Chapter 110
There were more people. Did they come before us? Or later? Were they from the Empire too?
I had so many things I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I couldn’t imagine how devastated Zenas must have felt, saying that the people he was with had died.
I paused for a moment, choosing my words.
But before I could offer any words of comfort, Zenas spoke first.
“I don’t even know how much time has passed.”
“Ah…”
“I think I counted the days at first, but I lost track at some point.”
Zenas answered in a very calm tone, holding a pile of coconuts in his arms.
“I see.”
Then it would be difficult to ask when he arrived and compare it exactly to the date we woke up.
“Did you come alone too, Noona?”
“I had companions too. I was swept away by the river and separated from them. We woke up on this island just like you.”
“What’s your name, Noona?”
“Ah, I’m late with introductions, aren’t I? Margaret Rose Flone, you can call me Margaret. I’m from the Langrid Empire. A noble from House of Floone.”
“A noble…”
Zenas stared at my face with a curious expression. Has he never seen a noble before? I was flustered by Zenas’s intense gaze.
‘He’d faint if he saw the Crown Prince and the Prince.’
Thinking that, I briefly thought of the others.
‘Are they all safe? They have to be.’
The island seemed quite large, what if we missed each other trying to meet up? Should we go near the swaying bridge after all?
I’m worrying about others when I don’t even know what will happen to my own life. I sighed.
Judging by the looks of it, Zenas didn’t seem to have any weapons either. First, we need to assess the situation in a safe place, and then figure out how to find Kaiden and Enoch.
“Noona, I have a cabin where I’ve been staying, do you want to go?”
“There’s a cabin here?”
“Yeah.”
Zenas nodded vigorously.
I thought the cabin was only the one we stayed in on the south island.
‘Can I trust him?’
But if this young boy was somehow connected to the island’s secrets, I had to find out what it was.
Moreover, it was dangerous anywhere once the sun went down.
“Noona’s wound. I can heal it.”
The boy added, pointing to my wound.
“There’s medicine in the cabin.”
“Medicine? Is that true? You really have medicine to heal wounds?”
He nodded obediently at my question and looked at me. He didn’t seem to have any intention of explaining further.
“…Okay, let’s go.”
At the mention of medicine, I hesitated for a long time before finally making a decision. It would be a disaster if the wound got infected if I left it like this.
I can’t judge by appearances alone, but this young child didn’t seem like the type to have kidnapped us all.
Of course, I still had to stay alert.
I looked at the things spread out on the gravel to dry. Zenas, who followed my gaze, said.
“There are a lot of interesting things.”
“The clothes you’re wearing are unique too.”
At my words, Zenas looked down and blankly scanned his clothes.
“I found them in the cabin. They’re comfortable.”
He found them in the cabin, so it seemed that Zenas’s cabin also had such modern items, just like I found the bag and sneakers in the cabin.
“There are other clothes there too.”
Saying that, Zenas blatantly scanned my attire for a moment. I felt embarrassed for a moment.
The dress, with my calves clearly exposed, was in a very miserable state. The Pichu attached to the cuffs of the dress were all torn, and the ribbon and jewels on the neckline were ripped off.
Moreover, it was wet and damp, and although it didn’t smell, it was very uncomfortable.
Zenas pointed to my tattered dress and said.
“Noona, let’s change too.”
“Is the cabin close from here?”
“It’s just a little ways in from here.”
At Zenas’s words, I bent down to pick up the crossbody bag that had fallen on the ground, but screamed at the sudden pain.
“Heok, eugh.”
Zenas, who was watching me, sighed and, instead of me, put the things in the crossbody bag and handed it to me.
“…Thank you.”
“Yeah. Shall we go?”
I quietly followed behind Zenas into the island. I tried to figure out the location by looking around, but as expected, I couldn’t tell just by looking.
‘The forests all look the same.’
I guess I’ll have to go up to a high mountain as soon as the sun rises tomorrow and look at the location again. It’s a shame I can’t shoot the Flares into the sky to let them know my location if they were intact.
‘How can I let them know my location?’
While worrying about that, I looked at the back of Zenas’s head again.
“How did you survive? It’s very dangerous here. Monsters come out too.”
At my question, Zenas glanced back at me and looked up at the sky with a thoughtful face. Then he scratched his temple and answered.
“I’m good at running away and hiding.”
“That’s similar to me.”
“I didn’t need to get food.”
