IWSE 8

Chapter 8

The half-baked thief, who possessed nothing but a body full of mana, elegantly drizzled strawberry juice over the mushrooms skewered on sticks. Since she couldn’t keep a fire burning for long beneath the roots, she needed to roast as much food as possible in a short time.

“Tch.”

Elodie poked at the crackling campfire.

“I’m still the most jealous of Robert.”

Being able to create fire just by snapping his fingers… There couldn’t be a more desirable ability in a primitive situation like this.

The novice thief grumbled as she reviewed her plans.

Stealing Sylvia’s necklace would require physical strength.

“That’s why I chose Ice Magic as my first target.”

The path was guarded by terrifying toad monsters, so the ability to freeze the swamp was essential.

“Phew. Then, I suppose…”

Her next target came to mind immediately.

“I need to bring Red along.”

Elodie wiped her cheek with a soot-covered hand. She had already decided when to carry out her plan. She remembered the perfect day to make her move.

“It’s about to begin.”

Far to the west, thick clouds of smoke were billowing into the sky, visible even from the Tree of Rest.

“His Highness Prince Robert Bayern really knows how to make a scene.”

Elodie gave a slight bow in the direction of the rising black smoke.

Today was the day Robert’s group would engage in a spectacular battle against the monsters.

“Fortunately, the timing is perfect.”

Just as Camille Veltierre had appeared earlier than expected, she had worried that the schedule might have changed significantly.

…Come to think of it, is he still alive?

No, what did that matter right now?

Elodie shook her blonde hair to clear away her distracting thoughts.

On this day, Robert would draw the attention of every monster with a single Pillar of Flame. She could still vividly remember that acrid smell of smoke.

She also remembered how they had eventually fled for their lives when enemies came rushing toward them like waves.

“From this point onward, the monsters kept following us, so we couldn’t return to our original shelter.”

They had somehow managed to retrieve their tent, but they had been forced to relocate their base.

“They must be starting to realize that something is wrong over there by now.”

They would regret what happened today for a long time.

After all, the group would be subjected to continuous monster attacks for a full twenty-seven days.

“Ugh.”

Memories of sleepless nights and endless night watches came flooding back.

Elodie hurriedly gathered her Leaf Cloak and a bouquet of white flowers.

“It’s about time I got going, too.”

There were two things she intended to steal today.

And the first thing she would steal was… a monster.

“Pirik.”

Various types of monsters lived near the Tree of Rest, but the one Elodie had her eye on was a young Mandr.

What was a Mandr, you ask?

“Hello there. Aren’t you a good little thing?”

“Pirik!”

Bzzzzzz!

A gigantic ladybug charged fiercely toward her.

“Have you already caught the scent?”

If two people lay down side by side, they would be about the same size as this green ladybug.

When I read about them in books, this was supposed to be their adult form. But on this island, this is still a baby?

Mandrs were insect-type monsters that could also be found in the Empire. Since they didn’t attack humans unless they were hungry, they were considered relatively low-ranking monsters.

“Hey, Green Ladybug. You like this, don’t you?”

“Pirik!”

Elodie swiftly took out what she had prepared.

It was a bouquet of white flowers hanging from a tree branch. The moment the loosely dangling flowers came into view, the Mandr began buzzing excitedly.

“That’s right. Good girl.”

Incidentally, Green Ladybug was the name His Highness Prince Robert Bayern had given this monster.

By now, you might have noticed that His Highness the Prince had a very straightforward… and absolutely terrible sense of naming.

“Piririk!”

Strangely enough, Green Ladybug was obsessed with these mysterious white flowers whose name Elodie didn’t even know.

Perhaps their nectar tasted particularly delicious?

Elodie had never been especially interested in flowers, but whenever she came across these particular ones, she always picked a few.

And that was because—

“Heave-ho!”

She could use the bouquet to guide the direction in which the monster flew!

Elodie leaped onto the Mandr’s back and climbed behind its neck.

Ladybugs didn’t fly very high. Nor did they travel very far.

In other words, she could gain mobility while minimizing the chances of attracting the attention of other monsters.

“Good.”

Elodie lay awkwardly on her stomach, holding an improvised fishing rod with the bouquet attached to its end.

This was a method she hadn’t been able to use until almost a year after arriving on the island.

And fortunately, the person who had taught her was—

“Eek!”

Before she could even finish recalling the memory, the Mandr suddenly sprang into the air.

Incidentally, riding a ladybug was an absolutely terrible experience.

“Pirit.”

