Chapter 129: Island (I)

White puffs of cloud drifted across the sky when a black dot appeared among them.

Fwssshhh…

The fist-sized black sphere rapidly expanded until it was about fifteen feet wide before deflating like a punctured balloon and spitting out three figures.

“Aaargh, M-Master Louis!”

“Kyahaha!”

“Look at this, Louis, Louis!”

The black sphere had disgorged Louis and his twin sisters from the Frenche Kingdom who were using spatial movement magic.

Despite plummeting from an incredible height, the twins flailed their arms and legs in delight as they fell with ease. Meanwhile, Louis couldn’t help but look down below him.

What is that?!

As soon as the spatial movement ended, Louis’s vision was filled with blue waves.

The endless expanse of ocean stretched out before him like a sheet of turquoise paper.

Watching the surface rapidly approaching, Louis shouted:

“Twins, materialize!”

Vwoom!

Yap!

Light exploded from both sides of Louis as he finished speaking.

Soon after, two silver dragons appeared flapFing their wings.

Louis also transformed back into his original form.

Whoosh… whoosh…

Their descent slowed thanks to the power of wing beats until they came to a complete stop.

There was no time for Louis to enjoy being in his true form again; he had too much on his mind regarding their current situation.

He spotted a green dot on the blue canvas of paper.

The Fin attached to Louis’s head cried out upon seeing it.

“Louis-nim! It’s an island!”

An island was haphazardly placed in the vast sea. Since they couldn’t fly all day, Louis led his twins towards the island. They soon landed on a pristine white sandy shore.

“It’s so soft!”

“It’s sand!”

While the twins laughed and rolled around on the white sand, Louis’s face remained grim.

That rat…

A strange-looking mouse had appeared just as he was about to finish casting a spatial movement spell. Even worse, the mouse had already distorted the activated magic circle.

…It only altered the coordinate values precisely.

From Louis’s understanding of basic physics, once cast, a magic circle could not be modified mid-flight. Yet this rat had accomplished what should have been impossible with such ease.

I don’t know how it works, but that was no ordinary feat.

A mere rodent doing something even dragons couldn’t do? It defied belief. In that case, there could be only one explanation for this situation.

A groan escaped from Louis’s lips.

“Willpower…”

The power interfering with his fate, which he’d dismissed as improbable—it seemed to have struck again.

I let my guard down…

Louis gritted his teeth. When was the last time he had exerted force? It must have been about a year ago, during their winter on the continent. Since then, there had been no further incidents of interference, leading Louis to vaguely suspect that something significant might occur someday. However, as more than a year passed without any disturbances, a small sense of complacency began to creep into Louis’s mind.

Could it be that my destiny has finally come to an end? Can I now live a somewhat ordinary life?

Such were his thoughts when…

Live an ordinary life? More like fuck that!

As if aware of Louis’s complacency, fate intervened at this crucial moment in a completely different form from before.

That sneaky bastard… He definitely laughed.

The oddly shaped rat had been smiling just before it distorted the space movement crystal.

Louis felt that the creature was mocking him.

Though he might have dismissed it as nonsense, Louis was certain of his perception.

”…Is this what you’re trying to do to me now?”

The sneer seemed to say, Can you survive this time?

Oh yeah? Let’s give it a go! Louis gritted his teeth.

He didn’t know what fate had in store this time, but one thing was clear: He would survive against all odds, just like always.

His eyes blazed with determination.

But then, as quickly as they had ignited, they flickered out.

He let out a soft sigh.

“Haah… Pablo and Page were so eager to discuss our destinies and such…”

However, Louis felt slightly embarrassed for momentarily forgetting his own predicament.

Well, that’s that.

He quickly regained his composure and stood up, transforming back into human form. Then he shouted at the twins still rolling around on the beach:

“You two, transform yourselves! What would you do if someone saw you like this?”

Even though they were stranded on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, there was always a chance that someone might be living nearby.

At Louis’s scolding, the twins shook off the sand and changed back into humans. Soon all three of them sat down on the white sandy shore, gazing out over the waves crashing against each other.

Krak-kruk!

A few seabirds flew overhead. Behind the beach stretched dense jungle foliage.

Seeing this, Louis felt relieved.

”…This is a relief.”

If the distorted space movement crystal had blown them to the winter continent, they wouldn’t have found such a forest at all.

Passing for now on the fact that it’s warm here.

It didn’t seem to be autumn or winter at least. Still, just in case, Louis asked Finn:

“Finn, what do you think this place is?”

“Well…” Finn’s expression turned cautious. After pondering for a while, she replied:

“Based on the temperature, it seems like we’re somewhere between the Spring Continent and the Summer Continent, possibly near the ocean. I’m sure we could determine our exact location by examining some of the plants growing in this forest.”

“I see…” Louis nodded, agreeing with Finn’s assessment.

Now that they had a room, it was time to move out. Just in case, Louis first handed down weapons to the twins. As they eagerly grabbed their weapons for the first time in ages and were about to charge off, Louis yanked them back by the scruff of their necks and bellowed:

“No, not that way, you idiots!”

Louis dragged the protesting twins along as he walked. On the pristine white sands, two sets of footprints and two long trails were left behind.

A full day later, Louis and his companions returned to the white sandy beach where they had first arrived. Having buried the twins in a pit under the pretext of a “sand bath” to rein them in, Louis joined Fin for a meeting.

“I wonder where exactly we are.”

“The plant life clearly indicates that this island is near the Spring Continent…”

Over the past two days, Louis and the twins had diligently explored the forest around the beach. Their ecological survey revealed numerous plants typically found only on the Spring Continent scattered throughout the area.

That’s at least reassuring.

