Gabriele didn't properly process the words at first, the phrase bouncing around in his head like the DVD logo until it finally hit the corner and he registered what had been said.

This caused his face to flush red from embarrassment. Being called an angel wasn't new to him, but this stranger essentially revived the nickname, so it was a little bit embarrassing for him and threw him off because he hadn't heard it in a long time. After a few seconds, he shook himself out of his stupor and decided to quickly get the man off the beach as soon as possible, by then, the man had passed out again, probably from exerting too much energy. He attempted to carry the man back with just his arms, but found that a futile action that only made his arms feel sore. He sighed and simply carried the man on his back, even that made his entire body tired. 

After setting the man in the shelter, Gabriele started to check the man for injuries. It'd be useless to suddenly rescue someone and then have them gain an infection and most likely die from their wounds. Although blood had seeped through the man's clothing, Gabriele found no other external injuries, which was a bit weird since they had washed up on the beach alongside their shipwreck, they were bound to have some sort of injuries. Gabriele shrugged that off though, it meant he didn't have to exhaust his limited amount of medicinal knowledge. He let the man lean onto the wall. All he needed to do was wait for the man to wake up! 

A few minutes passed, and it seemed like the man didn't seem to wake up even after all this time. Gabriele had stared at them, inspecting their appearance before looking back at their fluffy ears and tail. He really, really wanted to touch them again, they felt even softer and fluffier than they looked! Gabriele shook his head and resisted the urge, a pang of hunger snapping him out of his stupor as he remembered his original goal of finding food. He sighed, knowing there'd be no chance of finding meat around here. He also wasn't fast enough to catch the crabs by the seashore, so his only goal was too go deeper into the forest in which he had woken up in. He took a deep breath, trying to stay calm as much as he could before heading inside the forest. 

He felt hunger slowly eat through his entire system, and it didn't feel good. Gabriele knew he'd have to find food for the person he rescued too, there was also the issue of what food was important. He wanted to make something somewhat light, so he'd wanted to make a light stew when he remembered his lack of cooking utensils. Gabriele sighed, continuing to walk further into the forest until he heard a sound towards his left. Turning to that direction, Gabriele found a wild boar staring directly at him, so he hurriedly bolted another direction, not ready to face the wildlife just yet. He pushed away some more plants and found what seemed to be a gathering of fruit trees as well as a large flock of birds that appeared similar to chickens. 

Gabriele resisted the urge to catch one right then and there, not like he would've been successful anyways. He resorted to picking the fruits off the trees that the birds were gathered at. He wasn't sure if these fruits were toxic or not, but they resembled apples from his previous world, and plus, the birds were eating them. He didn't know if the birds were immune to the poison that may have been in the fruit, but if he kept hesitating he'll eventually starve to death. So he hesitantly took a bite out of the fruit. Turned out, the fruit was basically an apple. The familiar taste made Gabriele smile, happy to have been reminded of a good memory of his previous world. So Gabriele eagerly picked a few more of the apples and decided to make his way back to his shelter. 

Gabriele walked back to the cave with an armful of apples, this was a temporary solution, he wouldn't be able to survive exclusively on apples (and the fruit would eventually rot away by itself too). He stopped by the river and rinsed off all the apples in his hand before making his way towards the cave, making it just in time to witness the person he'd saved finally waking up.

The fluffy ears twitched for a moment before their eyes opened, and Gabriele was at a bit of loss for words. How much has he emphasised that he really really wanted to touch those ears again? He was busy getting lost in his thoughts again when a question snapped him out of it. "Are you an angel?" The familiar words made Gabriele's face heat up in embarrassment again, "No! No-I'm not an angel, my name is Gabriele and I found you washed up on the beach. Here," Gabriele placed an apple into their hand. "I know it's not the best but it's better to eat something filling, right? Oh, before you do start eating, could I have your name?" If it were back in his previous world, Gabriele would've rather died than serve his customers something so simple like an apple as an entire meal, and he had no idea if this even was an apple. The person had sat up now, realising that they hadn't introduced themselves yet. "My name is Lawrence Adalwulf, thank you for saving me..."

Gabriele offered a smile. "No it's really what anyone would do," his eyes drifted back to the fluffy ears before focusing back on Lawrence, who was busy staring at the apple in his hand. "Where did you get this?" "Deep in that forest over there, it's not poisonous, and I washed it anyways, so it's fine to eat." "No, it's just...I've never seen these fruits before." Gabriele paused, having come from a world where apples were quite common, hearing such a thing made him rethink his existence in this new world. "Oh, really? I've been living on this island for a little while and you're the first person I've actually seen..." 

Lawrence stared at Gabriele for a while before eating the apple in his hand. "I never knew fruits could be edible." "Oh?" Gabriele was curious now, "Then what did you mainly eat?" "Meat." Gabriele had seen that answer coming and mentally slapped himself for asking such a question. "You do have fruits, right?" "Yes, we had fruits, but none of them could be eaten." Gabriele nodded, "Well, you can rest easy for now, apples are alright. Ah, right, don't eat the cores though."

