The misunderstanding had been cleared. The conversation shifted toward their encounter with the members of Eternal Darkness.
Reynold gave a brief account. He had sensed the strangeness of the environment and split the team into two to investigate. During his trek, he encountered Bovoy and the woman Kaelan had killed.
"They seemed to be planning something. I decided to investigate further rather than turn back," Reynold said solemnly, stripped of his usual cheerfulness.
"When it involves Eternal Darkness, we always need to be cautious," Lunaria said, resting her chin on her hand as she pondered. "Every time they appear, it signals the start of an incident."
After a moment of thought, Lunaria made her decision. They would conduct an exploration and investigate every anomaly.
No one opposed her. Everyone except Kaelan understood just how dangerous Eternal Darkness truly was.
"Is it true that you can also understand ancient languages?" Lunaria asked, cutting straight to the next topic.
Kaelan swallowed hard and nodded. He had no intention of hiding it; in fact, it would be more suspicious if he tried to conceal it.
"When I heard Drake reciting the Cursed Prayer, I understood its meaning instantly."
Kaelan understood it as if it were natural. Just as he could speak their tongue, the Cursed Prayer felt entirely innate to him.
"Do you know any other words?"
Kaelan shook his head. "Perhaps if I heard other sentences, I would understand them. I might also be able to read it if I saw the script."
Lunaria immediately ordered someone to fetch a quill and paper. She scribbled something down and told Kaelan to read it.
"Can you read this?"
He saw four short lines of text, each written in different characters. Kaelan looked at them intently before meeting Lunaria's gaze.
"It says sword, knife, shield and key?" Kaelan was able to read them all without difficulty.
Lunaria looked at him in surprise, then smiled as if she had discovered something fascinating.
"These are four different ancient languages," Lunaria chuckled with delight. "It seems your origins are not simple, Kaelan."
Kaelan felt a surge of anticipation. He knew nothing about himself, and that was terrifying. His past was certainly worth knowing, yet he felt a sense of unreadiness to uncover it.
"I... I'm afraid of knowing who I am. Whether I'm a good person or a bad one, and I'm afraid of changing."
Lunaria and the others could feel the heavy atmosphere surrounding Kaelan. Right now, he was suffering an identity crisis. The person he was now might not be the original Kaelan Veradis. He could have been colder, crueler, and heartless. Or perhaps the opposite.
The lack of certainty was what made him suffer. Even Lunaria and the others couldn't fully grasp Kaelan's feelings, yet they could sense the weight of his struggle.
"There are no saints. The world is a place for sinners," Rebecca remarked as she walked away toward the tents.
"Maybe you were a scholar, Kaelan!"
Kaelan looked at Drake, who was trying to cheer him up. He looked incredibly convinced by his own theory.
"You are naturally smart and can assess situations quickly. I judge you to be the type of person who adapts very fast to any situation. In my opinion, no matter what your past was like, the 'you' I know now is the most important part!"
Reynold then let out a loud laugh upon hearing that.
"That's right! You don't need to care about your past. You're living in the present now—just live it and create your own happiness!"
Kaelan's fear of himself didn't vanish, but it eased significantly. He smiled and felt grateful to the two of them for trying to calm him.
"You guys are good people, thank you very much."
Lunaria responded with a smile, glad to see Kaelan starting to look comfortable. Moreover, the people who had been wary of him were beginning to accept him slightly. She clapped her hands once to get everyone's attention.
"For now, you all should rest. We will take the watch."
No one objected, and Kaelan headed straight to the tent prepared for him. He would sleep alongside Drake in a two-person tent.
Lunaria watched Kaelan head toward his tent. She then looked at the notes she had written earlier for a long time.
"A key, huh?" Lunaria murmured in deep thought.
"Is something wrong, Captain?"
Lunaria simply shook her head and pocketed the paper.
"No, I'm just starting to see which way we need to go."
Her strong instincts told her she had to keep Kaelan under her supervision. She didn't know the reason, but she trusted her gut.
"Mary, send a letter to Glad. I want to discuss a collaboration with the archaeology team to explore the ruins."
There were various teams within the Radiant Covenant organization. While Lunaria led the scouts who explored the forests, Glad led the squad tasked with researching and exploring ruins.
As fellow explorers in different fields, Lunaria and Glad often met at crossroads. However, while Lunaria focused more on finding food and ways for humanity to survive, the archaeologists focused on understanding the past and searching for clues to overcome humanity's crisis.
"But, Captain," Mary, with her short black hair, protested. "Isn't it more important to discuss the current issues with the high-ranking officials? About Eternal Darkness and Kaelan Veradis."
The fact that Kaelan Veradis understood ancient languages was a massive revelation. Lunaria had a duty to report it to the superiors.
"No, we will keep it a secret," Lunaria refused bluntly. "Tell everyone else to keep quiet about it as well."
"Why?" Mary was curious, but she soon found the answer. "Intuition?"
Lunaria didn't answer. Silence was her response. Mary didn't push further and left to write the letter. The higher-ups' reaction to Kaelan was also strange. I feel like the upper echelon knows, or at least suspects, something.
Lunaria had felt something was off since the trial. Kaelan had been released without much trouble, and no one had opposed it.
She knew very well how stubborn and paranoid the leaders of the Radiant Covenant were after repeatedly failing to handle problems.
Yet, when facing Kaelan, they seemed to have no opinion. It was as if they were just letting him go with the flow. Since then, Lunaria had decided to keep certain things to herself as long as Kaelan didn't do anything suspicious. Her intuition told her that something significant was unfolding right before her eyes.