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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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…Pervert?
“Me?”
“Yeah, you… There are clothes piled up over there, so why are you walking around without a top on? Is there a tradition here that you can’t wear a top, like orcs?”
…Do orcs also not wear tops? They seem like reasonable folks to talk to.
Although they appeared as enemies in the game.
At Renny’s words, I looked at the pile of clothes in a corner of the house. Clothes picked up from shipwrecks. A variety of garments, from luxurious to ragged, were neatly folded and stacked. Some of them became clothes for Karina to wear, but… a few would become clothes for Renny. I had no intention of wearing them.
“It’s more comfortable this way.”
“…Don’t you think it’s a bit inappropriate to walk around shirtless in front of women? Even Lady Karina feels burdened by it.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
Rather, it seemed like she had been sneaking glances from a certain point on. I couldn’t understand Karina’s taste, but anyway, it didn’t seem like she particularly disliked it, so what did it matter?
In the first place, why was she complaining about me being shirtless? I couldn’t understand it. A person can walk around without a top, it’s not like they’re not wearing pants. Originally, when no one was around, I used to walk around in my underwear, so isn’t this considered sufficiently dressed?
What a strange woman.
When I met her eyes with that meaning in mind, Renny looked at me with an exasperated expression and frowned. It seemed like she did that because her body still hurt too much to even get up. As the pain seemed to have subsided to some extent and she returned to her normal expression, Renny spoke to me with an apologetic tone.
“…Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that as someone indebted to you. I was just so frustrated because I’m in this pathetic state. I was being too sensitive.”
“I see.”
I knew she was originally a character with a foul mouth, so it didn’t bother me at all. When you encountered her as a boss, she would spew out all sorts of curses. It was rather surprising that she apologized so readily. She wasn’t originally such a rough person to that extent.
She just became overly sensitive when it came to Karina. It was like a kind of occupational hazard.
“By the way, is this really a deserted island?”
“That’s right.”
“Can you call it a deserted island even though there are people here?”
Renny threw a difficult question to answer. Is it inappropriate to call it a deserted island since I’m here? Or not? This useless conundrum made me feel a bit dizzy. Since there are three people now, we can’t really call it a deserted island anymore, right? Then should we call it an inhabited island?
Ah, my head hurts.
“Since there are only three of us, let’s just call it a deserted island. There’s no one else but us anyway.”
“Isn’t three people quite a lot?”
“Anyway, there are no other people besides us, so it’s a deserted island.”
“Is that so…”
Renny nodded weakly at my clear-cut answer.
“But why are you living here?”
“Same as you.”
“I see…”
Renny let out a deep sigh. She had an expression as if fatigue had already set in despite not having spoken much.
“I wish you could explain… I don’t know anything properly.”
“Explain?”
“I’ve been in a daze the whole time, you see. Lady Karina did tell me, but my memory is hazy. I think I heard your name too… Rohan Quitz?”
“It’s Johann Quartz.”
She’s still not in her right mind.
“Ah, right, Johann… I think that’s what Lady Karina said too. But I don’t remember well.”
“I see.”
Since Renny had only woken up yesterday, she hadn’t had a proper conversation yet, it seemed. So now she was going to ask me this and that. Since I also needed Renny’s help, it wasn’t a bad thing to think of it as a kind of give and take. I put down the almost completed leather shoes and turned my body completely to look down at her.
“What do you want to know?”
“What kind of island is this?”
“You don’t remember anything?”
“I can’t remember anything after eating something like mushrooms. What the hell did I eat?”
It was only natural considering she had consumed all sorts of drugs and deadly poisons. In the first place, it was no different from forcibly bringing her back to life with Karina’s sacred magic when she should have died. It wasn’t strange that she couldn’t remember. I closed my mouth for a moment and organized my thoughts.
This island.
What was this island…
I had never really thought about it because I was busy just trying to survive. By the time I finished what I had to do, the sun would have already set, and at night, I would just close my eyes with my tired body lying on the bed, so I had never seriously thought about what this island was. Although every night, I did think it was a fucking island.
If I had to squeeze out an answer, it was a small island with bears, snakes, and a dungeon.
It seemed to be about the size of Ulleungdo, so I couldn’t say it was very small, right?
“It’s an island where bears and snakes have divided the power, and there’s a dungeon stuck in the middle.”
“What a truly strange island.”
“It is a strange island indeed.”
“By the way, you wiped out all the bears. While you were high on mushrooms.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Hearing that makes me even more confused…”
I couldn’t understand why she was making such a gloomy expression. Isn’t this a friendly explanation? I couldn’t help but tilt my head.
