13. Survival Rule #2: Water Knows the Answer (2)
13. Survival Rule #2: Water Knows the Answer (2)
There were three main sources of drinking water on this island.
The well I'd dug myself.
The large pond in the bears' territory.
The pond in the snakes' territory.
Those three were the island's key strategic water sources, which was why I'd spent years working so hard to secure my supply. Sadly, the snake bastards had poisoned my well and made it unusable. It would neutralize naturally with time, but until then I'd have to endure by obtaining water through every means available.
Those goddamn bastards.
I would burn that Hydra bastard alive.
I ground my teeth and quickened my pace.
Naturally, I was heading to the snakes' pond.
Yeah, a pond. An island this small could hardly have a lake. It was large for a pond, but whatever. The snakes controlled that water source and the comparatively fertile land around it, making them the largest faction on the island. The bears were formidable too, but they were fewer, simple-minded, and far more interested in eating and fighting than expanding their territory.
Both sides were on bad terms with me, but if you thought about it, I was basically a foreign body wedged between their two territories. Now only the snake bastards remained, and the power structure had become a three-way standoff: the snakes, the dungeon, and me. I couldn't say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
The dungeon was just as much of a headache as the bears and snakes.
The snakes were causing a ruckus, so I'd pushed the dungeon problem back, but to escape this island I had to clear the dungeon. There wasn't any concrete proof, but getting rid of the mysterious vortex surrounding the island seemed like the only way.
Once Reni was fully recovered—or at least well enough to fight—I planned to tackle the dungeon somehow. Karina should be able to deal with the undead by herself. The prospect of being horribly busy for a while was already annoying.
Maybe living on this island forever wouldn't be so bad.
Could I even adapt to life on the outside?
I'd already gotten used to living alone. Part of me wanted to feel the comforts of civilization, but in the end, this wasn't the world I'd known. It wasn't a world with cars, airplanes, computers, and my own home. What would even change by going out into a world like that? Even if I left this island, it would just be the start of a painful adjustment period.
Survival Academy was also packed with bleak Bad Endings. How many had there been? Twenty? There were around five for the main story and perhaps two for each heroine, though some were comedic.
If I never left this island, I wouldn't get dragged into those Bad Endings. Even if the world fell to ruin, this island would stay peaceful. And then one day I'd just hang myself and die.
I'd never seen the True Ending either. I had been transmigrated the moment I bought the True Ending DLC. In a game already difficult for no good reason, what would happen if I entered the outside world without knowing the conditions for that ending? The protagonist would probably handle things even if I did nothing, but there was only one chance. I was curious who that protagonist was, though.
I'd gotten sidetracked. First, I had to deal with the snake bastards, then think. Besides, nothing would get done until I crushed those pricks first.
I walked briskly toward the snakes' territory and formulated my plan. My target was the pond in the snakes' territory. Didn't the great Code of Hammurabi decree an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? So I intended to commit an act of terror against the snakes, in accordance with the Code of Hammurabi.
Simply put, it was the "If I Can't Drink It, Neither Can You" operation.
My grudge over the ruined drinking water ran deep. With the bears gone, the snakes wanted a fight, did they? Petty bastards. This was practically a declaration of war. Anyone who tampered with water deserved a brutal lesson before they learned.
Grinding my teeth as I walked, I soon saw the boundary covered in substances snakes hated. How had they crossed it? They had probably come through the traps near the bears' territory. I'd need to spread snake repellent there too. I could dismantle the traps and use the materials to strengthen the fence or repair the walls. With the bears dead, those traps were no longer needed.
No, the dungeon was still there, so I'd postpone dismantling the traps. I didn't want zombies pounding on the walls in the middle of the night and making a racket. I had no idea what was happening in the dungeon to make zombies keep pouring out.
"...It's quiet."
Was it because the bears were gone? Word that they'd been wiped out must have reached the snakes too. Which was exactly why they'd gotten bold enough to pull this. What a bunch of petty shits—fitting for snakes.
