After finishing breakfast, we promptly decided to head for the river.

The river was nearby, so Yumekai’s barrier protecting the base could stay maintained.

“Come to think of it, the scale of my barrier and the distance I can maintain it from both grew a little.”

Yumekai said that after we stepped outside.

“Ohhh. Right, since you’re protecting the grounds of this base, your ability is active all the time.”

Abilities could grow depending on the owner’s way of thinking, but there were also patterns where the more an ability was used, the more experience it built up.

“Yeah. Even when I was alone, I kept it maintained at its maximum size the whole time, so I think it’ll keep growing more and more from here on too.”

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like she was responding to conversations more naturally than before.

“Then could you protect Ryouka’s place from here with your barrier too?”

“Not yet.”

Yumekai answered Urume’s question that way.

The phantasmal beasts noticed us and, sensing that we were going out, came over.

Mashiro the Fenrir went to Shouko, while Micron the black dragon came to me.

“I think I can summon my third fluffy one soon too, but I’m kind of torn.”

Shouko’s Fluffy Summoning Ability had two major strengths.

The first was that as long as she could imagine it, she could summon and control even fantasy creatures and original living things.

The other was that anything other than the summoned creature’s meat could be harvested as materials.

From sheep, we could obtain not only wool but also sheep’s milk and fats like lanolin, and recently, she had even summoned cashmere goats for us.

It was limited to fluffy creatures, but that still meant we could obtain animal fibers and the like as much as we wanted.

By combining that with my Crafting Ability, it became possible to make large quantities of clothing on this deserted island.

Transportation, combat, and the “clothing” part of food, clothing, and shelter. It was a useful ability that covered a great many things.

“I want to learn new magic soon too.”

“...Yes. I have to work hard as well.”

Chiyu’s Healing Magic and Minori’s Attribute Magic had both been developing new spells in a steady, natural order.

Even so, the fact that they never forgot to keep aiming higher was just like them.

We split up casually into groups of five and rode Mashiro and Micron.

Then we had them take us toward the river.

“People say abilities grow, but I wonder what would happen with mine...”

Shion looked uneasy.

When it came to the growth of a Lie-Detection Ability, it really was hard to say.

Incidentally, even after learning about Shion’s ability, our companions had not changed how they treated her.

Even if their lies were exposed, it only meant she could see through jokes or pranks, and the fact that there was no real harm in it probably helped a lot.

“Perhaps the number of targets will increase, allowing you to understand all of them simultaneously?”

Roa the maid offered a hypothesis.

“I see. That’d be amazing if it happened. But if you became able to tell lots of people’s lies at once, that would be rough on you too, Shion. First, I’d rather you gain an on-off switch or some kind of adjustment function.”

“Hehe, true. I think it can still be useful on this island too, and besides, this ability will probably be even more useful back on Earth, where there are so many more people to deal with. I’ll support you even after we get back to Japan, so no one can ever fool you, Sousuke.”

Shion said that and smiled sweetly.

“Y-yeah. I’ll be counting on you.”

That smile made my heart skip despite myself.

“If the number of people increases, does that mean Roa-chii and I might end up like that too? Like, makeup finished on everyone at once! What everyone wants, discovered all at once! Stuff like that.”

“That would be splendid.”

Roa smiled at Urume’s association.

It was true that if those two’s abilities could also be applied to many people at once, their efficiency would increase that much.

“For me... would the number of living creatures I can transform into increase?”

“Or maybe it’s that thing? Hmm, Sousuke, what was it called again? The thing where a bunch of different animals are combined.”

“...A chimera?”

“Yeah, that! Maybe Myao will become able to transform into a form that mixes all kinds of animals.”

“Ah, I see... Maybe.”

“...Incidentally, what would happen to you, Ms. Luminous?”

“Mm. She’ll erase mountains with laser attacks.”

Because of my influence, Chiyu had been reading too much battle manga.

“I-I won’t do anything like that... But I wonder if I really might become that strong. That might be too much for me to handle.”

“Whether or not a situation where you’d have to erase a mountain ever comes up aside, for now, once we reach the river, the members who can fight should start by exterminating Afancs.”

We had reformed the party before breakfast, so the benefits from Ms. Tanbi joining had also been restored.

Apparently, the points gained from defeating monsters would double.

I thought it was unfair that the original values were hidden, but if that was how the system worked, there was nothing we could do about it.

In addition to that, our daily survival bonus had also doubled.

Instead of extending our lifespan in Japan by one day for each day we survived, it would now extend by two days.

Assuming we spent a year here, while the others gained one extra year, we would be able to live two years longer.

While I was thinking about that, we arrived at the river.

Like last time, I expected the Afancs to rush us all at once... but something felt off.

A herd of giant beavers certainly crawled out of the river, but they lacked any real momentum.

There still seemed to be plenty more in the river, but they paid no attention to us and splashed around in the water... and that was when we realized it.

“That’s it! River fish were added, so they’re preying on them!”

“Huh, what do we do? If they keep gobbling them up like this, does that mean there won’t be any fish left?”

“On this island, the fish should be placed again too. But if they’re eaten every time they’re placed, we’ll never be able to fish.”

“We have to hurry and defeat them before all the fish disappear...”

“What scares me is that we may catch the river fish in the crossfire while defeating the Afancs.”

Shouko, Chiyu, Shion, and Minori reacted to my words.

We had known there would be a battle, but our plan had been to wipe them out when they all rushed us at once.

I had not expected some of them to ignore us completely.

Still, we would just have to adapt.

“We’ll °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° split into a ground team and an aerial team. Ground team, defend yourselves with Yumekai’s barrier while defeating the monsters. Minori will handle firepower. As for the ones in the river, the aerial team will manage somehow. Mamonaka, transform into a black dragon. Ms. Luminous, please ride Mamonaka and snipe only the Afancs. I’ll ride Micron and drop rocks over the monsters’ heads.”

My companions immediately nodded at my instructions.

Yumekai focused on maintaining the barrier.

The noncombatants Shouko, Shion, Chiyu, Roa, and Urume also held spears and stabbed enemies from inside the barrier.

Mashiro went outside the barrier and trampled the Afancs on land.

Minori’s magic scattered the enemies.

Ms. Luminous, riding black-dragon Mamonaka, sniped enemies one after another with beams of light, and I dropped rocks over the Afancs’ heads too.

Before long, the Afanc herd had been swept from the area, but...

“Ugh... Wait, that red stuff is...”

Shouko said, her face pale.

After the battle, the surface of the water was tinged scarlet, and fish corpses and chunks of flesh floated here and there.

“If we move, we might run into another herd, so let’s wait a bit for this to wash away.”

The fish that had fled because of the battle and the Afancs might come back before long.

If they did not, we would have no choice but to give up and move somewhere else.

Thinking about it that way, part of me wondered if adding sea fish would have been easier, but...

Considering that many transfer participants had not been able to discover the ocean, I could understand why river fish had been chosen.

“Let’s think of it the other way. If they’re this much trouble to obtain, they might have high value as trade goods.”

“That positive mindset is very admirable, Kuno. ...M-may I rest for a little while?”

Apparently, Ms. Luminous was bad with blood, and she looked away from the water’s surface.

“Yumekai, could you make the barrier a little wider? I’ll take chairs and things out of my Inventory, so let’s enjoy a bit of a camping mood... while looking toward the river as little as possible.”

And so, we ended up waiting there together for a while.