Chapter 100
“It looks like a map of the island.”
At Diego’s words, Yuanna nodded and spread the cloth wide.
In the middle of the large island was a river, and to the northwest of the river, a star was drawn. In addition, the word ‘supply’ was written in Langrid Empire Language in various places on the island.
“What is this star mark? And supply? What is this?”
At Yuanna’s question, both Kaiden and Diego shook their heads, clueless. She scanned the map again with her eyes and muttered.
“Hmm… If this is really a map of the island, it seems like we picked up something quite important. Supply, I wonder what they’re supplying.”
Kaiden, who was standing next to her, carefully looking at the map, tilted his head.
“Who on earth made this map?”
“I wonder. Is it the same person who built the cabin? Someone lived on the island, or maybe they still do… If not, it’s the person who brought us to this island.”
Yuanna’s reasoning seemed plausible, so Kaiden nodded vigorously.
“Maybe all three are right?”
Then, he took out the map Margaret had drawn from his pocket.
“What is that?”
“Ah, the map Margaret drew.”
He answered Diego’s question casually and compared it to the map in Yuanna’s hand.
“Wow, she drew it pretty accurately?”
Margaret said she saw it from the top of the mountain and drew it herself, but the terrain was surprisingly similar to the map they had just picked up.
Of course, unlike this map, which had various symbols marked on it, Margaret’s had no information other than the terrain.
“Someone must have dropped the Key and the map here, right?”
Yuanna took out the Key from her pocket and stared at it intently, lost in thought.
“When you woke up here, do you remember anything else?”
She shook her head at Kaiden’s question.
“No. I just woke up and found the Key lying by my head.”
“It doesn’t really look like a meaningful place. Nothing special.”
There weren’t even any traces of Monster attacks. It didn’t seem like someone had dropped it by mistake while running away in a hurry.
Kaiden slowly circled around Yuanna, racking his brain, but no answer came to him.
“Isn’t this a bridge? It doesn’t seem far from here.”
Diego, who was looking at the map Yuanna had picked up, said to them with a puzzled look.
Kaiden and Yuanna, who had been lost in thought, looking in different directions, gathered in front of the map in Diego’s hand.
As he said, there was a bridge marked in the middle of the map, connecting the south and north islands.
“Ah, you’re right. I was so focused on the supply marks that I didn’t see this.”
As Yuanna muttered, Diego pointed east and asked.
“The Saintess, do you see that over there?”
Following Yuanna, Kaiden also turned his head in the direction Diego was pointing. Although it was very far away, they could vaguely see something like a bridge crossing the river.
“It looks like a bridge to the north island?”
They all slowly moved towards the bridge.
“I wonder who built that bridge. Is it the same person who built the cabin?”
At Diego’s question, Kaiden and Yuanna shrugged at the same time.
“Looking at the map, it seems like this is the exact midpoint. If you have to go all the way to the east end to get to the north island, it makes sense to build a bridge here.”
Kaiden agreed with Yuanna’s words.
“It seems that way to me too, but what’s on the north island? There must have been a reason to go there.”
“There were places marked as supply on the north island too. The star mark was also on the north island. Maybe it’s because of that?”
Listening to Yuanna’s words, Kaiden, who was carefully examining the bridge, turned to Diego.
“Want to cross it?”
“The width is narrow, so we’ll have to cross one at a time.”
“So Sir Diego, how about you go first?”
“Am I your guinea pig?”
“I hate the word experiment. It’s not like that.”
“Whatever it is, I refuse.”
Diego refused flatly with an unwavering face, then closed his mouth.
Kaiden, who had been quietly observing his face, clasped his hands behind his head and sighed.
“Ha, unlike the Bishop, you’re no fun.”
At Kaiden’s muttering, Diego looked at him with a disgusted face.
“Are you a pervert?”
“It’s true that you’re no fun, but why are you treating me like a pervert?”
“I just said you were a pervert because you seem to enjoy tormenting people.”
“Oh. You speak quite amusingly.”
“See, you’re a pervert.”
“What, are you my doctor? I’m not a pervert, I’m a madman.”
