In the afternoon, I had promised to practice magic with Shijo Minori.

But before that, we decided to compare the results of both teams’ exploration.

“Yeah, let’s do it! Our team got a huge haul thanks to Mashiro. Right, Sousuke!”

“Yeah. We can even make scented soap.”

We had spent most of the time gathering those things outside the ocean area.

At my words, the girls all brightened.

Apparently there were many different classifications of scents, but they explained the easy ones to me—things like citrus scent meaning citrus fruits, and floral scent meaning flowers. Using that as a guide, we explored while relying on Mashiro’s nose.

“Let’s see... For the floral type we found geranium, for the citrus type we found lemongrass, and for the herb type we found chamomile. Let’s try making soap with these first. If you want something similar with the same type of scent later, we can go look for more.”

The girls leaned over the table, studying the gathered items.

“Lemongrass smells nice.”

“Herbal scents are so calming.”

“That’s amazing...! You can make herbal tea with lemongrass and chamomile too. I’m excited.”

Shion clapped her hands happily.

Besides that, we had sand, seawater, seaweed, a small number of shells, and a few sea sponges.

We had also learned that silica sand could be obtained from the sand on this deserted island, as well as from certain sea sponges.

That meant we could probably make glass.

And from the sea sponges, it was also possible to produce natural sponges.

The feeling that our quality of life was gradually improving was honestly pretty fun.

“Our group mainly gathered mushrooms confirmed edible by Kuno’s ability, along with nuts and herbs,” Minori said. “But we discovered three things.”

“Three things!?”

Shouko looked shocked.

Minori glanced toward Chiyu.

Chiyu nodded and began speaking.

“The first is that we discovered a water source.”

According to my childhood friend, a lake had appeared within walking distance.

And apparently, it hadn’t been there yesterday.

“Ah... so they added a water source.”

“Yeah. The mystery blackboard really is changing the environment.”

When it came to the placement of “meat,” you could still interpret it as them simply releasing animals into the area.

But if the environment itself was being altered...

Then it was probably real.

At least for now, it suggested that the mystery blackboard wasn’t lying.

If it said it would give us something, it really would.

Of course, there was still the possibility it might go back on its word—but the rewards might actually be legitimate.

“With the water situation,” Shion said, “maybe we won’t need to send Sousuke to the ocean every time we run out anymore.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. That alone will make things easier.”

“The second discovery... is this.”

From her basket, Shion pulled out—

Grapes.

“Wait—grapes!?”

Shouko’s eyes widened.

But the berries looked rather small.

When I used Itemize, the result appeared.

“Yamabudo.”

“Yamabudo?”

“Apparently.”

“So we can eat it?”

“It does say ‘edible,’ but—”

“Yay! Nom—”

Shouko suddenly sprinted toward the window.

“—So sour!?”

Apparently it was incredibly sour, because she spat it outside immediately.

Watching her, Shion smiled wryly while Minori looked troubled.

Chiyu, as usual, remained expressionless.

“Yeah... I thought so. Something being edible doesn’t mean it tastes good raw.”

“Ugh... you could’ve told me.”

“Well,” Shion said, “Minori explained this to me. If it’s yamabudo, you can make jam, juice, or dried fruit from it. And—apparently—you can make wine too.”

Getting sweet things and drinks would be great.

But judging by Shion’s tone, the most important part for her was probably the wine.

“Wait, Shion, you drink wine?”

“Hehe. I’ve actually never had alcohol.”

After thinking about it for a moment, I realized something.

“...Oh. Right. So we can get vinegar and alcohol from it?”

“Yes!”

Until now, the seasoning basics of cooking had been limited to salt.

But with this, we’d finally gain vinegar as well.

“Nice. I’ll start producing some soon.”

From a cooking standpoint, having more variety was a huge win.

“And the third discovery,” Minori said, “could you try Itemizing this?”

She placed something on the table.

It was short and thick, with lots of leaves—almost like a radish.

