Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 93

The most important thing while surviving in the tropics was drinking enough water. It was more important than food, as one could die from dehydration. Coconuts were the perfect food when it came to survival, as they could satisfy both hunger and thirst to some extent.

I twisted off one coconut after another. It was my first time climbing a tree, but with Self-Deception, my physical abilities were such that I was somehow better at climbing trees than monkeys. Surprisingly, I was able to scurry up quite easily.

Ellen, too, had climbed another tree and effortlessly twisted off some coconuts. I had climbed up without much difficulty, no doubt, but how on earth could she climb trees so well?

After plucking about ten coconuts, I clambered back down to the ground. We returned to the shore, each holding five coconuts.

Thud, thud, thud.

“What... What’s all this?”

As we laid down the coconuts, the guys who were still dazed looked at us in shock. The Class B students were bustling about in the distance, busy with something, but the Class A students still seemed to be at a loss.

“Did... Did you guys really bring all this back this quickly?”

Vertus appeared to be astonished by what I had done.

“We’ll have to make do and drink these if we run out of water.”

We had eleven water bottles, but once we were out of water, we’d have no choice but to drink the juice from the coconuts. It seemed that the personal supplies had already been distributed, as each student had an escape artifact and a water bottle in their hands.

Everyone was sitting idly in the shade, and seemed clueless about what to do next. Even Vertus seemed to be in the same boat as everyone else.

I supposed it would have been even stranger if the prince had managed to set up a camp smoothly in this situation.

For now, we could put aside the urgent matter of acquiring drinking water. Moreover, it didn’t seem like anyone had given up yet.

“Reinhart, let’s talk for a moment.”

“Okay, sure.”

Vertus took me to a spot slightly away from the other class members.

“Where did you learn to do this kind of thing?”

“It’s not that I learned anything; it’s just that doing something is better than doing nothing, you know? If you stay still and don’t do anything, you’re just wasting energy, so it’s better to do something instead of letting that happen.”

“Hmm...”

To Vertus, it must have looked like I was very used to this situation; he seemed to think I was an expert in survival. Truthfully, I just had lots of indirect experience, and actually doing it was new to me as well. Vertus was equally dazed by the current situation, just like the others.

I had no choice but to give him some advice.

“First of all, we need a place to sleep, no matter how crude it may be. A place that can provide shelter from the sun and rain.”

We needed a shelter, however basic it might be. Vertus nodded in understanding.

“But how do we make such a thing, especially in this situation?” Vertus asked.

Setting up a shelter would mean doing something that none of us had done before. There wasn’t any TV show like “Man versus Jungle” in this world, so it was natural that Vertus didn’t know what to do.

“Trees, vines, and palm leaves are all over the place. We can weave something together with those.”

“Hmm... Will that really work? Just using leaves?”

I had been pondering over how such a thing could be done, even before we started this survival mission. I knew how to build a hut, and could if I absolutely needed to, but I wasn’t confident in making it well.

But there was no need for me to do it when there was someone else who could do it way better.

“We don’t need to think about that. There’s someone who’s good at that sort of thing.

“Number 7, Adelia. She’ll be able to handle it well.”

Her talent was in magical tool crafting. Of course, I wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with building a hut, but she had a talent for designing and crafting things that was incomparable to an ordinary person.

She would at least be able to come up with a more plausible blueprint than I could.

It felt a little forced, sort of like getting an art student to paint a wall just because they had experience with paint.

“Hmm... Maybe.”

***

Vertus returned to the shade where the hopeless Class A students were gathered and called Adelia over to him.

Then he asked her if she had any ideas about how to build a hut.

“U-Um... If you ask me to make something like that all of a sudden... We don’t even have equipment or tools here...”

She was skilled in magical crafting and summoning magic, yet she looked perplexed when suddenly asked to build something out of nothing.

“We can use trees for the pillars, and probably palm leaves for the roof. Do you have any other good ideas?”

Vertus’s words shook Adelia, and she mumbled in a shaky voice, as if shrinking with intimidation, “U-Um... It might work if we made it like a tripod, maybe... But, do we really have to sleep here?”

“If we’re not planning on giving up, then it seems we have no choice.”

Although Vertus was smiling, no one was brave enough to say “Sorry, I really can’t do this” when faced with that smile. Of course, after spending one night in this place, everyone would probably give up all sense of decorum and discipline.

