Chapter 135
Enoch knelt on one knee before Margaret, carefully smoothing the stray hairs from her cheek as he asked,
"Poisoned by toxic gas? Then isn't that quite dangerous?"
"If the symptoms are the same as last time, we can only wait for time to resolve it. It seems rest helps with recovery."
Hearing Luzef's words, Kaiden also let out a sigh of relief. This time, their attention turned to Diego.
"Ah, please don't worry about Sir Diego either. We've finished disinfecting all his wounds, so all he needs now is to recover."
At Luzef's words, they once again sighed in relief and carefully settled the two patients inside the cave. Then they gathered at the cave entrance, lit a fire, and sat around it.
Enoch started the fire, sat before it, and added more firewood.
Sitting beside Enoch, Luzef asked,
"What exactly happened?"
"While Sir Diego and I were on night watch, we suddenly heard a strange noise from somewhere. It's not even anaconda territory, but we discovered a group of anacondas moving in perfect unison as if searching for something. And some of them suddenly evolved the moment they encountered us."
Enoch calmly explained the events of the previous night.
"They didn't seem to see the Barrier, but they moved toward it as if guided by spirits. Almost as if they were detecting some kind of 'presence.'"
As Enoch spoke, he glanced indifferently at Margaret. Luzef followed his gaze and looked at her too.
"The Monsters seem particularly aggressive toward Lady Flone. I'm starting to think they might be gathering because of her. It's probably due to the Mana she possesses, but what do you two think?"
A long silence fell at Luzef's question. Enoch and Kaiden remained silent, with only the crackling sound of the burning firewood filling the air.
After a while, Kaiden was the first to speak.
"Right now, the most plausible reason is definitely the Mana Margaret possesses. I've expressed doubts before, but it was also very suspicious that only Margaret had Mana. At first, I even wondered if she might be a spy disguised as Margaret."
"That sounds plausible. After all, Lady Flone has changed so much she might as well be a different person."
After Luzef finished speaking, Kaiden lowered his voice even further.
"Tigari, you might not know this yet, but there's an archmage from the Ingram Dynasty era who's lived on this island for a thousand years. That Wizard told me it's not yet time. I don't know what will happen when the time comes, but it seems clear that Margaret is the Key."
"A thousand years...!?"
"Lower your voice, Bishop. You'll wake Margaret."
Enoch, who had been sitting quietly with his arms crossed, warned Luzef in a low voice. Meeting his Golden Eyes, which felt almost intimidating, Luzef quietly closed his mouth.
"It's also suspicious how freely she handles Magical Artifacts. Frankly, the language she calls 'Alea' doesn't seem to be from any minority language of the Eastern Continent either."
At Kaiden's muttering, Enoch sighed and spoke again.
"Whether she's a spy of the Experimenter who designed this island or not, I believe in the Margaret of now."
At his words, Kaiden immediately showed his displeasure.
"Do you think I don't? We have to judge objectively for Margaret's sake. The important thing is to find out if the Monsters are really targeting Margaret because of her Mana. Only then can we protect her, right?"
At his response, Luzef's eyes widened this time.
"Is there a way to find that out?"
"That's what we need to figure out from now on."
"The most dangerous person might be Margaret herself. So we have to protect her."
"Protecting her is fine, but how?"
When Luzef spoke with frustration, Kaiden, who had been quietly lost in thought, proposed a solution.
"It might be good to temporarily Seal Margaret's Mana. I don't know if it's possible, but we can test it. Let's see if Monsters still gather around Margaret even without her Mana."
"Lady Flone might not agree. And her Mana is necessary for our survival."
Luzef's words made sense, but they couldn't sacrifice Margaret personally just for everyone's survival. Kaiden shrugged and replied.
"If Margaret is really being attacked because of her Mana, it's better for her to be without it, even if it's inconvenient. We've survived just fine without Mana until now."
"Having none after having some is different from having some after having none."
"Hey, Tigari. Are you saying it's okay if our Margaret is in danger because of that?"
