Two days later, Caesar continued his routine of gathering fruits and hunting tidal salt crabs for their meals. The top priority remained regaining strength and recovering from their injuries.
Most of Caesar's wounds were superficial—gruesome to look at but healing steadily under the nourishment of his fighting energy. The only serious injury was two broken ribs on his chest. Fortunately, Caesar was no stranger to battlefield injuries; he had set the bones himself, though they would still take time to fully heal.
Angelina, on the other hand, could already walk around freely. Unlike Caesar, who only needed food and fighting energy to recover, Angelina relied on restoring her mental strength through meditation. Without potions, progress was painfully slow, and even though she had started meditating two days ago, the results were minimal.
"If only I hadn't left my Deep Blue Potions in the carriage. Recovery would've been so much faster," Angelina often lamented during her meditation breaks. "Or even some Azure Water... I should've asked my mentor for a few bottles before leaving."
Hearing this, Caesar couldn't help but click his tongue in disbelief. Potions like those were beyond his imagination; he didn't even know what they looked like, while Angelina spoke of them as if they were drinking water.
"What kind of potion would suit me?" Caesar asked curiously.
Angelina studied him for a moment before replying, "For a knight like you... I wouldn't recommend one-time-use potions like Strength Potion or Rage Potion—they have side effects. Johnson's Potion would be a good choice, or perhaps Will Condensation Potion. Both are ideal for beginners like you."
She casually listed a few potion names that Caesar had never even heard of.
"What about Red Sand Potion?" Caesar asked. It was one of the potions Uncle York had mentioned before, something that soldiers in the Eagle Legion could exchange for military merit—a popular choice among low-ranking officers.
"Red Sand Potion? Never heard of it. What does it do?" Angelina asked, genuinely puzzled.
"They say it boosts strength and resistance for a short while," Caesar explained honestly. On the battlefield, every bit of extra strength and resilience could mean the difference between life and death, making it a popular choice among frontline soldiers.
"That sounds a lot like Johnson's Potion," Angelina said with a raised eyebrow. "But Johnson's Potion offers a permanent increase in strength and toughness."
A potion that could permanently increase one's abilities? Caesar didn't even need to think to know how precious something like that would be—far beyond his reach.
"If we make it back alive, I'll have my brother reward you with a whole stash of potions—enough to push you to a mid-level squire!" Angelina said playfully.
A mid-level squire was two ranks above Caesar's current level, and since he had only recently reached the entry-level squire stage, it felt like an impossible dream.
Knowing that a potentially evolved tidal salt crab magical creature might be lurking nearby, leaving this place had become inevitable. Caesar had slaughtered so many of its kin, and while the creature hadn't shown itself yet—likely because it was hibernating, as Angelina suggested—they couldn't risk staying any longer. Both of them agreed to leave as soon as they had sufficiently recovered.
Staying under such a looming threat made it impossible to truly relax, even during sleep.
Speaking of sleep, an amusing dynamic had emerged. Ever since Caesar finished weaving the initial grass bedding, he hadn't bothered to expand it. Every night, they still slept very close together. Of course, Caesar didn't dare overstep any boundaries now that Angelina was conscious. She was, after all, a princess.
That said, Caesar couldn't control what happened after they fell asleep. On more than one occasion, he'd wake up in the middle of the night to find his arm wrapped around Angelina's waist—or Angelina clutching his arm tightly in her sleep.
At one point, blushing furiously, Angelina asked, "Why don't you weave a bigger blanket?"
"Where would I find the time? I'm busy hunting for food and recovering my strength," Caesar replied innocently.
Angelina could only glare at him before accepting the situation.
Over the past few days, Caesar had also crafted several more water bottles. Although water wasn't scarce in the forest, he believed it was wise to carry enough fresh water just in case.
As for food, Caesar had hunted every tidal salt crab he could find around the brackish lake, securing eight in total. He had skinned them, removed their tendons, and coated them in lake water before leaving them to dry in the midday sun on flat stones—effectively turning them into jerky. This method preserved the meat and prevented spoilage. Angelina, who had never seen or heard of such a preparation, found the process both strange and fascinating.
While preparing the crab jerky, Caesar realized that their diet had been almost entirely composed of tidal salt crab meat. The natural saltiness of the crab meat had unknowingly supplied their bodies with the salt they needed. However, once they ran out of crab meat after leaving, where would they get salt? Without salt, strength would diminish rapidly. To prepare for this, Caesar filled an extra water bottle with brackish lake water.
As for fruits, the grape-like white berries they had been eating contained too much water to be portable. Caesar decided to dry them out. Once dehydrated, the berries shriveled into thin, tasteless husks. Despite the bland flavor, they were lightweight and easy to carry, so Caesar packed some as emergency rations.
