Chapter 113
“Aren’t you laughing too hard?”
“Sorry.”
Zenas even wiped away his tears as he apologized to me. He really has good manners.
“But there’s no food in the cabin.”
“I figured. You said you don’t eat things like rice.”
“Yeah. I’ll get you some tomorrow.”
“Get me some?”
“Yeah. Fish.”
Zenas nodded, then tilted his head with a puzzled look. He looked very lovable, but I snapped myself out of it, remembering his age again.
“You don’t like fish?”
Zenas asked me.
Hearing that, I was sure.
Zenas had been watching me all along.
“It’s too late now, so let’s sleep first.”
Zenas, with a very harmless face, came up to me and patted my shoulder.
“I’ll get you something to eat tomorrow.”
His face was expressionless, but he was quite kind. Somehow, he seemed very interested in me.
‘Difficult. You are.’
In the end, I decided to get some fish to eat in the morning and try to sleep first.
Of course, I didn’t sleep a wink. I kept my eyes wide open and fought against drowsiness. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall asleep in front of someone suspicious.
I guess this was how Enoch felt when he watched me sleep without a wink when we first met. I stayed awake all night, tense and alert.
Zenas, who had climbed into the hammock, was fast asleep like an angel. He really was pretty and cute.
I quietly looked up at Zenas’s face, then looked out the window. Dawn was breaking.
I rubbed my tired eyelids and yawned softly.
‘I’m so tired.’
I need to leave quickly. To find everyone. I wanted to tell them this news quickly and have a strategy meeting together.
It seems better to be with others than alone.
\ \ \
Margaret fell into the river.
At the same time, Kaiden on the North Island and Enoch on the South Island jumped into the river at the same time.
Asdal shouted at Enoch.
“Damn it!! Ban……, Enoch!!”
Then, Luzef’s piercing scream was heard from the North Island.
“Lord!! Where are you!”
But sadly, the two men disappeared into the water with Margaret.
“This is crazy. Everyone’s crazy.”
Asdal ran a hand over his dry face, looking incredulous. Despite the width of the river, the current was very fast. It was as if the current had been artificially made to flow faster.
Luzef and Diego sat blankly on the North Island, staring at the spot where they had disappeared, and Asdal and Yuanna stood on the South Island, staring blankly at the flowing river.
They waited for a long time, but as time passed, the three did not return.
\ \ \
When Kaiden came to his senses, Enoch was grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and pulling him out of the water.
“Gasp!”
He exhaled and spat out water, and Enoch released him only after pulling him completely out of the river.
“Haa, haa.”
Enoch gasped for breath and wiped the water dripping from his chin with his hand. Then, with trembling hands, he squeezed the hem of his shirt to drain the water.
“Haa. Huk. Ma, Margaret is…….”
Kaiden lowered his head and spat out water onto the ground once more.
Eunji, who had been wrapped around his arm, crawled down to the ground and spat out water after him, then looked back and forth between him and Enoch.
Soon, she stretched her neck out and looked around. As if looking for someone.
Kaiden looked at Eunji with a puzzled expression, and Eunji began to crawl away quickly.
“Huh? Hey……!”
By the time Kaiden reached out his hand, Eunji was already out of sight.
Enoch also stared blankly at the spot where Eunji had disappeared, looking flustered. Kaiden shook his head.
“That thing…….”
He wouldn’t be able to follow Eunji. She had a speed faster than most adult men. All he could do was wait for her to return on her own.
‘If something happens to that kid, I won’t be able to face Margaret.’
Kaiden ran a hand over his dry face and muttered curses inwardly.
Enoch’s chest rose and fell violently. He shook his head, gasping for breath. Then he sat down on the spot and ran his hand through his hair with a pained expression.
“Damn it.”
Enoch muttered curses and gritted his teeth.
He lost Margaret. He had clearly seen her floating away, but at some point, he had lost her.
Kaiden, breathing more evenly than before, spoke to Enoch.
“I, I definitely saw her.”
Enoch glanced at him. Kaiden slowly got up and sighed, sweeping his wet hair back.
