After finishing bathing in the river, we all gathered at the camp. Although it was called a camp, in reality, nothing looked like one.
We only had leaves as bedding and a fire for warmth. There was no ceiling, the sky above our heads was open, and there were no barrier walls or anything like a tent.
"Tomorrow morning, we must immediately leave the forest."
The atmosphere of the forest tonight was a little different. Beta responded to it and suggested to hurry out of the forest.
"Yeah, we do have to leave here right away."
I glanced at my sister. Small lightning bolts emerged from her hands, crawling in the air, zapping the mosquitoes around.
"Something's strange…"
Bestie suddenly appeared.
She must have been scouting the surrounding area.
"I don't see any signs of monsters or animals around."
She had a point, and I thought this was the reason Beta agreed to bathe in the river.
"There will be a war for territory."
"Could it be?"
I couldn't follow their conversation. My sister, Bestie, and Beta seemed to know something that I didn't.
"Remember the snake earlier?"
I nodded.
"And then that snake was struck by Alpha Annihilation."
I knew that, but what was the connection? Beta then continued.
"Our institution is in the middle of the forest."
I knew that too. teacher often told stories about the forest and forbade going out alone.
"The institution building is right in the middle of the forest, which acts as a boundary for four forest regions."
This was the part I didn't know, about the forest being divided into four regions. Beta explained: the four regions are each controlled by one powerful Monster, and the snake we met earlier was the ruler of the Northern region.
"And it seems, my sister killed it unintentionally."
Bestie interjected. She probably felt her sister had done something fatal.
"I can imagine it. Right now, Alpha Preservation and Warding might be lecturing her."
Hmm… If I were asked to imagine it, it might look like a girl sitting sweetly with two women talking in front of her.
"Isn't that their daily routine? Your sister damaged something guarded by my mother, and something preserved by Preservation."
"Well, that's the flaw in our organization."
Beta spoke again. My sister, Bestie, and I turned to her as if to say, "What do you mean?"
"Basically, Chroniclers are the recorders and keepers of knowledge, of history."
"We all know that, even my little sister knows it, right?"
I nodded.
"Oh… really? Well, that's good if you know that. But… there's an important history you need to know."
"What is it?" Bestie responded.
"Initially, Chronicler was just a passive organization, only recording and preserving history, knowledge."
"But… as time went on, the knowledge they possessed forced the organization to become active, and eventually, several conflicting factions were formed."
"Make it simpler, just get to the point."
My sister complained.
"Okay, okay, so the point is that knowledge makes the organization the only one who knows history, such as the awakening of the Giant Worm."
"Chronicler doesn't maintain, guard, or destroy it…"
"But because Chronicler has knowledge about it, Chronicler stepped in directly and became the coordinator during the crisis, especially the knowledge of Chronicler Sigma which was very important at that time."
We all listened to Beta's explanation. I thought what she said had something to do with this book. I looked down at the book in my hand.
"Then what was your use there?"
Bestie interjected.
Well, I was also interested in that. What did she do as someone with the rank of Beta?
Beta smiled broadly, puffed out her chest, and proudly answered.
"Me? Of course. My role was very important and helped a lot."
"Yeah, she has a point. My mother, and she, were on the eastern continent at that time, and yes, she was very helpful, especially in the medical section."
"You were in the east, huh? My sister and I were in the North."
"Did you travel?"
"No, Bestie, my sister and I were practicing at that time. But suddenly the ground shook, and my sister attended a meeting. After that, my sister invited me to go North."
I glanced at my sister.
"Me? At that time, I was… ah, never mind. The point is, Mom came and asked me to go."
Her face flushed. She probably didn't want me to know it, and well, that was fine.
I just felt confused about how they went, because I knew the distance was far. Even my journey with the teacher took a long time, and we hadn't even crossed the continent yet.
"Oh… you want to know how I went?"
Bestie saw what I wrote. I nodded to answer.
"I climbed onto my sister's back, and she jumped."
This didn't make sense. The teacher and I spent a long time traveling by land, while she and Alpha Annihilation just jumped and could reach another continent.
I glanced at my sister, wondering, did she also go by jumping?
"Mom made Beta and me float, then fly."
So that's it, they flew. I felt their method was very practical and easy. But our discussion had changed direction now.
"So what's the conclusion, and what's the main point?"
Beta glanced at the book in my hand.
"Ah, alright. So the conclusion is that Chronicler is not passive, only recording and preserving knowledge."
"Chronicler has knowledge of the past, records the present, participates if it has to, and will be the leading organization when dealing with something very new, such as the appearance of strange phenomena."
"Examples of the past and present are the Giant Worm. There are many records about it, and because the phenomenon only occurs once every thousand years, only the Chroniclers have the knowledge base about it."
"Especially the knowledge of Chronicler Sigma."
While writing questions, I thought: why could it be so important and how could that be?
I knew the teacher was always with me at that time. We ate and slept in the same tent. Even when there were meetings with the city leaders, I was by her side.
So how could the teacher's knowledge play such an important role? When she was always with me.
Beta glanced at my writing.
"Ah… so you're curious about that?"
I nodded.
"Your teacher, Chronicler Sigma, is the only one who can use telepathy—talking over long distances with the Alphas—and because of that, the global crisis could be minimized."
Beta suddenly yawned.
"I'm sleepy. Alright, girls, now it's time to sleep and rest. Tomorrow we have to leave here right away. Go to sleep."
My sister and Bestie complied.
"This might be our first night we can sleep peacefully in the forest."
Beta immediately fell asleep. As for Bestie? I didn't know what she was doing right now. My sister lay down in front of me, staring straight at me.
A little embarrassed because I was being stared at, I lowered my head.
Every time I faced her, I was confused. She knew many things about me, while I didn't know much about her.
I was only sure and knew she wouldn't be angry with me, even when I pulled her nose like this.
"What is it?"
I shook my head.
There was no specific goal. I just wanted to know if she would be angry if I pulled her nose until it was red.
A buzzing sound approached.
A mini lightning bolt immediately struck in the direction the sound came from.