They reached their destination in no time.

The Mandr was incomparably faster than an ordinary ladybug.

…Although the feeling that my butt is about to split in two is a separate problem.

“…Pirik.”

As the Mandr approached its destination, it hesitated and began trembling its wings.

Elodie quickly realized why.

It’s starting to get hot.

The aspiring master thief had arrived at the northeastern part of the island: the Lava Basin.

The Forbidden Island, the Dragon’s Graveyard, was divided into four major regions.

The snowy mountains in the northwest.

The lava region in the northeast.

The marshland waterfalls in the southwest.

And the jungle-covered rocky mountains in the southeast.

Of course, the environments varied somewhat even within each region, but they generally had similar characteristics.

Elodie had chosen the Lava Basin for one simple reason.

“On this island, cooked food is the safest option.”

She might have been a novice thief, but when it came to survival, she was practically a veteran.

Elodie stretched out her legs and climbed down from the Mandr.

“Good work, Green Ladybug.”

Her efforts to secretly track and carefully select this particular creature over the past two days had paid off.

The monster clung to a nearby tree and began munching greedily on the white flowers.

“…Please stay somewhere around here so I can ride you back, too.”

Elodie placed the remaining bouquets of flowers on the ground one by one before making her way through the scorching heat of the Lava Basin.

“Ugh, I’m already sweating.”

The northeastern part of the island was abnormally hot.

The deeper regions were so scorching that a person’s skin could be cooked in an instant.

“Just a little longer.”

Fortunately, Elodie’s destination wasn’t in the deepest part of the region.

A gigantic rocky mountain split the middle of the Lava Basin.

And what the thief was after was hidden there.

“…So I have to climb another mountain.”

It hadn’t even been several days since her trip to the cliff.

“Phew.”

Tears blurred her vision, but fortunately, she didn’t need to reach the summit.

‘Red’ wasn’t located that high up.

She only needed to get past the mountain’s tail.

Finding the path she remembered so clearly was easy.

“Huff… Huff…”

After two hours of searching, Elodie finally discovered a rounded mound of rocks.

Sweat poured down her body like rain.

“I-I found it.”

This was the second treasure Elodie intended to steal.

Her first attempt had failed, but there was no way she would fail this time.

Now it was time to take out the canteen she’d prepared.

[Ugh, I’m dying of heat. Elodie! Pour some water on me!]

[Louise! A lady shouldn’t speak in such a manner…]

[Hurry up!]

[Eek! Don’t push me!]

Splash!

In her previous life, Elodie had emptied the canteen just before the two women started arguing.

Just as she was doing now.

“…”

Steam rose from the thoroughly soaked mound of rocks.

Elodie counted the seconds.

And then—

Crack!

The rocky mound split apart, and layers of gray shell began peeling away.

Her blonde head, bent low toward the ground, trembled slightly.

Elodie’s hands began frantically digging through the fragments of stone.

“Ah.”

There it is.

Her violet eyes, which had been carefully scanning every inch beneath the rocks, suddenly stopped moving.

Elodie cautiously reached out her arm.

Her white palm touched a round stone.

“Hello, Red?”

It was exactly the same color as the reddish-brown ground commonly found throughout the Lava Basin.

Just an ordinary-looking rock that anyone could easily overlook.

“This time, I’ll definitely protect you.”

The thief carefully picked up the little stone that had been born in the embrace of the rocky mountain.

It was rough and uneven, but to Elodie’s eyes, it sparkled more brilliantly than anything else in the world.

[Pip!]

A bitter smile spread across her thin lips.

…The Dragon’s Graveyard.

The gigantic rocky mountain in the Lava Basin was made from a dragon’s bones.

The mountain’s ridgeline curled along the spine of a Red Dragon, and at the very end of its tail…

A new life had been sleeping.

The stone Elodie had picked up was the only dragon egg that had survived here.

Perhaps this enormous rocky mountain had once been Red’s mother.

Elodie hugged the stone tightly against her chest, feeling its warm temperature.

It’ll take about a month to hatch, right?

[Pip, pip.]

For some reason, her heart was pounding rapidly.

The thief squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.

“…Let’s go together.”

The young hatchling had perished before it could even properly begin its brilliant life, long before Elodie herself had died.

Elodie hoped that Red would live longer than she did.

Dragons are supposed to live longer than humans, after all. Right?

And if possible, the two of them would leave this island together.

Hugging the egg tightly, Elodie strode forward with determination.

It was time to return to the Tree of Rest.