Diego once again cast a contemptuous gaze at Kaiden. Then Kaiden burst out laughing like a truly mad person.
Diego, with a somewhat heated face, raised his hand to the scabbard, and Yuanna clapped her hands to change the subject.
“I don’t think crossing the bridge right now is a good idea. We’re already much later than the date we agreed to return, right?”
At Yuanna’s question, both men nodded in agreement.
The bridge looked very old and unstable, and it was so narrow that only one person could barely pass. It was possible that they might try to cross it and lose their lives without even being able to tell the cabin crew.
“Then I think it would be good to tell the group waiting at the cabin about this first and come together.”
Yuanna gave a thumbs up at Diego’s answer.
“That’s exactly it.”
Kaiden followed Yuanna and gave Diego a double thumbs up.
“Good idea.”
And before leaving for the cabin, Kaiden instructed Yuanna and Diego.
“The Tentationem flowers might breed again when we pass by and increase in number, you know? They breed like crazy when they come into contact with human body temperature. So it’s best to run to the cabin without touching them as much as possible.”
Yuanna and Diego nodded vigorously with determined faces.
They ran for half a day, and there were several crises as they encountered Tentationem flowers, but fortunately, they were safe.
And at night, they climbed onto a huge tree branch, tied themselves to the branch, and went to sleep. After such a rough two days, the group finally returned to the cabin.
\ \ *
Enoch was preparing dinner, and Luzef was taking an evening nap.
Eunji opened her eyes from time to time, but after eating the Tentationem, she kept sleeping.
I lay in front of the fireplace and patted Eunji’s belly, who was snoring. Eunji had grown a lot after eating the Tentationem.
It had become so thick and long that it could cover my entire arm and more.
‘Has the cuteness disappeared a little?’
I stared at the sleeping Eunji. Even while sleeping, Eunji seemed to like my patting, and her tail wagged gently.
‘She’s still cute.’
A smile spread across my face. Meanwhile, Asdal slowly approached me.
“Young Lady, give me your hand for a moment. I want to use the Mana Eye.”
“Why the Mana Eye?”
“Something feels ominous.”
Ominous. What could be ominous?
Asdal seemed to predict things with his five senses alone, even when he wasn’t using the Mana Eye. So if he felt something, something might really be happening.
I obediently held out my ringed hand to him. When he took my hand, his blue eyes sparkled green.
I could clearly feel the flow of Mana escaping through my fingertips. I was injecting Mana into Asdal without much effort when he suddenly looked at me.
“When the group comes, we should sort things out and leave right away.”
“Why? Did you see something?”
“The Monsters’ movements are strange. It’s like they’re gathering at this cabin.”
“But, they can’t come into this cabin anyway.”
Because there’s a Barrier around the cabin.
“Still, the feeling isn’t good. We have to leave anyway, right? To find the island’s secrets.”
Asdal was right. We weren’t going to live in the cabin forever. We had decided to explore the entire island.
I nodded in agreement.
“If that’s what the flow of Mana you saw is like, then it must be right. We should pack up this place when the scouting members return.”
Enoch, who had finished preparing dinner, said as he wiped the Stone Knife with a dry cloth. His words were filled with trust in Asdal’s abilities.
Anyway, we eventually agreed to leave the cabin and roughly packed the necessary luggage.
‘Kaiden needs to come back safely soon.’
I also wanted to test Mana with Kaiden when he came. He’s a Wizard who uses Mana itself, so maybe there would be even more synergy?
While I was thinking about Kaiden, Kaiden’s voice pierced my ears with ghostly timing.
“Oh? Everyone seems very relaxed?”
I hurriedly turned my head in the direction of the sound. Kaiden, Yuanna, and Diego were entering the cabin one after another, opening the cabin door.
“You’re safe!”
I jumped up from my seat and ran to them. I checked Kaiden’s condition first, then Yuanna and Diego’s condition as well.
Fortunately, none of them seemed to be hurt.
“Is everyone okay?”
At my question, Kaiden’s face twisted fiercely as if he had bitten something bitter.