Wu stretched his arms and raised them overhead before the slight pressure over his chest was loosened, and Lera rolled around to face the other way as he rolled out of bed, still too much of an early bird even in this world.
For some odd reason, his biological clock just always woke him up automatically when the first crack of dawn arose, and the lack of technology in this world didn't exactly hinder the widespread use of Light Casts, particularly with someone like Lera around.
When the tent was initially set up, there was a screen separating the parts that separated the floor mats of Wu's and Lera's, but ever since the night of the celebrations, she has knocked down the screen because it hinders the "sense of security" when she wanted to make sure the Savior is guarded at all times.
It's not that Wu's complaining, and actually, he really enjoyed the cuddling. The days of engineering work around the settlement only ramped up after the situation with the water supplies were done. That meant that the two of them were always returning to the camp extremely sleepy in the evening, particularly after the nighttime showers. Lera was initially against cause this world is also filled with weirdos that go to bed dirty and shower in the morning.
Fortunately, nobody needed to wash in the rivers anymore, as Wu set up sets of showering cubicles around one of the freshwater supplies.
Before, the shower situation would have been a little awkward, Lera won't let Wu out of her sight as her guardian, and Wu just wanted to get her for being so overbearing. So, they devised a gentleman/gentlewoman's compromise, which is that Wu and Lera will just wait outside the cubicle while the other showers.
Obviously, the truce would be broken should anyone peeked, and Wu had always prided himself in his self-control, being (mostly) a monk during the four years at the university.
"I..." Wu scratched his arms, and he couldn't even believe what he's feeling. For some odd reason, he's feeling like an early morning shower today.
He looked towards Lera who stole away his blanket and continued sleeping, and he knew that there is no way in hell he will admit to Lera that he just took a shower in the morning. His heart raced at the thought, and he made sure to lighten his movements.
With that resolve in mind, Wu quietly snuck out from their tent, picked up his clothes and a towel from the hangers before walking out of the settlement. If he had used the cubicles, then it would have been too obvious, and Lera would not let go of this for at least the next few days.
Heading upstream to one of the still blockaded artificial streams, Wu discovered pleasantly that as nature took its time, the stream has already started to grow wider towards the other side of the blockade as the branching flow was prevented. It is now about ten meters in width, compared to the measurements of seven before.
"Oh yeah~" Feeling the refreshing cold touch from the cool spring water, Wu tossed away all of his clothes and jumped in when suddenly, he caught a glance of a figure hidden in the shadow, "AHHHHH!"
Wu jumped so high up in the air that he wished he could have used this vertical jump in his last basketball game at Oxford, and he landed back down in the riverbed before covering both hands over his crouch.
"Is that...a dead person?" Wu rubbed his eyes as his heart raced, "Shit. This world is fucking brutal."
That's when Wu spotted the slow rise and fall of that figure's chest, and compared to his fairly well-developed muscular chest, the ones belonging to that figure are a little more spherical and bumpy. Wu swallowed before he put on all of his clothes, picked up a branch, and crossed the stream.
She wasn't responsive when Wu poked her, though her breathing was slow and steady. She was half-submerged in water due to the water levels in the morning, likely thanks to the two moons overhead, and she constantly shivered in the cold despite not waking up.
She had dark short blonde hair with snow-white skin, and her body looked strong from its outline. She was completely soaked up in her black outfit, and it looked to be built from leather of sorts. There was also a black mark over her right eye that Wu can't see that clearly.
Whatever it is he has to do later, he cannot leave her here with the rising water levels. If Lera can get cold randomly in the middle of the night and come for his blanket, then people can certainly die of hypothermia here. Picking up Ver, Wu realized that she's actually really tall and dense, though his regular physical training was enough to bring her back into the settlement. Her cheeks turned purple due to the cold as Wu hurried back through the woods.
By the time he trotted back in, the sun just cracked the horizon, and Lera had already searched all over the settlement for him. Nobody had seen him, and all of the bath cubicles were empty too. Just as she's about to cry and head into the woods to look for him, she caught the sight of Wu walking back with a beautiful girl in his arms.
"What the..." Lera had seen this scene before. The last time Wu was out with groups of hunters in the tribe, he returned holding a dear this way, carrying it like a princess and showing his bicep veins. But this time...he's holding a girl? An extremely pretty one at that!
Did he wake up early just so he can go girl-hunting?! Was he not satisfied...Lera shook her head multiple times and tried to reject the dirty ideas as she ran towards Wu. However, before she could bop him on the head and tell him how worried she was, Wu spoke first.
"Her body temperature's dropping too fast! We need to warm her up right away!"
The handful of Dwellers around quickly put together a small tent and borrowed a set of mattresses as Lera changed her into a normal Dweller's clothing and dried up her black adventurer's clothing with her Warmth Cast. Stacking them up and leaving behind yet another Cast, she left the tent as the purple in the girl's face finally started disappearing after she's wrapped under the blankets like a mummy.