“I definitely saw Margaret. I thought I could catch her……. But suddenly the current got faster. Isn’t that strange? That’s not a place where the current flows fast.”
Enoch nodded at Kaiden’s muttering. It was definitely strange. But there were more than one or two strange things on this island.
Enoch narrowed his brow in annoyance. He glanced again at the now calm river.
“Judging by the direction she was swept away, she probably went northwest.”
“The problem is that we have no idea where we are now. Does Your Highness know?”
“I was swept west following Margaret. I definitely brought Lord out in the direction of the North Island.”
“The problem is that we don’t know if Margaret is on the North Island or the South Island…….”
They spoke with the conviction that Margaret wouldn’t have drifted out to sea. Furthermore, they were sure that she wasn’t dead.
“We’ll find her. No matter what it takes. Even if we have to search the whole island.”
Enoch calmly got up from his seat. Kaiden nodded and followed him up. He took off his wet robe, wrung out the water, and smiled.
“Of course, we have to find her. I’d follow Margaret to the ends of hell. I can’t let her go like this.”
Kaiden drew a dagger from his waist.
Swish.
Enoch also drew his long sword and pointed it towards the forest with Kaiden.
They were already surrounded by Monsters whose appearances had been somewhat strangely deformed.
Kaiden quietly looked up at the sky. It was a warm afternoon with the midday sun shining down.
It seemed that the Monsters, who had only been active from dusk until the dark of night, had now expanded their range of activity.
They had been able to walk around with some peace of mind during the day, but now they couldn’t.
The exception that they only had to be careful at night had disappeared, and the time had come when they had to prepare for war with the Monsters all day long.
“Fucking hell, these bastards seem to have evolved again.”
“We can take them down quickly.”
Enoch replied to Kaiden’s muttering, and Kaiden chuckled. Then, following Enoch, he ran towards the Monsters and swung his sword.
“Obviously.”
It was the first time that Enoch and Kaiden’s opinions coincided.
\ \ *
A night had passed, and the wound hurt less than yesterday. Of course, it still hurt when I moved, so I had to be careful.
‘But I can’t give up on hiking just because I’m injured. I need to figure out the geography of the North Island…….’
I decided to go hiking, but in the end, I decided to make socks to wear. I thought that the work boots would be better than the thin white sneakers.
I picked out some usable clothes from the pile of clothes that Zenas had brought and tore them. Then I wrapped them around my feet like socks, tied them tightly, and put on the work boots.
I got up from my seat and walked around a few times, then checked the abdominal wound once.
“Ugh.”
It stung a lot when I gently removed the gauze. But fortunately, it didn’t seem to be infected, probably because it had been disinfected well with modern medicine.
“I hope it doesn’t get worse.”
I looked down at my abdomen, sighed, took the medicine bottle, disinfected the wound again, and put on the gauze.
I checked to see if the crossbody bag was dry and checked the contents. The notebook was intact, but the pen was unusable. The Flares and first aid kit were also the same.
They were unusable items, but I put them back in the bag. Had I become attached to the items? I somehow didn’t want to throw them away.
I slowly got up and looked around the cabin. Zenas had gone out to hunt fish.
I wasn’t staying quietly in the cabin to have a nice breakfast with him.
I decided to take a look at this suspicious cabin while he was gone.
‘First, I need to go up to the third floor, which I didn’t see yesterday.’
With the crossbody bag slung over my shoulder and the Wooden Knife in my hand, I stood in front of the stairs leading to the second floor.
But then, I noticed something strange about the seams on the side of the stairs leading to the second floor. It looked just like the closet door under the stairs where the protagonist lived in Harry Xter.
I touched the seams and gently pushed the wall. Then, with a swoosh, the door opened, revealing stairs leading down.
It was so dark that I couldn’t really see what was down there.
I swallowed hard and hesitated for a moment. Was it right to go down?
‘But, whether I die like this or like that. It’s better to find out something.’
To escape from this place with everyone, I had to find something that could be a clue, whatever it was.
Zenas didn’t seem to be willing to tell me anything in detail, so I had no choice but to find out for myself.