Chapter 103
Chapter 103
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Survival (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
When Liche came to her senses, she found herself in the middle of a deserted island.
The first thing she did was survey her surroundings.
Since the teleportation sent them to random locations, it wouldn't be strange if other students were nearby.
Plundering among students was permitted in this event, so she had to remain constantly vigilant, never knowing where an attack might come from.
Liche scanned everything thoroughly—between the trees, and even up in their branches. When she sensed no presence nearby, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Shouldering the backpack filled with survival supplies, she set off to find a good spot.
The most crucial thing in this survival event was, without a doubt, location.
A safe place with plenty of food, a source of water, and somewhere to hide.
The first two were lower priorities. The food she brought would be enough to last for a day at the least, two at the most. A person wouldn't die from a few days without food or water.
Of course, it might cause some problems, but it was manageable compared to the alternative.
But a poor shelter was a different story.
Sleeping at night and waking in the morning might seem natural for humans, but that was only under 'normal' circumstances.
This was survival. The line between day and night vanished in the fight to live.
Weaker students would likely act at night rather than in the morning to plunder from others.
Of course, the night also brought the risk of monsters, but people with nothing to lose and those pushed to their limits would do anything.
That didn't mean the stronger students had an unconditional advantage.
Their supplies could be stolen while they slept.
The important distinction here was 'theft,' not 'plunder.'
Plunder meant taking things by force. As the top student, Liche wasn't likely to be plundered, but she wasn't safe from theft.
Theft was an easy method; all someone had to do was sneak up while she was asleep and take everything.
An unlucky student could lose all their survival supplies on the very first night.
And that wasn't even the worst of it.
Losing one's food was certainly a dangerous situation, but something far worse loomed.
The biggest problem was...
'Sleep deprivation.'
As mentioned before, even during the hours meant for sleep, one had to remain tense and vigilant.
This was tantamount to being unable to sleep, and in the worst-case scenario, one might have to stay awake for the entire duration of the survival event.
A few days without food and water wouldn't kill a person, but several sleepless nights would naturally impair judgment and concentration. Eventually, emotional control would break down, making it difficult to act rationally.
That was why, for the sake of sleep alone, she needed the best possible hiding spot.
Liche quickened her pace, searching for a suitable location.
It had been exactly 12 o'clock when she arrived on the deserted island via teleportation.
Searching for a place on this vast island while fighting off any students or monsters she encountered would quickly eat up the day, and evening would soon fall.
Once that happened, she would be unable to move freely. She had to find a temporary hiding spot before then.
-Kieeeeeek!!
But her path was not a smooth one.
The academy staff weren't the only ones on this island.
A horde of goblins burst out in front of Liche.
The natives of this seemingly deserted island. Monsters lurked everywhere.
Among them, goblins were the weakest.
The goblins immediately charged, brandishing their clubs.
In the past, she would have instantly conjured flames to burn them to a crisp, but not now.
Instead, she allowed a goblin to approach.
As the goblin swung its club wildly, she scooped up a handful of dirt and threw it.
It was a basic hunting technique Luke had taught her.
When hunting, you don't discriminate between methods.
As the goblin staggered back, dirt in its eyes, she stepped forward and roughly grabbed its face.
Then, she unleashed a burst of fire precisely from her palm. Startled by the sudden heat, the goblin thrashed about, but soon its limbs went limp, and its body slumped to the ground.
It had died instantly, its head incinerated without so much as a final scream.
Her mana was finite. To be safe in case something unexpected happened, she had to conserve it, using it only when and where it was needed.
That's why she had attacked using the minimum amount of mana.
"Heh... I really picked a good master."
Watching the smoldering corpse, Liche found herself smiling.
She could feel how much she had changed.
When she took a step forward to deal with the next goblin, the others took a step back.
"You think I'll let you run?"
It wasn't something she had asked for, but Luke had also given her lessons on how to handle things.
Never show mercy to an opponent who picks a fight; crush them completely. Hunt down anyone who tries to flee and kill them. Leave no loose ends.
His words seemed strange at first glance, but the more she listened, the more they made sense.
So this time, Liche was the one who lunged forward.
She grabbed the heads of two goblins and incinerated them.
In an instant, three were dead.
The remaining two belatedly realized they couldn't win and tried to flee, but Liche chased them down and annihilated them all.
All that remained were the goblin corpses, fallen without even shedding blood.
After cutting off the goblins' fingers as proof of her kills, Liche resumed her search for a suitable spot.
Moving her body helped clear her troubled mind somewhat, but one thought refused to leave her.
'Hex...'
She'd searched so hard for information about him, yet now that she had it, it was anything but welcome.
Was it because she now knew she couldn't win, no matter what she did?
According to the information she got from Luke, that bastard would appear during this survival training.
And the hints he had given her.
Blood Moon, mana exhaustion, and...
"...Arthur."
Luke had told her many things, but it was all too vague to make any definite conclusions.
Even she, who had read nearly every book in the academy library searching for information on Hex, knew nothing about a 'Blood Moon' or 'mana exhaustion.'
