Amidst the din of battle that was taking place in the far distance, we huddled in a corner of the temporary shelter with only the dim light of the portable data terminal to rely upon and held our breaths.
“Uh, we really don’t have to hold our breaths, right?”
“Yeah. Even so, there’s not much we can do in this situation anyway. Should we just sleep?”
“How about confirming our plans for tomorrow?”
“Now that’s what I call a meaningful topic.”
As per Mimi’s suggestion, we started to talk about our plans for tomorrow.
“I think it would be best to basically just stay put and wait for rescue, but do you guys have any other opinions?”
“None.”
“Mm.”
“Nope, I ain’t got any.”
“Me too.”
“I’m glad we all agree on that then.”
Since we couldn’t get online using the data terminal, we were in a situation where we couldn’t even look up a decent map of the area. Since we don’t know which direction we should head toward, it was far too dangerous to randomly wander around the forest. It seems that some of the native creatures on this planet were quite dangerous, and getting into accidents while trying to navigate an undeveloped forest is really scary as well. Things like poisonous insects and other such dangerous creatures are bad news. Staying put inside the camp is the smart thing to do after all.
“The problem is food. I think the food packs we brought should last us a few days, but it’s gonna be bad if the rescue takes much longer than expected.”
“That’s true. I think it would be best if we gathered all the food we have and then pace ourselves so we don’t consume more than necessary.”
“Okay then. Let’s bring them all out and place them in one spot in the morning. Are there any other suggestions?”
“Um, wouldn’t it be better if we gathered some food too, Boss? Forest like this has lots of edible stuff in it, right?”
“There’s also the option of hunting animals for their meat. I read that back in the museum.”
Tina and Whisker were both gung-ho on food procurement. Un, they were thinking of the same thing as me huh.
“The problem with that is we don’t know what’s edible and what’s not. We don’t have the ability to tell them apart after all, and blindly eating stuff can be dangerous.”
Sometimes, fruits that look delicious in appearance were actually highly poisonous to people, grasses that look like your average weeds actually hid edible tubers below, and seemingly harmless plants were actually potent skin irritants. Things like that were commonplace in forests. You really can’t make accurate judgments through an amateur’s eyes.
“Oh, we’re actually fine regarding that. I managed to download a scanning app that can be used offline on my data terminal before we headed out.”
“Why’d you think of downloading such a thing anyway?”
“Um, we were going on a forest tour, and you mentioned we couldn’t go online Hiro-sama, so that’s why I got it.”
Mimi replied while displaying a smug smile. Well, uh, that’s great and all, but…… do you intend to scan each and every plant and creature in the area just to see if they’re edible or not?
“Well, I didn’t expect you to prepare such a thing Mimi, but it really would help us out a lot. Okay then. Tomorrow, Mimi and I will explore the area to see if we can gather some food. You’re in charge of guarding the camp while we’re away, Elma.”
“Roger.”
“What about us, Boss?”
“Try to improve the camp using the molecular composition device and see if you can make something useful. One of our biggest concerns right now is water. Also, can you try piggybacking that useless distress beacon to a data terminal and see if you can send out a distress signal that way?”
“Mm. I’m not sure if it’s doable, but we’ll do our best.”
I guess that wraps it up for tomorrow’s plans.
“But the battle’s still not lettin’ up huh.”
“I’m also worried, but it’s not like we can do anything about it. Let’s just go to sleep.”
I’m not sure how large the force the Red Flags sent out to attack, but I doubt it would turn into a situation where they’d annihilate the system garrison and completely overrun the place.
Anyway, Mimi and the others made some simple beds earlier, so I got onto one to sleep. The bed had a simple skeleton frame with an elastic sheet placed on top of it, and it wasn’t bad at all. I then used the chameleon thermal cloak in place of a blanket. Yep, the temperature management was perfect.
I woke up after noticing the presence of another person. I opened my eyes a bit and saw that someone was using some chameleon thermal cloaks as a makeshift blind to change clothes or something behind it.
“Good morning.”
“Hyii!? B-Big Brother!?”
Whisker’s voice rang out behind the makeshift thermal cloak blind. I see.
‘I’m gonna cover my face with my cloak for a bit. Tell me when you’re done.”
“Y-Yes!”
Once I covered my head with the cloak, I could hardly hear the rustling of clothes. I was just about to fall back to sleep when someone shook my body, and I finally woke up fully.
“Fuwaaah…… Morning.”
“G-Good morning.”
Whisker returned my morning greeting with a red face. It’s not like I saw her naked anyway, so I don’t think she should be that ashamed about what happened earlier.
“Shall we get up?”
“Yes. Everyone’s already outside.”
“Okay then. We better bring our luggage out too.”
We grabbed our backpacks and exited the shelter. After getting outside, I saw the other three busy with transferring the contents of their backpacks into black boxes.
“Good morning, Hiro-sama.”
“Morning, Hiro.”
“Good mornin’.”
“Good morning guys. Do you have one for me too?”
“Yep. We already made ones for you guys. Yours is over there, Whee.”
“Un.”
The boxes were an armful in size. We stored our clothes and other things that we won’t make use of immediately inside them. We would then gather the food inside a separate box.
“Mm. If we ate normally, we’d be able to make the rations last until tomorrow night.”
“Aside from Hiro, we each only brought a day’s worth of food after all.”
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