Wu's talking to Lono, the tribe's chief, by the time Lera stomped out of the tent.
"Care to explain why you left me in the tent and went out to pick up another girl?" Lera said, her hands on her hips and getting real close to Wu as his face turned completely red out of embarrassment.
"Is she all right?" Wu looked at her with mild annoyance as she nodded.
"Should be all right. Kept her warm and dry." Lera said, "Now answer the question!"
"I..." Wu was about to completely retell everything that happened, but there was no way in hell that he will admit to the whole tribe of people that have gathered around that he had gone out to take a shower in the morning, "I was going for a walk, and I found her in the river. You know, to check the integrity of the blockades for the other streams, and she's just lying half floating in the water and was still breathing. Yeah, you know how it is."
"Right..." Lera locked her eyes on Wu's face, and her intense glare has started making him uncomfortable. She could tell he's lying, but his reasoning was also good enough. The timing of the high tide matches up with when Wu woke up and being the one behind the blockade's design, it made sense that he would be worried.
Getting in close, Lera then whispered into Wu's ear.
"If the Inverted Questions had fully taken over the capitol, then she might be one of those that are part of the search parties."
"It's a possibility." Wu nodded, "But I can't just leave her like this."
Lera sighed and nodded. For every possibility that this person is hostile, there is also the possibility that she's simply at her wit's end. Before she says anything, her eyes widened, and she grabbed Wu's wrist rapidly.
"She's up," Lera said, her Scouting Eye catching a glimpse of the girl in the tent, and she dragged him back in as Lono and the tribe guards stood around the tent and asked the rest of the Dwellers to simply continue on with their day.
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When Ver's consciousness slowly returned, she felt confined, tied up, locked down, and she desperately tried to free herself. Then, as her eyes rapidly and caught a glimpse of the insides of the tent which was patched together roughly, she started to relax and slowly set her arms free. The sense of confinement actually came from layers of blanket wrapped around her body. Everything felt warm and dry, and a lingering Warmth Cast was still glowing red, heating the insides of the tent.
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She had no recollection of what has happened to her after she tripped and fell, but someone must have rescued her and.....changed her out from the standard clothing she wore. Feeling the fabric covering her large breasts, she then ran her finger down her stomach, feeling the roughness that drastically contrasted everything she has ever worn before, even during the worst of her bounty-hunting days.
She was too careless! If she dies here, then using Kraken Two to finish off Wolfy will not be worth it in any world!
Fortunately, her stuff and her bag were left untouched just to the side of the bed, and she reached towards her eye patch in the bag before wrapping it around her head, covering the right eye that's slightly sore.
That was when two figures entered the tent. The first to come in was a girl with long black hair, white skin, and a pair of beautiful grey eyes. A sense of power and competency gently emanates from her body right as Ver looked at her, and she doesn't even need the Kraken's Tendril to tell that she's adept at using the Wave, and was the one to have casted the Warmth Cast next to her.
Perhaps that sense of power came in drastic contrast to the one that was behind her. He was a maturing-looking boy with golden-brown skin, short black hair, and a pair of exceptionally thick eyebrows. His eyes are medium-sized with black pupils, and his nose tall but not long. Compared to the first girl, he has not a hint of power within him and felt as if he's a walking void, or a slab of rock.
Then, as her mind became fully clearer and clear, their faces finally became recognizable. The artist's renditions of the two were exaggerated to make them look more fierce and dangerous, but the main features are still there. In fact, after Ver looked at his eyebrows once, she can no longer unsee them.
But there was no mistake. The boy and the girl are the Summoned one and Lera Huten respectively. Keeping her expressions steady and voice low, she murmured like a scared little girl, "Where...am I?"
"He found you half-soaked in a river." Lera said, pointing to the Summoned one, "He took you back, and we warmed you up."
"...Thank you." Ver said, looking towards Summoned one and smiling.
"I am glad you seem all right already." The Summoned one chuckled as the beautiful girl smiled at him, "The water's pretty cold even for a cold shower."
SHIT!
Lera spun her head 180 degrees, and it looked like she has snapped her own cervical spine. However, she didn't say anything and restored her neck, focusing back onto Ver, "What are you doing in the river? What happened to you?"
"I...I was chased by a group of mercenaries." She said truthfully as Lera looked at her closely for any cracks, "I fought them off, but was poisoned. I tripped and fell off a slope, but for some reason, what I thought was dry land was actually..."
She's wasn't lying, but something felt off to Lera. However, she couldn't quite put a finger on what's wrong yet.
"What are your names?" Ver asked, looking first to the Summoned one, and then to Lera.
"My name is Wu Li." Wu said, waving his hand.
"Lita." Lera said, and Ver smiled before lowering her head slightly.
"My name is Ver. Thank you for saving me. Wu...you are truly my savior."