Richard noticed Molly's change. He glanced at Xize and fell into thought. A person's personality did not suddenly change without reason. Either their surroundings had changed drastically, or they themselves had changed.
Based on what Xize had said earlier, the latter was most likely. Richard's guess had been correct. Xize had cast the curse twice, and the cost was greater than imagined. Even if he did not die immediately, he would soon die after leaving the ruins.
That was why the always-serious Xize had cast aside so many concerns and made jokes so rarely heard from him. Perhaps he wanted less gloom and more joy in his remaining days... or perhaps there was some other reason.
As Richard pondered, Xize made another move.
"Alright, enough rambling. Time is precious. Let's pick a mate for that beast that ran away." Xize addressed the group, reaching into his clothes. After fumbling around for quite some time, he pulled out a thin sheet of paper.
"This is..."
While everyone was still somewhat puzzled, Xize tore off one corner of the paper with a rip, then another corner, then tore off a long strip... Slowly, he tore out a shape.
The shape was crude, and it was almost impossible to tell what it was. Xize glanced at it, noticed this, poked a small hole into it with his finger, nodded, and muttered to himself, "Mm, not bad. Now it looks like one."
The group looked over and finally vaguely made out that it seemed to be a mouse.
Yes, a mouse.
But it had been made far too crudely, to the point of being unbearable to look at. Its originally round head had been forcibly torn into a square. It had one ear on one side and none on the other. Its tail was