My name is Yame.
Lately, life on the island has been very fulfilling.
I'm happy about that.
Since the Village Head has harvest work back at the village, he hasn't visited the island recently.
He used to come by every single day, so it feels a little lonely.
Well, I'm sure he'll return once the harvest is done.
Those remaining on the island are me, five High Elves, five Angels, and ten Lizardmen.
Just enough to fill the base's inn.
I offered to help with the harvest work, but he politely declined, telling me I had the island's birds to look after.
I think the birds would manage fine on their own, but it's true that I worry about them.
We even have newly hatched chicks right now.
Maybe the Village Head told the High Elves, Angels, and Lizardmen to stay behind because I was staying on the island.
Sorry for dragging you all into this.
Yuri, who operates the Underwater Multi-purpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Equipment (Artie Horse Aqua), wanted to stay too, but everyone talked her out of it, and she went back.
She was grumbling up a storm, though.
Say what you will, she's still the Demon King's daughter.
She must have duties to attend to.
At any rate, those of us staying on the island have been keeping busy with various tasks.
The Village Head told us to just do what we could within reason, but we can't afford to slack off on his kindness.
Since the Village Head and the others are working hard on the harvest back in the village, we need to pull our weight here too.
Members of the Sea Race come to help us out, though only on day trips.
They're looking for their own benefits out of this, so we accept their help without hesitation.
Today, they helped clean the seaside bath.
Since it's an open-air bath, debris piles up in no time if you let your guard down.
A clean bath is a good bath.
Some of the Sea Race folks have taken quite a liking to it.
As long as they use it cleanly, that's perfectly fine with us.
The same goes for the shower.
Food has been brought to the island in massive quantities.
Enough to last even if we were left on our own for several years.
Well, things spoil, so several years might be pushing it, but with magic tools to keep things cold, a year should be no problem.
The real issue is cooking.
I know there's a difference in experience, but I'd like to believe that me being the best cook here is some kind of cosmic mistake.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike cooking.
It's just that there are so many ingredients and seasonings I've never seen before.
My repertoire ends up defaulting to simple dishes like grilled meat and fish.
Other than that, maybe hot pot.
I learned how to make hot pot from the High Ogre maids when they were here, so I can manage the basic ones.
Just the simple recipes, mind you.
Anything complicated is beyond me.
For the tricky dishes, we'll just have to ask the Village Head the next time he visits.
Left to my own devices on the island, a thought struck me.
Right now, we have no way of leaving this island.
In other words, there's no way for me to travel to the Village of the Great Tree or Village Five on my own.
Isn't that kind of bad?
If Shiso-sama or Lana-san, who can use teleportation magic, ever stopped coming, we'd be completely cut off.
Unlike before, though, I've now built a friendly rapport with the Sea Race.
If we had a boat... no, even just a raft, couldn't the Sea Race pull us all the way to the mainland?
When I asked them, they said they'd gladly give us a tow.
Oh!
Then all we need is a raft!
I brought it up with the High Elves, Angels, and Lizardmen on the island.
I proposed that we build a raft.
They shot it down immediately.
The reason was simple:
That's exactly the kind of thing the Village Head would want to build himself.
If not having one put our lives at risk, that would be a different story, but since it doesn't, there's no need to rush.
I see.
Put that way, they're entirely right.
We shouldn't rob the Village Head of his fun.
Let's discuss it with him the next time he comes.
Oops, I'd better tell the Sea Race about our change of plans.
Otherwise, they might get ahead of themselves and drag over a sunken sailing ship from the ocean floor or something.
Hahaha.
...They already brought one.
A small sailing ship capable of carrying around ten people.
Right into our unfinished port.
The Sea Race was already hard at work, scraping away the barnacles encrusting the hull.
Even though it's made of wood, there's surprisingly little damage.
The sails are shredded, though.
Was only the hull shielded by magic?
I can't help but think they should have protected the sails instead of the hull.
Apparently, it sank because the crew failed to furl the sails in the middle of a storm.
Ah, did they cancel the protective magic on the sails back then?
At any rate, it seems the ship capsized and sank quite spectacularly.
Umm, what about the people aboard?
The Sea Race rescued them.
Thank goodness.
So, would it be okay for us to use this ship?
They told us that as long as we replace the sails, it can even sail under its own power.
Th-Thank you...
"Everyone, gather round!"