"What kind of talk is that? Of course not."
"Then shut up."
Mediating their argument, Enoch asked Kaiden,
"But how do you plan to Seal the Mana?"
"The Magic implement given by the Crown Prince not only releases Mana but also has a function to control it. It controls through the ring to make it seem like the Mana is Sealed inside the body. Temporarily making her like us. Then we lure the Monsters, check if the test is successful, and just kill the Monsters."
Enoch, who had been quietly listening, stroked his chin with a troubled expression.
Kaiden waited for his answer. It was only after a long while that Enoch spoke.
"If that's possible, I agree with the Lord. It would be good to temporarily Seal it and observe the situation. For Margaret's sake. But we should still hear her opinion first, so let's discuss it again tomorrow when she wakes up."
At Enoch's words, Kaiden nodded vigorously.
"Margaret will surely agree, of course."
Naturally, they had no idea that Margaret had been intermittently overhearing their conversation and misunderstanding it, nor that she might have lost her rationality due to poisoning from the anaconda's toxic gas.
It was hard to breathe.
After running for a while, I found a large tree and climbed up. There, I caught my breath for a moment. Eunji, who had been coiled around my bag strap, quietly slid down onto my lap.
I wondered where that disgusting moldy smell was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from my own body.
'Damn it.'
I let out a tired sigh and leaned back against the tree trunk. Was there a problem when I dealt with the Anaconda?
Maybe this smell was causing my headache. I was confused. To the point where rational thinking was difficult.
The burst dam of emotions remained unfilled, constantly flowing down and pooling at the muddy bottom. I felt like I was floundering in that stagnant flood of emotions, thick like a swamp.
Logically, I knew Enoch and Kaiden wouldn't do anything bad to me, but I kept feeling sad and hurt.
I didn't need anything else; I just wanted to run away alone. All I could think about was escaping this difficult situation. It felt like the sturdy mind I had carefully built was crumbling, worn out and dull, into something insignificant.
"I want to go home."
Even if it wasn't my home, I wanted to go to Margaret's home. Anywhere would be fine, as long as it wasn't this island.
Anywhere but this island, where my life was constantly threatened.
Even Enoch and Kaiden—if they threatened my survival, I didn't need them. Cowardly as it was, I even thought I'd abandon everyone if it meant surviving.
'I want to live.'
Tears streamed down. Sobs burst out.
'I don't want to die.'
As I cried like that for a while, Eunji, who had been sitting on my lap watching me, squirmed and crawled up my body.
And then suddenly bit my neck.
"Ah!"
Startled, I fell from the tree. Fortunately, it wasn't too high, so I didn't get seriously injured.
I touched my stinging neck. Blood came off on my hand. But not red blood—thick purple blood.
"Damn, what is this?"
Holding my neck to stop the bleeding, I looked up at Eunji on the tree.
Eunji moved back and forth on the branch, and when our eyes met, she opened her mouth wide and spewed out what looked like purple gas.
It was similar to the toxic gas that had exploded when the Anaconda burst in the southern island.
"Toxic gas?"
At my puzzled question, Eunji jumped up and spun around as if to say yes. Then she squirmed down the tree, struggled to climb up my body, and coiled around my neck.
She tapped the spot on my neck where she had bitten me with her head.
"Why...?"
When I asked with a puzzled face, she went back down to the ground, opened her mouth wide, and spewed a fist-sized purple gas. Then she climbed up my body again and tapped my neck.
Only then did I understand what Eunji was trying to say.
"Ah. This purple blood is the toxic gas?"
Eunji flicked her tongue and happily wrapped around my shoulder, pressing her face against my cheek.
I took out the bandages I had packed in my bag and bandaged my neck. Pressing firmly, purple blood continued to seep into the bandage. The more purple blood soaked the bandage, the clearer my head felt.
The feeling of hardship and misery, as if the world was collapsing just moments ago, gradually improved.
"Ah, was it because of this?"
The reason I couldn't think rationally.