After a brief silence, the Sun, Derrick, looked troubled as he said:
"You have to accept the mission to join the exploration team."
"Nothing is mandatory." The Hanged Man, Alger, chuckled and shook his head.
To dispel the image of being deep and calculating that Cyril had just attributed to him, he spoke with unusual seriousness:
"Before you take part in this mission, find a chance to injure yourself during a patrol. Keep it under control—not life-threatening, but serious enough that you won't recover in a short time."
"That way, you won't need to say a word. The Shepherd elder in charge of this exploration mission will have you withdraw from it."
...That was an option?
After a moment of surprise and confusion, Derrick frowned and said:
"But... I haven't had any patrol duties lately."
The Magician, Fors, considered it and suggested, "Aren't you going to hunt a Spirit Eater? You could injure yourself during the hunt."
"Would it cause you any trouble if you couldn't join the exploration mission because you'd been injured?"
"It probably... wouldn't." Derrick shook his head, looking uncertain. He didn't know much about this, either.
Klein also had his avatar, the World, offer an opinion:
"That's a workable plan, but the risk is that getting injured in the darkness beyond the City of Silver would expose you to unnecessary danger."
"But the risk is still much lower than going to that half-ruined temple, isn't it?"
The Hanged Man countered, then turned to Derrick beside him and made another suggestion:
"There's another way. You could bring yourself to the brink of losing control while still inside the City of Silver. I doubt anyone would want to take a dangerous person who could explode at any moment on an exploration mission, would they?"
"There's a very simple