[A Night on a Deserted Island for a Man and a Woman Alone]

Chapter 29: [A Lonely Man and Woman's Night on a Deserted Island]

As the sun was about to set, Du Wei's search finally yielded something.

Deep in the woods on the western side of the island, he found a small puddle. It was probably a pool of rainwater left behind after the rainy season. There were no wild beasts on the island, and the puddle was in a rather shaded spot. Du Wei carefully inspected the area around the water source, but found no signs of animal activity.

After tasting it and confirming that the puddle contained fresh water, Du Wei relaxed. The two teenagers, who had been thirsty for most of the day, immediately threw all concern for appearances aside and pounced on the edge of the puddle, gulping greedily. The cool water, carrying a faintly strange taste, poured down their throats that felt as though they were on fire from thirst. Du Wei could not help letting out a satisfied sigh. As that trace of coolness slid down his throat, his whole body shuddered in comfort.

Once he had drunk his fill, Du Wei immediately took off his sheepskin boots and began washing them in the puddle.

"Y-you... what are you doing?" Vivian blinked as she watched Du Wei's movements.

"Washing my boots." Du Wei kept moving his hands as he spoke. "Then I'll use them to carry water."

"C-carry water? With b-boots?" Vivian made a strange face.

"Of course." Du Wei curled his lip. "Other than boots, can you find any other container for water? Do you have a bottle or a jar? Since you don't, we can only use boots. Mine are sheepskin, and they're very waterproof." At this point, Du Wei glanced at the little fool. "Stop frowning. This is our only option. We don't know how long we'll be stuck in this godforsaken place. We can't stay here guarding this puddle; we have to return to the shore! If you think my boots stink too much, then take off your own shoes and use those to carry water."

Vivian was still staring blankly when Du Wei urged her, "Hurry up. Unless you want to drink water from my boots tomorrow."

Perhaps that last sentence jolted poor little Vivian awake. She hurriedly took off her own shoes in a fluster.

The female mage's shoes were leather too, and the leather seemed even finer than Du Wei's sheepskin boots. After taking them off, she appeared somewhat at a loss. White socks covered her feet, but they had already been stained with blood. After half a day of walking, blisters had formed on the girl's feet—and some had already burst.

Very quickly, the female mage copied Du Wei and lay beside the puddle, rapidly washing her shoes. She scrubbed them viciously over and over again, countless times, until Du Wei finally grew impatient. "Washing them twice is enough. What are you washing them so many times for?"

"The... the shoes are dirty..."

Du Wei laughed as he looked at the innocent little fool. "Hey, look—the puddle isn't big. There's only this much water. You keep washing and washing; sure, your shoes get clean, but the water gets dirty. And in the end, you'll still be drinking this water."

"..." Vivian froze. Then, with her lips pursed in endless grievance, she filled both boots with water and stood up. "B-but... are we really going to drink this?"

"By tomorrow, when you're so thirsty smoke is coming out of your mouth, you'll drink water ten times dirtier than this without a second thought," Du Wei said flatly. "All right, let's go back."

On the way, Du Wei still used that long wooden stick to clear a path ahead. But after walking for a while, he noticed the female mage was falling farther and farther behind. He stopped and frowned at her. "You'd better hurry up. It's getting late. Once the sun goes all the way down, this place will turn pitch-black, and walking will become even harder. It's difficult to tell directions while walking through the woods at night."

Vivian hurriedly nodded hard and sped up to catch him. But after taking a few uneven steps, she could not help shedding tears from the pain. "My... my feet hurt so much."

Du Wei frowned and walked over to her. Looking down, he saw several places on the girl's small feet where thorns had pierced her skin. Her formerly delicate, rounded ankles, as well as several of her tiny toes, were covered in mud and streaked with blood.

With a sigh, Du Wei felt rather helpless. Making such a delicate girl walk barefoot through the jungle really was asking too much of her.

Keeping a cold face, Du Wei hung the two boots around his neck, then turned his back to her and bent slightly at the waist.

"Get on!"

"...Huh?"

"I said, get on!" Du Wei faced away from the female mage, his voice still cold and stern. "Hurry up. Don't waste time. I'll carry you back."

"B-but..."

"No buts. Listen, little girl, we need to hurry and get back to the dragon before dark. We're unfamiliar with this island—who knows what might be on it? Right now, neither of us has any ability to protect ourselves. We have to hurry! Move! Now, stop talking and get on!"

