We immediately decided to head for a nearby water source.

There happened to be a “lake” near our old base, so that was where we headed.

On Mashiro the Fenrir’s back were Shouko, Yumekai, and Minori.

On fluffy black dragon Micron’s back were me, Chiyu, Shion, and Roa.

We split up between them, but all of us set out together.

“Serina, does your barrier ever come undone?”

“From what I’ve heard, it’s close by, right? Then it’ll be fine.”

Apparently, rather than having a clear fixed distance, Yumekai and the barrier were connected by something like an invisible thread, and if she got too far away, it felt as though that connection would be severed.

When that happened, the barrier would come undone.

The distance she could move away from it seemed to be growing as her ability improved, so she thought it would hold as far as the lake.

—In that case, the barrier might come undone when we get sent somewhere else during an event...

We could store the facilities, but there was a chance monsters could get into the grassland we were using as our base.

I’d keep that in mind for the next event.

“Still, what is the mystery blackboard even thinking? It sends us all to a deserted island, makes us survive, and now it’s started throwing monsters in too.”

Shouko sounded dissatisfied.

“Judging from how it’s responded so far, it feels like some kind of observation experiment,” Minori answered.

“What does it get out of observing us?”

“It wants to know how humans act and what they choose under certain conditions... maybe.”

There was no way to know the answer, so Minori did not sound very confident either.

If Minori’s theory was right, then maybe we had been chosen at random as representatives of “mid-teenagers.” Or perhaps “high school students,” or “students.”

Which meant, for example, it was possible that every employee at some company, or everyone in a specific department, had been sent to some other deserted island under the category of “working adults.”

“What does the mystery blackboard gain from knowing that, I wonder?”

Shion looked thoughtful too.

“If the mystery blackboard is some godlike being from another world, maybe this is an experiment to find out what kind of humans are best suited for being transferred to another world,” Chiyu said.

“That actually might be possible. In fiction, gender, age, and personality are all over the place, but suppose there was some reason to send people from Earth to another world. If they could pick the people best suited to achieving their objective instead of choosing completely at random, that would probably be better.”

We could no longer deny that being transferred to another world was impossible in the first place.

After all, we had actually been sent to a deserted island in another world.

So even if gods existed, and even if other cases of Earthlings being sent to other worlds were happening elsewhere, it would not be strange.

In stories, there were gods who mourned or apologized for accidental deaths, worlds that clearly summoned people as saviors, stories with no explanation at all, and even genres where it was not transfer but reincarnation.

“Like those otherworld manga you recommend, Sousuke? So instead of people just happening to go to another world, they’re using us to test what kind of person is suited to another world?”

“...If so, that’s annoying.”

Shouko and Yumekai reacted that way.

“It’s true that for us, this is basically an accident... But speaking only for myself, there have been a lot of good things about coming to this island too, so I can’t reject it completely.”

“Mm. If we’d stayed in Japan, I might have had to wait until around university to get together with indecisive So-kun. Since that got shortened dramatically, I’m lucky.”

Chiyu was operating as usual.

“Hehe. I got closer to you and everyone else, Sousuke, so I’m glad we were sent to this island too.”

“Y-yes. I also... made precious friends on this island, and, um, l-l-l-lov—... Nnnnnn.”

Shion said it with a smile, while Minori went red and fell silent halfway through.

“Yes. I, too, found a household and master I should serve, so in the end, it has been a good experience.”

“I feel the same way too. I got to meet Mashiro and Micron, and I became best friends with everyone.”

“Oh? Who’s your best friend?”

“Serina, we’re best friends, right?”

“............”

“Don’t ignore me!?”

“Sigh... Well, I get that all of you adapted to this abnormal situation. And Kuno is at the center of it.”

“Seri will understand soon too.”

“Iyama, you’re suddenly closing the distance.”

“Ahaha, that’s just Chiyu. Serina, please accept it.”

“Sigh... Well, call me what you like.”

“Then, Yumepom.”

“Use the first one. The first one is fine.”

While we were talking like that, we had gotten close enough to see the lake.

We had Mashiro and Micron stop, then observed the lake.

At first glance, it looked like a peaceful lake, but...

We asked the phantasmal beasts to advance little by little, and as we gradually drew closer to the lake—there they were...!

Ripples spread across the lake surface, and something leapt out.

Not that there was any question what it was.

Afancs.

