At night, when the sun had completely disappeared, Ymir had just finished the roasted fish. She wiped her mouth, looking as if she hadn't quite had her fill.
It had to be; meat was much more substantial than a watery bowl of oatmeal.
"Ymir, bring those logs and extra wood here, and the vines too."
"Oh, and remember to fetch a few stones."
About five minutes later, all the materials were gathered before Asahi. He calculated the time; by the clock, it was only a little past six in the evening. There was still plenty of time left until the girl rested.
Although he knew Ymir was very tired today, he couldn't help but do this. Right now, the best protection he could offer was knowledge.
"Ymir, listen carefully. If you want to survive, you must learn how to create tools."
"The most basic one is a knife. Now, hit two stones together so they break into the pieces we need."
To make a tool, he would teach the little girl how to create a stone knife. This wasn't too advanced; one only needed to occasionally flip through TV channels during midday or late evening to catch a survival program.
And the fact that he had never done this before didn't matter, because the instructor was Asahi, and he was no amateur.
After hitting the stones together for a while, a piece that could be considered satisfactory finally broke off one of the two stones. During this process, he also carefully reminded Ymir not to directly touch the stones when they collided to avoid injury. Even a small scratch could lead to many dangerous consequences, especially in the forest.
Ordinary modern people often take such injuries lightly, to the point of not counting them. This is because since birth, they have been inoculated with many types of vaccines against common diseases. But what about ancient people? Where would they get vaccines?
That's why people in the past were often considered long-lived only if they reached over fifty, because they lacked effective treatments and their immune resistance was much weaker than modern people. A common illness in the modern era could become a life-threatening one in ancient times.
Under the flickering firelight, the girl with the small, thin back was diligently grinding a jagged piece of stone against another stone. She was clearly quite tired; every push caused her arm to tremble, but she did not rest her hands at all.
The difficult and tedious grinding process finally passed after about half an hour. A small, lopsided oval-shaped knife edge, about the size of Ymir's palm, appeared. One side was smoothed on both surfaces to form the blade, and the other side was kept intact as the handle.
"Now, take it and wash off all the dust."
Ymir nodded and complied, going to the nearby river to rinse it so the layer of grinding dust washed away. After that, Asahi began guiding her in the next step.
After tools, items for transporting and carrying were also things to pay attention to. After all, she couldn't just carry everything by hand, could she?
Asahi helped the little girl select four wooden sticks that were straight enough but not too long. He cut and joined them to form a rectangular wooden frame, secured by vines tied at the joints. Once the frame was made, Ymir would cut long vines into segments just long enough to tie from one end of the frame stick to the other, creating a mesh so that objects placed inside wouldn't fall out.
While the two were meticulously crafting tools to ensure a smooth journey the next day, the area of the King of Eldia was enveloped in an atmosphere of anxiety and fear.
The King of Eldia was very displeased.
The reason was that after searching the forest all day, the slave was still missing without a trace. This made him more irritable and tyrannical than usual, leading to the deaths of three other slaves for no good reason.
After the killings, the King of Eldia's emotions stabilized slightly, but the smoldering anger had not subsided.
"Tomorrow, expand the search area."
Coldly issuing the command, the King of Eldia went inside. He left behind his subordinates and slaves, none of whom dared to speak. The subordinates felt humiliated and angry, but not daring to vent their anger on the King, they could only take it out on the slaves. The slaves secretly cursed Ymir; in their view, it was only because the King couldn't catch Ymir that all the slaves had to suffer. Therefore, it was all Ymir's fault.
The hunt had ultimately turned into a pursuit.
Asahi was now sitting beside the campfire, near the stone knife and the "backpack" made of branches and vines. Ymir had settled down in the leaf shelter, enjoying the warmth of the fire, and closed her eyes. The little girl was extremely tired; as soon as she lay down, she stopped moving.
He didn't know how much time had passed, when the only remaining sounds were the crackling of the fire, the flow of the river, and the noise of insects. Asahi's whisper emerged.
"I can't keep going on like this..."
A sigh, as if passing through endless years, penetrating the wall between reality and illusion.
He was slowly fading away.
Although this fading was happening in a very small margin, it was still present, and only almost a day had passed. His will-body had been severely weakened after being torn apart multiple times, and upon arriving here, he had severed the connection with his body, so fading was inevitable.
Before completely disappearing, the only thing he could do was give her as much knowledge as possible.
A quiet night passed. Early the next morning, as the sun was just beginning to rise, Asahi and Ymir resumed their journey.
The logs used to build the shelter, the fire-starting tool, and the coiled vines were all carried by Ymir and placed in the backpack. This saved them from having to find them from scratch at the next location. After erasing the traces of the campfire and quickly bathing once to wash away any scent, the two set off, continuing along the river.
Although walking along the river was relatively exposed and offered few places to hide, it was at least safer than going straight into the deep forest. It was important to know that this was entirely a wild area, and being wild, there must be wild animals. A single wild boar would be enough to claim Ymir's life, not to mention hard-to-defend species like snakes.
At the very least, Ymir could not enter the forest without fully equipped tools and knowledge.
"Ymir, stop here for a moment."
Stopping only a morning after starting made Ymir slightly confused. She pointed to the back of the backpack, as if asking if they were setting up camp here. Asahi shook his head—not to set up camp, but to eat lunch.
"You need enough energy to keep going. We will set up camp in a different place this afternoon."
Asahi shook his head and smiled.
Ymir understood. She put down the backpack and started searching for fish in the river again. After catching a few small fish, she lit a fire. The fish would have their guts removed, be skewered on a branch, and that branch would be angled into the ground, just close enough to the fire for roasting. While waiting for the fish to cook, Asahi told her to go to the edge of the forest.
"You can't just eat meat; you also need fruits and vegetables for nutrients. Now we'll look around to see if there are any edible fruits or plants. Mushrooms too."
At the starting point of the escape, the King of Eldia had ordered a search of the entire area instead of only going to the other side like yesterday. With a dog's bark echoing, they finally detected something.