Chapter 64
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Chapter 64
I suddenly came to my senses and glanced around, shifting the conversation.
"Were you heading to the Cabin?"
Kaiden, who had been staring at me intently, let out an exasperated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah. But I need to figure out where we are. I've been moving based on a rough estimate of the Cliff's location, but..."
"How long was I asleep?"
"When I woke up, it was midday. You seemed to be sleeping so deeply that I didn't want to wake you."
At Kaiden's words, I deliberately pushed aside what had just happened. Then I resumed walking alongside him.
"You did well. If I still had my bag, it would've been easier to figure out our location. What a shame."
"What do you mean?"
"I drew a map of the Island and kept it in my bag."
There's no point mentioning it now—we'll never find it anyway. There are still explosives left at the Cabin, but I'm reluctant to use the flares. What should I do?
"I wish I had flares. If I'd fired one into the sky, they definitely would've seen it from the Cabin, right?"
As I muttered to myself, Kaiden sighed, saying there was nothing we could do about what was already lost.
The Cliff we presumed we'd fallen from was the largest and tallest in the area, so it was visible at a glance from a distance.
I crouched down and traced a route on the ground with my finger.
"Kaiden, think about this. If we assume the distance from here to that Cliff is 5 kilometers..."
Kaiden sat down beside me and quietly watched the calculations I was writing on the ground.
"What's a kilometer?"
'Damn it, they use different measurements here.'
I rummaged through Margaret's memories, but Margaret had never been interested in mathematics.
I sighed and continued with a vague explanation.
"Let's calculate the distance and time from here to there. What if that Cliff isn't the one we fell from? If we drifted downstream for a while before being washed ashore, we'd need to return to our original location."
"So we should move efficiently. I understand. I've been thinking—from the River to here, I've walked roughly 3,000 steps, right? Since I was carrying you, it probably took about 30 minutes."
I watched as he calculated the time and distance.
"We need to recalculate the time to return."
Kaiden began earnestly calculating the time with his fingers on the dirt ground.
"If that Cliff isn't the one we fell from, it would take at least two days, or more, to return to the Cabin."
"If it is the right Cliff, one day should be enough, right? Then we should focus on finding food for one day first."
At my words, he nodded, brushed the dirt from his hands, and stood up.
"For now, we need to find a place to sleep."
Kaiden spoke to me as he watched the sun setting. I looked up at the sky, following his gaze.
"Enoch will be worried."
This had happened before. When I disappeared, Enoch had searched for me all night.
This time would surely be no different.
Enoch, who had completely shed his distrust of me, was always favorable toward me without fail.
"It seems I cannot live on this Island without you."
"So Margaret, I need you. Please stay by my side. Don't leave me."
I recalled the words Enoch had spoken to me before.
Like a dog anxious when separated from its master, he became so restless without me that he couldn't think straight.
"I need to get back soon. Enoch is waiting for me."
As I spoke those words, I found myself walking along numbly beside Kaiden.
"Margaret."
Kaiden called my name in a low voice.
"Do you like the Crown Prince, or do you like me?"
There was such a palpable undercurrent of jealousy in his question that I felt genuinely bewildered.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Because I'm curious. So? Answer me."
Kaiden stopped walking and pressed me with urgency in his voice.
"I like Rujeep."
I deliberately mentioned someone who wasn't even an option, adopting a playful tone. And it was clearly meant as a light jest, but...
"That bastard never sat right with me from the start."
Kaiden took it seriously. More than that—he was genuinely furious. I stared at him in shock.
Whether he sensed my bewilderment or not, Kaiden gripped my shoulders firmly and asked again with grave intensity.
"What's so good about that bastard? Margaret, tell me."
Kaiden's beautiful face had twisted into something menacing.
I found myself staring blankly at those eerie crimson eyes blazing like fire.
"Wow... I can't even joke around with you."
"What?"
Kaiden didn't understand my words and raised his eyebrows. Good grief. I shook my head.
"I was wrong. I shouldn't make jokes like that anymore."
Kaiden still looked confused. Sensing he was about to bring up Rujeep again, I forced a change of subject.
"Is heading toward the Cliff really the right way? There might be other shortcuts."
Kaiden, who had been glaring at me intently, ran his hand through his hair and turned away.
"No, the Cliff is better. If we try to find another route, there are too many possibilities. Besides, we might be able to find your bag at the top of the Cliff."
I sighed along with Kaiden.
"We're really no better than stragglers at this point."
The sky was already growing dark.
"Damn it."
Kaiden cursed again.
First, we decided to search for a place to spend the night. Fortunately, we found a suitable location without wandering too far.
There was a space beneath massive Tree Roots where we could hide, and we decided to spend the night there.
