Chapter 60
A brief, awkward silence followed Yuanna's words. I pondered her question for a moment, wondering where to begin pointing out the flaws in her statement.
“It’s not a matter of taking The Saintess’s side or not, but rather that the Imperial Guard Commander, who has a duty to protect the Crown Prince, failed to fulfill his duty.”
Yuanna nodded, finally understanding the situation after hearing my words.
However, she still maintained her rebellious attitude, crossing her arms and looking askance at Enoch. Then, she said something strange.
“Still, Sir Diego is my man. Please don’t treat him carelessly.”
“Before being your man, Sir Diego is the Imperial Guard Commander of the Langrid Empire.”
“But this isn’t the Langrid Empire.”
I understood both sides’ positions. It was a fierce battle of wills.
“The meeting is turning out to be quite interesting, isn’t it?”
At that moment, the Cracker Prince, who had been watching our meeting from a distance, uttered a word.
He seemed to have belatedly decided to participate in the meeting, as he slowly approached us. Even his gait was unbearably arrogant.
“Don’t cloud the main point. Let’s stick to the issue. The Saintess, you shouldn’t keep shifting the focus and disrupting the meeting’s atmosphere like that.”
Even with Asdal’s criticism, Yuanna smiled without batting an eye. As if she didn’t care at all.
Then, as if something had occurred to her, she turned to look at Enoch again.
“Ah, perhaps… there was an Escape Gate near the place where I woke up?”
“Hmm. That’s a possibility.”
Kaiden nodded as if Yuanna’s words made sense.
It was an obvious assumption, but we had all been focusing on other things, so we hadn’t thought of it.
“Is the place you woke up far from here?”
Enoch asked, and Yuanna shook her head with a determined look.
“It’s not far. It’s dangerous at night, so we mainly moved during the day, but it seems to have taken us about two full days to get here.”
“There’s your answer.”
Kaiden said, shrugging his shoulders while resting his chin on his hand.
“How about forming a scouting party and going there?”
Enoch nodded as if agreeing with Kaiden’s suggestion.
“Let’s have me, Diego, and The Saintess go.”
Wait, that won’t do. I couldn’t let them leave alone. I had to see the secret of the Key with my own eyes.
“I want to go too.”
When I raised my hand and spoke, Kaiden frowned and said.
“Then I’ll go too.”
As everyone said they would leave, Luzef glanced at Asdal and hurriedly fidgeted.
“Then I will go too.”
He clearly didn’t want to be left alone with Asdal.
Enoch sighed with a weary expression. He rubbed his forehead irritably and scanned the room.
“We can’t all go. Let’s reorganize the group. I, The Saintess, and Margaret will go together. The rest will guard the cabin.”
“The distribution of personnel is strange, isn’t it? If anyone’s going, it should be Sir Diego, what help would Lady Flone be?”
That Cracker Prince is starting again. I’ll have to call him out behind the cabin soon and show him the bitter taste of life.
I was having such a conceited thought.
“No one can match Margaret’s judgment and response to emergency situations.”
Enoch turns to me. Then, people’s gazes naturally focused on me. I shrank my shoulders because I felt a little burdened by the attention.
Why. What.
Enoch laced his fingers together and continued in a leisurely tone.
“And when it comes to swordsmanship, I am no less skilled than Sir Diego. So, I think this group is suitable as a scouting party, is that answer enough?”
Asdal still looked at me with a face that he didn’t understand.
In fact, he had been acting like that all along since he met me. An eye that couldn't trust me. There was also a suspicious look mixed in.
But when everyone seemed to have no objection to Enoch’s claim, Asdal raised both hands as if he couldn’t help it. It was a gesture to do as you please.
The new scouting party was formed, and we decided to prepare thoroughly and depart four days later.
\ \ *
After the meeting, we spent a busy afternoon doing our respective tasks.
I was using a Stone Knife to trim the leftover bones from the game to make needles.
“What are you doing? Where did you get that?”
Kaiden, who had been for a walk, approached me as I sat in front of the fireplace.
“I collected some of the leftovers from processing the game during the last base camp. Just in case.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I’m going to make needles. I only have one set of clothes, so it’ll be a problem if they get torn.”
“As expected of Island Master. You’re the best.”
“Cut the crap.”
I was bickering with Kaiden when Yuanna came down from the second floor, excited.
“Lady Flone! Lady, look at this, look at this.”
She held out her palm to me. On her palm were two square lumps of solid matter.
“Oh? Could this be….”
“I think it’s soap!”
As Yuanna shouted in an excited voice, Diego and Luzef, who were drinking water in the kitchen, also approached us.
“Soap?”
Kaiden picked up the solid lump in Yuanna’s palm and smelled it.
“It smells really good. Like a flower?”
He held the soap in front of my nose, so I also took a whiff. It really smelled like a pretty flower.
“Where did you get this?”
At my question, Yuanna pointed to the second floor with her finger.
“It was stuck in the gap in the window of the room I use.”
Just then, Enoch and Asdal also entered the cabin. They saw us gathered in the middle of the cabin’s living room and approached with puzzled faces.
“Is something going on?”
At Asdal’s question, Yuanna shook the soap.
“I found soap. On the second floor.”
“Oh?”
Asdal took the soap from Yuanna and smelled it, his eyes widening.
“I, I need to wash up now.”
Enoch quickly snatched his wrist as he tried to run away with the soap.
“The Saintess found it. You have to ask for permission.”
Enoch probably has the perception that whoever finds something first is its owner. It’s the same reason he doesn’t covet the Flares and Flame Bomb I found. This is probably a norm that we created while living on this island.
“Tch, too bad. Hey, Banhwang. Let go? My wrist bone is going to break.”
When Asdal showed the hand that Enoch was holding, Enoch finally let go of his hand.
I was briefly surprised to see a blue bruise on Asdal’s wrist. He just grabbed it. As expected, Enoch’s strength is amazing.
“Thank you. But I think it would be better for everyone to use it together. Should we take turns using it? I really want to wash up first. It would be better if everyone smelled good since we’re using the same cabin.”
Yuanna said with a bright smile.
“Um. How about setting a limit on how much we can use?”
At my question, Yuanna tilted her head as if wondering if there was a need for that.
“What’s the point of saving it? These things are consumable anyway.”
“But it would be nice to use it for a long time.”
“We might escape tomorrow anyway, and we might die at any time.”
Ah. I’m the only one who knows that there’s a way to escape the island. I can’t tell them this, and in the first place, it’s ambiguous for me to argue about the soap that Yuanna found.
“Well, The Saintess makes the decision.”
At my answer, Yuanna turned to look at Asdal and Diego with a brightly lit face.
“Did you hear that the Lady told me to do as I please? See, the Lady also acknowledged it. I’m the leader now!”
I don’t know what context that conclusion was drawn from. Those who were watching were dumbfounded, and Luzef was the first to point out Yuanna’s words.
“When you say it like that, it seems like Lady Flone has become the leader instead.”
“Wait a minute. I object. I’m not responsible enough to take on such a troublesome role.”
Why do you keep dragging me into this? First of all, I’m someone who has to run away alone if necessary.
Yuanna smiled brightly.
“See, then I’m the only one left.”
“The Saintess, you haven’t forgotten that there are a Crown Prince and a Prince here, have you?”
Asdal, who had been silent, asked Yuanna with a dumbfounded face.
Um. It seemed a bit pointless to bring up status here.
Yuanna stared intently at Asdal.
She didn’t say anything, but Asdal, who had been in a staring contest with her for a while, eventually avoided her gaze first.
I wonder what happened between them.