Caesar's worn-out jacket had long been repurposed into a makeshift backpack filled with their food and water supplies. This backpack had essentially become their lifeline for surviving the trek out of the Bering Mountains.
With his jacket gone, Caesar now wore only a vest and a thin undershirt. Every morning, he felt like he was on the verge of freezing to death. Fortunately, Angelina acted as a living heater during the night.
Angelina's clothes, though torn, still provided some insulation. But even with her layers, she often woke up shivering in the middle of the night.
Winter was approaching—just two weeks away based on Caesar's calculations. The temperature difference between day and night had become extreme. No matter how carefully Caesar built the campfire each evening, it would always die out by midnight, and he had no way of relighting it in the freezing cold.
In the military, they would wrap torches in linen soaked with animal fat to keep them burning longer. But where would Caesar find animal fat here? The linen was easy—he could tear a piece from his pants if needed—but fat was a different story. Besides the tidal salt crabs and the lone wolf they had encountered, the only other creatures Caesar had seen were birds flying high in the sky.
Over the past few days, Angelina had learned quite a few survival skills from Caesar. At the very least, she could now sew her torn clothes—a surprising skill for a princess to acquire. It seemed Angelina had grown considerably during their time in the wilderness.
That evening, Caesar returned from the forest carrying an armful of white fruits—his harvest for the day. Angelina walked up to greet him. To be honest, every time Caesar left, she couldn't help but worry that something might happen to him. Waiting alone by the lakeside cave was all she could do, and meditation was her only distraction from the gnawing anxiety. Without it, she felt she might have gone mad.
The happiest moment of Angelina's day was always when Caesar returned. Finally, she had someone to talk to. Though magic training required solitude, magicians weren't meant to live in isolation—they, too, needed human connection.
Today, among the usual white fruits, Caesar had brought back a new discovery: a small, thumb-sized red fruit.
"It took me ages to find a new type of fruit nearby. Take a look—can we eat it?" Caesar asked Angelina. By now, their relationship had moved beyond that of commoner and princess, or superior and subordinate. They were simply two unfortunate souls stranded together in the wilderness. Their conversations had become far more casual, and Caesar even cracked jokes occasionally.
Angelina tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and accepted the fruit from Caesar, examining it carefully. Over the past few days, Caesar had brought back several unknown fruits, but without exception, they had either been inedible or had unpleasant side effects. Only the white fruit Caesar had first discovered was safe to eat.
After scrutinizing the fruit with a furrowed brow, Angelina hesitated before saying, "This seems like a spellcasting material."
"Spellcasting material?" Caesar perked up at the unfamiliar term.
"Yes. Sometimes magicians need specific materials to cast spells more effectively. These materials are called spellcasting materials," Angelina explained patiently.
"Can this help you cast spells?" Caesar asked eagerly. He had learned over the past few days that Angelina knew three spells, and he had even experienced a cleaning spell firsthand. Magic was truly fascinating to him.
"This is a Firecloud Fruit, infused with mild fire elements. It can assist in casting fire-type spells," Angelina said after a moment of thought. "But for me... not really." Her face flushed slightly with embarrassment. She was only an entry-level apprentice, and knowing three spells was already impressive. Though her Light Spark spell contained traces of fire magic, it didn't require such advanced materials.
"That must be valuable, then," Caesar said, his tone shifting. Right now, his primary interests were things that could enhance his strength or items of value.
Angelina nodded. Anything related to magical materials was rarely cheap.
"We've hit the jackpot… the jackpot…" Caesar muttered to himself. Earlier, he had stumbled across an entire grove filled with these fruits. If he could harvest them all…
"Magical plants like these usually attract magical creatures. Didn't you see any?" Angelina asked, puzzled. Firecloud Fruits weren't particularly high-grade, but they were still magical plants, and many fire- and earth-type magical creatures were fond of them.
"Uh… no, I didn't see any." Caesar scratched his head. "Could they also be hibernating?" he speculated.
"It's possible. Fire- and earth-type magical beasts dislike winter and typically go into hibernation," Angelina explained. "It's only because we're near Mophy Forest, where the magical energy is abundant, that Firecloud Fruits can grow during winter. Normally, they ripen in summer."
"Looks like we're pretty lucky. Both magical creatures we've encountered so far might just be sleeping," Caesar said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Indeed." Angelina smiled softly.
"So… can we eat these?" Caesar asked suddenly, his gaze fixed on the Firecloud Fruits he had gathered.
"Eat them?" Angelina blinked, momentarily stunned. After a brief pause, she said uncertainly, "I think… probably?"