Harriet was sitting on her heels with her face buried in her knees, not saying a word.

She might have been crying. It was a situation worthy of tears, after all.

“Um... If we were to make it... we’d need trees and vines. And a lot of those big things over there... those leaves,” Adelia muttered, as if visualizing something in her mind.

“Good. Then let’s give it a try.”

Vertus was just as frustrated, but losing to Class B would be even more distressing, and so he tried to artificially lift his spirits.

“Okay! Let’s get up and start doing something. We can give up if it seriously seems hopeless, but we have to at least try something before that, right? Giving up without even trying would be too lame, wouldn’t it?”

Vertus pointed to Kaier, Erhi, and Connor Lint, who were standing around in a daze.

“Can you three get as many vines and leaves as possible from inland?”

Everyone needed to be assigned a task of their own. Although they all looked somewhat reluctant, none of them had the nerve to refuse Vertus’s orders. It seemed that a plan of action was coming smoothly to Vertus once he started to put his mind to it.

“Saint-Ouen. Can you use your magic?”

When Vertus called her name, Harriet, her eyes still red, looked up with a bewildered expression.

“O-Oh... pardon? Um... I’m not that high-level yet...”

“It’s okay. You just need to be able to cut down a tree that’s about that size,” Vertus said, pointing to a tree that would yield an average-sized log. “What do you think?”

“Um... I think I can do it,” Harriet replied, nodding gloomily and accepting the task at hand.

“Good. Cut down as many trees as you can, and be careful not to get hurt since it’s dangerous.”

“Okay.”

Despite her low spirits, Harriet stood up, ready to carry out the task given to her.

“Ellen, and Cliffman. Can you assist Adelia in setting up the camp as she requests?”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

Ellen and Cliffman possessed the most physical strength out of all the students in Class A, so it made sense for those two to handle the tasks that required brute strength.

A clear picture seemed to have formed in Vertus’s mind. He seemed like he knew exactly what to do despite not having been given much information. Perhaps his morale was recovering, and that was fueling his eagerness. To think that he’d only come to life now that he had the chance to give orders to others; villain or not, he was naturally the leader type.

The remaining ones without roles were me, Riana de Granz, and Heinrich von Schwartz.

“Vertus, can I take those two and assign them roles?” I asked.

At my words, Vertus tilted his head quizzically. Both Riana and Heinrich seemed appalled at the idea of me taking charge of them. Since Heinrich disliked me and Riana had never even had a conversation with me, their reactions were understandable.

“Hmm... Do you have a good idea?”

“Well... It seems to me that these two might be the most important among us.”

“...Really?”

My unexpected praise made both of them look at me strangely.

***

Heinrich von Schwartz, Pyrokinesis...

Riana de Granz, Electrokinesis...

In my opinion, these two supernatural powers could be the key to our survival in the jungle.

Heinrich eyed me with a look full of wariness, as if questioning what business I had with him.

“... What do you want us to do?”

“Are you still mad about what happened in the past? If we’re in the same boat, we might as well row together,” I said.

Heinrich swiftly turned his head away and clicked his tongue in annoyance. I refused to indulge in petty squabbles when our situation was already dire.

“... But what about me?” said Riana de Granz.

“Just wait. I’ll explain everything in a minute.”

It was clear that Riana was also on guard against me. I didn’t really feel like giving a detailed explanation, and frankly, I didn’t particularly want to become friends with either of them.

Given the circumstances, I had to make use of them as much as possible. If they refused, I was prepared to coerce them into cooperating.

“From now on, you’ll be responsible for lighting all the fires we need. For starters, we have to make potable water.”

“... Potable water?”

“Yes, we’re going to need drinking water, aren’t we? Aside from Harriet, you’re the only one here who can control fire at will.”

Though I had once called him less useful than a pocket lighter, he was obviously better than a pocket lighter—if he could keep his mouth shut.

“Ask Adelia how to make a water condenser. After that, keep making water.”

“You... Are you treating me like a flint? And you think you can order me around?”

Heinrich’s expression soured as if he felt insulted, and I sighed.

‘He’s getting on my nerves again. Should I beat him up?

‘No. Let’s not make the situation any worse.’

I sighed. “Whether I ask you to do it or I get Vertus to do so, it’s the same thing. Do you want to do this the hard way? If you don’t cooperate, we’ll all dehydrate and die within two days.”