Du Wei's harsh voice left poor little Vivian too afraid to argue further. She immediately copied him and hung her shoes around her own neck, then obediently climbed onto Du Wei's back.

After carrying the female mage for a few steps, Du Wei began to struggle. His mind might have belonged to an adult, but this body was still that of a teenage boy... and one who had been frail and sickly since childhood, weak from birth.

"Th-thank you."

After walking for a while, the female mage on his back suddenly stammered those words in a quiet voice. She spoke so softly that Du Wei almost failed to hear her. But he merely snorted and said nothing.

And so, as night descended upon this uninhabited island, poor little Vivian lay on the back of a strange boy. When she raised her head, she could see the black sky through the dense gaps between branches and leaves. When she lowered it, she could see the boy beneath her struggling onward, and hear Du Wei's labored breathing.

Vivian suddenly felt that this young nobleman, who always bullied her and spoke so fiercely, did not seem quite so frightening after all...

When they returned to the site of their "airship crash," the dragon was still asleep. According to Vivian's stammering explanation along the way, once a dragon fell asleep after being injured, it could slowly recover. During that time, it did not even need food or water.

That made Du Wei breathe a sigh of relief... Fortunately. Otherwise, this little water would not even be enough for people to drink—how could it possibly be enough to feed a dragon?

After trudging with great difficulty back to their temporary camp, Du Wei dropped the female mage from his back and collapsed crookedly onto the ground himself, gasping for breath.

"I can't... I can't..." Du Wei sucked in huge breaths, panting like a dying man. His entire body was weak and aching as he complained, "If it were before, forget carrying one little girl like this—even if I had one on my back and another in my arms, I could still run a thousand meters in one breath. This body is far too weak..."

Vivian had been thrown to the ground by Du Wei, but this time she did not cry out in pain. Instead, she quickly sat up. Seeing Du Wei struggling to breathe, the little fool suddenly jumped to her feet, clumsily plucked a large leaf from a tree, then quietly sat beside Du Wei and raised her little hand to fan him with all her might.

After catching his breath for a while, Du Wei looked up at Vivian. "What are you doing?"

"I... I saw that you seemed really tired, so I... I'm fanning you," Vivian said earnestly with wide eyes.

Du Wei could not help laughing. The girl might be a little foolish, but she really was foolish in an adorable way. "Thanks... but don't you know it's early spring right now? The weather's still quite cold."

Du Wei gently took the large leaf from the female mage's hand. With a hint of amusement, he watched her face flush red, then said, "All right, we need to make a fire now. Otherwise, the cold tonight will be unbearable. We have nothing at all right now. If we get sick from freezing, that'll be serious trouble."

Actually, the problem of the cold at night would not be difficult to solve. They only needed to sleep beside the dragon.

After all, that dragon was a fire dragon... But if they slept beside such a gigantic creature, and the dragon happened to roll over in its sleep, the two of them would be crushed to death.

And Vivian would probably become the first mage in history to be crushed to death by her own magical pet.

Du Wei gathered enough branches and leaves, then had the female mage cast a fire-element spell—a tiny Fireball spell. (At present, that was all the magic Vivian had left.)

After lighting the branches, he had Vivian carry a torch while he gathered a large armful of branches. The two went to the nearby beach, where Du Wei built a bonfire. He piled the branches as high as possible, and the flames burned fiercely.

In the darkness, such a conspicuous blaze could probably be seen even from very far away!

Du Wei sighed. This was their only hope. He could only pray that some passing ship would spot the bonfire and send someone over. Then perhaps the two of them could be saved.

After finishing everything, Du Wei was utterly exhausted. He lay sprawled on the beach, letting out a long sigh.

Just then... Grrr!

Du Wei froze for a moment, then heard it again...

Grrr!

He sat up and looked at Vivian beside him with an amused half-smile.

"S-sorry, my... my stomach..." The bonfire cast a rosy glow over the female mage's face. Vivian covered her stomach in embarrassment. "I-I'm hungry."

"So am I." Du Wei sighed. "Unfortunately, we haven't found any small animals on this island. Otherwise, catching a couple and having an open-air barbecue here wouldn't be bad."

"Th-then, what about wild fruit?" Perhaps hunger had made the female mage a little sharper.

