Walking Away from the Light

The captain had arrived.

Almost the instant the white-robed uninvited guest finished speaking, a swirling green flame rose in the room, and a figure stepped out from within it.

The moment Shirley saw Duncan, she jumped up. "Captain, Captain! An Endtime Evangelist suddenly came over here just now! This one seems to be the kind that hasn't gone mad. He said he wanted to talk to you..."

"I know." Duncan raised a hand, cutting off Shirley's excited babbling. His gaze had already settled firmly on the uninvited guest. "I was wondering how long you people would wait before appearing in front of me—didn't expect it to happen this soon."

"You knew I would come?" the white-robed old man asked casually. Though his words conveyed surprise and questioning, his expression remained calm.

"You would come sooner or later, because 'dusk' has begun. Any Final Survey Team members who still retain their sanity at this moment should be quite willing to meet me, and I happen to have a lot I want to discuss with you as well." As Duncan spoke, his gaze swept around the room. "...This isn't a good place for a conversation. We can talk somewhere else."

The moment he finished speaking, Shirley, A'gou, and Morris, who was applying all sorts of blessings to himself, immediately nodded repeatedly in agreement...

Yet the uninvited guest seemed not to notice the three of them. He merely looked at Duncan. "That would be fine. Let us go somewhere closer to Subspace. I will feel more comfortable there."

Somewhere closer to Subspace? Duncan frowned slightly at those words, but after a brief silence, he slowly nodded. "All right."

Morris's eyes widened slightly at once. "Captain, are you sure you want to bring..."

"It's fine." Duncan waved a hand. "I know what I'm doing.