A 'Blood Moon' literally meant a red moon... would a red moon really rise during the training?
As for 'mana exhaustion,' she couldn't think of any special meaning. It was just the symptom that came from using up all your mana.
And the biggest problem of all.
"Haaah..."
Just imagining it was horrible.
The fact that Arthur's name was part of the hint meant she would have to get involved with him.
He was already trying to get involved with her, and now she had to be the one to initiate it.
When Luke had first told her about her relationship with Arthur, she had been truly shocked.
To think that she, who disliked Arthur so much, was originally fated to be his lover.
'And not just any lover, but one who'd... who'd had sex with him.'
So that's why he'd been so persistent, even when she made it clear how much she disliked him.
'If I'm going to get entangled with him one way or another, then I have my own way of doing things.'
Didn't Luke say it? When hunting, use any means necessary.
In that case, she would simply use Arthur to hunt Hex.
"Oh! Liche!"
"...Ah."
Speak of the devil.
Her eyes met Arthur's through a gap in the trees.
***
"Haaah..."
He let out a sigh deep enough to make the ground sink in the middle of the forest.
This damn novel.
Why in the world was the plot progressing like this?
The next event wasn't exactly a pleasant one.
Liche would be indifferent, and he could even be killed by Tia if he messed up.
But that was the original Arthur. He knew which heroine would help him after he turned into a frog, so he would have been fine.
His original plan was to find Stella as soon as he turned into a frog.
In the original story, Stella was the only one who helped Arthur when he was turned into a frog.
Plus, he could get a kiss out of it.
But his plans had all gone awry.
The story had suddenly skipped to the survival event, omitting the one that was supposed to happen.
"This is way too fast!!"
An event that was supposed to take place in the second semester happening in the first was just absurd.
If the plot was accelerating to match his growth rate, then the survival event was about the right level of difficulty.
Still.
"I've been doing nothing but fighting lately..."
Normally, there would be dates with the heroines and some light-hearted events in between.
The curse event where he was supposed to turn into a frog—Arthur nearly died, but it was still one of those breather events—had been skipped.
"But it shouldn't have been survival..."
If it were a normal event, he could get by with a little fighting, but not the survival event.
This island would soon become a massive battlefield.
It would literally become a case of 'Now, kill each other.'
Lately, all he could remember was fighting, whether it was ambushes or something else.
At this point, he was starting to forget whether this novel was a protagonist-suffering story or a growth story.
Since this event was happening earlier than in the original, he didn't know how many students had turned into Demonic Humans, but even so, this event would not be easy.
"First... I need to find the others."
The rules Lucia had explained before the survival event began.
Forming teams was allowed, and there was no limit to the number of members.
To conserve his stamina before the main event started, joining up with them was essential. Plus, traveling together would raise their affection levels—killing two birds with one stone.
"Of course, the most important one is Liche."
The key to this event.
Liche Winchester.
Since this was much earlier than in the original story, he wasn't sure if the event would unfold properly. Still, he had to prepare for the worst.
If he made a complacent judgment here and was even a little late, Liche would be dead.
"Alright. I'll find Liche first."
Arthur set off.
Finding someone on this vast island would be difficult, but he had plenty of time. He just had to find her within five days. Surely he could run into her at least once in five days?
It was then that he sensed a flicker of mana.
Who could it be? It was impossible to tell just by sensing their mana.
Especially when they were using such a faint, barely perceptible amount.
The amount of mana was too ambiguous to belong to anyone he knew. Arthur considered turning back, assuming it was just a student he didn't recognize, but...
'Just in case, maybe I should check it out.'
He felt like he was raising a flag somehow, so he decided to just take a look.
It wouldn't take long just to check.
He pushed through the bushes in the direction of the mana and found the corpses of goblins with incinerated heads scattered everywhere. And in the center of it all...
"Oh! Liche!"
"...Ah."
...stood Liche.
When she saw him, she let out a strange sort of exclamation.
Still, this was perfect. She was the key to this event, so it was safer for her to stick close to him.
"Liche, would you want to team up with me?"
"No... I mean, yes."
"Huh? Wh-what?"
"What's wrong?"
How should he put it... After being rejected so coldly every single time, her ready acceptance felt strange.
He didn't say that out loud, only thought it.
"It's nothing. Come on, let's go find the others."
"By 'the others,' you mean Tia and Stella?"
"Yeah. If we stick together, no one will try to plunder from us."
It was partly to conserve stamina by minimizing combat before the main event, but also because he didn't know which students were Demonic Humans.
It would be a problem if a fight broke out and one of them discreetly cast a curse on him.
That didn't happen in the original, but the story had already deviated so much.
"The fewer battles, the better, right? Less fighting means we conserve stamina, and conserving stamina means we can save on food, too."
"That's true. Let's do as you say."
Liche, agreeing so readily.
Could it be that my efforts are finally paying off?
Sensing his favorite character's affection level rising, Arthur led the way, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile.
Unaware that someone was following them from behind.