Chapter 207: Retracing Our Steps (Patreon)

Day 222 since the crash. Morning, clear skies, -21°C.

Isac and Hayasaka Ai worked together to haul the last loaded sled to the front door, where Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya were already waiting.

Counting the one they had just dragged out, there was exactly one sled for each of them. Isac had built every one of these sleds at home over the winter, using the best materials and techniques available. To get the metal for the bases, he'd even torn apart the trailer cart they'd brought back from Carter Dam. The sheet metal on it was perfect for runners.

The spare blankets in the house had been cut up too, to make padding for the tow harnesses.

That was how they squeezed out the maximum hauling capacity.

Besides, they weren't in a hurry. There were at least eight days left before the next Aurora Week, plenty of time to get from Mountain Town to the coastal town. They weren't what they used to be, either. They no longer needed to waste time scouting the route. Apart from the bear spirit, they were the top predators on this land, and even the bear spirit, after all the books they'd read and all the intel they'd gathered, now had a counter waiting for it.

Not to mention that, strictly speaking, winter wasn't over yet. Whether that bear spirit had woken from hibernation was anyone's guess, and that was exactly why Isac wanted to move quickly. For one thing, he wanted a new hunting ground for the next aurora night, since they'd killed nearly every wolf in the area. For another, he wanted to slip into the coastal town while Brother Bear was still taking his nap.

Also, Aurora Week came roughly every three months, but not on a fixed date. Even if they waited the eight days, bad weather could mean no aurora at all.

"One last check. Make sure everything we need is packed, and then we can go. Let's try to reach the logging cabin before dark," Isac told the group.

Today's goal was to get back to the logging cabin. On the way here they'd spent a night at the Gas Station, mostly to spare Yukino and Kaguya's stamina. That kind of fuss was no longer necessary. With their bodies now, the two of them could easily walk the whole distance, barely needing a rest to recharge along the way.

The body enhancements hadn't been for nothing, and neither had all that venison. After being plowed for so long, there had to be some harvest, right?

And Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya's harvest was a strong, healthy body.

When they got back to their original world, Yukinoshita Haruno would be stunned to discover that her little sister could now spin her around with one hand. No telling what she'd make of that.

The frail, soft, easy-to-push-over Yukinoshita Yukino was gone. In her place stood a strong, sturdy, easy-to-push-over Yukinoshita Yukino.

Honestly, Isac hardly needed to say anything. The three girls had already started checking their cargo. These supplies were their own lives and their companions' lives, and there was no room for carelessness. You couldn't check too many times before setting out.

Nobody said it out loud, but all four of them knew it: after they left today, they'd most likely never come back here.

Either they'd buy boat tickets and go straight back to their original world, or...

Isac stopped himself there. Thinking further was pointless. He would get Yukinoshita Yukino and the others home safely, no matter what.

Hm. Why did that sound like he was setting up a death flag?

"Everything's fine on my side. Food, medicine, charcoal, all of it's packed," Yukino said. She was the first to finish.

After she spoke, Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai each reported that they were ready to go at any time.

Worth mentioning: none of the sleds carried just one kind of supply. Each had its own emphasis, but essentials like food, medicine, and charcoal were spread evenly across every sled.

That was to guard against accidents. If a sled got lost along the way, they wouldn't lose everything with it.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

In the worst case, even if three of the four sleds were lost, the supplies on the last one would still keep Isac and the girls going for about a week.

Small but vital items like ammunition, of course, they carried on their persons.

Everyone carried the ammo for the gun they used. Isac, for instance, had all the squad's revolver rounds on him.

Yukinoshita Yukino carried the ammo for her own gun. Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai both used rifles, so the two of them split the rifle rounds evenly.

"Then let's get moving. We're short on time, so we won't stop for lunch. If you get hungry on the way, tide yourself over with a chocolate bar."

Before they set out, Isac handed each of them a few pieces of candy and some chocolate bars so they could refuel quickly when hunger hit.

Winter days were short to begin with, and the road from Mountain Town to the logging cabin was long. If they stopped for a meal at noon, there was no way they'd reach the cabin before dark.

Traveling at night meant bitter cold and a much higher chance of accidents. Unless he had no other choice, Isac would rather find some house along the way and camp there than march blind in the dark.

No more idle talk. The survival squad set out on the road once again.

They walked until the edge of town, until the two-story Survival Home had faded from sight. Only then did Isac look back one last time at the little home where they'd lived for months.

"What's wrong?" Hayasaka Ai asked, seeing the leader stop. She thought he'd forgotten something.

"Nothing." Isac shook his head.

Kaguya seemed to see right through him and smiled. "Reluctant to leave? I didn't think you were so sentimental."

"It's not exactly that. It's just that time went by so fast. It feels like we only got here yesterday, and today we're already leaving." Isac shook his head again, turned, and kept walking.

Kaguya hurried to catch up and fell in beside him. "That was almost five months ago, you know. We've lived here for nearly half a year."

In truth, it wasn't only Isac. The other three girls felt a pang of reluctance too, more or less. It wasn't just because they'd lived in the Survival Home for almost half a year. It was also because this was where they had gone from girls to women, taking an enormously important step in life.

Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya especially. When they'd taken that step, they'd even been witnesses to each other. Maybe that was the bond between girls with long, straight black hair.

It was only because Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya didn't know what Isac was thinking that he got away with it. If they had, they'd have made him pay for it on the spot, even in the middle of the trek.

After another half hour along the highway, the buildings of Mountain Town behind them had shrunk to a tiny black dot. The Survival Home was somewhere in it, but they could no longer pick it out.

This time Isac didn't look back. They followed the road they'd come by, and two hours after setting out, they reached the Gas Station convenience store.

