Isabel

Personal Info

Upright and reserved, she spoke little, and beneath her cold exterior lingered a faint sense of distance that often made her seem difficult to approach.
She had traveled throughout the Abyss in pursuit of the clues her father left behind, but because of her secretive objective and solitary nature, she rarely journeyed with others.
According to available intelligence, Isabel appeared to be suffering from partial memory loss, making it difficult to determine whether her current behavior was connected to that condition.
In order to recover those missing memories, she herself had tried many different methods, but the results seemed far from ideal.

Chronicles

She was practically one of my regular customers. As long as it was information related to the institute, whether true or false, no matter where it came from, she would buy all of it.
The only information I can reveal goes no further than that. After all, in our line of work, we have to protect our clients' privacy, and we can't ask too many questions either.
— An Information Broker

Although Sister Isabel looked icy and distant, she was actually very gentle at heart, and she treated us very well too.
When she stayed here temporarily, she often helped us search for food, drove off explorers who came looking to cause trouble, and protected our living area.
It was just that she seemed to carry a heavy burden in her heart, and she would often stare blankly at a diary.
I really wanted to do something for her, but I didn't know what I could do to make her happy.
— A Young Scavenger Girl

Isabel was actually very easy to get along with. You just had to be a little more proactive. If she really disliked you, she would tell you herself.
As long as she didn't say anything, you could just interact with her however you liked.
Why am I so sure? Of course it's because we're friends! And not just ordinary friends, either, but the kind who've been through life-and-death situations together!
— Monna

She had been lively when she was little too, and she often followed her father to the institute to play.
Back then, I even thought she would definitely grow up to become a researcher as well, and inherit her father's work...
Later, I left the institute because of some personal matters. By the time I saw her again, she had already become an explorer.
It was only then that I learned her father had met with an accident, and that she had also lost part of her memory. It was truly saddening.
— A Researcher

Record

Isabel had thought about the decision to join the expedition team for a long time,
and it was not until the eve of the team's departure for their next destination that she came here with a firm answer.
Perhaps for her, cooperating with others and allowing others to help her pursue the traces left behind by her father were both very difficult choices.
With that in mind, the members had actually already prepared to give her enough time to slowly integrate into the expedition team.
However, Isabel's performance exceeded everyone's expectations—
whether in daily life or in joint operations, she performed remarkably well, and her coordination with the others was seamless, nothing like someone who had long traveled alone.
In response, Isabel said that she had merely acted on instinct, and the deeper reason for it might be hidden within the portion of memory she had lost.
As for why she had kept hesitating over whether to join the expedition team, it was because she believed that she lacked expedition experience, and was unsure whether she could become an explorer whom everyone could trust.

Anecdote

One day, a giant stone suddenly appeared in the busiest commercial plaza of the enclave.
Some strange symbols were carved into the stone, and they could not be matched with any kind of writing known to people today.
According to the notice board beside the stone, anyone who could decipher the meaning of those strange symbols would be handsomely rewarded by the enclave's administrator.
"If someone could crack these symbols, not only would they earn a fortune from the administrator, they'd also gain enormous fame... Damn, if only I could do it!"
"Stop daydreaming. If these symbols really came from some ancient existence, then this stone must be incredibly old too. Can you tell?"
"Other than being a bit bigger than the stones you usually see by the roadside, I can't tell anything special about it."
"I can't tell either. No wonder we've been exploring for so long and still haven't found anything valuable. Maybe we've been overlooking it all this time."
"You're not wrong. This is just an ordinary stone."
"What?! Is what Miss Isabel said really true?"
"Mm. This stone is indeed ancient, but things of this level can be found everywhere in the Abyss."
"So that's how it is. Then does Miss Isabel have any idea what these symbols are?"
"..."
"Does Miss Isabel have any concerns?"
"If I'm not mistaken, these symbols... were left behind when a monster sharpened its back armor."
"What?! That's an unexpectedly wild guess. What kind of monster could leave behind such distinctive marks?"
"As far as I know, at least three kinds of monsters can do that."
"I never expected Miss Isabel to be so knowledgeable."
"You're too kind. It's only because I came across some materials related to monsters when I used to study Abyss ecology with my father."
"Oh, in that case, when Miss Isabel has time, why not tell us more about monsters? That way, things will be easier for us in future battles."
"Uh, it would be rather dull."
"Topics related to monsters aren't dull at all. We'll listen carefully to everything Miss Isabel has to say."