It was very similar to the place where Rujeep had hidden us after the Anaconda's poison gas knocked us unconscious.
"This Forest has a lot of these. The place where we stayed didn't have roots exposed like this."
I muttered to myself as I gathered branches and fallen leaves to arrange our sleeping area.
Kaiden, who was helping me prepare the space beside me, chimed in.
"Right? It's almost like each area has its own distinct characteristics."
"Huh...?"
As I heard Kaiden's response, the puzzle pieces suddenly clicked into place.
Near the Cave where we first stayed, only wolf-type Monsters had appeared.
Next came an Anaconda-type Monster, and near the Cabin, a Tarantula-type Monster appeared.
Could this truly be coincidence?
"It's as if someone deliberately arranged it this way."
The name Alea kept circling through my mind.
"Are they keeping us trapped here and conducting experiments on us?"
Kaiden, sensitive to the word 'experiment,' reacted with intensity.
"We don't know that yet. The only clue we've found is 'Alea.'"
"That damned Alea. If I ever lay eyes on them..."
Kaiden ground his teeth.
But whether this was truly Alea's doing remained uncertain. It was all speculation.
Besides, I—who should have died according to the original story—hadn't, so I had no way of knowing what variables had emerged.
'Many things seem to have changed already, but what can I do? I need to survive.'
According to the original story, we could escape the Island if we survived for just one year. But the problem was that we still didn't even know where the escape gate would open.
If Yuanna's key could be used, we might escape immediately without waiting that long year.
"But didn't you see an Orangutan-type Monster in the territory where the Wolf-type Monsters dwell?"
At my observation, Kaiden tilted his head in confusion.
"You're right. Is that one a mutant? But I don't think I've seen any others like it."
I turned to face Kaiden with a serious expression and presented a new hypothesis I'd been considering.
"If Monster habitats are normally divided into territories, but the boundaries are collapsing because the Monsters are evolving, that could explain it."
"Or it could make sense with the hypothesis I mentioned earlier—there are fixed Monster habitats, but someone is deliberately manipulating them."
"Besides, unlike the others, that Orangutan seemed to have intelligence, actively searching for people."
I had been hiding in a crevice between rocks, yet somehow it knew exactly where to stop right in front of me. Recalling that moment sent shivers down my spine, and my body trembled.
Just then, my stomach growled loudly, announcing its hunger.
'I need to eat something soon.'
After a moment's thought, I sharpened a branch into a point using Kaiden's dagger. Kaiden asked with a puzzled expression.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
"Preparing to hunt."
"At night? Are you insane?"
"I know it's crazy. But we've been starving since yesterday. If we don't secure some food now, it'll be even harder to move tomorrow."
Unable to argue against my words, Kaiden rose to his feet and began preparing for the hunt alongside me.
"I think making a trap would be best. Spearing fish in this darkness would have its limits."
"What's a trap?"
"A tool for catching fish. I'll make it—you just help from the side."
At my words, Kaiden nodded and obediently helped construct the trap.
I cut bamboo from nearby with sharp, decisive strokes. Then I split the thin pieces into cordage and used it to weave together the thicker-cut bamboo, fashioning a trap.
Holding the completed trap, Kaiden and I set out to find a Valley.
The sound of flowing water hadn't been a trick of my ears—before long, we discovered a wide Valley with water streaming through it.
"First, I need to put bait in the trap, so I'll have to spear some fish with the dagger."
One fortunate thing was that tonight the sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud.
The wide Valley had no trees blocking the sky, and bathed in moonlight, our visibility was reasonably good.
'I wish I had a flashlight.'
With that thought in mind, I attempted to spear fish, but without a flashlight, it proved far more difficult than expected.
After roughly two hours had passed—fishing demands patience, after all—I finally succeeded in catching a single crucian carp with my spear for bait.
Kaiden, who had been coming up empty-handed the entire time, stared at the palm-sized crucian carp in my hands with an expression of utter disbelief.
"I'm beginning to wish I'd received that education the Floné Duchy is said to teach."
I shrugged and cleaned the fish before placing it into the trap basket.
"I told you—I was always eccentric. Everyone has secrets they'd rather keep hidden."
Kaiden nodded as if he finally understood. The phrase 'secrets they'd rather keep hidden' seemed to have convinced him entirely.
"True enough. Who would have guessed that 'that' Flone Young Lady possessed survival knowledge?"
Kaiden murmured this while carefully watching me submerge the trap basket into the Valley waters.
Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, it hardly mattered. As long as he accepted the explanation, that was enough.
I rose to my feet and gestured to him—time to head back.
We returned to the place where we had prepared our sleeping quarters, and there I discovered something gleaming with a familiar brilliance.
A silvery egg stood elegantly positioned beneath the Tree Roots.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org