3. Saintess Karina (3)

With a new member of the household came new tasks.

An expansion.

The original house was a brick home built in a scenic spot straight out of a fairy tale, but it wasn't very spacious since I'd made it assuming I'd be living alone.

A 15-pyeong house wasn't exactly small for a single person, but the storage room for odds and ends and the workshop for making tools took up more than half the space, so the actual living area wasn't that large. Expanding the living space was therefore ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠important.

I couldn't very well keep sleeping in a cramped room forever, tiptoeing around each other.

As soon as Karina recovered enough to walk, however laboriously, I got straight to work.

I pulled out the lumber and tools I'd salvaged from the shipwreck and first tore down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one whole wall. Normally that'd be a long job, but could anyone who transmigrated into a world like this really be normal?

This world itself was far from normal to begin with.

"Craft."

It had been a while.

Lately I'd been making things by hand as a hobby without using the Skill. I grinned at the pile of bricks that materialized in an instant. A Skill that let you skip some of the process as long as you had the materials. It was one of the reasons I'd managed to survive on this land.

Anyway, I could make anything as long as I had the materials. The more complex the object, the more complicated the required materials became... but it wasn't exactly a free-ride technique. Early on, I couldn't even process dirt properly and went through absolute hell.

Just then, a rumbling sound came from my stomach. About time to eat, I supposed.

Better finish up fast and go eat. By now Karina would be diligently stirring the pot. Maybe it was because she was the Saintess, but she'd recovered to the point where stirring a pot was no problem even if walking was still hard for her.

Even though I'd told her she could just rest.

Anyway, after eating I planned to head out to the beach for a bit to check for any possible survivors or additional bodies.

Honestly, I didn't think there'd be any more survivors.

This was an island where, in ten years, the only survivors had been me and Karina. Even if someone had been lucky enough to wash up on the beach and stay alive, if they'd landed in the territory of one of the monsters that split this island three ways instead of my zone... they'd have become a meal.

Those bastards could swallow a human whole in one bite.

I'd spent a full seven years just hiding and living in the shadows of their territories. It was only three years ago that they finally acknowledged my territory and we reached an implicit agreement not to encroach on each other's domains—only after that did my deserted-island life get a little boring.

In the end, the odds of anyone surviving either way were infinitely close to 0%. If it were a human with quasi-final-boss-level combat power like Reni, they might actually kill a monster and claim its land... but would she still be alive? Even if she were, there was also a chance she wasn't on this island in the first place.

Still, the more allies the better, so I planned to survey the island slowly, splitting it into sectors. With a patient to look after, spending a long time scouting the whole island would be tough anyway...

"Why not make it bigger while I'm at it?"

I'd meant to add roughly one more room, but maybe expanding it a bit more while I was at it would be better.

Just in case, you know, another castaway showed up.

Because hope, which hadn't existed before, had started whispering to me again through Karina's presence.

"Craft."

I made another heap of bricks and started fitting them in. In about two hours, I'd have a decent additional space. Very fast for a rebuild, but I'd been doing this kind of thing for ten years. And I wasn't exactly an ordinary human either.

At a speed that would put a hardworking private to shame, I began making the floor with bricks, stacking the walls, and laying the floorboards and ceiling with wooden planks.

The method was to fill the lower space with dirt and bricks, lay planks on top, and pack in more bricks. I'd never done construction work in Korea, so there was a slapdash feel to it, but do something like this long enough and you develop your own knack for it.

...Considering that monster attacks and tidal waves had forced me to rebuild my house dozens of times... I was at least grateful the bricks were a special type and sturdier. Though the problem was having to enter a dungeon to get the materials.

Since the two monsters and I who split this island three ways had an implicit non-aggression pact, I had to be extremely careful whenever I went to a dungeon.

I'd have to deal with those bastards someday, though.

Only then could I prepare to get off this island.

"Almost time to apply it..."

I spread the sticky fluid extracted from insect-type monsters onto the wall. The liquid quickly seeped into the bricks, bonding them tightly together. Now the wall was sturdy enough not to collapse from any ordinary impact.

After thoroughly coating the wall with the liquid and leaving no gaps, I roughly wiped the beads of sweat dotting my forehead.

The expansion was more or less finished now. Once the liquid dried, the wall would be strong enough to withstand a fair bit of shock. It seemed to have taken about three hours. I glanced up at the sun overhead and shoved the tools roughly into a corner. There was no one around to steal them anyway, so stashing them carelessly didn't matter.

I went straight to the well and washed myself off roughly. Then I filled a bucket I'd made earlier to the brim with water. This was water for Karina to wash with.

She still couldn't walk or move properly, so she wasn't able to get directly into water or pour it over herself to bathe, but Karina maintained a minimum level of cleanliness by wetting a cloth with lukewarm water and wiping herself down.

