[Cole's POV]

I was casually scanning the crowd after the King announced that someone had found the first key. Since I was paying attention to the King, I noticed he looked at a particular area and I was checking the people to figure out who has the key, I will need that information in the future after all.

There was a girl in particular that stood out to me, she had blond hair with green eyes, she is probably that Duke's daughter that I heard about. She is the most suspicious to me since she looked away from the King and kept clutching her pocket. She probably kept the key there.

My mind raced with so many ways to trick her into giving me the key when she turned towards me. Our eyes met and I smirked slyly.

"I know you have the key," I mouthed to her and she stiffened. If I wasn't sure she had the key before, now I am completely certain.

"The next hunt will take place in the ocean," the King said as I turned my attention back to him and away from the girl.

"The ocean?! How are we supposed to do that?!"

"Probably with SCUBA masks or something?"

"But the ocean surrounding this island is too big, how will we know where to search?!"

"Don't worry, just like how we did it for the forest, only a particular area in the ocean will be available for the hunt," he said as everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"We will move to the edge of the Island closest to the ocean and you all will be given your SUCBA mask and clothing so that you can stay in the water for at least 2 hours," King Winter said before moving towards the edge of the island and we all followed.

Once we got to the edge of the Island, he stopped and turned towards us.

"The clues this time will be written on rocks and the first clue will be given to you now," he said as the clues were distributed.

When I got my clue, I looked around for anyone I can trick into doing the work for me and saw a smart-looking guy.

I smirked and went towards him as he looked at me with a suspicious expression.

"Relax, I just wanted to team up with you," I said with a warm smile but he didn't return it.

"I know you. You are Cole, the guy that everyone was warned to not cross paths with. I am sorry, but I won't team up with you," he said coldly before leaving to get his SCUBA gear.

Seriously, I just duped a duke and acquired his whole fortune, scammed several jewel stores, and looted some banks, and now everyone labelled me as someone to not cross path with. How ridiculous.

"Tsk! I need to either find someone that doesn't know about my reputation or find this key myself," I muttered as my eyes searched the crowd.

I remembered the girl that has the first key and thought of using her but dismissed the thought.

'She probably got it by luck, plus she seems to be the type that will be on guard with me. I have to wait to get at least one key before I have something to tempt her with. I guess I am going solo for this then.'

I smirked and took my SCUBA gear before diving into the ocean.

Oh right, I never introduced myself. My name is Cole, one of the most famous trickster in town. I know, I know, I am handsome with my blond hair and blue eyes. I control a massive amount of wealth and enjoy tricking people into doing my bidding. Some people may call me a sly person but I am just a normal guy. Partially.

I stopped when I landed on the ground in the ocean and brought out my clue to examine it.

"IF IT IS THE CLUE YOU SEEK, THEN LOOK DEEP, THE CLUE YOU SHALL FIND, IN THE OCEAN'S BEHIND."

'The ocean's behind, huh?'

Hmm... If I remember correctly, there is one big rock in the ocean that is nicknamed 'The ocean's behind' because of how it looks, even though few people know that nickname anyway.

I swam to it and smirked when I saw a clue written on part of the rock.

"SOME DESTRUCTION YOU CAUSED TO US, WHEN OUT OF THE ISLAND YOU DISCUSS, IF THE CLUE YOU WANT TO CHECK, LOOK INTO THE WRECK."

It is a good thing that I duped that duke of both his properties and fortune since that made me have access to most of the history books he owned and so much more.

If I am correct, there was a time some people built a ship to leave this Island but the ship sunk for some odd reason and was then just a plain shipwreck.

I smirked, swam towards the shipwreck, and found a rock with the clue.

"GOOD YOU DIDN'T DERAIL, HOPE YOU DON'T FAIL, FINDING THE KEY IS TOUGH, BUT SEARCH FOR THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."

The diamond in the rough, huh? I know where to look.

I remember while I was swimming here, I saw one small cave that had a rough engraving of a diamond on it, that's probably where the second key is.

I swam towards the cave and found the key in it. The key was silver and had a diamond engraved on it with the number (2) inside the diamond.

I smiled and turned around to see the girl from before, the one with the first key.

She just looked at me as I kept the key in my pocket when the bell rang signifying the end of the hunt for the second key.

We swam back up to the Island and for some reason, she stood beside me.

"Congratulations, the second key has been found by one of you. Don't worry, the hunt will continue tomorrow so that you can spend the remaining time resting. See you all tomorrow," the king said warm-heartedly before leaving after glancing at me for a split second.

Once the crowd was dimming, I pulled the girl to a more secluded area.

"Hey, what do you say we team up? After all, I have one key and you have another, it will be better like that," I said as she looked at me skeptically.

"I don't need to team up with you. I would have gotten the key before you if not for some interruption that led me to a late start," she said with an annoyed expression, looking away.

"But you didn't get the key and that's all that matters," I said teasingly with a sly glint as she looked back at me.

"But who will be the ruler of the Island between us then?" She asked with suspicious eyes.

"Well, that will be a discussion for another day. What we know is that we can't win if we don't have even one of the keys so we need each other," I said with a sly smirk as she furrowed her brows.

"You know I can always tell people that you have the key and they will pounce on you," she said warningly, trying to seem like she had the upper hand.

"I can also tell them about your key. So are you with me?" I asked, copying her tone.

She looked downcast for a second before putting on a confident facade.

"I am in."