Chapter 84
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Chapter 84
Enoch unexpectedly assisted me while calmly supporting Asdal.
"So this is what it means to have potential but lack talent."
After pointing out my shortcomings for quite some time, Asdal sighed and evaluated my abilities with brutal, cold precision.
Hearing such words from someone who had spent the entire day explaining mana manipulation to me was deeply embarrassing. Yet I had no intention of suddenly demonstrating flawless mana control, so I remained silent.
"It's because I've never tried before. I'm sure I'll improve with practice."
Even at my response, Asdal shook his head with a skeptical expression.
"Well, what can we do? The Young Lady is the only one who can use mana. Since there's no alternative, continue practicing."
At Asdal's words, I nodded obediently.
Thus we continued practicing mana manipulation until the sulking Rujeep came down from the Second Floor to prepare dinner.
* * *
Several squirrels had been caught in the traps I had set, and thanks to that, we managed to get through the evening meal adequately.
We sat huddled before the Fireplace, tearing into the meat. Rujeep, who seemed to have no appetite and was picking at his food, opened his mouth with a sigh.
"If someone deliberately confined us to this Island, there must be a purpose, wouldn't there? Yet no matter how much I think about it, I cannot fathom the reason."
At Rujeep's murmuring, Asdal, who had been elegantly eating his meat, nodded. After setting down his food, he wiped the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief he had torn from his own clothing and spoke.
"I concur. I've begun to wonder if all of this might be some god's jest."
A jest... a god's jest...
Upon hearing those words, a memory suddenly surfaced from the depths of my consciousness.
"Dice game..."
"What?"
I had murmured in a very small voice, but Asdal apparently heard it and questioned me, while Enoch and Rujeep turned to look at me.
However, I had no mind to pay attention to such gazes. The meaning of the word Alea, which I had studied during physical education class, suddenly came to mind.
"Perhaps..."
I lifted my head after sinking deep into thought.
"Alea might not be a person's name, but rather the name of this Island."
"Alea is the name of this Island, you say?"
Asdal questioned my words. I looked up blankly and scanned the faces of the men watching me.
"The word Alea means 'dice game' in the language of a minority ethnic group on the Eastern Continent. A dice game is something governed entirely by fate, regardless of one's efforts... What could it mean that a word carrying such significance is inscribed throughout this Island?"
It felt as though a storm had erupted in my mind. I clutched at my head. Rujeep, who had been watching me quietly, opened his mouth softly.
"So what you're saying is..."
"It seems we are being subjected to some kind of experiment. If Alea isn't the name of this Island, it could very well be the name of the experiment itself."
This time Asdal asked.
"Who would dare conduct an experiment on us?"
"I don't know. We'll need to investigate from here on. The other party is proficient not only in the Western Continent's common language but also in Eastern Continent languages."
To be precise, the Western Continent's common language, Korean, and English. If there is a designer who created this Island, surely they would know both the languages of this world and those of the other world.
"If it is indeed an experiment, there might be someone observing us from within the Island."
At Enoch's words, I nodded.
"That seems the most likely possibility."
With my response, quite a long silence ensued. Everyone fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.
It was clear that each of them was searching through past memories, wondering if there was someone who might want to use them as experimental subjects.
I also tried to recall the original story, but since I hadn't read the novel to completion, nothing else came to mind.
Then I shifted my thoughts toward Margaret's magical power.
"Come to think of it, don't we all share another commonality?"
Everyone's gaze turned back to me at my words. The three men exchanged confused glances with one another. I spoke as I observed them.
"We all possess 'tremendous' power—several times greater than what ordinary people have. That's our commonality."
Not everyone is born with magical or divine power.
Only a select few are born with magical power, and those gathered on this Island possessed exceptionally strong magical and divine power among them.
Kaiden went without saying, and Enoch and Diego were among the rare swordsmen capable of wielding sword energy based on magical power.
Rujeep was the youngest archbishop with tremendous divine power, and Yuanna was likewise a holy power wielder who had appeared once in a century.