The Gas Station was the same as ever. A thick, greasy smell of diesel hung around it, one that not even the wildest blizzard could blow away.

They didn't stop. The survival squad pressed on, and soon reached the mouth of the canyon. It was as silent as ever. The wind was especially strong at the entrance, but apart from the howling, there wasn't a sound. It felt almost deathly, and deeply unsettling.

That strange atmosphere pushed everyone to walk faster, and they cut what should have been an hour's trek down to half an hour.

By the time they'd made it through the canyon, it was already noon. Isac and the others stopped briefly at the guard post on the roadside outside the canyon to check the sleds, mainly to see whether the ropes holding the cargo had come loose and whether anything had been left behind.

After a full round of checks, they found that the rope at the tail end of Hayasaka Ai's sled had indeed worked loose. Luckily, even loose, it was still doing its job, and none of the cargo on the back of the frame had fallen off.

They tightened the rope again, each ate another chocolate bar and drank a little water, and then set off once more.

The road was the same road as before, but after crossing the canyon, the group had to be far more careful. The reason was simple.

Isac was certain that the wild wolves around Mountain Town had been killed off almost completely. Even if a few were left, there couldn't be more than a handful, and they were no threat.

On the canyon side it was different. The wolf packs here were probably all still around, and there was no guarantee they wouldn't be ambushed on the road.

They'd killed a few wolves on their way over and made a show of force, but half a year had passed, and it was hard to say how much of that still counted for anything.

Better safe than sorry.

Unless it was necessary, Isac didn't want to waste bullets on these wolves. If possible, he'd rather save them to kill during Aurora Week.

Every one of them was points on four legs.

Even though this place was still a long way from the coastal town, and the wolves here probably wouldn't make it that far by the time Aurora Week came, Isac was still willing to spare them. It wasn't kindness. He was worried the wolves near the coastal town wouldn't be enough, and they wouldn't save up the points for the boat tickets. If that happened, he could circle back and use these wolves to make up the shortfall.

Anyway, after dealing with wolves for so long, Isac had worked out their attack patterns. As long as it wasn't two or more wolves ganging up on him, he was confident he could clear the field without taking a scratch.

He was… the terrifying wolf slayer.

Just as Isac was worrying about running into wolves, Hayasaka Ai's ear twitched, and she called out a warning. "Something at two o'clock ahead. I hear an animal stepping through the snow."

Isac was long past being surprised by Hayasaka Ai's absurd hearing. Her bare ears rivaled a top-tier hearing headset from a shooter game.

He looked where she pointed, and sure enough, in the middle of the white expanse, he spotted a gray-black figure. It sat not too far from the road, not too close either, in an oddly precise spot.

The wolf seemed not to have expected its "prey" to spot it from this distance. Wasn't that a little sneaky?

Wolves don't have much brainpower. Once it realized Isac and the others had noticed it, it stopped hiding, strolled out of the snow as if nothing had happened, and even glanced around at the scenery. Only then did it turn its eyes on the group, as though it had just noticed them and had only been out window-shopping before.

It was an adult gray wolf, somewhat bigger than average. It hadn't caught much this winter and looked lean. Hunger was exactly why it had targeted Isac's group and tried to set an ambush.

But before it could even get close, it had been spotted, so it figured it would step out into the open and see if it could scare them.

If they ran, fine. It had smelled meat on the wooden racks behind these two-legged beasts, and it smelled wonderful. It could just eat that.

But to the wolf's surprise, the two-legged beasts weren't scared at all when they saw it. They didn't even spare it another glance and just kept walking. Being ignored like that made it wonder whether it was still the apex predator of this forest.

Even if they weren't afraid, they could at least acknowledge it, right?

How disrespectful to wolves!

Just as the gray wolf was wondering whether to teach these two-legged beasts a lesson, one of them, the blonde one, suddenly crouched down as if searching for something on the ground.

And then...

A rock grew rapidly in its field of vision. It twisted its body on instinct to dodge, but the rock came far too fast and too suddenly. With all its strength it still couldn't get out of the way, and the stone smacked into its rump.

"Yowl~ whimper, whimper, whimper..."

The gray wolf hurled a few threats, then limped into the nearby woods, tail tucked, bearing the pain in its backside.

Those two-legged beasts were just too nasty, fighting dirty with a ranged attack.

Maybe it should go see if it could catch a couple of dumb rabbits instead.

Having driven off one dim-witted gray wolf, Hayasaka Ai showed no emotion at all, as if she'd done something trivial. Like Isac, for her, killing that wolf was no different from kicking a stray dog by the roadside.

In fact, if she'd wanted to, that rock could have done more than chase it off. Even if it couldn't have killed the wolf outright, it would at least have left it half crippled.

But there was no point, so she didn't bother.

After the little interlude, the survival squad passed the overturned truck lying in the middle of the road. It was still there. Isac glanced at the crate on the back. The potatoes they'd stored inside were still there too, but the skins had turned completely black, and they clearly weren't edible anymore.

Fortunately, they weren't short on food anyway.

They kept going. Once they were past the truck, the logging cabin wasn't far.

It had only just turned afternoon, but the sky was already starting to darken. Daylight was running out, and they had to hurry.

By the time they finally saw the logging cabin, it was very dark. Isac had even lit the kerosene lamp ahead of time, ready to walk part of the way in the gloom.

Luckily, they caught the last sliver of light before nightfall and reached the logging cabin. It looked the same as ever, except that a section of the iron fence outside had bent. It hadn't fallen all the way, but it looked like it was about to.

Isac ignored it. He pushed open the iron gate, then the wooden door of the logging cabin, and went inside to light the fire.

After a full day of travel with only a single chocolate bar in his stomach, he was cold and hungry. His hands and feet had gone completely numb, and he desperately needed to warm up by the fire and eat something.