The Devil's Cage

A small crude cottage made out of spruce wood was built.

In the middle of the cottage was a small fire but it was burning fiercely, giving out sparks from time to time.

Two opened can food were placed over the fire for heating.

After a while, the aroma came with the heated scent, causing Schmidt to swallow his saliva.

Though, the chief officer knew best what he should do at that moment.

Two sticks of bread that were harder than an iron rod was pierced over by a dagger and placed over the fire for heating.

"2567, I never thought you would be able to build a house!"

Schmidt was spinning the bread and looked at Kieran.

Until now, he still had a fresh memory of how Kieran used that frightening greatsword of his to chop down all the big spruce wood around, shaving the unnecessary twigs off and build a small cottage that could shelter them from the wind and provide warmth.

The most impressive thing to Schmidt was Kieran never used other tools other than his greatsword to build the cottage, yet the cottage that he was in was exceptionally sturdy.

The fact that the loud roar of the north-east wind outside was proof of such as anything not sturdy enough would be blown away.

"I don’t know how to build a house, I only know how to play jigsaw. Most people can build such a crude temporary snail house without any sense of design." Kieran replied.

"Most people? Most people aren’t wielding the big ass sword that you’re wielding now!" Schmidt raised a brow.

Schmidt felt the heaviness of [Arrogant Word] before, he used all his might to move the greatsword but the thing didn’t even budge.

Kieran though could wield the greatsword with ease and fluently with only one hand.

This matter made Schmidt know the gap between him and Kieran was too far apart to fill.

No doubt, Schmidt did feel a little upset because of his inner ego but what made Schmidt feel even more depressed was the fact that Kieran who possessed such battle capabilities was not someone reckless hot head. Instead Kieran was a thinker, noticing things that Schmidt himself would never think to look at.

Kieran had expected this a while ago.

"I thought I was suppose to help but now instead I am completely dragging you down!" Schmidt bitter laughed and shook his head.

"It’s just that you are used to viewing things from a commoner’s or even a trial-goer’s perspective. When you switch your view to the Sanctuary side, you notice that these things like how the trials are testing us in a certain level of courage, justice, wisdom and empathy, just like how they wanted me to decide between either friendship or mission. So how would the trials that follow would be that simple, like finding a scroll?"

"Final Island is not that big but neither is it small by any means. Relying on a one or two people’s strength isn’t enough to scout the whole island in three days, let alone in such a terrible weather. So all that is left is cooperation between trial-goers, let all of them work together to overcome this obstacle."

"Though according to Nicil, there are only three people who can pass the trial. So when a whole bunch of people finding one specific thing but only three of them can pass, the sole thought of such a situation lets me guess that the overseers of the Sanctuary have some hidden or malicious intentions."

"They kept forcing the trial-goers to decide between conscience and benefits, but they didn’t really state which one was more important, giving the liberty to the trial-goers to decide. If some big plot twist happens in the end of the trial, I wouldn’t be surprised at all."

Kieran tapped Schmidt’s shoulder to comfort him after he saw Schmidt’s bitter smile.

He then took up the boiling can of food, neglecting the burning heat on it and gave one to Schmidt and one for himself.

"Yeah right! Even worse, before the trial began, they gave out a slight hint in favour of choices that align with one’s conscience, which will definitely affect the trial-goer’s decision. Now I don’t even know what is right anymore!"

Schmidt handed one of the bread to Kieran and he himself bit on the other without caring the heat and tear it off with his best effort, chewing the bread and spilling the thoughts in his mind.

"Relax, you are not the only one. I’m quite confident that the group of trial-goers just now are racking their brains right now at the possible decisions. Besides, if I was with the Sanctuary, I would be more cruel, forcing them to cooperate at first and eventually lead them to fight each other."

Then, Kieran took the long bread, dipped it into the beef soup and took a bite.

Instantly, the oil from the beef soup spreaded out on Kieran’s tongue, the mixing of the flavourful soup made Kieran chewed a few more times. The savoury feeling that came from his mouth made Kieran quickly take another bite.

This time it wasn’t some beef stew but the toasted bread that still made him close his eyes in satisfaction. Then, after swallowing the second bite of bread, Kieran took out a hot piece of seared beef and chewed it.

Under the harsh north-east wind and coldness that could turn drips of water into ice, even if it was just a canned beef soup, Kieran’s satisfaction made him grunt lightly.

Schmidt saw how satisfied Kieran was.

He couldn’t help but stare at the bread and beef soup in his hand. He tried to mimic Kieran’s way in eating but the taste was not as flavourful as he thought.

"I thought I took these out from my bag and heated them myself..."

Schmidt thought to himself in confusion.

He wanted to exchange his bread and beef soup with Kieran to try out the taste, seeing whether was there some kind of mistake that caused Kieran to enjoy the canned food.

Though his manners prevented him from carrying out the eager thought.

Schmidt then asked to divert his attention.

"2567, you said that the trial-goers have to work together?"

"It’s quite simple actually, arrange some monsters around where they hide the scroll and only the trial-goers can beat them. With the Sanctuary’s capabilities, it might be too easy for them! Also, this is our chance!"

Kieran gobbled down the soup and the remaining pieces of beef before saying it slowly.

"Chance?" Schmidt was even more confused.

...

The other person who was confused over the matter was Nicil.

As the overseer of the trials, Nicil gasped hard when he saw the sudden arrangements added in by Smulder.

Nicil immediately contacted Smulder without any second thoughts.

When the crystal ball projected Smulder’s image, Nicil was yelling loudly with an angry tone.

"Are you out of your mind, Smulder! You Goddamn bastard, do you know how many candidates will lose their lives over your sudden arrangements!? You freaking murderer! I will report you the the Archdeacons!"

Nicil’s voice echoes throughout the little cottage that he was in, but what he got in reply was a cold, unconcerned word from Smulder.

"Whatever."

Smulder’s projection then went off.

The enraged Nicil subconsciously took his crystal ball and wanted to smash it on the ground but just as he was letting go, he grabbed it back tightly, looking unwilling.

"Damn it! I will not lose my own stuff for that bastard! Too wasteful! If I want to smash crystal ball, I’ll smash his instead! But even though that bastard is wild and arrogant all the time, he wouldn’t have gone as far as this, doing something crazy... Unless..."

Nicil suddenly realized something in his mind and his face turned ugly.

"That bastard! Does he really want to settle a grudge by abusing his position? The grudge between him and Nikorei which should be over for ages! Can it be?... Hmmm, it can’t be... Right?"

Nicil was circling around the wooden cottage with his crystal ball in arms, mumbling in a less confident tone.