One evening, once everyone had retreated to the house inside the woods, Ezra stepped out into the garden.
He was well aware that only Professor Reiner and the two maidservants were staying in the manor where he stayed. The others spent most of their time into the forest and didn't come back at night either.
One night, giving in to his curiosity, he walked into the forest and discovered another house hidden among the trees. He thought that there must be a reason they let him stay in the manor rather than let him stay with the others. Probably because he was only a guest here.
But that night he also saw something weird about the house inside the forest. He couldn't be certain, but it felt as though streams of energy were flowing through its walls and around its windows. As if it was an artifact.
"A massive artifact… is that even possible?" he thought.
But he turned back without getting any closer, pushing aside all the questions in his mind. This was not the right time to pry into these people's secrets. He wasn't even sure there was any reason to.
He felt out of place here. He couldn't remember the last time he had interacted with people like this. As the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly froze, a moment later a bitter smile appeared on his face.
'Right, I've never interacted with people like this. That's why it feels so strange,' he thought.
He had spent his time only with the children and sometimes had short conversation with their caretakers, or a few other people to handle his business. But he had never actually conversed with anyone. This was a first in his life, and this new experience felt strange, almost frightening.
When Juan and Walter joked around at the table, he often found himself wanting to laugh with them. But he always held it back, afraid it would seem strange if he did.
There was also Professor Reiner's sister. Helen was a beautiful woman.
He was also well aware that Professor Reiner's sister was a very beautiful woman. He knew he was handsome; he noticed the way other women looked at him whenever he was out in public. Yet, he had never actually spoken to a woman before.
So whenever Helen tried to talk to him, he wanted nothing more than to disappear into the ground from embarrassment. He never knew how to respond.
He simply didn't know how he was supposed to act around people.
As he walked quietly through the garden thinking about these people, he flinched when someone suddenly touched his shoulder.
"What are you doing here? Couldn't you sleep?"
"I just wanted some fresh air," Ezra replied.
The moment he saw Arsh, he relaxed. Perhaps it was because they had met before the others, or perhaps it was because, during their first encounter, he had held a knife to his throat; whatever the reason, the tension he felt around the others seemed to fade when he was with Arsh.
"Are you comfortable here?" Arsh asked.
"Yes," he said. 'No,' he thought.
"Don't lie. I can see it, you are not," Arsh said.
"It is not that there is a problem. I am just used to being alone. So all these people... it is a bit too much."
"I understand. Until you get better, endure it a bit more. After that, you can do whatever you want. If you want to leave, you leave; if you want to stay, you stay."
"...What is your plan? Today, I saw the newspapers about the FFSD. Are you going to be a part of it and stay here?"
"Hm... for now, it looks that way," Arsh replied. "Once I've taken care of everything I need to, I don't really have any plans. I might stay here for a while—at least until I figure out what I want to do next."
"The business you need to handle, is it about that man? Professor Millway?"
"Yes."
Ezra thought for a moment before speaking.
"I don't know what your plan is, but if there is something that I can help with, tell me."
"Thank you. I will. I definitely will," Arsh said with a smile.
...
"These days, why are we having our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners together? I want to sleep more... Because of this guy, we have changed our habits," Walter said as he followed Mes out of his room.
Haru was giggling, seemingly amused by his whining.
"Stop crying, he is our guest and helped us," Mes said.
"Did his help even do any good?" Walter said mockingly.
"Actually, it was quite useful. We are going to talk about it today," Mes said.
When they went to the Manor together, there was another unexpected guest today. He was sitting right across from Ezra at the table, watching him.
Ezra, completely ignoring the man's gaze, was waiting for everyone else to arrive before starting breakfast.
"Do you have any idea how much I suffered because of you?" Herman said. Although he tried to make his voice sound angry, it was obvious that he wasn't.
Ezra turned to Herman, looked at him for a moment, and said, "I'm sorry."
"Didn't sound like a very sincere apology to me," Walter said as he took his seat.
"Shut your mouth, Walter. You don't have to say sorry for anything Ezra. He wasn't serious anyway," Mes said. He also sat on Walter's other side. The others arrived a bit later, and they had their breakfast in the middle of all the bickering again.
At the end of the meal, Mes looked a bit serious and turned to Professor Reiner.
"There are things I want to tell you. It is about the translations of the Nicean tablets that Ezra brought... Should I tell you after the meal?"
"Is there any problem in telling me now?" Professor Reiner said.
"I suppose not," Mes said, glancing at Ezra and Haru.
"The language of the writings is a bit ambiguous. That is why, even though Mrs. Burton and I managed the translations as best as we could, it is a bit difficult to completely crack the language with the information we have. Of course, then there is the matter of making sense of them... Still, we understood clearly that one of the texts mentions the Siuni. According to what it says, the Siuni were not originally carved into the human body like we do. Etymologically, Siuni means 'the touch of God.' What is interesting is that the text states the Siuni is truly the touch of God. Do you understand what I mean? It means God blessing the people He chose by touching them and bestowing powers upon them. But how these symbols began to carved into the skin, I have no idea about that. Unfortunately, the rest of the text is missing."
"What I found in another text afterward is a bit disturbing... If they have this information in their hands, I am afraid they might have used it," Mes said, pausing for a moment.
"Go on," Professor Reiner said after a while.
"The text stated that when the blood of someone who has a siuni is consumed by another person who has a siuni, it strengthens them. And if there is anything close to immortality for a normal human… this would be the way to achieve it... That was what was written." he said.
With that, everyone around the table fell silent. The exact same thought crossed everyone's mind: What had happened to the survivors of the successful experiments?
When Arsh felt Ezra shifting uneasily beside him, he turned to him. When their eyes met, he saw an strange expression on his face, a mixture of pain, crying, and fear.
Ezra lowered his head and took a deep breath. At the same time, both of his hands tightened around the fabric of his trousers on his knees.
After a moment, he spoke.
"I have something to tell you."