Similar to Sento, as soon as Ai sat down on the sofa, she immediately felt the difference from her usual routine.
Being so busy after waking up that your feet barely touch the ground is quite different from sitting on a sofa just to kill time.
However, Ai quickly found something to occupy herself.
Instead of looking at the newspaper, she once again mentally planned the itinerary she had discussed with Sento before going to bed the previous night.
Seeing that Sento was indeed sleeping soundly and deeply, Ai took the tablecloth off the table, measured it slightly, and then began to cut it with her hunting knife.
Sento was the type of person who could sleep through thunder, and he slept for several hours.
It wasn’t until the howling wind outside woke him up.
Sento opened his somewhat dry eyes, squinted to take in his surroundings, and it took a few seconds for his foggy brain to clear.
‘Oh, right, I transmigrated, didn’t I?’ The thought flashed by.
Sento’s eyes focused, and he saw the stove directly in front of him as he turned his head, with the flames tumbling inside.
Ai was no longer sitting on the sofa; she was currently leaning against the only window in the small cabin.
Perhaps because it hadn’t been lived in for a long time, or maybe the previous owner just didn’t like cleaning, the glass on the window was covered in heavy stains—the kind that were hard to remove—making the light transmission very poor.
Ai rested her hands on the windowsill, squinting as she peered outside.
“What’s wrong?” Sento asked Ai as he propped himself up on the bed.
“Ah, Sento-kun, you’re awake?” Ai looked at Sento in surprise and then explained, “I heard a very exaggerated wind blowing outside, so I came over to take a look.
But this glass is so dirty; the family who lived here didn’t clean it at all, so I can’t see outside clearly.”
“Strong winds?” Sento muttered to himself as he rolled off the bed.
Leaving the warmth of the quilt, the air in the room made his body shiver.
Even though a fire had been burning, the temperature in the room certainly couldn’t compare to a brick house with heating; it could only be said that it kept them from freezing solid.
As he approached the window, the howling sound of the wind outside became even more apparent.
Ai said in a low voice, “The wind is really crazy.
I didn’t dare go out to look, otherwise it would be a problem if the wind and snow blew inside.”
Sento nodded, but he wasn’t too alarmed.
Instead, he comforted her, “Don’t worry, this wind might stop in a while.”
After all, the weather system in the game ‘the long dark’ was always very volatile; it only took a few breaths to switch between a deadly blizzard and a clear, cloudless sky.
“I hope it stops soon, otherwise our plan will be ruined,” Ai pouted, looking a bit worried.
However, she soon remembered something and pulled Sento toward the table, which was covered with quite a few items.
Ai picked up several strips of cloth that looked like bandages and said, “I made these leg wraps.
Since both of our shoes are very thin, we probably wouldn’t last long walking in the snow.
These leg wraps will help a lot, and then there’s this.”
As she spoke, she held up several plastic shopping bags she had found from somewhere.
“When the time comes, we’ll bind the wraps to our legs first, then put on the plastic bags, and then our socks and shoes.
It should last for a while and keep our feet from getting wet.”
Then she pointed to two other items on the table.
Sento thought they looked a bit familiar; judging by the patterns and stripes, they were likely the tablecloth and curtains.
At this point, these two items had been modified into something resembling a style with a hole cut in the middle and the sides tightened slightly.
“Since we don’t have enough warm coats, I made these.”
Sento rubbed his chin.
“Are these…
your modified version of Poncho cloaks?”
A Poncho cloak is a traditional garment of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
However, Sento knew of them not because of Indigenous culture, but because Western cowboys in movies and TV shows always wore this kind of cloak.
The most basic style was similar to what Ai had made, essentially a square piece of cloth with a hole for the head.
More advanced versions would have small buttoned pockets, decorations, and the like.
Sento looked at Ai with a hint of surprise.
Although he already knew that she was likely highly skilled in martial arts and had decent cooking skills, he hadn’t expected her to be able to do tailoring work as well.
Ai said with a giggle, “I was in the handicrafts club at school!”
Well, that was a very convincing explanation.
Whether Ai had come up with an excuse on the spot or had actually been in a handicrafts club didn’t matter; either way, Sento now had two new pieces of clothing.
The wind really was as Sento had predicted; it didn’t last very long.
He had only been awake for a short while and chatted with Ai for a few minutes before the wind outside noticeably died down.
So, after a quick discussion, Sento and Ai made a decision—eat, and then prepare to set out.
Today’s breakfast was even more sumptuous than yesterday’s dinner, but considering they had to walk for several hours in the snow, it was only right to have a hearty meal.
First, there were the usual canned pork and beans and hard biscuits.
At the same time, Ai also took out some beef jerky, tore open the bag, and poured it onto the foil packaging of the hard biscuits.
As for the leftover syrup from yesterday’s canned peaches, Ai used a bit of ingenuity and mixed it with today’s portion of black tea to make sweet tea.
A sufficient amount of sugar would ensure the journey went more smoothly.
While Ai was preparing breakfast, Sento didn’t just sit idly by.
He felt their pants; the pants that had been soaked yesterday had dried completely after a night of roasting.
After taking the clothes down and placing them on the bed, Sento packed their backpacks again.
He took basically all the supplies they had found at Trappers Home, taking the bulk of the weight himself to keep Ai’s backpack as light as possible.
This wasn’t just to look after Ai; on the contrary, it was for the sake of his own life.
In case they actually encountered a wolf pack, the main damage dealer of their party would definitely be Ai.
With a lighter pack, she could perform better and resolve the threat quickly.
Before going to sleep last night, Sento was still wondering whether to bring the fuel they had found, as he had been hesitating because it was too heavy.
Looking at it now, there was no need to hesitate; after keeping a fire going all night, the firewood he had found while washing the pot outside and the fuel stored in the house were basically all burned up.
This made Sento subconsciously frown.
He had been considering clothes, food, and even weapons, but now it seemed that fuel was also a top priority.
Whether for warmth, boiling water, or most importantly, cooking food, a large amount of fuel was required.
“Sento-kun, breakfast is ready.” Ai’s voice interrupted Sento’s thoughts, causing him to temporarily push the matter of replenishing fuel to the back of his mind.