I’m full.
Unfortunately, most of the rabbit’s size was fur, so there wasn’t much meat, but fortunately, about half of it remained.
If I leave this wound alone, it could get infected, and if that happened, the only thing I’d be able to do is pray.
I have to do something.
“...Ngh.”
It was cold enough to make me shiver, but I washed the wound with water.
I gathered the snow around me and pressed it firmly against the injury.
It was literally so numb it was shocking, but I figured it had to be better than merely praying the wound wouldn’t fester, so I endured the pain and kept pressing down.
After all, the snow looked clean, so I believed it would be effective.
“Haa... hoo.”
...
I’m sleepy.
I picked up the leftover rabbit carcass and headed toward the geyser.
I laid my body on the warm rocks and tried to sleep.
The rocks were warm, but cold wind swept over me.
But this was definitely much better than sleeping on frozen ground. At least I wouldn’t freeze to death.
When I wake up, I’ll process the scattered rocks... I don’t know.
Good night.
...
... ...
I didn’t know how long I’d slept, but my fatigue seemed to have eased somewhat.
But what was that rustling sound I heard?
“...”
[Sleep well?]
“?”
[Isn’t that thing super cute?]
“? ...!!!”
When I opened my eyes and looked to the side, I saw something with its nose buried in my rabbit.
The creature—whether it had sensed me or not—also raised its head.
“Fuck...”
[You’re going to raise it, right? Huh? You are, aren’t you?!]
The creature looking at me with round, clear eyes was definitely a fox.
I knew foxes were carnivores, so it must have been lured here by the rabbit.
Yeah, in this harsh world, when there’s food, you bury your face in it first. But that’s my food, and you are stealing my food.
“...”
It was definitely a fox, and honestly, I’d never seen a real one before, but one the size of a retriever was definitely abnormal, right?
Yeah, of course, asking for common sense in this frontier world might be strange, but could I win if I fought that thief?
...
No, that’s not it. It’s not about whether I can win.
The crime of eyeing my food must be paid for with its life.
As I looked at the fox and began to rise, perhaps sensing something wrong, it raised its tail and bared its teeth.
If it were a small creature, I’d find it cute, but a carnivore the size of a retriever is a different story.
I had just woken up, and in the cold, my body was stiff, so I wasn’t sure if I could move properly, but—
[Oh my, oh my, are you going to beat it up right away?!]
“Uraaah!!”
The fox had bitten down as if to tear off my leg. I grabbed the scruff of its neck and smashed its head down like a madman.
With every blow, the pain surged. Its teeth sank deeper and deeper. I felt like I would literally pass out, but if I passed out here, I’d become the fox’s meal.
Use the surging pain.
Collect my consciousness that felt as if it would slip away.
The fox must hurt as much as I do.
I could feel it shaking its head and trying to pull back, as if it couldn’t overcome the pain, but I would never let go.
I pushed the back of its neck.
I let it fix its teeth firmly into my leg.
With every blow to its head, the pain in my bitten leg didn’t dull but intensified. My vision literally went white, but I must not stop the violence.
I have to bash its skull in, like this, like this, like this like this like this like thislikethislikethislikethislikethislikethis!!!!
“Aaaaaah!!!!!”
“ ”
[You really fight like a brute.]
“Uraaaaaaaaaah!!!”
[It’s dead, stop hitting it.]
“Ura, haaa... ...”
If I hit, I win.
I’ll never die.
If I die, I’ll regress. I don’t want to feel more of this pain, so I’ll survive without dying.
“Aah... uhaaaah! It h-hurts...”
I tried to pull the fox up by the scruff I was gripping, but its teeth were lodged so deep they wouldn’t come out properly.
I supposed the fox’s teeth had reduced the bleeding, but I couldn’t stay like this forever.
Death was death either way, so I clenched my teeth hard, put strength into my arms, and pulled the scruff. Then, dangling from one hand by its neck, I saw the fox’s intact corpse with my own two eyes.
Strength left my leg.
Blood flowed from my thigh.
I gathered snow and stabbed it into the wound like a plug.
My mind had definitely reached its limit, but if I lay down like this, my mind would become clear.
In the worst possible way.
“Hngh... unngh...”
[You okay?]
“I’m no...”
[It was cute, you should’ve raised it.]
I wanted to smash that yapping mouth.
I wished it would shut up, but I felt pathetic for having no choice but to ignore her.
Yeah, the goddess’s words were just a cursed auditory hallucination only I could hear.
[Oh my?]
“Hehe... kh, th-the b-blood stopped...”
[A raid’s coming?]
It should be a cursed hallucination, not a real curse coming.
“ ”
[What’s a raid? Dunno, but it’s here?]
“Huh, ...why?”
In this situation?
I need treatment right now.
If I can’t get treatment, I need to rest immediately. So why a raid?
[Let me see~ it’s a bit far, but huh? It’s coming right here!!]