“And… you’ve lived here for a long time, right? How did you survive?”
“With my skills.”
“What about escape?”
“I’ve tried a few times but failed. This island is surrounded by a strange vortex. If you launch a boat, you’ll probably get caught in the vortex and die while riding it.”
The last time I tried was the year before last, I think. After seeing the boat I had launched as a test being shattered to pieces in less than 20 minutes, I had completely given up on the idea of escaping. It was fortunate that I had only launched the boat as a test. If I had ridden it, I would have been waiting for new companions at the bottom of this sea as a bloated corpse by now.
“That’s troublesome… Is there really no way out?”
“Probably. But if we explore the dungeon, we might find some answer.”
“A dungeon… You’re readily telling me this.”
Renny looked at me with a surprised expression. The gaze filled with hostility that had been lingering until just before had softened.
“Your cooperation is essential to escape this deserted island.”
“Is that so…”
Renny answered in a weak voice and closed her mouth. It seemed that it was too much for her to continue the conversation with her patient’s body.
“Get some rest.”
“I think I should… If Lady Karina comes and asks, just tell her I fell asleep. If you tell her the truth, Lady Karina will worry too much and think I’m trying to push myself again…”
I nodded to Renny, who had her eyes half-closed.
Soon, a quiet breathing sound lightly tapped the air in rhythm.
And with good timing, the sound of the door opening was heard.
“Has she fallen asleep?”
Instead of answering, I nodded my head.
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It took a few more hours after Renny fell asleep for me to finish the leather shoes. Since it was my first time making them, the finishing was a bit awkward, but there was no problem with wearing them and walking around. I handed the shoes to Karina and watched as she took off her uncomfortable high heels and put on the leather sandals.
Wearing the leather sandals, Karina smiled at me like a tomboy.
“Wow, thank you!”
Karina seemed to like the leather sandals I had made for her and started lightly tapping her feet. It was a graceful movement that even I, who only knew about dancing from the group dance I had performed at a school event when I was young, could recognize. I stared intently at her moving figure.
It was quite a novel experience to see her dancing so closely. This was a deserted island, and the only foot movements here were the struggles that came from the desperate attempts to survive. Just watching the graceful footwork purely meant to express joy made me feel at ease.
“…Thank you.”
“Suddenly?”
What’s with this person? No, before that, when did you wake up? I looked at Renny’s profile as she blurted out an answer while lying on the bed and watching that scene. A face full of scars. The profile that bore the full brunt of the struggles accumulated so far entered my eyes. Renny spoke without taking her eyes off Karina.
“Lady Karina somehow became famous, you see. For the past few years, she rarely had a chance to live comfortably. Nobles and royals and whatnot were always bothering her, and immature brats who dreamed of romance would hit on her at every opportunity. In the midst of that, there was even someone who appeared trying to kidnap Lady Karina, sent from who knows where. She really had no reason to smile.
The weight of a high position was also a burden… Come to think of it, it’s absurd. To think she would be smiling after being stranded on a deserted island.”
…Is it because she, who was right by her side watching her every move, knew well the suffering Karina was going through? It’s not wrong.
While other people were obsessed with the position of the “Saint,” Renny was a knight who only looked at Karina as a girl. It was like that in any route.
Even when the Saint fell, even when she became the last hope and was sacrificed, Renny always prioritized her. It wasn’t simply because she was an escort knight.
Because it was Karina who had saved her from a life that was a neighbor to death, a life where she only knew the battlefield. Apart from other things, I could be certain that Renny would never betray Karina.
A mad dog to everyone except Karina, but a loyal dog to Karina. Wouldn’t those be the most appropriate words to describe her?
“…”
I pondered for a while about what to say, then just kept my mouth firmly shut.
It was because I had no idea what to say, and also because my attention was drawn to Karina’s dance moves.
Renny also seemed to have nothing more to say and started watching Karina’s dance moves together with me.
Unfortunately, Karina’s dance didn’t last very long. After finishing her brief dance, Karina realized that Renny and I were watching and blushed, smiling shyly. It was a beautiful smile.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her face at all.
As if she didn’t like the way I looked, Renny spoke in a regretful voice.
“Don’t fall for her. I’m telling you this as a benefactor, but you won’t see anything good come out of it.”
There was a bitterness in Renny’s face as she said that.
Bitterness towards whom?
Knowing Karina and Renny’s circumstances to some extent, I quietly nodded at her words.
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