“Huh? Why? Is there a lot of food in the cabin?”
I asked him with a little hope. But the answer I got was very unexpected.
“I’m a Wizard. I can live without eating.”
So that’s why he was wearing a Wizard Robe over his hoodie.
But more questionable than that was what Zenas said after confessing that he was a Wizard.
“How can a person live without eating? Are all Wizards originally like that? The Wizard I know isn’t like that?”
“I changed my constitution. Other people can’t do it.”
Zenas answered very firmly. So firm that he seemed very confident.
I walked cautiously, guarding my surroundings, and asked him.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with constitution? Is that even possible…? The archmage I know is about to die when he’s hungry. Ah, he’s one of the top Wizards on the continent too.”
Zenas didn’t answer my question. And after a long time, he opened his mouth.
“Noona, I’m a genius.”
Oh, he’s more confident than I thought.
“He’s a genius too.”
I retorted at Zenas’s words, defending Kaiden. Kaiden was the youngest archmage and the youngest Magic Tower Lord. His personality is a bit strange, but what else would he be if he wasn’t a genius?
“But he can’t even change his constitution. Then he’s not a genius.”
Ah, that’s true. That’s true. Kaiden can’t do something that even this young child can do.
“Is that so…? But you can’t use Mana on this island.”
“I already changed my constitution when I was in the kingdom, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Is that how it is?”
I don’t know about Magic, so I can’t know even if he says so. I’ll have to ask Kaiden about this later.
“But you’re from a kingdom? Hestia Kingdom?”
“No, Ingram.”
“…Huh?”
I was so surprised by Zenas’s words that I froze for a moment, then grabbed his shoulders and stopped walking.
Thanks to that, my stomach was strained and the pain was terrible, but the pain wasn’t important right now.
“Wait, what? Ingram Kingdom?”
Zenas tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
“Why?”
“The Ingram Dynasty was destroyed a thousand years ago. It’s been a long time since the Ingram Kingdom was founded as the Langrid Empire.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Zenas nod with an understanding expression. His face is still unmoved.
“Don’t tell me…”
“It’s already been a thousand years.”
I was speechless and just stared at the pretty boy in front of me.
Complex thoughts washed over me like waves. He’s lived for a thousand years. Could he really be the one who kidnapped us? And he said he was a Wizard. A genius Wizard at that.
Zenas stared at me for a moment, then shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Your sense of time gets dull when you’re here.”
“A thousand years is a period that can’t be explained by a dull sense of time, right? Ugh.”
I raised my voice in excitement, and pain surged as if the wound had opened. Damn it, I need to heal the wound quickly.
“Are you okay?”
Zenas asked me in a soulless voice. I nodded insincerely as well, but in reality, I wasn’t okay.
My wound hurt, and I was so mentally shocked that I felt like my thoughts had stopped.
Then I remembered the absurd hypothesis I had made just before meeting Zenas. The theory of the earthbound spirit.
An earthbound spirit who doesn’t realize that they’re dead and endlessly repeats the same time in the same place, infinitely.
“Don’t tell me…”
I clutched my head in shock.
It was absurd enough to die after being hit in the head by a sign, but did I die once more in Margaret’s body? When?
“I died…”
I myself am aware that it’s an absurd thought, but it was difficult to escape from that feeling.
As I was despairing for a long time, Zenas said to me in a calm voice.
“What are you talking about? Noona didn’t die.”
I clutched my head and slowly raised it. Zenas crossed his arms and looked at me with a pathetic face.
“I didn’t die either.”
“You said you’ve been living here for a thousand years.”
“That’s true, but I didn’t die.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve never died.”
Zenas, who said that with such confidence, stared at me and asked.
“Noona, you don’t remember how you died either, right? That’s because you didn’t die.”
“Earthbound spirits originally can’t remember that they died even after they die.”
“Earthbound… what?”
Zenas frowned with a face that he couldn’t understand and asked back.
I sighed, pushed the earthbound spirit theory aside, and asked him.
“If you didn’t die, then you just couldn’t escape?”
Zenas, who seemed to be contemplating while averting his gaze for a moment at my question, slowly nodded.
“Yeah, well. That’s right.”
“What’s with that unsettling answer?”
Zenas didn’t answer my question and just stared blankly at me. He didn’t seem to have any intention of answering any further.
I got up from my seat with an embarrassed face and suddenly remembered his age.
“Wait…, then you’re over a thousand years old.”