Of course, I'd never actually seen her wash. I left the house right after bringing her the water and cloth. Though come to think of it, it did feel kind of like a married couple. But we were way too distant for that kind of relationship...

Karina and I were still more like awkward housemates. Even now, being in the same house could sometimes create a stifling atmosphere. Karina still looked at me with wary eyes, too. Well, of course—she was in a situation where she could barely move, living with a rough-looking guy.

Even I'd have my guard set to MAX in that situation.

Still, it was getting better little by little, so maybe after a month or so we might be able to call each other friends? Trust between us was ultimately crucial if we were going to escape the island. If we couldn't trust each other, we couldn't kill the monsters or explore the dungeons, so for me it was a top-priority task.

"...Come to think of it, it's about time to go gather caterpillars."

The thought came to me suddenly.

But it was something I'd have had to do even if Karina hadn't washed up on the beach.

Quite some time had passed, so the caterpillars would have hatched in droves. I'd eaten a lot of them lately, so there was a need to restock soon. It was the most decent source of nutritious food in this area. To the point where meat from livestock like cows, chickens, and pigs felt foreign now.

"Still, I'd love some pork belly. Marinated ribs would be good too, and fried chicken... goes without saying."

But there was no livestock on this island. Nothing but those tasteless monster bastards. I needed to turn those monsters into fertilizer for this land as soon as possible so I could sleep easy, so I'd have to finish preparations as fast as I could.

Time to head back inside now.

I roughly dried myself off and opened the house door while carrying the water bucket.

Mm, a delicious smell.

The moment I opened the door, a savory aroma drilled into my nostrils. The appetizing scent made my mouth water, and hunger surged in like the tide. Karina was sitting in front of the brazier, stirring the contents of the pot with a ladle.

"Ah, you're back?"

"Yeah."

"Just wait a little longer. It's almost done."

I set the bucket down in a corner of the house and sat in front of the brazier to rest. Unlike a few days ago when she'd been horrified at the soup ingredients, Karina was now stirring the green liquid with a fairly practiced hand. Maybe she'd just gotten used to it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after eating it so much.

If you ate bugs three meals a day, it was impossible not to build up a tolerance...

"You've gotten used to it."

"The soup with bugs was a bit shocking at first, but... this isn't the time to be picky, is it? It's tasty in its own way, too. But you really are amazing, I think."

"I am?"

"Yes. The way you built the house by yourself like that..."

"The expansion?"

"Ah, is that what it's called? Yes. I never knew a house could become this much bigger in an instant."

"You can do it if you live on a deserted island for ten years."

"Ten years... did you truly live all alone for that long?"

She still had a half-doubting expression. Even though I'd shown her the tally marks I'd carved into the stone wall. Well, a span of ten years was more than half her lifetime, so it was only natural she couldn't really grasp it. When I nodded again, she looked at me with warm eyes and spoke.

"You've truly endured so much hardship for ten years."

At Karina's words, I couldn't answer and just nodded.

Because having those ten years of struggle acknowledged by someone was a pretty moving thing. The hellish hardships of the past decade flashed before my eyes. For a while, I opened and closed my mouth, choosing my words.

I didn't know what to say.

In the end, I barely managed to squeeze out a simple answer.

"...Thank you."

"Isn't that my line? Thank you for saving me."

Karina drew a soft smile on her lips. A faint blush rose on her cheeks, as if she herself found this a little embarrassingly mushy. We silently stared at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pot again.

"It's all done."

At Karina's words, I snapped back to attention and took the bowl she handed me, steam gently wafting up from it. Maybe because she'd added dried fruit today, it had a somewhat fresher scent than usual.

I scooped up a spoonful of the soup, put it in my mouth, and savored the taste of the hot liquid as it settled on my tongue.

Mm. Savory and slightly tangy.

Calling it soup, there was a bit of a radish-water-kimchi vibe to it, but anyone who fussed over taste while living on a deserted island deserved to be fed to the monster bastards. This was a place where you had to be grateful just to have something to eat.

"Thank you for the meal."

"...Thank you for the meal."

The modest meal quickly came to an end. I put all the bowls and utensils into the spotlessly emptied pot and got up from my seat. Washing dishes immediately was less bothersome in the long run. As I made to leave, Karina sat down on the bed and began preparing to wash.

"See you when you get back."

My face felt hot for some reason, so I just nodded and hurriedly scrambled out of the house.

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Scrub, scrub.

After finishing the dishes with homemade soap, I stood up and stretched. Washing dishes here without a sink or running water was an incredibly annoying process, but it still had to be done. I gathered up the dishes and was about to head back inside the house.

Until the ground suddenly shook out of nowhere.

Irregular vibrations pounded mercilessly against the soles of my feet.

Just like this island where some disaster always struck the moment you forgot about the last one, it seemed something had happened again.

"...Here we go again."

I tossed the dishes aside, dashed straight to the front yard, and grabbed the shovel leaning next to the front door.