Dehydration was a serious issue in this tropical environment. It was true that I was actually treating him like a flint, but if he didn’t do this task, we’d have to keep hydrating with coconuts. Creating a water condenser and boiling seawater to make fresh water was a simple but essential task that needed to be done.

Even if he hated taking orders from me, he’d just end up hearing the same from Vertus anyway.

“Tsk. Fine. I’m only doing this for everyone’s sake, and not because you told me to. Remember that.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. Thank you so much.”

Heinrich seemed to accept the task and quickly disappeared, clearly not wanting to talk with me anymore. That left Riana de Granz, who seemed to be somewhat wary of me.

“And you,” I said, “you’re going to hunt.”

“... Hunt?”

“Yes.”

I pointed towards the sea.

“To be exact, we’re going fishing.”

We were going to do something similar to using a car battery to electrify the water and stunning the fish before hauling them in.

***

If you electrify a stream with the charge from a car battery, the fish will be stunned and float to the surface. Doing this was considered illegal in the real world, but obviously, there would be no such laws here, and even if there were, when on a deserted island, survival trumps law.

I led Riana towards the seashore.

Rush rush rush...

“Just to make sure, you don’t get shocked by electricity, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

Riana, being an electrokinetic, was inherently immune to electrical shocks, so she couldn’t be harmed by her own electricity.

Riana seemed quite hesitant.

“Try using your ability in the sea.”

“... I don’t think it’ll work...”

She hesitated but then began to concentrate, while I stepped far back, just in case I got electrocuted as well.

Zap! Zap!

Blue currents of electricity crackled from Riana’s outstretched hand and exploded into the waves. Indeed, her control over her powers was exceptional.

Rush Rush Rush...

And then, nothing special happened.

Riana clicked her tongue sharply.

“I don’t want to get wet.”

Despite what she said, she walked slowly into the sea and submerged both of her arms in the water.

‘Hmm, she’s a bit prickly, but follows through with what she’s asked to do.’

This time, though it wasn’t visible to the naked eye, it seemed like she activated her ability while her hands were submerged.

However, there was no drastic change in the outcome. The sea remained calm, and no stunned fish floated to the surface.

“I told you, it’s not going to work.” Riana said, turning to face me.

“... Yeah... you’re right.”

I had only ever heard of battery fishing, and had never actually tried it before. I couldn’t tell if Riana’s power was insufficient, or if something else was the issue. As she came out of the water, she frowned at her wet shoes.

It seemed like my foolish request had merely succeeded in getting her shoes wet, and it annoyed her.

“I get what you’re trying to do, but for it to work, I’d have to dive or swim close to where the fish are. My attack range isn’t that far. Plus, I can’t swim.”

She seemed prickly, but also thoroughly explained things in detail, which was strangely endearing.

Anyway, I had assumed that with electricity, she could at least stun the fish in a wide area, if not electrify the entire ocean. But that was not the case.

I was never good at science, so I guess I owed her an apology.

“You can’t swim...? What if I carry you further inside and then you electrify the water—Ah, never mind. Then I’d get shocked.”

“... Didn’t you top the class?”

Riana looked at me incredulously, as if questioning how such a stupid person could have placed first in the class.

It was a pity; if I couldn’t make use of her ability, catching fish would be out of the picture.

“What’s the range of your ability right now?”

“Five meters.”

At her current level, her ability wasn’t that strong. As I continued to ponder, Riana sighed and began to tie up her hair.

“Ugh, just don’t mind me,” she said, as though I was in her way. “I’ll walk around in the shallows, and when the fish get close, I’ll shock them.”

With that, Riana began to walk toward the sea again.

Riana de Granz...

Being rather aloof and having a somewhat abrasive manner of speaking, she was initially perceived by the Class B students as having a bad temper.

However, after the animosity between Class A and B was resolved, it turned out she wasn’t as ill-tempered as everyone believed. It was just the way she spoke, and since Class B students didn’t encounter those from Class A often, they simply didn’t know what she was really like.

That was how I set her character up, but it felt peculiar to see her behave like this right in front of me.

Distant, and a little kind, if not quite so... It felt a little odd.

“Wait,” Riana said.

She stopped just before reaching the water, and then turned back to look at me again.

“Actually, I can’t touch fish.”

This was another characteristic I had assigned to her—she had an unexpectedly finicky side to her.