SAAE 22

Chapter 22

Up until now, I had been focused solely on improving my abilities without understanding the full extent of them.

From now on, I felt that I needed to conduct various experiments to understand my abilities more accurately.

‘For now, it seems that the vengeful spirits can exert physical force when in contact with me.’

That was a huge relief.

If I was in contact with the second one, it meant that it was possible for him to move Israel as well.

The second’s wings wouldn’t become useless.

After organizing my thoughts, I continued explaining to Israel.

“Actually, I still don’t fully understand my abilities. As I mentioned before, I’ve been thinking of them as summoned creatures, but…”

“You’re unsure whether it’s really okay to use abilities you don’t fully understand.”

Israel watched the vengeful spirits with a cold expression.

He had always been cautious of them, but now, after hearing my words, his wariness seemed to have intensified.

“…Still, this ability will be a great help to us. That much is certain.”

“Well…”

Israel said in a low voice.

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

…Somehow, that sounded familiar.

I awkwardly smiled and turned my head.

Without thinking much, I looked down from the watchtower and suddenly noticed something unsettling.

“…What’s this? They’ve retreated?”

Leonard and his group, who had departed almost simultaneously with us, were now resting on the second island.

It seemed they had given up on crossing to the third island and had returned to the second island instead.

They probably chose to retreat temporarily after realizing they didn’t have a clear chance of safely making it to the next island.

That was a rather wise decision.

Their group had injured members, after all.

If they pressed on and someone got seriously hurt, it would be an even bigger loss.

“They’re probably planning to try again after regrouping.”

Israel, who was standing beside me, mumbled, looking at the same thing.

I mulled over his words.

‘Regrouping… regrouping, huh…’

I couldn’t shake the suspicion that their retreat was planned from the start.

After all, Leonard was a lucky but reckless individual.

He tended to make rash decisions without thinking too much, and despite that, somehow managed to overcome crises by finding items, meeting new people, or even gaining new abilities.

Because of that, Leonard’s reckless nature only seemed to grow stronger with time and never softened.

But for him to decide to retreat?

There must have been a valid reason for him to suppress his usual behavior.

“Did you pack everything I told you to bring?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Then let’s go.”

Without delay, I left the watchtower with Israel.

Upon returning, Felix was deeply asleep.

I decided to leave him alone until he woke up on his own. Meanwhile, I flew up, holding onto the second one, and began surveying the situation on the second island from afar.

As I looked around, I spotted a man sitting somewhat apart from the group.

It was Louis.

He had his eyes closed, seemingly absorbed in something.

When I saw him, the suspicion in my mind turned into certainty.

“Alright. Second, let’s land now.”

Following my command, the second carefully set me down on the ground.

There’s something special about flying through the air in the second’s strong arms—it felt like I owned the world.

Unshakable comfort.

An uneasiness-free sense of ease.

I looked at the second with a satisfied gaze and gave his shoulder a hearty pat.

“You’re really amazing. So dependable. You’re a real treasure.”

Israel, who had landed next to me, spoke up as he approached.

“They must really be bothering you, huh?”

I nodded without hesitation, agreeing.

“Yeah. I want to live a good life, but they just won’t help me.”

Glancing over at Felix, he had started to stir and seemed like he was waking up.

“Second.”

I motioned toward Felix with my chin.

Immediately, the second extended his hand into his own body, then pulled out a sword.

It was the sword with flame-like engravings that we had obtained from the watchtower.

Since the second had wanted it, I gave it to him without a second thought, and he was now using it with ease.

The second, holding the sword confidently, marched forward and immediately pointed the blade at Felix’s throat.

Felix slowly opened his eyes.

As he tried to sit up, he froze in place at the sight of the imposing second blocking his view.

“Huh… when did you arrive, Rosette… wh-what is this!?”

Felix, startled by the second towering over him as soon as he woke up, looked terrified.

I slowly walked forward, unhurried, and stood next to the second.

Felix stared at me with wide, confused eyes.

“Rosette, wh-what is this? Why are you…”

“Felix.”

“Huh?”

“You have to answer honestly to the questions I ask from now on. Got it?”

Felix nodded.

“Yeah, okay, but… can you at least move the sword?”

Felix, still trying to smile, asked me, but I ignored his words and asked my question.

“You met Louis, didn’t you?”

“Eh…?”

“You gave him information about us just now, didn’t you?”

Felix blinked, his face blank for a moment, before he hurriedly responded.

“W-what are you talking about? How could I have met Louis? We’re so far apart.”

Felix immediately started coming up with excuses, as if he’d been waiting for this question.

“Giving away information? I just woke up! That’s impossible. Rosette, what kind of misunderstanding are you having?”

Hearing Felix talk so smoothly, my certainty grew stronger.

Felix had just met Louis in a dream.

And he had given Louis our information.

“Felix. This doesn’t make sense. I met Louis in a dream too.”

“…Huh?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know? Louis told me. He said I should rejoin the group.”

“…”

“What did he tell you? Did he say to interfere with us? Or that we should report everything we do during our trials so that they can follow us easily?”

The moment I finished speaking, Felix jumped up and knelt down.

He barely cut himself with the sword, but seemed too frantic to even notice the pain, looking up at me in desperation.

“Rosette, no! It’s not like that! I wasn’t trying to stop you… It’s just that they were struggling so much… I couldn’t ignore them, I was just trying to help…”

“You really have a lot to say.”

Listening to his long-winded excuses, I couldn’t help but find it ridiculous.

“Jade was hurt, and he said he might die if we don’t get out of the tower soon, so I just wanted to help a little!”

“Yeah, I got it.”

Is it normal to laugh when you’re angry?

I couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.

“Louis asked about your abilities, but I didn’t tell him anything. I swear!”

“…”

“I only told him that you have a weird ability that lets us cross the islands without losing strength.”

Wow, at this point, you’ve practically told him everything.

“I’m sure I told you. Don’t worry about them.”

“I was going to, but when Jade got hurt…”

I cut off Felix’s rambling excuses firmly.

“So? What does that matter?”

“Huh?”

“Did you forget already?”

“What, what do you mean…”

“You and your precious friends just left me behind, without a care for whether I lived or died.”