"Do you not have any meat? Do your kind only eat fruit?" "What do you mean by my kind? I'm a human, my diet isn't limited to just fruit. Though, in this circumstance...yes." Gabriele looked away in embarrassment, "I'm...not the best at hunting." 'Not the best' was an understatement, Gabriele was sure the people who watched that survival show laughed at his many failed attempts to hunt a wild boar. In the end, he had relied on another celebrity to share their hunt with him. Lawrence stood up, "Then I shall hunt for you," "Huh? Wait-!" Gabriele stood up suddenly and attempted to pull Lawrence back. "You shouldn't go out and hunt while you're like this! Just rest for now, I'll look around for more fruits until you've recovered enough to hunt." Even though Lawrence suffered no external injuries, Gabriele still wanted time for him to recover.

"..." Lawrence stood silent, about to protest when he realised that Gabriele was not going to let him leave the cave no matter what. He sat down begrudgingly, "Then I will leave my recovery to your hands." Gabriele clapped his hands, knowing he won the battle. "Good, don't worry, I'll make sure you'll recover quickly." They sat beside the fire, continuing to talk as Lawrence explained more and more of the world outside the island. 

There were four continents outside the island, each one colonised by humankind. One was secluded off from the rest of the world, but the other 3 had prospered through trade and other means. The most prosperous kingdom was one that Lawrence had belonged to, and was the definition of a utopia. All different races were able to live with each other without facing discrimination within the laws of this kingdom. While some may harbour a negative bias towards some races such as Oni and Demons (Gabriele made an internal comment on how this simply sounded like a story put together by an author who simply wanted to shove as many races as possible in their story), they are unable to act upon those negative opinions unless they wished to land in a punishment. 

Lawrence himself was a beastman, with wolven traits. He belonged to the long prestigious Noble Wolf clan, who held a relatively high standing in the kingdom. Lawrence then proceeded to explain that the various kingdoms had long known about the island surrounded by perpetual storms, and long wanted to explore it. However, due to the storms, even if anyone was successful in getting in, there was no way for them to ever come back out. Gabriele added that nobody other than him ever lived on this island, there was no civilisation. 

"However, at least you were successful in coming onto this island." "Yes, I have you to thank for that." Gabriele smiled, before realising something. "Did you have any crew members? Surely it couldn't be you who set out on this expedition alone." Lawrence nodded, "I'm sure that most of them are now lost to the sea...but if it's him, then there is a chance he's still alive." "Who?" Gabriele wasn't eager to rescue another person so suddenly, especially considering how he still hasn't properly secured their food supply. "The mage who accompanied my crew and was the reason why our ship was able to brave through the storms this far." Gabriele seemed to perk up hearing 'mage', of course, he long speculated that magic was prominent in this world, but finally hearing confirmation of it sounded like music to his ears. He would finally be able to integrate a part of his modern life back in this world.

"His name is Verle, and he's the only one I believe has a higher chance of survival." Lawrence explained, continuing to talk about Verle's magnificence as a mage. Explaining Verle's ancestry as an elf, his passion as a mage, especially complimenting Verle's abilities. Verle wasn't randomly taken on because he was a mage, but because Verle's abilities was said to have been able to rival the heavens. (Lawrence had actually referred to them as The Upper Realm, and Hell, The Lower Realm.) Though both of them knew Verle still had a chance of not making it, Lawrence was certain that if anyone else were to survive, it would be him.

Gabriele no longer needed to spend the nights worrying if he'll survive to the next day. He already felt like Lawrence would be able to alert him if the beastman had sensed any type of danger. So he made himself comfortable and was able to fall asleep within minutes, almost just like the first night he had spent here on this island. 

—————————————

Gabriele awoke suddenly and unexpectedly. Lawrence was still sound asleep, his ears twitching every now and then, Gabriele couldn't resist giving them a rub before standing up and stretching. He would secure more apples for today, and maybe scout around and look for Verle, if the mage had survived. He walked out of the cave, making his way towards the fruit tree when he heard a thud towards his left. Gabriele's curiosity got the better of him and he slowly pushed past some bushes to find a man collapsed on the forest floor. Based on Lawrence's description of Verle (Long silver hair, pointed ears and a dark green cloak with gold rims), Gabriele concluded this collapsed man was most like Verle. 

Not willing to go through another session of dragging a half-dead body with his own, but also not willing to simply leave Verle to the dogs, Gabriele begrudgingly set Verle onto his back and set off to bring him back to their base camp. Verle was also sopping wet too, it seemed like the poor mage had gone through a lot. Suddenly Verle jolted awake and caused the two of them to fall over as he thrashed out of Gabriele's hold. "Get off me!" He screamed, "YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME TO THE SLAVE MARKET!" 

Verle finally opened his eyes, and was met with Gabriele's face of concern. He blanked out for a moment, before finally (and almost uncharacteristically) speaking his thoughts out loud. 

"Are you an angel?"

Gabriele nearly fell over.

—————————————

2,162 words.

Hello.

It's me again, pnnm.

Second chapter, second ML. Will there be a third?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you again...whenever motivation strikes.