Emergency meeting.
Yeah, the sailing ship.
You've all seen it, right?
What do we do with that?
Hide it?
Where?
Wherever we take it, it doesn't have sails to move on its own.
Asking the Sea Race is out of the question... It feels wrong to ask them to help us hide a gift they brought us out of pure goodwill.
We have to handle this ourselves.
We'll manage somehow.
Let's brainstorm.
We thought long and hard.
About simply coming clean to the Village Head.
After all, the ship is a thoughtful gift from the Sea Race.
The Village Head wouldn't get angry over that.
So, being honest wouldn't cause any trouble.
There wouldn't be any trouble, but we really want to avoid disappointing him if we can help it.
On that point, we were all in complete agreement.
So, what could we do?
Turn his disappointment into a surprise!
How?
We thought.
We wracked our brains.
And finally, we squeezed out an idea.
Dig out the cliffside near the port to create a sea cave big enough to conceal the ship.
A sailing ship making a grand entrance from a hidden port!
Surely the Village Head would be thrilled by that!
I don't entirely get the appeal myself, but apparently, the concept of a "hidden port" is inherently cool.
One of the High Elves gave a solemn nod of approval.
One of the Angels agreed, saying she totally understood the vibe.
With our minds made up, we scouted the coastline and picked a spot for the hidden port.
And then, we dug.
When it comes to digging, your first thought is heavy machinery.
We considered using the Underwater Multi-purpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Equipment on the island, but none of us knew how to pilot it.
For safety reasons, Multi-purpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Equipment cannot be operated by individuals with high magical capacity.
The safety device trips and shuts the machine down.
Because of this, those with massive reserves of magic have to wear a specialized pilot suit that suppresses their output and prevents it from leaking into the controls.
We don't have one of those suits.
Yuri's was custom-tailored to her body, and besides, she took it home with her.
Well, there was no reason for her to leave it behind.
It has to be washed and maintained, after all.
No point dwelling on tools we can't use.
We grabbed the excavation tools on the island and dug out the cave using pure elbow grease and magic.
Thank goodness it was only a small sailing ship.
If it had been a large sailing ship, I would have broken down in tears.
Even so, we pulled it off.
We carved out a cave large enough to conceal the vessel entirely, and even excavated a proper channel so it could function as a dock.
Since it's a hidden port, it can't stand out.
We went all out to camouflage it.
It must not be visible from the open sea.
We built an artificial rocky reef along the approach path, completely blocking the cave entrance from view.
Unless someone already knows a cave is there and approaches intentionally, they'll never spot it.
Raising a rocky reef out of the sea was brutal work, but we got it done.
Partway through, when we had to ask the Sea Race for help, the thought crossed my mind that it might have been way easier to just have them park the ship behind the island.
No, what we asked the Sea Race for wasn't help hiding it—we asked for their cooperation in setting up a surprise for the Village Head.
So there's no problem.
Let's not get hung up on the little details.
Our objective is to prevent the Village Head from being disappointed.
To give the Village Head an awesome surprise.
That is all.
With the hidden port complete, we tucked the small sailing ship safely inside.
All we need now are new sails, and it should be ready to embark.
...Wait, since this hidden port is inside a cave, there won't be any wind, will there?
How is the ship supposed to sail out?
Have the Sea Race push and pull it like they did when docking?
That doesn't sound very cool for a grand departure.
To really blow the Village Head away, we want to burst out with the sails fully unfurled.
In that case, what if we punch a tunnel through the back of the cave to create a draft?
As long as air can pass through, we can whip up plenty of wind using magic.
Yeah, that should work great.
I'm sure the Village Head will be amazed.
Now then.
Yes, now then.
Taking a calm, objective step back to look at the sailing ship anchored inside our covert sea cave, a realization suddenly hit me...
Yeah, it literally just dawned on me.
Can I say something?
Don't cover your ears, guys.
Isn't a secret hidden port... exactly the kind of thing the Village Head would have loved to build himself?
I turned and asked the High Elves, Angels, and Lizardmen who had worked so hard alongside me.
For some reason, not a single one of them would look me in the eye.
High Elf: "Let's just... keep the hidden port and the sailing ship hidden forever..."
Angel: "I'd love to, but let's not. It'll be terrifying if he finds out on his own."
Village Head: "I'll definitely be surprised, but I won't get mad at you, you know."