“A radish? Wait... no, this is going to be something else again, right? Radishes are way too famous to just grow here!”

After the yamabudo incident, Shouko was suspicious.

I used Itemize.

“...Sugar beet?”

“Huh? Calling you a genius is a bit much, Sousuke. I mean, learning from your mistakes is admirable though. I could praise you more if you want?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. That’s the name of this.”

“...Oh.”

“I knew it! Then that means it’s a sugar radish!”

Minori shouted happily.

Her prediction must have been right.

That explanation immediately made sense to me too.

“Then that means... we can make sugar from this!”

Now I understood why she was excited.

In Japan you could just buy sugar at any convenience store, but on this deserted island, sugar was something we desperately wanted.

We could eat meat now, and we ate mushrooms almost like a staple food.

But aside from a little broth, seasoning was basically just salt.

And now—

The king of sweetness had arrived.

Sugar.

“On the third day... the path to sweets and desserts opens...?”

Even Chiyu, who normally showed no expression, seemed restless.

I understood the feeling.

Three days might sound short, but it felt more like a month.

I’d heard stories about people craving Japanese food after just a few days abroad.

This was exactly like that.

Food that your body is used to becomes painfully desirable after only a short time without it.

“In that case... now I’m going to start wanting wheat...”

“And if we add eggs to that... we could make pancakes.”

Chiyu actually drooled as she said it.

We already had sheep’s milk, water, sugar, and butter—or could produce them soon.

With flour and eggs, pancakes should be possible.

“Wheat might have to wait for another survey question... I want to make bread and cookies too. And if we had breadcrumbs... we could even make boar tonkatsu.”

“Tonkatsu!”

The one who reacted as strongly as the guys would have was Shouko.

“My worry is the survey might give us something like wheat / rice as a choice.”

“That sounds likely... choosing between wheat or rice... that’s such a painful decision.”

We wanted both.

Which meant they would probably force us to choose.

If something wasn’t selected, # Nоvеlight # would it appear again later in another choice?

Or would it disappear forever?

“Man, the three of you made some amazing discoveries.”

Shouko nodded repeatedly in admiration.

“Yeah. I’d like more yamabudo and sugar beet.”

“If that’s the case,” Shion said eagerly, “could we borrow Mashiro and go search again this afternoon?”

She was probably excited because they could be used in cooking.

“Of course! I’ll go too!”

“I’m happy we discovered them,” Minori said, “but without Kuno’s ability, we probably wouldn’t have had the luxury to pay attention to things like that.”

“Yeah,” Chiyu added. “Instead of trying to make vinegar from yamabudo, most people would focus on finding something they can eat immediately. Thanks to So-kun, we can act with peace of mind.”

“Placing things that are useful but require knowledge—or a bit of work before they’re usable... maybe the mystery blackboard has some kind of purpose.”

Shouko and I had talked about it earlier.

Even something simple like apples growing on trees would have made a huge difference.

But there was nothing that obvious.

Which meant unless someone had knowledge—or an ability like mine—you either had to work up the courage to eat it blindly or go without.

Maybe observing those different reactions was exactly what the mystery blackboard wanted.

Minori had apparently recognized the sugar beet even before putting it into Inventory.

Someone like her might be able to survive alone once she learned the basics.

But even then, this survival life would still be harsh for a group of high school girls.

“So basically... that means ‘sasuso,’ right?”

Shouko said it again.

“‘As expected of So-kun.’”

Chiyu immediately joined in.

“‘As expected of you, Sousuke.’”

Shion piled on too. She actually had a playful side.

At that point, attention naturally turned toward Minori.

I was about to tell them not to pressure her—

But she looked away awkwardly, her face turning red, before finally speaking.

“Th-th-th... ‘As expected of you, Kuno.’”

The other three let out impressed sounds.

Minori was clearly trying in her own way to fit in.

I decided it would be wrong to tease her.

“Thanks. But I wouldn’t be able to live like this without all of you either. Keep helping me out from here on.”

At my words, the four of them each nodded in agreement.