Encouraged by Ricardo, I mysteriously got more energetic.
[…Un!]
[Then why don't you sleep even if just a bit. It's okay to snore you know?]
[But, how about you?]
[I'll look out as much as possible. You should sleep so that your physical condition doesn't deteriorate tomorrow. I have more physical strength, and I can manage to get up.]
[Thank you.]
Since my leg was injured, I must not let my physical condition to worsen and became a burden on the way home.
I decided to go along with Ricardo's words and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, I felt chilly and woke up. Unnoticed, the sound of rain had stopped.
No living thing had started to move yet, it was a quiet morning.
I felt a warm body temperature from behind me, and I remembered that I fell asleep while being embraced by Ricardo yesterday. He seemed to be leaning on me; his shoulders were a bit heavy.
When I gently moved my line of sight to him… it seemed that he had fallen asleep while burying his face on my shoulder.
[…Eh, he fell asleep? He did walk down the mountain path to help me, so he must have gotten tired.]
When I thought that it was pleasant, Ricardo who reacted to my voice raised his head slowly.
[U… Britney? I'm not asleep, I'm awake. I was just resting a little.]
[Resting a little? Thanks to you, I could sleep nicely.]
[So you're saying that you're awake? I was really awake a little while ago. It's getting brighter now, I should light up the signal flare.]
Ricardo went out of the tree hollow and brought out 3 signal flares from the tent.
He ignited them all using the fire starter tool and placed them across the tent.
[What kind of tool is that?]
When I called out Ricardo from inside the tree hollow, he came back and explained it.
[It seems that horse excrement is contained in it. It's a large cylinder, but the amount of smoke and burning time are minimal. In truth, it seems to be combined with flammable leaves and other things.]
[I hope our safety can be communicated.]
[If the rescue party doesn't come, I'll carry you so don't worry. Britney doesn't have to be anxious about your leg.]
The reliable Ricardo looked at my leg with his green eyes, his face showed a difficult expression.
[It's swollen red. Will it worsen when you're carried?]
[I think its fine since it's below my knee… n?]
When I looked up at the sky from inside the tree hollow, I could see a lot of smoke going up.
[…It's probably the smoke of signal fire from the other side. They probably saw our sign.]
[I see, so the rescue party will come right?]
[Aa, that's right.]
Ricardo smiled to assure me and turned his gaze towards the depths of the trees.
A while later, the sun had approached its peak, I could hear people's voices from a little away.
When Ricardo responded quickly by generating more smoke, the voices gradually approached. The rescue party was here.
I could hear the sound of plants that was wet from rain being pushed apart, and the sound of footsteps on the muddy ground.
[We're here!]
When Ricardo raised his voice, the footsteps became louder.
Soon, Ryuze and several soldiers appeared.
[Ricardo, Britney! You're both safe… you're injured?]
Ricardo answered Ryuze's question.
[Britney might have broken her leg. It's swollen and red.]
[All right. Let's bring you both to the nearby village immediately.]
I tried to get out from the tree hollow… but my butt got stuck on the entrance.
(So hateful-! It's so embarrassing in front of a lot of people!)
Ricardo pulled me out and Ryuze came over.
[Are you alright? Your leg is injured?]
[Yes, it hurts and I can't move it.]
[As Ricardo had said, it might be a bone fracture. Britney, did you apply first aid?]
[I did. Afterwards, Ricardo neatly treated it again.]
Ryuze lifted me up even though I was tremendously fat right now, we then turned back to the direction they came from.
[Thank you, Ricardo. Thanks to you, Britney is saved.]
[No need to worry… I couldn't stand still. I did it arbitrarily.]
Ricardo reluctantly separated from me.
(I… perhaps I want to stay with him for a while longer.)