An expedition was an entity sharing one fate – this assertion from Samuel was something pretty much all Earthlings would readily agree with.

It didn't matter whether one's relationship was bad or not, or if there was some bad blood; as long as they belonged to the same expedition, every member had to cooperate with one another. Otherwise, there was a high chance the expedition would spiral into an uncontrollable mess during a march or a battle. This would obviously put everyone’s lives at risk.

In that regard, both Seol Jihu and Clara lacked the 'educational' aspect of what made Earthlings the Earthlings.

Blinded by greed, Clara provided pretext with her foolish actions, and when she was criticized for it, she got angry. Seol Jihu was triggered by her and relentlessly pushed her to a corner afterwards.

The result was the atmosphere of the expedition becoming icy. Everyone felt like they were walking on thin ice.

Clara continued to wipe at the edges of her eyes, her breathing heavy and rough as if she couldn't get over her anger. Seol Jihu deliberately ignored her altogether.

Eventually, Samuel stopped leading the team only ten minutes after leaving the tomb.

“Master Ian, I apologize for this, but can we return to the vicinity of the tomb?”

“Mm? Why?”

“It seems that we have left too quickly.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I think we should take a short break first. I thought that, from what you told us before, the vicinity of the tomb should be the safest….”

Samuel glanced at the still-sobbing Clara, the ends of his sentence drifting away.

“….Apologies. She hasn't been in the team for long. She's only a Level 2, and thus is a bit lacking in some areas.”

He revealed the reason for the break with an embarrassed tone of voice. Ian scanned his surroundings, not really minding it.

“Now that I think about it, we haven't taken a single break since we entered the forest in the morning. Even the mealtime has flown by us. Right, shall we take a break here?”

“You mean, right here? But….”

“It'll be fine. If you're worried about the effects of the Forest of Denial, then I believe we'll be fine.”

“Is that true?”

Ian nodded his head.

“A Magician is more sensitive to the flow of magical energy. If my hypothesis is correct, then the boundary for the activation of that defense spell will be just beyond where we are right now.”

“Is… that so?”

For a brief moment there, a strange light flickered within Samuel's eyes. It was truly for an infinitesimally short time, though.

“It is hard to believe, isn't it? A magic spell that encompasses this massive forest.”

“Well, he was called a sage even by the people of the ancient Empire. You shouldn't even compare him to a fake like me. Oh, it's just my supposition, so don't get too hung up on it.”

Ian waved his hand around and settled down with a bit of groan.

“Everyone, we take a short break! Eat something, if you're hungry!”

Samuel shouted out loudly and then silently stared at Clara for a while. He stood there staring at her as if he was caught in a dilemma. Next, he called out to Alex, who was still unable to calm her down even now.

“Alex, let's talk for a bit.”

Samuel dragged Alex away to a distance and they spoke softly to each other for a while. Alex formed a troubled expression and shifted his gaze towards Clara, now in the middle of being pacified by Grace.

Next up, Samuel walked over to Clara. His expression seemed determined as if he had made his mind up over something.

“Clara. We need to talk.”

“Hic! That bastard…!”

“Stop! You are not a little kid anymore! Don't you understand that your actions are negatively impacting the atmosphere of this expedition?”

Clara continued to sniff away in bitterness.

“I only, I…!”