Chapter 184
Chapter 184
“…….”
Shia closed her mouth while watching me with a scrutinizing gaze.
As if she wasn’t even breathing, her silver hair did not sway in the slightest.
She simply stared at me without the smallest movement.
Looking at her guarded expression, I recalled what had just happened.
‘……She had been smiling so brightly, as if she was genuinely enjoying herself.’
It was hard to believe she was the same person who had worn that smile, as if my own memory had been wrong.
Her expression had changed so quickly that I almost suspected she had a split personality. She’d make a great actress.
‘……She’s wary of me, but it doesn’t seem like she’s trying to harm me.’
Shia was undoubtedly one of the dangerous figures.
Even so, there was a convincing reason why I could accept that she did not hold hostility toward me.
……The ‘Danger Detection’ Skill.
This skill rang a bell whenever an enemy was near me. The closer the enemy approached, the louder the bell rang, allowing me to pinpoint their location and avoid them.
But at some point, I had begun using it in another way.
‘I can also distinguish friend from foe—whether the other party bears hostility toward me or not.’
By assuming an extreme scenario in which someone intended to harm me, it was a convenient way to roughly grasp their intentions.
Although Shia was clearly a villain from the original story, the ‘Danger Detection’ Skill was not activating.
She was observing my stance, but it did not seem to be for the sake of attacking me—rather, it looked like a form of self-defense.
‘Anyway, it feels like we could talk. But it’s awkward to just stand here in silence like this.’
It wouldn’t be natural to simply pretend not to know her and walk past, either.
Besides, this island was destined to become my property.
I couldn’t just ignore an outsider who had entered without my permission.
It didn’t seem like Shia would speak first, so I opened my mouth instead.
“You know me, right?”
“…….”
“Don’t tell me you don’t even recognize a classmate?”
“I know.”
She answered reluctantly.
Then silence fell once more.
With no progress in this standoff, I let out a sigh and scratched my head.
“Hey, say something.”
“……I have nothing to say.”
“Really? I’ve got plenty.”
I pulled a sheet of paper from my pocket.
“Do you know what this is?”
At my question, Shia slowly shifted her gaze to the paper.
She looked back at me without a word, as if she had no idea.
I shrugged and continued.
“It’s a contract stating that this island will soon become mine.”
“……!”
Her eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise.
“What, did you think it was an unowned island?”
“…….”
She let out a deep sigh.
Her hair, which hadn’t moved at all before, swayed slightly. Her guarded stance loosened a little. Judging by her flustered expression, she really must have thought it was unowned.
After biting her lip, Shia lowered her head and turned her back to me.
“……I’ll leave the island.”
It was an abrupt answer.
“You’re just going to leave?”
When I asked, she muttered in a barely audible voice.
“I don’t have anywhere to stay anyway.”
……That was when it happened.
Puurung~!
A silver deer burst out from the bushes with a cry.
It stepped in front of Shia, blocking her path.
“……Lotti.”
Her eyes widened.
Lotti cried out loudly while standing protectively by Shia’s side.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Puurung-!
It sounded like it was scolding me.
“Are you asking me not to drive her out?”
Roughly interpreting it, it seemed to mean I shouldn’t bully Shia.
Somehow, I had become the bad guy here.
After watching the deer and Shia for a moment, I sighed and answered.
“Hey, decide.”
“……What?”
“Decide how long you want to stay here. I wasn’t planning to kick you out today. I’ll give you time to leave gradually.”
“…….”
She blinked, glanced at me cautiously, and replied,
“Until the vacation ends……”
“So you want to stay more than a month?”
I repeated, then slowly nodded while meeting her eyes.
“Fine. You can stay until the vacation ends. But don’t burn down the forest, don’t harass the animals, and don’t cause any strange trouble.”
“I wouldn’t do that……!”
She glared at me, but as if remembering that I was the island’s owner, she swallowed her anger.
“……I wouldn’t do something like that where Lotti is.”
She had been calling the deer ‘Lotti’ all this time.
‘So the deer’s name is Lotti?’
That was the only logical conclusion.
‘I don’t know how she got close to a deer…… but judging by that reaction, she probably won’t harm the animals.’
During the comprehensive exam, she had been the cause of a forest fire, but now that didn’t seem likely.
Puurung~!
The deer leaned its head against her, and she gently stroked it.
I simply watched in silence.
‘If you just look at her like this, she seems like an ordinary girl her age.’
The deer likely had no idea how dangerous a villain she truly was.
‘……It doubled each time.’
The more “experiments” Shia underwent, the more her physical abilities doubled.
If those experiments were repeated enough times…… she would no longer be something that could be called human.
‘In theory, the strongest villain in this world. If the experiments were deliberately left unchecked for a long period…… she became far stronger than even the final boss.’
The terror of exponential growth.
There was a common anecdote.
A king once asked a sage what he desired.
The sage requested that a single grain of rice be placed on the first square of a chessboard, and that each subsequent square contain twice the amount of the previous one.
One grain on the first square, two on the second, four on the third……
The king initially dismissed it as trivial, since it was only rice.
