After reading the whole message, Chi-Woo spoke.

“It’s an acrostic.”

“An acro…bat?”

There was a slight error in the translation, and Yunael tilted their head, confused.

“Look at the first letters of each sentence, connect them, and read it aloud.”

“D…O…N…T… O…P…E…N?” Yunael’s eyes widened. “Ah, that’s why!” They clutched their head in realization and scowled.

“Besides this, is there nothing else about the ritual?” Chi-Woo asked. Yunael’s eyes rolled around once before they answered.

“Ah…yes. The mission of this expedition was just to get the fire pit. I was also curious about that and asked, but I didn’t pay that much attention.”

“Could you at least tell me what you recall? I’m curious what kind of ritual it is.”

“Hm, how should I describe it? It was simpler than I expected it to be. Ah, it starts when a person arrives at the destination and burns incense. Then you have to put the preparations you brought upside down on the center of the altar, put a stake on top, rotate it three times to the right, and chant three times, ‘I am a sacrifice for you.’ Then you rotate the stake three times to the right again…”

Chi-Woo’s brows furrowed deeper the longer he heard Yunael’s explanation.

“…Then you push the stake hard onto the ground, clap three times, bow three times, declare yourself an offering, and pluck out the incense you burned in the beginning and stick it to the ground upside down—”

“What are the preparations?”...