Chapter 128
“Probably, he’s with Sir Diego. The Crown Prince and the Saintess are still on the South Island, so he’s most likely trying to meet them.”
Kaiden nodded at Enoch’s words, adding,
“Or, he might come to the place marked with a star on the map. I think that cabin we were looking for is the place marked with a star on the map.”
It was accurate that Zenas's Cabin was located at the star mark on the map.
“What if we get separated?”
“What do you mean, what if? We just go our own way. He wasn’t part of our group from the start anyway.”
Kaiden said very nonchalantly.
“If you put it that way, Lord wasn’t part of our group either.”
Enoch, who had been silently leading the way, said in a low voice. Kaiden bristled and insisted that he was part of our group, and another battle of nerves began between the two men.
I decided to treat their bickering as noisy background music.
‘It’s more annoying to stop them.’
After walking for a while, I felt exhausted and hungry.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten properly since leaving Zenas's Cabin. There were no streams nearby wherever we went, and we had only filled our stomachs with berries in a hurry.
“Kaiden, aren’t you hungry?”
“Huh? Oh, right. I’m hungry. I’m a little tired.”
Kaiden probably hadn’t eaten anything all day in the fog. Just then, Enoch stopped walking.
“There seems to be something over there.”
I looked in the direction Enoch was pointing. At the foot of a low hill, there were huge piles of leaves as tall as a person. As if they were hiding something important.
Enoch blocked me from moving forward and shook his head with a firm expression.
“Margaret, you stay here. Lord?”
“Yes, yes, of course, I’ll take care of Margaret.”
Kaiden hugged me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.
Enoch frowned at the sight, but as if there was nothing he could do, he drew his long sword and turned his back.
Both of them had become much more overprotective since I fell into the river and went missing. But so far, it wasn’t uncomfortable, so I obediently stood with Kaiden as Enoch told me to.
Enoch slowly approached and cleared away the leaves. And in the revealed place, there was a small cave.
“Huh?”
“What is it? It looks like someone was living here?”
I exclaimed in surprise, and Kaiden also raised his head and muttered.
Someone was living here. I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing that there were traces of someone living in various parts of the island. Because I couldn’t tell if they had escaped or died.
‘Or, Zenas might have moved his residence while living here for a thousand years.’
Enoch completely cleared away the leaves and bent down slightly to look inside. The small cave, hollowed out under the hill, wasn’t very deep. It was big enough for about four adult men and women to lie down in.
“My stamina is severely depleted due to hunger, so it would be good to recover here today.”
Enoch said to us as he came out after looking inside.
“It would be okay to put up a Barrier and sleep inside.”
The two men nodded at the same time at my words. That’s how we decided to set up camp here for the day.
“Margaret, it’s dirty, so wait a moment.”
I was about to enter the cave when Enoch blocked me. Then, he and Kaiden started cleaning the cave diligently.
I watched the scene with some amazement. Margaret was certainly a noble, but Enoch was the Crown Prince of the Empire, and Kaiden was the Magic Tower Lord.
‘They’re good at cleaning.’
No joke, the two men were really good at cleaning. Maybe it was because they were naturally neat and tidy.
They swept out the dust and dirt from the cave, created a space to lie down, and then laid leaves and moss to make a comfortable sleeping place.
“Margaret, are you okay? Sit here.”
Kaiden carefully took care of me and brought me inside. Anyone would think I was injured.
“I’ll go hunting. Lord, you should stay here and protect Margaret.”
Enoch said, standing at the entrance of the cave with his sword. Kaiden nodded, holding my hand and drawing a magic circle in the air. I looked at Enoch with a worried expression.
“Be careful. Monsters come out even during the day.”
Enoch smiled faintly at my words and nodded.
“You don’t have to worry.”
“That’s right, I don’t think you need to worry about that monster-like guy.”
Kaiden completed the magic circle in an instant and infused it with Mana, saying to me. Enoch glanced at Kaiden and went out to find prey.
We lowered the large leaves that were covering the front of the cave and went inside to settle down. Eunji, who had been wrapped around my shoulder, wriggled down and coiled up on the floor.