“ ”
My hands trembled.
It was so hard and painful just catching an animal smaller than me. Now I had to fight a person?
There’s no way I can win.
No matter how unbearable the trials this frontier world gives, it can’t be this fucked up from the start.
I knew better than anyone that I’d die if I stayed like this.
I wanted to get up, but my left leg, oblivious to the situation, went on strike. It was tired, it needed rest—no, it was like demanding immediate treatment.
Setting aside the pain, no strength entered it at all.
“Fuck! Fuuuuck!! Ah, uaaaaah!!!”
[...]
Please move.
I screamed at the top of my lungs that striking here meant death and slammed my leg, but it didn’t even think of moving.
[It’s here.]
“Ah, ah...”
I will regress.
For sure.
I’ll fight the fox again, and this fox will bite my leg.
I’ll offer my arm instead of my leg.
Then, I might run, run...
...
Where to?
“...”
“G-give it here!!!!”
I turned my head at the childish voice.
A young child wearing a body wrap so shabby it was embarrassing to call it clothes.
I thought the raider looked truly pathetic, but they held a knife.
“ ”
“M-move! I-it’s mine!!”
Mine?
What?
I have nothing but this body.
With very anxious eyes, trembling hands, they looked back and forth between something and me.
Following their gaze, the fox lying beside me seemed to be the target.
...
Ah, I see.
That child is hungry too.
Not trying to kill me, but trying to fill their stomach.
“I-I’m badly hurt, mm, I have no strength...”
“... ...”
“Look, I have no weapon. Hehe... Take it, e-eat it. Just s-spare me.”
The nameless child couldn’t shed their suspicion and slowly approached me.
If they found me suspicious, if they attacked me to eat safely, I’d die without being able to do anything. But perhaps judging me a safe person, they rushed to the fox and stabbed it with the knife.
Groaning, they stuck the knife into the fox to make it easier to eat.
How safe they must have thought I was. Literally seeing me as a non-threat.
...
They showed me their back.
“M’food... m’foo... hehe...”
“...”
I slowly moved my body.
I focused every nerve to make no sound.
The child stopped grunting.
Was I found out?
“Hiyaa...”
No.
They were skinning the hide and taking the lean meat.
With rather practiced movements, they cut with the knife, then crouched and shook.
They weren’t shaking.
They were eating the meat.
My meat.
I took a small, quiet breath.
It was true that no strength entered my leg, but putting strength into these two fists was no problem.
A raider, even if a child, holding a knife.
Whether I could win by fighting was not important.
The crime of coveting my food must be paid for with a life.
Judging that I had gotten close enough, I put strength into my right leg and raised my upper body as if kneeling.
“...? Huh?!”
“!!!”
The child opened their eyes wide and looked at me with their mouth caked with blood.
How?!
...
I hadn’t thought about the shadow.
“Uh!!”
The child fumbled on the ground as if looking for their weapon, but I had already thrown my fist.
My fist landed squarely on their face, and they rolled on the ground pathetically.
They looked incapacitated by pain so great they couldn’t even scream, but I must not hesitate.
Because they coveted my food.
So it’s right to kill them.
“Hoo...”
Rationally speaking, killing was the right choice.
I should beat them to death right now, but my body hesitated and refused to act.
And it began to persuade me.
It’s just a child.
You’ve starved too, don’t you know that feeling?
As a human, you shouldn’t.
That raider is just a child...
“Kraa, aaah!!!”
The child fumbled at their wrap and pulled out a glass bottle.
If they smashed that glass bottle on the ground.
And then thrust it at me?
“ ”
Literally instinctively, I threw my body at the child.
No matter how weak I was, the opponent was a child, and I was an adult.
No matter what they did, even if they struggled, a child could never push off an adult already weighed down on top of them.
“Save me! It hurts, uwa! You s-saved me!!!”
“...”
I slowly raised my body.
And then, and then.
“Ke, heu, h... ... ...! !!!!”
“...”
I pressed down on their neck with my left knee.
With my left knee that couldn’t control its strength no matter how hard I tried, with my full weight.
Struggling and thrashing.
It was a hellishly long time, but eventually the movements subsided and stopped.
I gazed down at the child for a long while, then threw my body to the side.
“Fuck, fuck...”
[Wow...]
“I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? Right?”
[... ...]
The goddess, a real auditory hallucination, remained silent.
A cold sensation filled my entire body.
It was definitely the weather.
This chill, this terrible chill was definitely because of the weather.
Once my body warmed up, this damned, shitty-feeling chill would definitely go away.
“...”
When I stripped the wrap to warm myself, something clattered to the ground.
With trembling hands, I picked it up. It was definitely a cigarette.
“...”
I had no choice.
They were a raider who coveted my food.
Why won’t the fire light.
Good, it lit.
“*Sss... phew...*”
I-I'm justified.
So...
...
“I-I'm not wrong. I'm not... wrong.”