"Let"s camp here tonight," said Ronald stopping the carriage.We were in the part of the forest that was surrounded by bamboo trees. It wasn"t night yet, but since the tall bamboo trees were blocking the light, it was dark. We were on the sixth day of our journey. And, if everything went as planned, we would reach the village around tomorrow evening.
"It is a bit dark, but it"s hard to find a dry place like this in the forest," said Nina getting down from her Wagon.
We also got off our carriage and looked around. This was to check if there was anything dangerous in the surrounding area or not. It could be dangerous to camp around things like beehives, insect nests, and snake holes. Since no one disagreed with the location, we took the camps and the "magic stove" out of the wagon. We also took out the cooking ingredients and cooking utensils.
Ronald and I prepared the camps while the rest helped in cooking food. After we finished setting up the camps, we all joined the rest and waited for the food to be prepared.
"Man, I am so hungry," said Sistina looking towards the stew that was being cooked.
"Now, now. A proper lady shouldn"t say things like that. You will never find a good man like this," said Arica teasing her.
"Huh? Why do you even need a man? I am fine just the way I am," said Sistina in an irritated tone.
"N-no Sistina, it"s important. Y-you can"t have b-babies alone," said Marina in a hasty tone. She only realized what she had done after she said that. She covered her face that had turned red with both of her hands.
"ARICA! what have you been teaching her!"
Giving this matter more attention will make things more embarra.s.sing for her so I tried changing the subject by saying, "It"s strange. We are in the middle of the forest, but we haven"t come across any dangerous monsters yet."
"Yes, it"s strange. The only ones we came across were just small insect monsters," said Princess Eliane with a look of concern in her face.
"Yeah. But it"s a good thing, no?" replied Princess Anna with her usual smile.
"Hmm... It could be because monsters dislike bamboo. But it"s almost too quiet," said Nina looking towards the top of bamboo trees
Miss Lilith hummed looking towards the top of bamboo and said, "This confirms that you are up against a demon this time."
"Yes, it looks that way," replied Princess Eliane.
It was completely dark by the time we finished preparing the stew. We brought the bowls from the wagon and distributed the stew.
"There is something s.h.i.+ning behind those trees," said Sistina standing from where she was sitting at. She was pointing towards the dim light that could be seen between the trees at around 500 meters distance.
"Looks like someone is there. Nara, let"s go and take a look," said Ronald taking out a magic light from the wagon.
We then followed the light. When we reached the source of light, we found out that the light was coming from a monster warding light. Surprisingly, we couldn"t see anyone around the light. It was impossible that someone would just forget it here. It was almost as big as a normal size portable heater from my previous world.
"Let"s look around," said Ronald.
We had only brought one "magic light" so I created a small fireball to make things visible. We then started looking around separately. As I was looking around, Ronald called me with, "Nara, over here" so I went towards him.
He had found a little orange-haired girl with tiger tail and tiger ears. She was unconscious but was still breathing. We looked around to see if there was anyone else but there was no one.
"Nara, I will carry her to the camp. Can you bring the monster warding light with you?" said Ronald to which I replied with, "Okay".
Ronald carried her to our camps while I carried the monster warding light. We laid her inside one of our camps where Nina and Marina checked her condition. Marina healed her feet that were injured. She probably got the injury because she was walking barefoot in the forest.
"She fainted because of hunger. We need to feed her something," said Marina with a worried expression. It was unusual to see her acting this bold.
Miss Eliane gave her a bowl of stew saying, "Here, feed her the stew".
She wasn"t chewing so Marina only fed her the soup using a spoon. After a while her condition became stable but she was still unconscious.
"Her condition is stable now but she is exhausted. I don"t think she will wake up for a while," said Nina covering her with a blanket.
There were several questions like, "Who is she?", "How is she alone in the forest like this?" and so on. But we all knew that they will only be answered after she recovers.
"You all staying there won"t make her recover faster. Come outside so that we could have our dinner. It"s getting cold," said Miss Lilith from outside. She was keeping watch outside while we were inside.
After she said that, we all got out and had our dinner. After dinner, we decided who will stay on watch duty. Ronald and Nina were taking a break tonight so the rest of us will stay up for watch duty in turns. Arica and Princess Anna were on the first s.h.i.+ft. They will be replaced by Sistina and Princess Eliane. Marina and I got the morning s.h.i.+ft.
After we decided that, we all went inside our camps leaving Arica and Princess Anna behind for watch duty. The journey up to now has been tiring so I fell asleep quickly
I woke up when it was time for our s.h.i.+ft. When I went outside, Marina had already woken up and was talking to Sistina and Princess Eliane.
"Oh, you are here. We can finally take a break now," said Sistina when she saw me coming.
"Yeah. Have a good-"
"AAAAAAA"
As I was saying that, I was interrupted by a cry. It was coming from the camp where the little girl was sleeping. She was alone in the camp since both Marina and Sistina were outside.
We rushed towards the camp. Inside, the girl had woken up and was crying with tears in her eyes. Marina hugged her saying, "It"s alright now, you are safe" and petted her head. The girl calmed down and fell asleep again.
"Marina, I think you should stay with her. I can stay on watch alone," I said looking towards her to which she nodded.
Marina stayed with her for the rest of the night while Princess Eliane and Sistina went to sleep inside their camp. I stayed on the watch for around 3 hours after which Ronald woke up and came outside.
After Ronald, the Princesses and Nina came outside. Nina started preparing breakfast while Princesses started helping her. Marina and Sistina came outside after them.
"How is she doing?" I asked when I saw Marina come outside.
"S-she is sleeping now. She will probably wake up soon," said Marina to which I replied with "that"s good".
Ronald and I folded the other camps and put them back in the wagon while others were making breakfast. When breakfast almost ready, the little girl came out of the camp. She stood behind Marina and was peeking at us.
"It"s alright. They are my friends, they are all nice people," said Marina after which the girl came forward.
"What is your name Little girl?" Princess Anna asked with a friendly smile.
"Emma," replied the little girl in a low voice.
Next Chapter: What Happened?