.｡.:✧ Chapter 1 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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So soft. This is how soft a human feels. No, is it because she’s a woman? I stare intently at her face, faintly breathing while cradled in my arms. Beautiful. In my life, I’ve never seen such a beautiful person up close before.

“Tsk. Whether this is fortunate or not.”

Lost in thought, I head back home while carrying her. Unsurprisingly, my thoughts were about the game Survival Academy.

It’s been 10 years since I could play games, but I still remembered quite a bit about Survival Academy. On this deserted island with no entertainment, the only things I could do were indulge in pointless fantasies or reminisce over fond memories.

Survival Academy was a game I frequently reminisced about.

Come to think of it, I should have realized then. I was possessed right as the True Ending DLC for that game got updated and launched. Since all I had around me were the ocean, jungle, and that bizarre dungeon at the island’s center with nothing but monsters, I didn’t make that connection sooner.

The status window given to me also fit more for a survival game rather than Survival Academy’s genre.

The genres are completely different.

Survival Academy never had survival systems or tentacle monsters constantly popping out of dungeons like this place. Survival Academy was an open-world RPG about enjoying academy life, despite the insane difficulty earning it the “Tear Soul” nickname!

“Ah, if I get off this island, I should write down everything I can recall.”

Useless knowledge unless I escape this deserted island. But if I can get Karina’s help to get off, it could prove very useful information. If I can actually escape, that is.

…Can I?

It’s not like I haven’t tried escaping before. This island is surrounded by a constantly swirling vortex, making normal escape impossible. Seeing it swirl 365 days a year, I deduced some condition must be met to leave…

That condition is likely the dungeon at the island’s center. Honestly, besides the monsters and beasts I share territory with, that’s the only anomaly on this island.

Ah, I should think about that later. Pondering it now will only lead to vague speculations.

It would be more productive to reminisce about Karina instead.

Karina…to be honest, the information coming to mind is hazy.

First off, she has no surname.

The logic was that as a Saint not born to humans, she needs no surname. If pushed, her religious order Kalon could be used like “Karina Kalon”, but that was rarely heard. Her name alone was seldom used.

Anyway, Karina awakened as a Saint right before the story began and enrolled at Kalon Academy. After getting involved with the protagonist, their bittersweet school life…no, scratch that, she ended up desperately trying to protect the crumbling world.

Why was it crumbling again?

Come to think of it, they resolved that with the True Ending DLC which I haven’t experienced. Regardless, the main threat was monsters, and the intelligent humanoid monster masterminds leading them, which she had to fend off.

The final boss differed by route, so it’s hard to say definitively right now.

The Karina cradled in my arms could even be the final boss on certain routes. Although that’s the route where she betrays humanity, so I’d rather not go there.

Long story short, it was a multiple ending game.

“Why does home feel so far away?”

The path home seemed unusually long today. I wasn’t even carrying my usual heavy load, but the weight of a living human felt indescribably heavy. Perhaps because she’s alive. And a beautiful woman at that.

I’m a man too, so I can’t completely remain unaffected. But to fail in gaining her valuable knowledge and cooperation due to momentary lust would be foolish. With her help, I may even be able to tackle that dungeon at the island’s center.

The very dungeon that has threatened my survival for 10 years.

Lost in these thoughts, the familiar sight of my front yard came into view.

My humble abode, the walls built brick-by-brick with my own hands.

I kicked open the door and laid her on my bed. Her haggard appearance was pitiful. I stoked the hearth, adding new logs and igniting the kindling. The smoldering embers met the logs with crackles, gradually growing into flames.

“Ugh…”

As I blankly watched the fire hungrily devour the air, I turned towards Karina at the sound of her faint moan. Now wasn’t the time to space out – I needed to prepare a meal for the patient and undress her wet clothes to prevent hypothermia.

I reached out towards her body. The moment my fingers met her clothes, the damp sensation traveled up my fingertips. And I felt her incredibly soft skin, like a newborn kitten’s fur. The addictive texture made me want to keep caressing her, my heart pounding wildly.

