Angel had not actually left. He was still watching Kemei.
He had stayed silent simply because he did not want Kemei to rely on him too much.
That would not help Kemei grow.
Besides, a faint doubt had begun to stir in his mind.
Since the Instance began, he had given Kemei plenty of help: Phantom Concealment, the Mini Map, the Large Map, a safety net at critical moments...
Yet this was supposed to be an extremely easy E-rank Instance. Somehow, it had turned into a situation where everyone but Kemei had fallen victim to the Whispers of the Living Dead, leaving him to press on alone. The difficulty had clearly gone beyond what was normal.
A thought slowly surfaced in Angel's mind:
Could the help I thought I was giving him have disrupted the Instance's original course?
Perhaps being cursed and falling unconscious was the intended path for an E-rank Instance?
Perhaps certain events connected to the "truth" could only be triggered after they lost consciousness?
And by giving Kemei Phantom Concealment and illusion nodes, I kept him awake but forced a simple route onto a difficult branch no one had ever taken.
Of course, this was only Angel's speculation.
It was mainly because everyone falling unconscious seemed so far beyond E-rank difficulty that he could not help thinking about it.
That was why Angel had chosen not to respond.
He feared that anything more he said might only make things worse.
Kemei reached the spot marked "O" on the map without trouble, and there he did indeed encounter a member of the Forty Thieves standing watch.
Kemei did not spot him, though.
The scout saw Kemei's Flute Merchants' Guild uniform and the heavy cart of supplies he was dragging, and came forward on his own.
After a