And there were not just one or two.

Before I knew it, a pack of over a dozen, each about the size of a medium dog, was charging toward us.

Their fur was blue-black, sharp claws were fitted to the five fingers of their front paws, and rodent teeth peeked out of their mouths.

“...If I remember correctly, beaver teeth are extremely hard and can even fell trees,” Minori said.

Several faces went pale at Minori’s knowledge.

“Afancs tear fish and people apart with their claws, right? After they rip you open, they bite you with those hard teeth too, ahaha...”

Shouko laughed like she was trying to escape reality.

“Yumekai, please.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The beavers leapt at us, ready to tear us apart—and slammed into an invisible wall.

They made cries that sounded somewhere between “nnn” and “mmm” as they writhed around.

“Good...! As I thought, Yumekai’s barrier can be used as an invincible wall in combat too.”

Unlike the barrier she kept deployed constantly to protect the base, I had thought it could serve as a defensive wall if we used it on the premise of instant deployment and release.

“...I see. If I’m alone, I can only wait until the enemies go away, but if there are combatants with me, it becomes an effective shield. At times like this, I think I’m supposed to say... ‘As expected, Kuno.’”

“You don’t have to force yourself to say it.”

“The admiration is real.”

Then that was fine.

True, if she were alone, deploying the barrier could end up being no different from fleeing into a dead end.

An enemy facing her would quickly realize the barrier was there, so it would become a contest of patience.

But if she had companions who could fight, the story changed.

“Minori...!”

“Yes, leave it to me! Tempest Blade!”

Her magic had evolved too.

Through a higher spell than Wind Cutter, stronger and sharper invisible blades shredded the enemy one-sidedly.

The Afancs died in the blink of an eye, turned into light, and vanished.

“Wow... So a barrier doesn’t just repel enemies. You can attack one-sidedly through the defensive wall too...”

Shion let out an admiring sigh.

“The combination of Minorin and Seri is way too strong. In a game, it would get patched immediately.”

“Even if it’s not as strong as Minori’s magic, if monsters swarm the base barrier, for example, everyone can stab them with spears and take them down. We don’t know how many points we get, but they’re sure to help when we eventually go back to Japan.”

When you defeated monsters, you were awarded points, and apparently those points could be exchanged for something when returning.

“I see. In that case, even someone like me with no combat training can contribute to the party. As expected of you, Master.”

“...Meeting Mashiro and Micron made me misunderstand things somehow, but monsters like those really can’t be befriended, huh? The second they saw us, they attacked. You were right, Sousuke. I’m glad I actually saw them. Next time, I’ll do what I’m supposed to do too.”

I see. Shouko had been overlapping monsters with the phantasmal beasts who were our companions.

If she had been reluctant because she might have to kill something she could possibly befriend, that made sense.

But after seeing the Afancs attack without any room for discussion, she seemed to understand that summoned phantasmal beasts and placed monsters were different beings.

“Kuno, since we’re here, let’s take out all the Afancs in this lake. Everyone can earn points, we ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) can get water, and I can pay back a little more of what I owe.”

Maybe she saw it as a good opportunity to repay her debt, because Yumekai sounded motivated.

“Yeah, let’s do that. Yumekai, are you all right with the timing for activating the barrier?”

“It changes depending on the range, but if everyone stays grouped up, I don’t even need two seconds. I can manage in time even if we get a little closer.”

“Good. Then let’s take them all down. Participation is voluntary, of course, but I want us to get used to monster subjugation too. If you want to try, I’ll give you a weapon I created, so choose whatever you like.”

“Mm. I’ll do it too. And if we wipe them out here, other survivors can use this lake safely for a while. If I think of it as helping people eventually, there’s even more reason to do it.”

Chiyu was right.

Since placement again took ten days, wiping them out would secure safety for ten days.

After that, we used the barrier tactic and experienced several more battles.

Once Mashiro, having memorized the Afancs’ scent, guaranteed there were no more in this lake, the fighting ended.

Using our usual method of dropping barrels in and collecting them together with the water, we obtained a large amount of drinking water.

In the end, every single person was able to defeat at least one Afanc.

That said, the mental fatigue seemed greater than I had expected.

As I thought, making the afternoon free time had been the right call.

“Let’s stop here for the morning.”

No one objected, so we headed back.

At any rate, we had learned that at this stage, we could handle monsters without much trouble.