“Sister Aster?”
“Mnngg… Just a while more Katsuki…” I groaned.
“Sister Aster, wake up…”
“Mnnn… Just a few more minutes…”
“Sister Aster!”
My eyes snapped open and I was met with Odeta looking down at me with concern.
I yawned, “Oh… Good morning Odeta… Did we miss breakfast?”
“Did you forget what happened yesterday, sister Aster?”
I was about to ask what she was talking about when I heard some purring coming from my chest area.
Looking down, I realised Emilia had her face smushed in between my boobs looking really comfortable while she was purring contentedly.
Oh yeah… We fell off the ship last night and we camped out on an island.
“Nngg… Good morning Odeta, how’s your wound?”
“Umm… I think I’m ok? I remembered I was bleeding from my side when the explosion happened… And I think Sariena betrayed us or something?”
I grimaced, “Well… Not exactly betray us… It was more like she wasn’t on our side from the start…”
Odeta frowned, “Where is she?”
“Well… About that… Emilia already killed her.”
“Ehhh… That means I missed my chance to give her a piece of my mind! That’s not fair!”
That was what she was worried about? Did she forget that we fell off the ship and we’re now stuck on an island in the middle of the sea?
I mean, sure, Emilia told me she has an artefact that would allow us to be picked up by her people within the day but Odeta doesn’t know that yet.
Then again, considering the fact that Odeta was still naked kind of showed where her priorities were.
Well, first thing’s first I guess… I need to get this Nekomata awake.
I tapped the cat girl on her shoulder, “Emilia… We should wake up now.”
“Puuurrr… Nyaa? Five more Creas nyaa…”
Oh my gosh~ She’s sooooo cute~ I wanna just pet her right now! I can, right? I’m gonna do it anyway!
I patted her head and she made even more of those purring noises that were just soooo cute~
Unfortunately, Odeta didn’t get that I was enjoying this moment and thought I was still trying to wake her so she went ahead to give Emilia a slap on top of her head.
That made Emilia leap out like a startled cat before running to the corner of the tent on all fours to glare at us with her hackles raised while hissing angrily.
It took her a moment more to remember where she was before relaxing.
“Ughh… Good morning Lady Aster… Miss Odeta… I’m sorry but I’m not good with mornings…” She yawned while rubbing her eyes sleepily.
The three of us then proceeded to put our clothes back on before leaving the tent, finding the storm had passed and the sun was just peeking out from the horizon.
“So how long do you think before the ship comes back to find us?” I asked, watching the waves crash onto the shore.
Emilia shrugged, “I’d think maybe later in the afternoon. We were swept quite far away in the storm after all.”
Odeta tilted her head, “How would they find us?”
The Nekomata reached into her sleeve and pulled out what looked like a cloth talisman, “We have a tracker on my ship that will always point towards this which I always carry around. It’s actually meant to be used in the event I get kidnapped so that they could find me but it works in such situations as well. I have one that points to the ship too over here.”
She then reached into her other sleeve and pulled out something that looked like a simple compass except it was simply an arrow sitting inside a dial that constantly pointed towards a certain direction.
The Amrap gasped, “That’s so cool! Where can I get one for sister Aster?”
I looked at her weirdly, “I don’t get lost usually… Nor have I been kidnapped before…”
She blinked, “Eh? I know that. It’s just that this way, I will have something pointing towards sister Aster all the time so it will feel like I’m with sister Aster every time!”
Oh my gosh, you cute little thing! Let me pat you!𝒐𝓋𝓛xt.𝒸𝞸𝔪
I went up and started patting her abs which she gladly let me do without complaint.
Emilia looked at me weirdly but chose not to comment and answered Odeta instead, “You will need to head to the Trasif cities for that. They are the ones who made these to track their loved ones in the event of slaver raids.”
Oh, that’s too bad then… We’ll probably have to wait until I’m on my journey before we get one since that place is quite far from where we are right now.
“Well, putting that aside, what should we do now? We have like half a day to waste?” I asked, still groping Odeta’s nice and firm abs.
Emilia turned around and smirked, “Well… We could explore the island if you want? After we pack the tent of course.”
Explore the island? Last I remembered, this place was rather small with only a few trees you know? What is there to explore?
That was when I realised that Emilia was not looking at me but actually looking at something behind me.
I turned around to see a mountain that stood high above the sea with lush green forests around its base, the land stretching for at least a few miles out in either direction.
I must have missed it because of the storm last night… The place we were on now was nothing more than just an inlet to the main island itself…
Emilia pointed to the mountain, “We can even get somewhere up there to survey the area, maybe even signal the ship when it arrives too. So I’m in favour of exploring the island, what about you girls?”
Odeta also nodded, “Yeah, that beats just sitting at the beach and twiddling our thumbs! That place looks really interesting! Let’s go sister Aster!”
Well, exploring that island definitely sounds better than just sitting around here and waiting for her ship to appear. She has the tracking artefact after all so we don’t need to worry about getting lost.
After packing up my tent, I flew them across the sea one by one to reach the main island, setting them down on the beach.
Emilia immediately crouched down on the sand and examined it with a serious face, picking a bunch of it up to inspect it before pouring it back onto the ground.
She frowned before standing back up to dust her hands, “It seems like we aren’t alone on this island, or at least we weren’t the first ones here.”
“Eh? You can tell?” I asked, surprised.
“Yep… The sand here has been moved before by something dragging along the surface. So either there are other people here or there are monsters on this island.”
I looked at the waves crashing onto the beach, wondering why that wasn’t a factor in moving the sand but what do I know? She has more experience than me in this anyway.
Maybe she has another artefact or magic that allowed her to find such answers? Who knows?
Emilia then drew her katana and chuckled, “That means there’s definitely money to be made here! Anyone who lives this far away from civilization must be a pirate, if not there might be rare or unknown monsters we can kill for their materials! Let’s go find them!!”
Without even waiting for a response from either of us, Emilia bolted towards the forest, leaving us staring after her from behind.
Unexpectedly, Odeta punched her fists together and also let out a bark of laughter, “Oh hell yeah! This means that there’s also things for me to train my strength on as compensation for my uselessness with those mermaids! Wait for me!!”
I stood still as those two rushed towards the undergrowth of the forest without a second glance back.
Great… I’m stuck here with a girl who sees everything as a possible profit for herself and a girl who was basically a musclehead… Maybe we should just wait at the inlet for the ship to come pick us up instead…
I flapped my wings and landed in front of them, stopping them from going any further.
“Come on, I think it’ll be safer if we just head back to the inlet to wait for the ship… We don’t know what’s in there…”
Emilia tilted her head, “Eh? I thought Lady Aster would be the one most interested in exploring the unknown?”
“Well, I am, but not without proper preparation, you know? You can never be too careful about these things.”
“But there could be various kinds of sweets that no one has ever seen or tasted before inside?”
I immediately turned back around and pointed towards the forest, “Well what are we waiting for?! We need to explore every nook and cranny of this forest before the ship gets here! Let’s go!!”
Wait for me sweets! I’m coming!!