Chapter 89
Clael was asleep.
He felt like he had lost consciousness from a strong impact. He must have hit his head.
He vaguely remembered tripping over something and falling... but his consciousness was hazy, and his memory was too foggy to recall clearly.
"Ngh...?"
Even so, his faded awareness gradually returned.
The first sense to come back was touch. Something soft was beneath the back of his head.
As Clael wondered whether he had ever owned such a luxurious pillow... his sight and hearing also began to return.
"Lord Clael, are you awake?"
"...Reina?"
Reina's face was right in front of him.
It took him a moment to realize—apparently, he was lying on Reina's lap.
"Wha...!?"
"Ah, please don't get up!"
Clael instinctively tried to sit up, but Reina quickly held him down.
The location was the same as before he lost consciousness—the uninhabited island.
The two of them were on the sandy beach, and Reina had changed out of her leafy bikini and back into a white dress.
"Lord Clael, you hit your head and lost consciousness! You still need to rest!"
"I hit my head...?"
Her words slowly brought his memory back.
He had spotted a dragon, and in his surprise, had stepped on a fallen fruit.
And then... he had slipped. Like stepping on a banana peel, he had gone down hard.
(Ugh... How embarrassing...!)
Clael blushed with shame.
He had done something unbelievably uncool.
The only saving grace was that Reina hadn't seen it.
(I can't believe I made such a cliché mistake... Damn it! That's so lame!)
"I-I'm okay. It doesn't hurt at all."
Reina had probably healed him with magic.
There wasn't even a trace of pain. In fact, he felt refreshed after the good sleep.
"No."
But Reina said firmly.
"Eh, no, but..."
"No."
"I can't just lie here forever..."
"No."
"............"
This must be what they meant by hitting a wall.
Reina showed no signs of yielding and didn't allow Clael to get up.
(This is... hopeless...)
Having tripped on his own and now being cradled in a girl's lap—he had no choice but to accept this pitiful situation.
Clael gave in and relaxed his body.
"...How long was I unconscious?"
"Just about an hour."
"Um... what about rescue?"
"They should be arriving soon. I urged them to hurry because I was worried about you, Lord Clael."
"............"
How exactly had she urged them? There were no phones or radios.
(Well, better not to think about it.)
If Reina said it was fine, then it probably was.
For now, Clael decided not to worry about the rescue ship... and to properly apologize.
"...Sorry, Reina. I caused you a lot of trouble."
It was supposed to be a fun trip... but because Clael had been dragged into the sea by a monster, things had gone terribly wrong.
On top of that, he had fainted after slipping in surprise at the dragon—he had only shown Reina the most pathetic sides of himself.
Clael was tormented by guilt for ruining the trip... but for some reason, Reina also looked apologetic.
"No... Lord Clael, I'm the one who should apologize."
"Huh? Why you?"
"Honestly, if I had really tried, I could've resolved things much sooner. I had plenty of chances... I mean, it's not like I fell into the sea on purpose or anything, I just didn't resist too hard... I just thought it might be kind of fun... Anyway, I'm sorry. Because of my silly prank, you got hurt, Lord Clael. I'm really... sorry."
"............?"
Clael was bewildered by Reina's apology as she lowered her gaze.
He didn't recall anything she needed to apologize for... but maybe she felt responsible for something too.
"...Alright. Then let's say we've both apologized and end it there."
"............Okay."
"So... about the rescue ship..."
As he said that, a steam whistle sounded from offshore.
Still lying in her lap, he turned his gaze... and saw a ship rapidly approaching from the distance.
"Is that...?"
"Ah, looks like the rescue ship has arrived."
"It does, but... isn't it kind of weird? That speed."
The ship was closing in at an incredible speed.
In this world, ships were powered by water or wind-based magic items, but even so, this was too fast.
On the deck, what looked like fishermen were shouting and flailing—it was clear even they thought this speed was abnormal.
"Ngh...?"
He saw something strange.
At the ship's bow, a muscular plush bear was swimming butterfly stroke, towing the ship along... Had he really hit his head that hard?
"Lord Clael, the ship will be here soon, so please lie down."
"Ah..."
He tried to focus and confirm again... but Reina gently covered both his eyes with her palms.
"It's alright. Leave the rest to me and get some rest..."
"Ugh..."
A sudden wave of drowsiness hit him, and Clael drifted back to sleep.
Because he lost consciousness again, he only learned later that he and Reina had boarded the rescue boat and returned to the mainland, where they were taken to the nearest clinic.
He was hospitalized for one day for observation, but no abnormalities were found in his head, and he was able to safely return from the uninhabited island.