We didn’t walk too far.

I caught a faint scent of oranges when a breeze moved the woman’s hair, even as I walked in a safe distance from her.

She raised her arm, ready for a handshake.

“I never properly introduced myself. I’m Quinn.”

I shook her hand, glancing over at her clothes to see if she could be carrying any weapons. If she did, they were well hidden.

“I will spare both our times, sir Park Eun-Woo, and inform you neither someone from my group nor myself can share sensitive information.”

“What kind of sensitive information are you dealing with?”

Her lips smiled yet her gaze darkened. “The one you are so desperate to hear.”

“Then why did you want to talk with me alone?”

Quinn shrugged. “You are interesting. I had fun watching you on the last trial. It was your first one, right?”

“Yes…” Yet apparently, it was not her first.

“I didn’t see others volunteering to fight that monster when it killed everyone in the field. What you pulled off, it’s not an easy feat for beginners. You already have a Benefactor, right?” I must’ve failed to hide my emotions, for Quinn laughed while shaking her head. “Relax, you don’t need to tell me who your Benefactor is. Most people don’t really get an offer before the First Trial. Most Benefactors can be quite stingy, you know?”

“Then how can you tell I have one?”

“Unless you have a buff skill, cards are pretty useless. Yours weren’t.”

Could she tell who my Benefactor was by that fact alone…?

“Okay, we both have a Benefactor. But you won’t gain much from this conversation, will you?”

Amusement filled her eyes before she spoke. “How can you be sure I have a Benefactor?”

I tried to hold my laugh, yet I failed. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be alive after all this time. Would you?”

Her silence was an answer enough before she went back to my previous question. “I won’t gain much from you now, you’re right. But this doesn’t mean you won’t owe me in the future. With so many Trials bound to happen, we will meet again at some point.”

I was unsure of what I disliked most about Quinn’s words. The overwhelming confidence about the number of Trials we would have to face, or the bit about me owing her favors.

“I’m not sure you gave me enough for me to owe you anything.” When I spoke, it was impossible to conceal the cold anger in my voice.

Yet she appeared to be unfazed.

“I can give you plenty. You just need to know how to ask.”

My contract with the Fool prohibited me from sharing its details with others. This woman appeared to be in a similar position, yet was it a condition set by her Benefactor or the system itself?

“And if I think what you gave me was not good enough to be worth a favor?”

The chill that ran down my spine when she smiled was a warning. Shivers that told me the meaning behind that smile and cold gaze.

“Then next time we meet, we will be more than strangers yet way less than friends.”

So this is how you will play, huh?

I still knew nothing about this place. The rules binding us to the system and these trials, who these Benefactors were, what we had to do to either go back or be free from all the death threats.

Any new information I could acquire was helpful.

“Where was your pre-trial?” My question seemed to surprise her a bit.

“In a desert.”

So she had either arrived in this place before us, or at another location.

Then, how many groups were there? And how many more there would be?

“What are you and your group doing here?”

“We are participating in the Trials, of course.” The amused glow in her eyes was almost unsettling, as if she was playing with a prey.

“How long will you stay here?”

Quinn only smiled, her lips sealed. I tried again.

“Have you been here before?”

She raised her eyebrow.

“By here, you mean…?”

“This place. I think the system called Baton isle, or something like that.”

“A-ha!” She chuckled, the wind ruffling her hair once again. “Île de Bâton. And no, I had never visited this side of the island before.”

I started to think.

“What other places have you visited?”

“Someplace wet.”

I furrowed. “Does it rain a lot there?”

Her reply made my heart beat cold and slowly. “You know how to swim, right?”

I could feel sweat running down my back as pure dread crawled its way down my throat. I knew how to swim, alright.

I simply couldn’t handle water.

“…will I need to visit this place as well? In the future.”

When she nodded, I felt my heart dropping to my feet.

Great.

“I believe our Benefactors want us to visit this entire island.” When it took a few seconds for me to reply, Quinn leaned toward me with a new light in her eyes. “What’s wrong? You look pale.”

I clenched my fists, swallowing whatever fear was trying to get a hold of me. “I’m fine. Do you know how many places there are? In this island.”

“Many of us believe there are four.”

Four…

「You really enjoy this crap? You know they are just trying to steal your money, right?」

I remembered a conversation I had with Hyeon.

「Say what you want, it’s fun. Who knows, maybe I will be able to do this by myself, one day.」

「But don’t you need, like… Psychic powers and shit like that?」

「Oh, Park ■ ■, you truly know nothing.」

She was always too excited about these occult things. And as I recalled things, I know she once said something about how Tarot was divided. About how it was similar to a normal deck of cards.

「If you don’t count the Major Arcanas, you have the same suits. It’s easy to memorize, really. So easy, even someone like you could do it!」

There were four suits in a normal card game; spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds.

And from the Tarot cards I had received so far, they seemed to match the name of the system's status.

Wands, Coins, Cups, and Swords.

Four suits.

The first reward I got, the Primal Sword, had been gifted by the Court of Swords. Yet that was before reaching the island.

The first Trial we did here was called the Two of Wands. One of the rewards I received, the letter, was also from the Court of Wands...

“This part of the island, is it related to Wands?”

The woman widened her eyes, the amusement that drenched her eyes falling to her lips, stretching her smile.

“You truly are interesting, sir Park Eun-Woo.”

“Answer my question, please.”

“This region is ruled by the Court of Wands, yes.”

“And the Trials we are participating, are they all related to the Wands suit?”

Quinn bit her lower lip with amusement, her eyes carving a hole into mine. “They are Trials made by the Court of Wands.”

I took a step back, her words echoing and swirling inside my mind.

Four suits, four regions, four Courts. If the name of the Trials were truly a reflection of their related cards, if everything in this place was somehow connected with this divination card game Hyeon would never shut up about…

Were the Benefactors also cards?

The Major Arcanas? The names… Some of them matched.

I was about to open my mouth to ask Quinn another question when something popped up in front of me.

[You have received a message.]

The message looked as if it had been written in a hurry. And the moment I finished reading it, I was running.

[mister help

that group came again i’m afraid Hal will get hurt

hurry please]

I didn’t know what I feared most. Any of those bastards doing something with the twins—

Or Hal hurting one of them.