16. Survival Rule #3: We Are All Friends (2)
16. Survival Rule #3: We Are All Friends (2)
...A pervert?
"Me?"
"Yeah, you... There's a pile of clothes over there, so why the hell are you walking around half-naked? Is there some tradition here where you're not allowed to wear a top? Like an orc?"
...Orcs didn't wear shirts either? They sounded like my kind of people.
They had been enemies in the game, though.
At Reni's words, I glanced at the pile of clothes in the corner. They were garments I'd salvaged from the shipwreck, ranging from expensive outfits to shabby clothes, all neatly folded. Some had become outfits for Karina, and a few would go to Reni. I had no intention of wearing any of them.
"This is more comfortable."
"...Don't you think it's a little inappropriate to walk around shirtless in front of women? Karina seems uncomfortable with it too."
"I'm not so sure about that."
If anything, she'd been sneaking glances at me for a while now. I had no way of knowing Karina's tastes, but either way, she didn't seem to mind, so did it really matter?
Why was she giving me grief over going shirtless in the first place? I couldn't understand it. It wasn't as if I was walking around without pants. A man could go without a shirt. Back when no one else was here, I wandered around in nothing but my underwear. Compared with that, wasn't I dressed well enough now?
She was a strange woman.
I met her eyes with that meaning, and Reni stared back in disbelief before grimacing. Her body still hurt too much for her even to sit up. Once some of the pain subsided and her expression returned to normal, she spoke with an apologetic look.
"...Sorry. That's not something a bitch living off your hospitality should have said. I'm just frustrated by how pathetic I am right now. I was too sensitive."
"Yeah."
I already knew she had a foul mouth, so it didn't bother me. When she appeared as a boss, she hurled every curse imaginable. If anything, I was surprised she apologized so readily. Then again, she wasn't normally that unreasonable.
She only became excessively sensitive whenever Karina was involved. It was a kind of occupational hazard.
"But is this really an uninhabited island?"
"It is."
"Can you call it uninhabited when there are people here?"
Reni posed a question that was surprisingly difficult to answer. Was it a misnomer to call it uninhabited because I was here? Or not? I felt a little dizzy wrestling with this pointless conundrum. Now that there were three whole people here, could you really call it uninhabited? So should I call it an inhabited island?
Ugh, my head hurt.
"There are only three of us, so I'm just calling it uninhabited. No one's here except us."
"Wouldn't that make three of us?"
"Whatever, there aren't any people except for us, so it's uninhabited."
"Is that so..."
At my perfectly clear answer, Reni nodded weakly.
"So why are you living here?"
"Same as you."
"I see..."
Reni let out a deep sigh. She hadn't even spoken much, but her expression already looked as if exhaustion was washing over her.
"I'd like you to explain things... I still don't have a clear grasp of anything."
"Explain?"
"I've been in a haze this whole time. Karina told me some things, but my memory's all mixed up. I think I heard your name too... Rohan Qwitz?"
"It's Yohan Quartz."
She still wasn't in her right mind.
"Ah, right, Yohan... I think Karina said that. I don't remember very well."
"I see."
Reni had only opened her eyes the day before, so she hadn't received a proper explanation yet. That was why she wanted to question me now. I needed her help as well, so treating this as a fair exchange wasn't a bad idea. I set down the nearly finished leather shoes, turned fully toward her, and looked down.
"What do you want to know?"
"What kind of island is this?"
"You don't remember anything?"
"I don't remember anything after eating that mushroom or whatever. What the hell did I eat, anyway?"
Considering she'd swallowed all kinds of narcotics and deadly poison, that was only natural. She should have died; Karina had practically forced her to survive with holy magic. There was nothing strange about the gaps in her memory. I fell silent for a moment and organized my thoughts.
This island.
What was this island...?
I'd been too busy surviving to think much about it. By the time I finished everything that needed doing, the sun had usually set, and at night I simply lay my exhausted body on the bed and closed my eyes. I'd never seriously considered what this island was, although every night I did think it was a fucking awful island.
If I had to squeeze out everything I knew, it was a small island with bears, snakes, and a dungeon.
It seemed to be about the size of Ulleungdo, so maybe I couldn't call it tiny?
"It's an island where bears and snakes divide the territory in two, and there's a dungeon parked right in the middle."
"What a strange island."
"It is a strange island."
"For reference, you wiped out all the bears while high on mushrooms."