“What am I doing in front of a patient? Idiot.”

If I didn’t care for her, even a Saint would be one foot in the grave.

I removed her clothes again. Fortunately, she wore a relatively simple one-piece dress rather than an unnecessarily complicated gown. Thanks to that, it didn’t take too long to hang all her clothes on the clothesline.

“I can leave her undergarments, right?”

Ah, talking to myself again. After living alone for so long, that’s all I’ve had. Anyway, I covered her body with a blanket salvaged from a shipwreck and sat before the hearth. Time to prepare the patient’s meal.

Porridge would be best, but this island has no grains like rice or wheat. The only ingredients available are the grasses I’ve personally tested, fish, various meats and fruits. After consideration, I decided to boil and mash some grasses with insect larvae.

The most nutritious ingredients I can procure on this island.

“Tsk. I had gathered those as snacks.”

I filled the pot with water and dumped in the grasses and larvae, then blankly stared at the pot, lost in contemplation.

What should I say when she wakes up?

This would be my first conversation in 10 years. At the very least, I don’t want her to think I’m some weirdo. No, given where I live, that’s a foregone conclusion, isn’t it? My head spun as I scratched it in frustration.

…When was the last time I bathed?

Living alone for 10 years, I inevitably paid less attention to hygiene. It’s not easy bathing when any water must be reserved for drinking. But using seawater would just leave my body brined from the salt, making not bathing preferable.

“I should at least shave.”

My beard had grown to finger-length, completely covering my face. I should tidy up to avoid giving the wrong impression as some wild native. I banked the fire with a poker to lower the heat before heading to the small well in the backyard.

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[Lady Karina, get inside this barrel!]

[But what about Renny?!]

[I have a way to survive, so please hurry! The ship will sink any moment!]

Instead of air, the lower decks were filled with deadly seawater. Amidst the flailing despair, Karina could only watch the horrific scene unfold. For she may be a Saint, but before the overwhelming force of nature, she was merely a powerless girl.

All she could do was huddle inside the small oak barrel, clasping her hands in prayer.

‘O Almighty Kalon, have mercy and grace upon your children…’

The barrel shook violently as the swirling vortex that consumed the ship tried to wrench her out. Through the disorienting chaos, she desperately chanted her prayers to endure, but eventually lost consciousness.

[O Kalon…]

Each time she regained consciousness, she clung to life by eating the meager remaining rations in the barrel. When no more food was left, Karina once again blacked out from starvation.

‘The ceiling…?’

An unfamiliar ceiling. She blinked her eyes. It took quite some time for Karina, who had boarded the oak barrel to survive after the vortex sank her ship, to realize she had been rescued.

“Where is…”

She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn’t move. Having gone so long without proper nourishment, she was in an extremely enfeebled state. Had the divine power accumulated in her body not desperately clung to her lifeline, she may well have been discovered as a decomposing carcass long ago.

In the end, all she could do was take stock of her situation using her still-functioning senses of sight, hearing, smell and the limited head movements she had. Her sense of smell, amplified to hypersensitivity, detected an appetizing aroma.

“Food…”

A delicious scent. Turning her head, Karina spotted the pot over the hearth and involuntarily swallowed her saliva. Right before her eyes was an enticing meal – she couldn’t help but go delirious with hunger.

‘I need…to eat!’

If she didn’t eat, she would die. Her primal instincts overwhelmed her reason, driving her body to move. Desperately, she squirmed to stay alive. The hearth was close. Just a little movement, and the meal awaiting her hunger could fill her belly.
The worm known as the Saint inched laboriously toward the hearth. Unable to stuff her face directly in the fire, Karina propped herself upright against the bed frame. Trembling violently, she stretched out her hand to the pot.

It was then that a voice came from behind her.

“It needs to boil a bit longer, so wait.”

Karina turned her head towards the source of the voice. As their eyes met, she muttered involuntarily:

“A…monster?”

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