After a brief but effective conversation, Feld recounted what had happened, and the middle-aged Benny filled in the latter half with a few more details. Kraft finally had a rough understanding of the whole affair.
"So you're saying Dominic went mad after reading some nonsense, then inexplicably ran off to a mountain he'd never visited or even heard of, looking for something the locals don't even know the exact appearance of."
Drawing on the knowledge brought by the Otherworld Soul, Kraft recalled that a sage from ancient times had summed up this phenomenon long ago: learning without thinking leads to confusion; thinking without learning leads to danger.
Learning all sorts of things and then thinking recklessly was a good way to combine the worst of both, blunder into danger, and end up not far from death.
The two men hesitated for a moment, then nodded. The description was a little too brief, but it was hard to argue with.
"Then, when you tried to restrain him by force, the madness spread to this... young brother."
He had wanted to call him a "boy," but the roughness of life in the wilderness blurred the lines of age, so he awkwardly settled on another term.
Kraft's gaze moved between the patient and his family. A doctor's intuition told him there was still some information that had not been fully conveyed—details too difficult to put into words, leaving the overall story illogical.
Either the other man hadn't realized those details mattered, or they were secrets he was ashamed to reveal—or else the reason sounded so absurd that no listener would believe it.
"My friend, thank you for coming to our aid. May the Lord bear witness to your kindness and courage."
He leaned forward, away from the back of his chair, bringing himself