I’m Yame.
Ever since I established my base in the cave, I finally stopped dying.
Thank goodness.
Inside the cave, I had a shelf—well, more of a wooden plank—where I lined up rocks and shells to use as tableware.
My collection was gradually growing.
Today, I poured some tea into my favorite shell and took it easy.
Since the tea was made by chopping, drying, and boiling grass I’d gathered, it didn’t taste good.
It smelled terrible, too.
But I figured it was probably good for my health.
Maybe.
I didn't really know for sure, though.
...
Actually, today’s tea was a disaster.
I couldn't drink it.
My throat flatly refused.
Even the nausea...
I suppose trying that unfamiliar grass was a mistake.
I finally managed to secure a stable food supply.
My staple was still grass, but I’d added river fish to the mix.
Unlike sea fish, river fish weren't poisonous.
There might have been poisonous ones out there, but I hadn't been hit by one yet.
So, I was fine.
It was impossible to catch river fish by hand, though.
Those things were fast.
That was why I set up traps.
The sea was vast, but rivers were narrow.
I’m pretty smart, if I do say so myself.
That said, the traps didn't work well right from the start.
It was a real struggle—sometimes they were completely useless, and other times they got washed away or broken.
But the taste of the first river fish I caught in a trap was a revelation.
Though, I did think that next time, I’d sprinkle some salt on it before eating.
Salt.
I could get it by scooping up seawater and letting the sun evaporate it.
Simple.
It would be hard if I needed a lot, but since I was only eating for one, a small amount sufficed.
In the morning, I’d scoop seawater into a large shell, leave it in a sunny spot, and collect it before the sun went down. That became my daily routine.
If it rained, the batch was ruined, but there was no point in fretting over the weather, so I didn't let it bother me.
I reconciled with the bird.
I’d been curious because I heard a bird chirping strangely in the distance; when I went to look, I found a hard nut that it couldn't break.
After I smashed it open with a stone, it took exactly half the contents.
I assumed that meant the other half was my share.
The inside tasted delicious.
Since then, the bird has been showing me the locations of those hard nuts, and I’ve been the one to crack them.
Sweets.
Continuing this lifestyle on the island made me crave sweets.
Intensely.
Well, I wanted a lot of other things too, but sweets were different.
However, sweets weren't that easy to come by.
Tree fruits were generally sour or astringent.
I wanted to go after flower nectar, but... I’d died several times from eating flowers, so I was too scared.
While I was mulling it over, I felt a bit restless and chewed on a nearby vine; it was sweet.
Vines were sweet!
Well, not every single one was, obviously.
But the vine right in front of me was.
I cried a little.
It was a shame I couldn't gather a large amount, but I made sure to remember what that sweet vine looked like.
Living on an island made me long for someone to talk to.
The bird?
He was no good.
He just made fun of me.
Whenever I tried to talk to him, he just stared at me with those cold eyes.
Despite having such cute, round eyes.
So, I tried making a doll out of wood to be my conversational partner.
He looked pretty cool.
His name was Ivan.
Our conversations were lively.
Even though Ivan was the silent type.
Ah, if only I had my original power, I’d be able to make Ivan move.
...
That’s right.
I couldn't just settle for surviving.
Power.
I had to regain my lost power!
And if possible, power even greater than before!
I swore this to Ivan.
The bird watched me with a lukewarm gaze.
Despite those round eyes of its.
Even though I told myself I had to regain my power, I had absolutely no idea what to do.
I didn't even know why I’d lost my power in the first place.
Hmm.
I’d been a member of the Demon Race since the day I was born.
Magic power had always just been there.
I’d never actually trained my magic or my body before.
For now, I tried to mimic a punch, throwing out a few "swish-swish" sounds.
Was this it?
Should I just keep doing this?
After doing it about ten times, I got bored.
On rainy days, visibility was poor, and if I forced myself to go outside, I’d just slip and fall, so I stayed still in my base.
When the bird came to take shelter, it meant the rain would last a long time.
The rain would continue for two days.
When it was long, I think it lasted five.
It was a bit depressing.
I remembered having a hard time because food ran low.
Also, going to the outhouse was a hassle.
As one might expect, I couldn't build an outhouse inside the cave base.
I’d built it outside.
So, on rainy days, I had to go to the outhouse while getting soaked.
It was demoralizing.
I found a decent branch, so I tinkered with it to see if I could use it for something.
I ended up with a wooden sword.
Don't call it just a wooden branch.
I carved it properly so it was easy to hold, and I even considered the weight balance.
It was my magnificent weapon.
Though, while I was swinging it around, I accidentally hit a rock and it snapped in half.
A wooden sword alone wasn't enough.
Just in case something happened, I made a wooden shield.
It was a wooden shield made by binding branches together with non-sweet vines.
It felt very right.
The sense of security that came from being protected by a shield...
I decided to take good care of this shield.
Sometimes there were sea fish lying on the shore, but I didn't touch them.
Because I’d learned my lesson the hard way.
I’m a learning demon.
The same mistake twice... three times... no, four?
Let's play it safe and say five.
I only make the same mistake about five times.
The reason I walked along the shore was to keep watch for passing ships and to collect driftwood.
Actually, I did see a ship once in the distance.
But at the time, I had no way to tell the ship I was on the island.
I tried using magic, but it only produced a tiny flicker of light.
And then the ship left.
It was incredibly frustrating.
So, for the next time, I prepared a signal fire to properly tell a ship I was here.
Of course, the signal fire was built mainly with green wood so it would produce plenty of smoke.
I hadn't missed a beat.
I even periodically replaced the green wood.
As for lighting it, I could do that with magic, so there were no worries there.
However, I hadn't seen a ship since then.
W-well, there was no need to get down.
Since a ship was moving, it meant there were people alive other than me.
As someone who didn't die, I was good at games of endurance.
I’d just wait patiently.
I missed the shiiiiiiippp!
Gwaaaaah!
By the time I noticed it, it was already moving away.
I put out smoke with the signal fire, but they probably didn't see it.
Gnuuuuuuuuuuh!
S-sleeping until noon was a mistake.
If I’d woken up in the morning like usual, there was no way I would have missed that ship.
Unuuuuuuuuuuuh!
As a punishment to myself, I ate the mushroom I’d been storing.
It was delicious.
And I didn't die.
Getting carried away, I ate a massive amount of mushrooms—and died.
I knew it, mushrooms were no good.
Next time: An encounter with Urza.