Taking great care all along the way, Walsh ran toward the rendezvous point he remembered arranging with that gentleman.
It was a dense grove beside the road between Kemail Manor and South Los. From the outside, it looked no different from any other grove, utterly ordinary.
Only someone who had entered the grove and received guidance from someone familiar with it could find the mechanism hidden within-
Death is like breathing, ordinary yet extraordinary.
Keeping that gentleman's words and instructions firmly in mind, Walsh climbed the thickest tree.
When he reached the hollow concealed by branches, he did not reach inside immediately. Instead, he gently knocked on one side of the trunk.
Knock! Knock, knock!
One knock, followed by two in quick succession.
Each knock was heavy.
Then-
Hiss, hiss!
With the distinctive hiss of a snake, a venomous serpent whose coloring blended perfectly with the trunk and branches crawled out of the hollow and coiled around a branch.
The venomous snake flicked its tongue, its cold eyes fixed on Walsh.
Yet under its gaze, Walsh calmly reached into the hollow and began feeling around. When his fingers touched a recess, he immediately hooked them upward.
Click!
With the sound of a spring mechanism, the covering panel slid completely aside, revealing the Communication Stone within.
Walsh took out the Communication Stone, checked that it was the right one, and quickly climbed down.
He had not trembled once throughout the entire process, much less felt any fear.
Because that gentleman had told him there was no need to fear.
He firmly believed that gentleman would never harm him.
And that was indeed the case. The venomous snake seemed to have no desire to attack at all. Once Walsh took the Communication Stone, it returned to the hollow.
"Mr. Glaster, this is