Standing before the perimeter line, I took a pouch of powder from the leather bag slung over my shoulder and scattered it lightly along the border. As the powder drifted from the pouch, snakes revealed themselves with sharp hissing sounds.
So they had been lying in ambush at the boundary after all. There was no way the Hydra had failed to anticipate my arrival. If I walked straight in, dozens of snakes would obviously welcome me. That much was certain.
I scattered powder along the boundary as I moved toward the point closest to the pond. The snakes couldn't even attempt to attack through the powder and did nothing but hiss in fury. The sound grated on my ears, but I wouldn't have to listen to it much longer.
"Somewhere around here."
The trees were packed so densely that I could only estimate the location, but my old memories suggested this was right. I stood there and stared toward where the pond should be. There were so many trees that I wanted to burn them all. Setting the entire forest ablaze would've made exterminating the snakes easy, but that would've meant mutual destruction, so it was a shame I couldn't do it.
So the next best option was to ruin the pond. Without its water, the snakes would suffer from dehydration, and their advance would slow at least somewhat. The source in the bears' territory was too far away, and trying to reach it would risk a clash with the dungeon monsters.
After all, no matter how much venom the snakes had, attacks wouldn't do a thing against skeletons or zombies, would they?
Oh, wait.
A decent idea struck me.
I turned my gaze away from the direction of the pond and stared toward where the dungeon would be. The dungeon was probably spawning monsters even now. Maybe I could use that.
I immediately turned around and headed for the dungeon.
As I considered how to carry out the plan as efficiently as possible.
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"Ugh..."
"Reni?! You're awake?"
"Karina... this place... where..."
In a hazy, drowsy state, Reni spotted pink hair swaying at the edge of her heat-blurred vision. It was the color she had desperately longed to see, the only pink hair in the world. She wanted to reach out and touch it immediately, but her body wouldn't move.
'Some Escort Knight I was.'
An Escort Knight being nursed by her charge was something others would laugh at. Even so, Reni was happy.
If she was alive, that was a relief. Reni couldn't decide whether she ought to thank Kalon—whom she didn't even believe in—for meeting Karina again without dying, or if she should just chalk it up to good luck.
Reni moved her lips, wanting to express her joy.
She wanted to speak, but no words came. Only then did Reni understand how grave her condition was. She strained to move her eyes, the only part of her that still obeyed, so she could see Karina's face. Cruelly, even her eyes had been exhausted by prolonged overexertion and could no longer function properly. She was not blind, but until her body recovered, she would have to live within a wavering haze.
"Reni... you don't have to push yourself. Rest for now. It hasn't been long since I purified the poison..."
'...Poison?'
I'd been poisoned? Reni tried to summon up her memories, deliberately ignoring the agony wracking her entire body. What had she gone through? She couldn't quite remember. Opening her eyes on the beach, fighting off a bear, getting hungry and eating a mushroom, and then...
"Ngh...!"
"Reni?! Are you alright?!"
Karina examined Reni with an expression on the verge of spilling huge tears. She searched Reni's body for any wound that might have worsened, but fortunately found none. Karina sighed in relief, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.
Reni succumbed to the pain ravaging her body and lost consciousness again.
'I had used every bit of mana I possessed to purify the vicious poison throughout her body... I was dizzy. I needed to rest a little too.'
The poisons saturating Reni's body were vicious. She suffered hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, her blood had been contaminated, her internal organs were being dissolved, and wounds covered her entire body. It was difficult to tell whether she was a corpse or a living person. Even patients who had spent years as dark Wizards' test subjects hadn't been in such terrible condition.
'Still, if I treated her for about a week...'
A complete cure would be impossible in that time, but Reni should recover enough for limited movement. Karina once again felt grateful that she was the Saintess. Without the powerful holy magic available only to her, Reni would have been buried on the same day Yohan carried her back.
With all four limbs severed.
"I wonder when Yohan will return..."
Murmuring to herself where no one could hear, Karina closed her eyes.
Just a moment. I should rest for just a moment.
Quiet breathing joined the crackle of the firewood.