"Look around. Where are there any fruit trees? There aren't even any berry bushes. Just leaves and wild grass." Du Wei sighed. "Otherwise, would I need you to remind me?"

"Th-then, fish?" The female mage looked at Du Wei pitifully. "Th-there are fish in the sea, right?"

Du Wei shrugged and looked at Vivian. "Can you swim?"

The female mage shook her head.

"Neither can I." Du Wei gave a wry smile. "I'm a land duck, just like you. I don't have the skill to go into the water and catch fish. Besides, I already searched the shoreline during the day. All I found were empty shells and conches—unless your stomach can digest hard shells?"

"B-but I'm so, so hungry." Vivian pouted pitifully and blinked up at Du Wei.

"There's nothing I can do. Let's sleep for the night. When it gets light tomorrow, I'll find a long branch and see whether I can catch any fish in the shallow water by the shore... Not now. It's already dark, and neither of us can swim. If we drown, then we're finished."

Vivian sighed. She could only obediently sit down... and, without noticing, she sat beside Du Wei.

"Let's talk. Chatting can help you forget your hunger." Du Wei smiled. "We haven't properly gotten to know each other yet. Besides, we've been through hardship together now."

"H-how do we get to know each other?"

"For example..." Du Wei thought for a moment. Hugging his knees, he looked at the stars in the sky. "You're so young. You don't seem any older than I am, right? How did you become a Great Mage? That's an incredible achievement."

"I-I don't know either." Vivian copied Du Wei and hugged her knees, letting out a soft sigh. "I-I've been with my teacher since I was little. I-I've never gone out before. Th-this is the second time."

Du Wei turned his head and looked at the silly little girl, then suddenly smiled. "Actually, your voice is quite nice—sweet and soft. If you didn't stutter, it would sound even better."

"S-sorry, I-I don't do it on purpose." Vivian blushed. "I-I've never been very good at talking since I was little."

"The more you stutter, the more you should talk. Anything becomes easier once you do it enough." Du Wei smiled. "All right, tell me about yourself. How did you become an eighth-level mage? To achieve something like this at your age, you're probably the only one in the entire Empire."

"Huh?" Vivian looked at Du Wei with a blank expression.

Du Wei sighed and smiled bitterly. "Hey, I'm praising you. At least give me some kind of reaction."

"Ah... s-sorry, I-I..." Vivian became flustered again.

"Silly girl." Du Wei shook his head. "It seems like you don't understand anything except magic."

After that, Du Wei patiently chatted with Vivian for a while. With great difficulty, Vivian told him a little about herself.

Vivian Yang had studied magic with her teacher ever since she could remember.

But no matter how Du Wei questioned her about her teacher's identity, the silly girl clenched her teeth and refused to reveal a single word. Du Wei could not even trick it out of her.

For now, he could only assume her teacher was some reclusive master hidden from the world.

Vivian had lived with her teacher in a secret place since childhood. According to her, it was deep in the mountains. Over the past dozen or so years, Vivian had only left home twice. Other than that, she had spent nearly all her time at home studying magic.

Her daily tasks consisted of learning all kinds of magical knowledge, memorizing strange, obscure, difficult spells, and... washing her teacher's clothes.

"Washing clothes?" Du Wei laughed. "You know how to wash clothes too?"

He casually took Vivian's little hand and examined it. "Such soft, tender hands don't look like they belong to someone who does housework."

"I-I can!" Vivian's face reddened. Du Wei did not know whether she was embarrassed because he doubted her or because he was holding her hand. "I-I use magic to wash them... I-I only need to cast a spell, and the cl-clothes wash themselves."

"Oh... wouldn't that be like a washing machine..." Something stirred in Du Wei's mind.

The first time Vivian left home was when her teacher brought her to the headquarters of the Magic Union in the Imperial Capital to take a secret, non-public magic rank assessment.

Before that assessment, her teacher had said, "I'll make those fools at the Magic Union's eyes pop out of their heads! I'll let them see what an extraordinary genius I've raised!!"

And the result was... the several mages responsible for that assessment had indeed nearly had their eyes pop out.

Because in terms of magic, Vivian truly was a genius! A genius among geniuses!

A fourteen-year-old eighth-level mage! Even after combing through the entire history of mages, there had never been one before!!