But in the end, even after emptying every rice warehouse in the kingdom, he could not fill the final square.
The explosive rate of exponential growth was terrifying.
That was Shia.
‘In the end, her numbers had reached an immeasurable unit, hadn’t they?’
It was through Shia that I first saw the unit “Asamji” in numbers. Her HP had once filled the entire screen.
If left alone, she would eventually become an unkillable, bug-like existence.
‘Of course, that’s only in theory. In this world, I don’t need to worry about that.’
That scenario only applied if she were deliberately neglected until graduation.
At this point in time, her experiments were only at the beginning.
If the episode proceeded as in the original, Shia was fated to be defeated by Ren within half a year at most.
I didn’t pity her.
She hadn’t yet paid for what she had done to Kunking and the cadets during the comprehensive exam.
‘Still…… I can’t bring myself to hate her outright.’
When I thought of her playing with the deer, or the carefree smile she had worn earlier, that was how I felt.
Hate the sin, not the sinner.
That was exactly it.
Even I wasn’t sure why I was thinking this way, but I decided it was simply because I had gained some composure.
“There’s nowhere proper to sleep in the forest. There’s a treehouse nearby. It gets cold at night, so you’d better stay there.”
“……I’ve already been staying there.”
“Oh, really? How was it?”
“…….”
She didn’t answer.
I had only been curious about her impression of the house I built, but it seemed I wouldn’t hear it.
“Well, forget it if you don’t want to say. Want a blanket?”
“……No.”
She looked conflicted, but ultimately refused my kindness.
“If you don’t want it, fine.”
If she didn’t want it, I had no intention of forcing it.
That was the extent of my goodwill toward Shia.
“Then take care. I’m heading back.”
I turned and walked away first.
I could feel a strange gaze on my back, but I ignored it.
……When I looked back after some time, neither Shia nor the deer were in sight.
They must have gone somewhere together.
I learned something new today.
‘In the game, whenever vacation started, Shia’s whereabouts became unknown. So she had been staying here.’
For other characters, I could tell which region they visited during vacation. Only Shia’s location had remained a mystery.
‘Maybe because she was categorized as one of the villains.’
An unexpected discovery.
‘……But just how severe were those experiments to leave her like that?’
Her neck kept coming to mind.
Though it had been wrapped in bandages, the red scabs hadn’t been fully concealed, leaving an ugly sight exposed.
‘If you’re going to cover it with bandages, at least do it properly.’
I clicked my tongue, then decided to stop thinking about it.
Whatever.
She could handle herself.
Since the issue of the outsider was resolved, I decided to focus on the purpose of my visit.
The forest had remained untouched by human hands for a long time, left in its raw, unmanaged state.
‘I should cultivate only what’s necessary, without harming the forest’s natural state.’
I intended to preserve the forest itself while eliminating only what was detrimental to it.
‘And part of the island had burned before.’
That area would also need cleanup.
‘There’s more work than I expected.’
The island was vast. There was a mountain of things to manage.
About a month and a half remained until the start of the second year’s first semester.
‘Even if I use the rest of the vacation efficiently…… I probably won’t even solve half the island’s problems.’
Even so, I planned to do my best.
This would be my long-term base. You could even call it my territory.
‘Someday, I’d like people I permit to come live here.’
Of course, that was a story for the distant future.
‘Anyway, I don’t know how old this island is, but there are quite a few dead trees…….’
I placed my hand on a nearby tree.
During the exam, I hadn’t paid attention to such details. But now that the island was mine, things I hadn’t noticed before stood out.
‘It’s a mess. There’s so much to manage…….’
The easiest way to assess a tree’s condition was by looking at its bark.
Healthy trees had firm bark, and when peeled, the inside should appear green.
‘But the trees around here are nothing like that.’
The bark of the tree before me came off easily, revealing only gray when scratched.
Not just one or two trees—the entire surrounding area was in this state.
It looked like they had died from an infectious disease.
I closed my eyes and summoned a card into the air.
‘Pau.’
Pau
Paaat-!
I used Pau’s ability on the tree.
But……
‘No good.’
There was no change.
It seemed the tree was completely dead and beyond healing.
‘These are all old dead trees. To prevent the spread of pests, I’ll have to clear-cut them completely.’
If Pau’s ability couldn’t restore them, there was no choice but to remove them all.
If left unattended, they would harm the surrounding trees as well.
Only by cutting down dead trees could new ones grow properly. That was how to protect this forest.
‘After clearing them all……. Maybe I’ll turn it into farmland?’
I needed fields to grow crops anyway.
Strike while the iron is hot.
It wasn’t a difficult task for me. Just as I opened my Subspace to begin logging—
Bbamparabambam!
A system notification rang out, and I immediately turned to the hologram.
A linked quest for Creating the Second Forest Farm has appeared!
Recognize the state of the island and make the correct judgment! If you become an excellent pioneer, the Goddess will bestow a great blessing upon you!
Reward: Goddess’s Blessing – Primordial Bond
This blessing applies only to ‘Spiritual Beast Eggs’!
The moment I saw the reward description, my eyes widened.