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Conrad touched his head, and his face grimaced as he looked at the corpse of Melboue. It was not that he was sad the man had died.
It would be unrealistic to feel something for a man he knew nothing about.
What he felt was more fear than sadness.
If this man ended up like this, then what could happen to him?
Orvel, on his side, must have been feeling the same, while Leylis, still on her knees, had bloodshot eyes and a face clearly frozen in terror.
"It will be hard for her to come back to reality,"
Conrad thought and shook his head.
Orvel turned to Leylis and asked in a robust and strong voice,
"Did you see what happened, and how did you find him?" As he asked, he put his hands on his waist.
Conrad smirked.
"He's trying to be authoritative with his body language. He must be accustomed to asking questions..." he thought.
Leylis gulped and then answered in a weak voice.
"I—"
"I—"
"I'm not sure..."
"After I found myself in the forest and walked a little bit, I saw the lights of this small village and came here..."
Orvel and Conrad listened without interrupting.
"Then, I met with him, and we agreed to move forward together, and then we came to the center of the village..."
"Not much time passed, and he suddenly started moving weirdly, and then..."
Leylis couldn't finish the last words and pointed at the corpse.
Orvel listened to everything and gave out a cold breath.
Conrad, on the other hand, turned his body to hide his face for a moment and thought,
"I'm sure she's definitely hiding something."
"It's unrealistic and illogical for an ordinary man, the same as us, to die like this."
Conrad noticed he was using the word "killed" instead of "died."
He smiled to himself for a moment and then noticed some people approaching the corpse.
In just ten seconds, he smirked as he saw familiar faces. The two people were Liebeld and Elaris.
Liebeld came to Orvel's side, nodded at him, and then looked at the corpse on the ground.
He shook his head and crouched down beside the corpse.
"It seems like he was cursed," he said, gathering everyone's attention.
Of course, if it were ordinary times, no one would believe what he said, but right now, curses didn't sound like fiction at all.
Conrad, hearing the word "curse," understood something and noticed what he had missed.
"Ludicra Cursed Darkness," he said clearly to everyone.
Hearing his words, Orvel and the others, including Liebeld, nodded.
Orvel then coughed and started speaking.
"The survival mission that we all got, I presume, most likely involves this 'curse' that the forest name hints at."
Liebeld nodded and then pointed up to the sky and added,
"Cursed Darkness may mean that one could be cursed by the darkness."
At that moment, silent Leylis spoke.
"I remember that he said he needed to sit down for a moment in the forest before coming to the village."
"I toured the whole village three times before encountering him..."
"I think he spent most of the time in the forest compared to all of us."
As she said these words, everyone reflected on their own time, then looked at Melboue's corpse. Imagining themselves in such a state filled them with deep fear—they didn't want to experience even one more second of it.
But then, Elaris spoke.
"How do you figure that the curse infection—or being cursed—has a direct correlation with time spent in the dark?"
"It may be that he simply encountered something in the forest or ate something he shouldn't have."
Leylis was about to say something but stopped herself.
Conrad noticed the change in her and observed the others. No one else seemed to notice that Leylis was hiding something.
"I guess I'll just have to wait for the time being," Conrad thought.
At the same time, Liebeld shook his head and stood up.
"I'm good at fighting in close combat, and I focus on close combat in terms of Concept..."
"But I'm not really great at dealing with mystical or magical things at all."
Orvel didn't like what he heard and asked in an angry tone,
"Can you tell us more about this 'Concept' you're talking about? What do you mean by 'focus on close combat in terms of Concept'?"
Liebeld wasn't offended. He just shook his head and said,
"I'm sorry, but 'The Admin' told me that unless you guys awaken for real, I can't explain more than what I did back in 'The House.'"
"Believe me, I'd prefer to explain—it would increase our survival chances. I just can't. If I do, 'The Admin' would strike me dead."
Despite not liking the answer, Orvel shrugged it off and then looked at Conrad.
Conrad smiled inwardly while keeping a neutral face on the outside.
"What are you looking at me for?" he asked himself and then spoke up.
"Okay, we can say that this survival mission includes a 'curse,' and the darkness has something to do with it."
"Leylis says that Melboue is the one who likely spent the most time in the darkness, which may be why he died from the curse while we're still alive." As Conrad spoke, the others nodded.
Conrad then looked at Elaris and continued,
"On the other hand, Elaris suggests that Melboue may have eaten or touched something he shouldn't have."
"I think both ideas make sense, but due to the name of the trial we're in, I choose Leylis's explanation."
"To solve the problem for now, I propose we create more light around us by any means necessary. We need to survive for at most three days."
"For the time being, as long as we stay away from the darkness, we can assume we're safe."
As Conrad ended his words, Liebeld smirked and Orvel nodded. Leylis and Elaris showed neutral expressions.
Conrad took a deep breath and said to himself,
"I'm not sure about everything, but as long as I keep my calm, I should be able to survive..."
"I'll do anything to survive..." he thought as his face kept its neutral state.