“Who used to live here?”
I said, finally looking around the cave calmly. Kaiden was splitting a coconut he had brought from under a nearby palm tree with a dagger. He glanced at me and opened his mouth.
“Could it be that Zenas lived here? Before he built that cabin.”
I nodded, taking the coconut from him and drinking it.
“Maybe. Or maybe there were other survivors before us. If this island is really for experiments. We might not be the first people to come to this island as test subjects. This island has existed for a thousand years.”
Kaiden, who was drinking coconut sap, paused at my words. He turned to me with a horrified expression. I shrugged and continued.
“The cabins on the South Island, or traces of people living here, might all have been made by people who were kidnapped to this island like us.”
“That’s plausible, which makes it creepy.”
Kaiden replied with a deep frown.
With those words, we fell silent for a moment. Each of us was lost in thought.
‘What kind of experiment is it? What’s the purpose?’
While I was thinking about that, I heard Kaiden’s voice, so I turned to him.
“You know, Margaret. What I said last night wasn’t a joke.”
He had an uncharacteristically calm and composed face.
“If we escape from the island… will we be the same as we are now?”
And unexpectedly, he asked a somewhat sentimental question. That was the question I had always wanted to ask him.
If the shaky bridge effect disappears and we return to our daily lives and regain our reason, everything might change.
So I tried to exclude emotions as much as possible and answered.
“My answer is the same. We’ll have to get out to know, right?”
I am Margaret, and I am not Margaret.
If we escape from the island, the law of causality might apply and I might die. I can’t predict what will happen on this island in the future at all.
But, if I can become the real Margaret…
“Still, I hope it will be the same as now. That everyone doesn’t change.”
Kaiden stared at my face with surprised eyes for a moment at my words. Soon, he let out a deflated laugh and turned his head.
“I hope I can be with you, unchanged, just like now.”
Kaiden smiled at me. Those words were nice to hear. Just like that. It was somehow a great comfort.
\ \ *
Enoch caught two large birds. Thanks to that, we were able to have a reasonably full dinner that day. It was very convenient because Eunji lit the fire without the need for a lighter.
“Margaret, rest comfortably.”
I was about to tidy up after finishing the meal when Enoch suddenly stopped me.
“Yeah, Margaret. Get some rest.”
Kaiden also pushed me away as if agreeing with Enoch’s words.
I hadn’t done any cave cleaning, bed preparation, or meal preparation, but Enoch and Kaiden were considerate enough to make sure I didn’t exert myself as much as possible and rested.
They were the ones who had been fighting monsters and suffering in the fog all along, but they never showed any signs of being tired.
‘I feel bad.’
I wondered if there was anything I could do to help, but I emptied my mind, thinking that it would be helping them if I just rested comfortably and recovered my strength.
Boom--!
In the middle of the night, I was startled and jumped up at the huge roar that came from somewhere. Enoch and Kaiden, who had been diligently cleaning the front of the cave, also looked into the forest, surprised.
“What is it? A Monster?”
At my surprised mutter, Enoch and Kaiden quickly picked up their respective swords. They blocked my path and guarded the forest.
Just in case, I reached for my crossbody bag and took out the Flares. Eunji quietly crawled to me and wrapped around my arm.
“Is the Barrier still intact?”
At my question, Kaiden glanced at the floor and nodded.
“Don’t worry, it won’t break easily.”
I was relieved. That’s how we all held our breath and stared at the dark forest.
Aaaaaah!
A man’s scream was heard from a very distant place. The scream, which was heard faintly, gradually became closer.
“What is it, it sounds like a familiar voice.”
Kaiden tilted his head and muttered.
And we soon learned the identity of that familiar voice.
It seemed like a glimpse of water-colored hair fluttered between the moonlight shining into the darkness.
A man wearing a dirty, tattered bishop’s robe appeared.
It was Archbishop Luzef.
He was running towards us with all his might. Behind him, Diego was running after him, stopping to fight off the swarming Monsters, and then running after Luzef again, fighting off the Monsters.
“Isn’t that, the lackey?”
“It seems so.”