarily been foraging for those items.
The women cheered at my words.
There seemed to be various ways to categorize scents, but they taught me the easy-to-understand ones: ‘citrus’ for citrus fruits and ‘floral’ for flowers, relying on Mashiro’s nose to explore.
“Umm, for floral it’s geranium, for citrus it’s lemongrass, and for herbs it’s chamomile. Try these out first, and if you prefer similar scents within the same category, we can look for more.”
Looking at the collected items lined up on the table, the women leaned in close.
“Lemongrass has a nice vibe.”
“The calming scent of herbs is lovely, isn’t it?”
“Amazing…! Lemongrass and chamomile can both be used for herbal tea, so I’m looking forward to it!”
Shion clapped her hands in delight.
The rest of the haul consisted of sand, seawater, seaweed, a small amount of shells, and sponges.
It has been determined that “silica sand” can be obtained from the sand of this desert island and from certain sponges.
With that, we should be able to make glass, too.
Sponges are also a source of natural sponge material.
The gradual improvement in our quality of life is genuinely enjoyable.
“As for us, we were gathering mushrooms that Kouno’s ability identified as edible, along with nuts and herbs, but we’ve had three discoveries.”
“Three?!”
Mieruko exclaimed in surprise.
Fukunou directed his gaze toward Chiyu.
Chiyu nodded and opened her mouth to speak.
“The first is that we discovered a water source.”
According to the childhood friend’s explanation, a lake had appeared within walking distance.
And it supposedly didn’t exist until yesterday.
“Ah, so you found an additional ‘water source.’”
“Mm. It seems the mysterious blackboard is actually altering the environment.”
Regarding the placement of “meat,” one could interpret it as them having just released wild animals…
If the environment has truly changed, then it must be real now.
With the caveat that this describes the current situation, it is fair to say the mysterious blackboard is not lying.
It delivers what it promises.
There is still a chance of broken promises, but as for rewards, they might turn out to be reliable after all.
“Regarding water, I was thinking we might not need to have Sohgo go out to the sea every time we run low anymore.”
Sozuko nodded at Shiin’s words.
“Indeed, that alone would make things a lot easier.”
“The second thing is… this.”
What Shiin took from the basket was—grapes.
“Wha?！ Grapes!?”
Sozuko’s eyes widened in surprise as well.
However, the individual berries looked quite small.
When [Itemized], it came up as ‘Wild Grape’.
“So they’re ‘Wild Grapes’.”
“Does that mean we can eat them?”
“It is marked as ‘Edible,’ but—”
“Yay—! Mmmph—! Sour…?! ”
They were so incredibly sour that Sozuko rushed to the window and spit the contents of her mouth outside.
Shiin watched Sozuko’s reaction with a wry smile, while Fuka wore a troubled expression.
Senju remained in his usual emotionless state.
“I figured… being edible raw and being actually delicious to humans when eaten raw are two very different things, aren’t they…”
“Ugh… say something.”
“Well, this is what Fuka-chan taught me. If it’s wild grape, besides making jam, juice, or dried fruit—you can make wine out of it too.”
It’s a lovely treat to be able to secure valuable sweets and drinks.
But judging by Shi-on’s phrasing, the most important part is clearly that it was wine.
“Eh? Sii-chan, you drink wine?”
“Hehe, I’ve never actually drunk alcohol before.”
I paused for a moment to think, then had an epiphany.
“Oh… right. Can we get vinegar and alcohol out of it?”
“That’s true…”
Our only seasoning so far was salt, but with this, we’d finally be able to get our hands on vinegar too.
“That’s good. I’ll generate various items early on.”
As for me, I was genuinely delighted that my culinary repertoire would expand.
“This is the last item, but… may I have you ‘Itemize’ this?”
With those words, Fukami placed a short root vegetable with lush foliage on the table—something resembling a daikon radish.
“A radish? No, wait, this one feels different too. It’s way too famous to just be a plain ‘radish’!”
Hirako remained wary, having learned her lesson with the yamabudo.
As she considered what it would become once “Itemized”…
“Is it ‘Tensai’?”
“Well? Calling me a genius is a bit much, Sozou. But I’ll admit it’s commendable to learn from failure. You could always give me more credit, though.”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I mean. It’s the name.”