"I did?"
"Yeah."
"That only makes it even more confusing..."
I couldn't figure out why she was making such a bleak face. Wasn't that a pretty friendly explanation? I could only tilt my head.
"And... you've lived here a long time, right? How did you survive?"
"However I could."
"Escaping?"
"I tried a few times, but failed. A strange whirlpool surrounds the island. If we set sail, we'd get caught in it and die."
Was the last attempt the year before last? After I saw a boat I'd launched as a test get smashed to pieces in less than twenty minutes, I completely gave up on the idea of escaping. It was a relief I'd only sent the boat out by itself; if I'd been on it, I'd be at the bottom of the sea by now, a bloated corpse waiting for new companions.
"Troublesome... is there really no way out?"
"Probably not. But if we explored the dungeon, we might find an answer."
"A dungeon, huh... You're telling me all this so readily."
Reni stared at me with a surprised look on her face. The hostile gaze that had lingered until just moments ago had softened.
"If I'm going to escape this island, I need your cooperation."
"I see..."
Reni answered weakly and fell silent. Her condition apparently made further conversation too taxing.
"Sleep."
"I suppose I should... If Karina comes back and asks, just tell her I fell asleep. She worries too much, and if she hears the truth, she'll think I'm trying to overdo it again..."
I nodded at Reni, whose eyes were already half-closed.
Soon, the quiet rhythm of her breathing filled the room.
And with perfect timing, I heard the door open.
"Has she fallen asleep?"
I nodded instead of answering.
-----------------
It took several more hours after Reni fell asleep to finish the leather sandals. Since it was my first time making them, the finish was a little rough, but they were perfectly wearable. I handed them to Karina and watched her remove her uncomfortable dress shoes and slip them on.
Wearing the leather sandals, Karina looked at me and grinned like a tomboyish girl.
"Wow, thank you!"
Pleased with the leather sandals I'd made, Karina began taking a few light dance steps. Her movements were graceful enough that even I could recognize it, despite knowing nothing about dance beyond a group routine at an elementary-school performance. I watched her intently.
Seeing someone dance from so close was a novel experience. This was an uninhabited island, where the only footwork I normally saw came from desperate struggles to survive. Simply watching graceful movements meant to express pure joy made me feel at ease.
"...Thank you."
"All of a sudden?"
What was with her? More importantly, when had she woken up? At Reni's abrupt response from the bed, I looked at her profile. Her face was covered in wounds, and the struggles she had endured seemed etched into it. Unable to take her eyes off Karina, Reni continued.
"Karina somehow became famous. She's barely had a chance to relax these past few years. Nobles and royalty constantly pestered her, conceited young fools chased their fantasies of romance and hit on her whenever they could, and bastards sent by who-knows-who even tried to kidnap her. She had almost no reason to smile.
"The weight of her position is burden enough on its own... Come to think of it, this is ridiculous. She only started smiling after being stranded on an uninhabited island."
Was it because Reni had watched Karina's every move from right beside her and understood her suffering so well? She wasn't wrong.
While everyone else obsessed over the title of Saintess, Reni was a knight who looked only at the girl named Karina. That was true in every route.
Even when the Saintess fell into corruption or was sacrificed as the last hope, Reni always put Karina first. It was not simply because she was her Escort Knight.
Karina was the one who had saved Reni, a woman who had lived beside death and known nothing but battle. Whatever else might happen, I was certain Reni would never betray Karina.
A mad dog to everyone but Karina, and a loyal hound to Karina herself. Wasn't that the best way to describe her?
"..."
I spent a while wondering what to say, then simply kept my mouth shut.
It was partly because I couldn't think of a single thing to say, but also because I was completely distracted watching Karina's dance steps.
Reni, who seemed to have nothing more to add either, began to watch Karina's dance with me.
Sadly, Karina's dance didn't last long. Once her brief dance came to an end, Karina flushed and smiled bashfully when she realized Reni and I were watching. It was a beautiful smile.
I could not tear my eyes away from her face.
Perhaps displeased by the sight of me, Reni spoke in a concerned voice.
"Don't fall for her. I'm telling you this because you're my benefactor, but you won't see anything good come of it."
A bitterness was seeping through Reni's face as she said that.
Who was that bitterness meant for?
Knowing a fair amount about Karina and Reni's circumstances, I only quietly nodded in agreement at her words.