"So you really had strong suspicions about me back then..."
I purse my lips, confirming my initial speculation. But this is understandable, facing unknown situations in this world requires extreme caution. One careless mistake could cost your life at any time. For Adrian's team to accept me, a total stranger, they had already taken an immense risk.
"Don't overthink it, after all we had just met then, I was mainly considering the interests of the team..."
Hearing me say this, Adrian hurriedly explains.
"Actually after that one night, when you didn't show any threat, I had already completely let my guard down!"
"It's fine, how could I be so petty. I should be thanking you all instead!"
I wave my hand, not dwelling further on this. My room is already mostly set up, next I need to go help out at Adrian's self-built house - there's still plenty of work remaining.
Suddenly I realize, Adrian usually gives me the impression of being very calm and rational. This is the first time I've seen him so flustered. Quite rare, could this be a side of him unknown to others?
The accommodation issue is quickly settled, following which we need to consider how to obtain food sources. As an angel, in an environment similar to Edenmere, I can certainly go for long periods without eating or drinking. But Adrian cannot - being human, he must ensure three meals a day.
But food doesn't fall from the sky. The supplies we carry at most last a few days to a week. We can't keep stealing from the village forever right?
Come to think of it, it was rather funny. During that embarrassing period when Adrian was rendered delirious, since he couldn't access his storage ring, he could only go "mooching" meals by rotating through every villager's home.
Those villagers, affected by the light pollution, had extremely dull reactions to external stimuli and basically lost all intelligence, only repeating habitual living routines everyday. This allowed him to shamelessly steal a month's worth of food from them.
But this round, Adrian hasn't been blasted into stupidity by the "Light's Judgement". Since deciding to reside by this lake for a period, he quickly found a solution.
"Let's explore this lake! Maybe there are fish, that can solve our food problem!"
Pointing at the shimmering lake before us, Adrian tells me.
"Can fish even survive in an environment with such excessive light elements?"
Recalling how we could hardly find any animals in the Edenmere wilds, I express strong doubts.
"We'll only know if we try? From the reactions of those villagers and the surrouding plants, this place shouldn't have been light polluted for too long..."
He shakes his head. However, before he could decide whether to directly go into the water or try fishing first, a loud crashing sound comes from behind, startling us.
It turns out the cabin I was so proud of as my first attempt has finally collapsed.
Seeing only half the roof and walls remaining, I suddenly feel despondent, even the various living necessities placed inside were destroyed along with it.
"...Don't be sad, I'll help repair it for you."
Adrian stands there stunned for a while before finally opening his mouth to console me.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Thus begins the leisurely "vacation" life we resigned ourselves to.
Since deciding to rest, we should look the part. Though forced by circumstances never to truly experience it before, I finally get to live that lifestyle.
After all, there's nowhere else to go. Every day is just eating then sleeping, sleeping then eating, occasionally practicing some water magic...days pass so laidback...okay it's practically like being a pig!
As for the issue of falling asleep, although there's no day-night cycle, under normal circumstances I simply cannot sleep. But luckily I have the light element isolator, an amazing tool!
The storage ring seized from Jennette has ample space. To prepare for any possible circumstances, I casually brought one along when leaving Edenmere, and now it finally comes in handy!
"Good morning! How was your sleep last night?"
Walking out of the wooden hut, I see Adrian leisurely fishing by the lakeside and ask with a yawn.
"It should be around noon already right?"
Glancing up at the sky, yet unable to discern any change, Adrian can only respond vaguely with dark eye circles.
"As you know, these few days I haven't slept well. Mainly because there's no night time, not having that darkness just feels unnatural..."
"Why don't you borrow my 'sleep tool' for a period of time?"
He's right, though unlike me he doesn't need external aid to fall asleep. Without night, Adrian's biological clock is still thrown off. Continuing like this long-term is not ideal.
"How can that work! If you lend it to me, what about you?"
Upon hearing this, he immediately drops his fishing rod to stop me.
"It's fine, I can go without sleep no problem. But you can't keep going like this!"
I won't take no for an answer, immediately returning to the hut to retrieve the light element isolator and pass it to him.
"This..."
Looking down at this "sleep tool" I renamed, Adrian still feels a bit awkward. But he's suddenly startled by my cry of surprise.
"Quick, fish...fish!"
Turns out the fishing rod he propped by the shore finally has a bite. Seeing this, Adrian can no longer care about other matters, immediately dashing over to reel it in.
This lake indeed has fish surviving in it, just as he said. But the actual situation has some differences.
Although fish live here, and the lake water blocks out most light elements, the aquatic lifeforms are still affected to some degree by light pollution.
Fortunately the duration of light pollution has not been too long, so apart from moving slower and eating less, these lake creatures don't have major issues.
But herein lies the trouble! Slower movement means they bite more slowly. Eating less means decreased biting frequency. This makes it very difficult for us to catch any fish.
With no choice, Adrian eventually has to get in the water himself each time to grab them by hand. The problem is his swimming isn't that great...
Which is understandable - growing up in the forest, how good could his swimming really be? Being able to swim at all is already impressive. Of course we can't expect him to catch fish every time in such a large lake.
So apart from eating and sleeping, most of our time is spent fishing. Whiling away the idle hours chatting and telling tales is quite relaxing too.
"Good you reminded me in time, otherwise it would have escaped!"
Finally not missing this opportunity, Adrian pulls the fish out of the water, realizing its size is unexpectedly large - a rare big catch!
"Not bad! Otherwise if it got away, maybe you'd have to go back to the village to mooch food again..."
This is one of the scant successes over the past dozen days or so. Previous chances were so few, the few fish caught exceptionally tiny, not enough to fill a tooth gap. With our stored rations almost depleted, this is an invaluable hearty meal.
"Since that's the case, let me just cook you a pot of sour fish, it'll definitely be delicious!"
"sour fish?"
Hearing this, Adrian can't help looking at me doubtfully.
"Didn't expect an angel like yourself would know how to cook...did you buy all these seasonings and tools yourself?"
"Of course! You didn't expect it right, don't forget I was a regular at the Norvale markets!"
I proudly reply, then cast a low-tier water magic, spontaneously conjuring a pot of clean water to pour inside.
Ever since learning water magic, though it has not yielded any combat applications, it has made life much more convenient. Like in this situation, there's no need to fetch water separately. I just need to set it over a fire to directly boil, and don't have to worry about water source contamination at all.
"When did you learn water magic?"
For this kind of act, Adrian is certainly no stranger - Selene did the same when camping outdoors back then. However, for a human to know multiple different schools of magic is not that rare. But even I, an angel, am "playing with water" - no matter how experienced he is, he cannot help but exclaim in surprise.
"This is a rather complex story..."
As I go about the various preparation tasks, I ponder before replying.
"Remember that time in the Dark Continent when my wings turned blue?"
"The time you instantly defeated Claudia? Did you find out the reason for that?"
As expected of Adrian, his memory is excellent, immediately recalling that situation.
"Not that, but based on that Elara deduced I may possess a water elemental affinity. So when we were in the holy capital Jethrobaines, I happened to learn it on the side. Unexpectedly, I actually picked it up!"