“Wh-What?”
“As I thought…! Then that means they’re sugar beets!”
Satisfied that her hunch had been spot on, Fuhou exclaimed loudly with joy.
Hearing that, it clicked for me too.
“So from now on—we can get sugar!”
In that case, I could understand why she was so excited.
In Japan, you could buy it at a convenience store, but on this desert island, sugar was something we wanted more than anything else in the world.
We’d managed to get meat into our diet and were eating mushrooms as a staple, but…
Aside from a bit of dashi for seasoning, we relied almost exclusively on salt.
So finally, King Sugar had arrived.
“On the third day, do we really have a path to opening up to sweets and confections…”
Even Chiayu, with her expressionless face, was visibly fidgeting.
I knew the feeling.
Three days may sound like a short time, but subjectively it felt as though a month had passed.
I once heard that even just a few days on an overseas trip makes someone crave Japanese food back home. This was exactly the same kind of sensation.
The charm of food ingrained in one’s body is incredibly painful to be separated from, even for just a few days.
“Once it gets like this… I end up wanting wheat…”
“If you add eggs to that… you can make hotcakes.”
Chiayu drooled at the thought.
She already had sheep’s milk, water, sugar, and butter, or could generate them immediately.
All that was left was flour and eggs, and she seemed confident she could make hotcakes.
“Wheat stuff is probably going to have to wait for the survey results… I want to make bread and cookies too. If only I could get breadcrumbs… I could even make wild boar cutlet.”
“Cutlet!”
Shouko was the one who reacted with a vigor typically reserved for men.
“In case of the survey, it’s going to turn into something like ‘Wheat/Rice,’ right? That worries me.”
“That seems likely… Wheat or rice… it’s a very difficult dilemma.”
I want both, so I don’t want to be forced into a binary choice.
And yet, that’s exactly why they’d probably set it up as one.
Will the thing I didn’t pick show up again in some other later binary choice?
Or will it just disappear entirely?
“Man, the discoveries those three made were pretty impressive.”
Ayako nodded repeatedly, clearly impressed.
“Right. I want more of both the wild grapes and the sugar radishes.”
“Oh! In that case, could we borrow Mashi-kuun’s help and go explore during the afternoon?”
Shion was eager, likely because they might be useful for cooking. “Me too! I’m coming with you!”
“It’s nice to have made a discovery, but without Arakino-kun’s strength, we wouldn’t have had the luxury to worry about these things.”
“Mm. Trying to extract vinegar from wild grapes is less of a priority than wanting things we can eat right now. Thanks to Sou-kuun, we’re able to act with a sense of mental ease.”
“The fact that items are placed here which you can’t eat without knowledge, or that are useful but require an extra step, suggests there might be some specific intent behind the mystery blackboard.”
I spoke with Meshiko a bit, but having apples growing around should make quite a difference.
But none of those obvious, easy-to-find things were placed here.
If that’s the case, anyone who doesn’t have knowledge or abilities like mine has to either steel themselves to eat it or just endure.
Observing these various reactions might be part of the purpose behind this mysterious blackboard.
Fukaho had already identified a radish without even needing to use her [Inventory], so people with skills like hers could probably survive on their own once they figured out the trick.
But for high school girls, it was still an incredibly harsh survival situation.
“So… it’s ‘Sasou’?”
Shouko repeated the name aloud once more.
“As expected, Sasou-kun.”
Chiya jumped on the bandwagon immediately.
“Living up to your reputation, Sousuke-kun.”
Shion jumped on the bandwagon too. She had an unexpectedly good sense of flow.
With that happening, unfortunately, the attention shifted to Fukaho.
I tried to tell her not to worry about it, but—
Her eyes darted around; though her face turned red, she parted her lips.
“S-Sass… sass… ‘Sasuga da ne, Kuno-kun.’”
“Ah—!” Three voices let out a shared sigh of surprise.
Fukaho was probably trying his best to fit in, I figured.
I decided it wasn’t the place for jokes.
“Thanks. But if everyone else weren’t around, I couldn’t pull off this kind of life either. Keep lending me a hand, okay?”
In response to my words, all four of them nodded back at me.
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