Asdal's magical power reserves weren't widely publicized, but his Hestia Kingdom Academy peers all knew of it—something Enoch had even mentioned in the original story.
At first, I believed they were kidnapped due to their social status and rank, but in truth, gathering some high-ranking individuals on an Uninhabited Island would yield no benefit.
Unless the purpose was war.
The kidnapped individuals were key figures from different institutions and different nations.
"If this Island is for experimentation and the kidnapper brought us here as test subjects, then it makes more sense that it's because of our magical power."
Enoch nodded in agreement with my words.
Of course, even if the kidnapping was for experimentation, each nation would likely have a very high probability of not knowing the reason for our disappearance.
In that case, the latter would also provide a cause for continental war to break out.
"But there's still an unsolved problem. What kind of experiment would they conduct with our magical power while risking continental war?"
Rujeep hit upon the core issue.
As I listened to his words, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Could the presence of modern items on this Island and the fact that the kidnapper speaks Korean and English be clues? Could it be that the person who kidnapped us is from Earth?
If that were the case, they wouldn't need to worry about continental war. Then they wouldn't bother with status or rank and would simply kidnap those with the strongest magical power.
But this kind of reasoning was something I couldn't share with them, so I closed my mouth with frustration.
To tell them this fact, I needed clear evidence that I could personally justify.
If I mentioned it with incomplete information, I might even destroy the trust we'd barely built.
"If our commonality is 'powerful' magical power, then another question arises. Why does the kidnapper gather those with strong magical power only to prevent them from using it on the Island, and why can only Flone Young Lady use her magical power?"
Again, Rujeep pinpointed the most important aspect.
"From what I can see, leaving Margaret's magical power intact might have been an oversight by the experimenter. And sealing the magical power feels like they're testing our limitations without it."
Enoch sighed irritably as he spoke. His words also sounded quite plausible.
"Testing the limitations of a state without magical power—that does sound convincing. In fact, it's quite difficult for test subjects to accurately grasp the experimenter's true purpose."
Asdal, who had been sitting cross-legged with his arms folded, added his agreement to Enoch's words.
I watched them theorize before speaking up.
"Then it might be good to look for commonalities in things engraved with the letters 'Alea.'"
Seeing question marks appear on the faces of the three men, I pulled out a flare. Then I pointed to the letters "Alea" engraved on the side of the flare.
"It seems like things touched by the experimenter have the letters Alea engraved on them."
At my words, everyone fell into thought while looking at the letters Alea engraved on the flare.
"Now that you mention it, according to Rodban's account, the Monster's body also had the letters Alea engraved on it."
At Enoch's words, Asdal's expression darkened.
"Then the experimenter controls Monsters too?"
"Ah, this letter was also on the Second Floor Corridor window."
Rujeep, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, added his thoughts.
Only then did I recall that Rujeep, who had been sulking earlier, had gone up to the Second Floor. It must have been the characters he discovered then.
If that's the case, then this Cabin has also been touched by the Experimenter's hands.
"If characters are engraved on anything touched by the Experimenter's hands, then not only past objects but future ones might continue to appear as well, wouldn't they?"
"For now, all we can do is observe."
Enoch answered my words. I nodded in agreement. Then, a sigh escaped from everyone's lips simultaneously.
"Once the reconnaissance team returns, it would be best to gather information about the key and devise a countermeasure."
To properly formulate a strategy, Yuanna and her party need to return soon.
As the lengthy meeting drew to a close, everyone turned to look at me. They stared at me with such meaningful eyes all at once that I felt bewildered.
"What?"
"I think I understand why the Half-Emperor wanted to include the Young Lady in the reconnaissance team."
At Asdal's murmur, Enoch and Rujeep nodded repeatedly with satisfied expressions.
Ah, was that what he meant? How anticlimactic.
I laughed, brushing the hair that had fallen to my chest back over my shoulder.
"I do have a knack for grasping situations and making decisive judgments."
Upon my straightforward acknowledgment and display of this quality, Asdal shook his head as if disappointed, while Enoch and Rujeep briefly averted their gazes.
What, these days people prefer those with initiative over false modesty anyway.
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