"Th-that was a year ago." Vivian looked somewhat embarrassed. "Th-those mages originally wanted me to stay in the Imperial Capital, b-but Teacher said there was no one at home to wash the cl-clothes, s-so he took me b-back."

"Hmph. Your teacher simply didn't want the Magic Union to poach you." Du Wei was naturally not as innocent as Vivian. "An eighth-level mage is an important figure wherever they go! Even within the Magic Union, how many Great Mages above the eighth level could there be? Hmph... and you're still so young."

"Mhm." Vivian blinked. She did not quite understand what Du Wei meant, but she soon became happy again. "I-I passed that assessment, and Teacher was very happy. H-he gave me a g-gift. It was Blazing... Blazing... Blazing Sun!"

"That dragon?"

"Mhm!" The moment Vivian mentioned her magical pet, her eyes lit up. "That's it!"

Du Wei sighed... Just who was her teacher? He had actually given someone a dragon as a gift!!

This was not some cat or dog! It was a dragon!!

And Vivian had remained at the place where her teacher lived in seclusion for another full year... still studying magic and washing clothes every day.

After that, this most recent trip outside was only her second time coming into the outside world. She had come solely to recapture that escaped Fear Illusion Demon... it was her teacher's pet.

"Wait!" Du Wei suddenly sprang up, excitement on his face as he looked at Vivian. "That Illusion Demon—it's still with you, right?"

Vivian nodded, undid her robe, and revealed the little Illusion Demon shut inside a small cage hanging at her waist.

"Stomach, oh stomach, you're saved now!" Hunger gleamed green in Du Wei's eyes as he swallowed. "Hey, little dummy! We won't have to go hungry after all. Hmm, this little thing is all plump and fleshy—it looks delicious! There aren't any seasonings here, but if we skin it and roast it, it should still taste pretty good."

"..." Vivian blinked and blinked. It took her quite a while to understand Du Wei's words, then she suddenly shrieked, "Ah!! N-no, you can't! You—you—you can't eat my Chirp Chirp! It—it's Teacher's pet! If you eat it, I—I—I..."

"Can't worry about that now..." Du Wei said loudly. "We've been hungry all day. If we keep starving, none of us will have any strength left tomorrow—and who knows whether we'll even be able to catch fish!"

"N-no-no-no, you can't... Don't eat my Chirp Chirp." Vivian clutched the little cage to her chest with all her strength, refusing to let Du Wei snatch it away. "Don't eat my Chirp Chirp."

"Hmph! Then we'll eat your dragon!" Du Wei shouted. "It's so huge. If we cut off a piece of meat and eat it, it won't die, will it?"

"Eat... eat-eat-eat-eat-eat-eat-eat a dragon?"

Vivian felt like she was about to faint.

She had only just begun to think that this little nobleman seemed like quite a nice person, but in the blink of an eye he had turned into a demon again!

Eat a dragon? Almighty God! Spare poor little Vivian! In all her life, she had never heard of anyone daring to set their sights on a dragon... much less treat it as food!

"N-no, don't eat my Blazing Sun! D-don't eat my Chirp Chirp either... Waaa... Daddy, Mommy..." Seeing Du Wei's vicious expression, Vivian launched another tearful offensive.

Du Wei was helpless. Looking at the crying little dummy, he could only shake his head. "This won't do, that won't do... Hmph, fine! I'll let you have your way tonight. Tomorrow, I'll try to catch some fish. But if I can't catch any tomorrow, we can't just starve to death! If we lose our lives, then there's nothing left to talk about! If there's really no other way, then no matter what, we'll have to start with this Illusion Demon!"

At that moment, Vivian was not the only one crying. Even the little Illusion Demon in the cage—a fat little ball of flesh—began trembling in terror. This high-level Magic Beast could understand human speech; after hearing Du Wei's "declaration," it stared blankly at him with its bean-sized eyes, its plump body curled into a shivering ball.

After hearing Du Wei's words, Vivian relaxed a little, but hurriedly began praying in her heart...

Almighty God! Bless poor little Vivian... Let this demon catch a few fish tomorrow... Oh, no no no, it wasn't that poor little Vivian was greedy, it was only to save Chirp Chirp's life... Um, if possible, little Vivian didn't have to eat any fish, um... or perhaps she could just eat one tiny fish... Please, Almighty God... sob sob sob... B-but I'm so hungry too. Vivian really wants to eat fish...