He’d been worried that the damn force might have flung them even further away, but surprisingly, they were relatively close to their original destination. Still, he couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.

The sheer force of will must have deliberately altered my coordinates to bring me here…

Yet this island was near the Spring Continent? It almost seemed as if it were meant to help him.

But that can’t be, which is precisely the problem.

Louis had a strong premonition that something significant lay on this island.

He gazed at the forest situated in its center.

I’ve got a feeling there’s something important in there…

It might even pose a threat to his life.

In that case, I don’t need to venture inside.

The best course of action would be to leave the island as quickly as possible. Despite being adrift in the middle of the sea, it posed no major challenge for Louis.

As he stood up, brushing sand from his rear, he shouted:

“Hey, Twin, let’s move out.”

“Ugh…”

“Can’t we just do a little more?” one of the twins groaned, their face still buried in the sand, looking utterly exhausted.

“If you don’t get up, I’m leaving without you!”

“You’re so mean, Louis…”

“I know…”

Faced with Louis’s firm stance, the twin reluctantly brushed off the sand and stood up with a soft rustle.

As they joined him, Louis retrieved Dragonfly II from his pocket. He then pulled out a compass but frowned at what he saw.

“Why is this acting so weird…?”

The needle on the compass was sFinning around in circles.

So it won’t be that easy after all, huh?

Louis put away the now-useless compass and looked up at the sky.

“Let’s see, since the sun is rising over there, this must be west…”

He roughly determined their direction based on where the sun had appeared.

Drrrumble.

Splash.

As the engines roared to life, the Dragon Fly hoisted itself out of the water without a hitch, slicing through the waves with ease.

If we head straight west, we should eventually reach the Spring Continent. That is, assuming this island truly lies between spring and summer.

And so began an open-ended journey across the sea. Though such a voyage would typically be considered highly perilous, Louis felt no qualms about his decision. His pocket dimension was brimming with various medicinal herbs and essential supplies, while his twin provided what amounted to an eternal battery—ensuring that the Dragon Fly would never run out of power. As long as no major complications arose, they should safely escape the island.

It’s not as daunting as I thought, he mused.

He had initially been concerned about how to handle the magic circle, which allowed for spatial teleportation, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t matter if he simply refused to cooperate.

Louis couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

The twin sitting in the front passenger seat stretched out both arms and shouted to start. With that, the Dragon Fly floating on the sea began moving forward quickly.

And…

At that moment, Louis still didn’t know how naive his thoughts were.

Six hours later…

Shwaaaaah.

The Dragon Fly swiftly cut through the calm waters of the sea without a single wave in sight. The blazing sun heated up the ship, but Louis and his hatchlings remained unfazed by the scorching heat. After all, these creatures could withstand even the hottest inferno, so such mere warmth posed no threat to them.

Yet there was one thing not even they could overcome:

“Louis… I’m bored…”

“When will this end?”

It was sheer boredom that defeated them. No matter which way you looked - left or right, front or back - it was nothing but endless ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was first revealed by the twins’ restlessness, who had grown weary from their long journey on the boundless sea. Even Louis, who had been piloting the Dragon Fly for hours over the water, felt drained.

Just then, something caught Louis’s attention off in the distance.

“Oh? Could it be…?”

Louis squinted into the distance, hoFing he had finally reached the Spring Continent, but his eyes soon filled with disappointment.

“What’s this…? It’s just an island?”

After many hours at sea, they’d spotted their first landmass.

Louis stretched and muttered to himself:

“Well, well. Since we’ve come all this way, I guess we should stop on that island for a day or two.”

He didn’t know how much farther they would have to travel, so stopFing occasionally to rest wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. Besides, it was getting dark from sailing so long. SleeFing on solid ground sounded better than trying to catch Zs on the open ocean.

With that decided, Louis steered Dragonfly toward the island. As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting its final rays across the white sandy beach, Louis docked the ship.

The twins eagerly bounded ashore.

“Ahhhhh…”

“It sure is nice here.”

“This is why long-distance driving is so exhausting.”

How many more times would he have to drive like this in the future? The mere thought made him sigh.

Suddenly, Louis noticed something peculiar.

Hmm?

“What’s wrong?” Fin asked, but her brother continued walking as if entranced by whatever had caught his eye.

After about fifty meters, he stopped abruptly.

Huh.

Two holes were dug into the ground before him.

With a grim expression on his face, Louis called out to his sister.

“Fin…”

“Yes?”

“What do these look like to you?”

“Holes?”

“…Why are they here?”

“I don’t know… Wait! Maybe someone lives here?”

However, Louis’s instincts screamed that wasn’t it.

Could it be…?!

As realization dawned on him, he urgently shouted for his twin sons.

“Khan! Kani!”

“What?”

“Did you call us?”

The twins came running at full speed.

Louis grabbed them by their shirt collars and stuffed them into a hole in the ground.

It was as if the hole had been custom-made for the twins; it fit them perfectly.

An involuntary expletive burst from Louis’s mouth.

“This is insane!”

“Louis, don’t use bad words!”

“You’re right! Then Daddy will scold you!”

The twins, lying in the hole, wiggled their fingers left and right, but Louis paid them no mind.

He couldn’t help but scan the surroundings and the forest behind him.

As he looked this way and that, everything seemed so familiar.

Especially when he spotted a prominent cliff in the distance, resembling a turtle’s head—it confirmed his suspicions.

In the end, a resigned sigh escaped his lips.

“Haaah…”

He gazed at the red sea stained with sunset hues and lamented:

“Am I really… back here?”

After six hours of long navigation, they had returned to their starting point.

Ch-chshhhk—

Small waves crashed against each other, creating white foam that scattered like confetti, mirroring Louis’s desolate mood.