In the Downpour

"This rain is awful."

"We'll be stuck here for a while."

On the road to the Empire, we were caught in a torrential downpour.

I'd known the weather was prone to turning during this season of drastic temperature swings, but I hadn't anticipated it would be this fierce, almost like a storm.

There'd been nowhere to take cover along the way, so we reluctantly pressed on, but the ground quickly turned to mud and the mules' footing became unsteady.

If one stumbled and broke a leg, we'd be in serious trouble.

I'd thought about having Alexia conjure a wall or something, but once the ground turned to mud, her magic couldn't manipulate it properly. We gave up on that idea.

Rain was even blowing into the covered cart bed, so at this rate, the merchandise would be ruined.

Even on the driver's seat, despite wearing a waterproof hood, I was soaked down to my underwear.

Just when I was wondering what to do, a forest came into view.

This would have to do for an emergency shelter. We worked together to throw up a makeshift hut.

"I'll cut the wood, so keep laying it down."

Alexia said that and conjured a fire dagger, pressing it against a tree trunk.

The blade sank into the wood as if melting through it.

In no time, she'd trimmed branches, stripped bark, and processed them into planks.

A hut in name only. We'd just surrounded a patch of ground with wooden boards and fixed a roof of bark and leafy branches.

Still, since we'd built it deep in the forest and under a large tree, it blocked most of the rain and wind.

By the time we'd also prepared a space for the mules to rest, it had taken longer than expected, and darkness surrounded us.

Without Alexia and Orleans providing light magic, we'd have been stuck with only a candle's feeble glow.

"My underwear is soaked through…"

"The change of clothes in the bag is fine. But we need to dry off first."

"Hey, no peeking!"

We started a fire in the center of the hut and changed out of our wet clothes.

Everyone stripped, wrung out the water, and toweled off.

In an emergency like this, there was no room for embarrassment, so everyone did it together inside the hut.

Finn seemed especially self-conscious and made a point of warning me not to look.

I heard the sound of soaked clothes hitting the floor with a wet slap.

We decided to wring them out outside and hang them near the fire to dry.

Clothes and underwear lined up together… It was a bit surreal.

Alexia could have dried them instantly with magic, but there was no point rushing when we couldn't do anything about the weather outside anyway.

We were also conserving her magic.

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

I accepted the towel Azu handed me and dried my head.

When I glanced her way, she was still in her underwear.

"Come on, you'll catch cold."

"Wah!"

She must have prioritized delivering the towel to me first.

Elza draped a towel over Azu's head.

By the time everyone had finished changing, the sound of the downpour had become background noise.

But even sitting by the fire, I still felt cold.

We'd been wet for too long.

I took out a pot and braced it over the fire using wooden branches.

Had Azu produce water, then brought it to a boil.

I added hulled wheat and ground cornmeal.

Butter and sugar. Then I chopped some smoked meat and tossed it in for substance and broth.

Steam filled the hut, and it felt like the temperature rose.

Inside the pot, the wheat had cooked through and the cornmeal had thickened it.

Porridge, done. Quick to make, nutritious, and most importantly, it warmed you from the inside.

"It's ready. This should warm you up."

"Oh, that looks delicious."

"Smells wonderful."

I ladled generous portions into bowls and passed them around.

"Thanks for the food."

I scooped some with my spoon, blew on it to cool, and put it in my mouth.

Despite blowing on it, the heat still burned my throat.

"Hot!"

"I told you, don't eat so fast."

Someone must have eaten without cooling it first.

You'll burn your mouth.

By the time we'd finished eating, our bodies were considerably warmer.

For the mules, I poured milk into the pot with the remaining porridge residue, warmed it, and transferred it to a dish for them to drink.

Good way to clean out the pot too.

Lightning flashed through the gaps in the hut walls.

A beat later, the thunder rumbled.

"I hope it doesn't strike here…"

"Oh, scared?"

"I'm not. Just worried."

"Well, if it strikes anywhere, it'll be that big tree over there."

Finn had flinched slightly at the thunder, and Alexia hadn't missed it.

What worried me more was whether there was a river nearby.

If it flooded and overflowed, the hut could get swept away whole.

The downpour made it impossible to check our location, and going out to check wasn't an option either. We'd just have to rely on our ears.

We sat around the fire, exchanging idle conversation.

The consensus was that staying silent with nothing but the rain pounding down was too depressing.

"Quiet."

Finn stood up, wearing only a shirt over her underwear, and cupped her hand to her ear.

She must have heard something.

I did as she said and fell silent.

"Alexia, do that thing. The magic that scans the area."

"It's not very accurate in conditions like this, you know."

Even as she said it, Alexia activated her detection magic.

Supposedly, the spell was originally designed for labyrinth use, so it wasn't well-suited for dense forests teeming with life in the middle of a downpour.

"Something's approaching. Is this… a pack?"

"They don't like us newcomers on their turf. Or maybe they're just hungry."

Everyone except Orleans immediately grabbed their weapons and stood up.

Whatever the pack was, it probably wouldn't enter the hut itself, but if we didn't do something, the mules would be eaten.

"And we just got dried off…"

"No spare clothes this time either. This is the worst."

"Let's finish this fast."

"They're almost here."

"My shoes are still wet and it feels gross!"

With that, Azu and the others charged out.

I watched their retreating figures alongside Orleans.

The rain made visibility poor and it was hard to see, but it looked like wolves had attacked.