The last time they entered the Conjes Family cemetery, an extra person had nearly triggered a crisis that would have wiped out the entire team. Naturally, Kallen was more sensitive to head counts when entering an unknown underground area like this again.
Of course, that was not the main reason.
Because of the Twelve Knights of Order, twelve was a highly regarded number in the Order God Church's traditions. From small departmental squads to seats at certain levels of senior leadership, units were generally organized around "twelve."
This Order tradition was common knowledge not only within the church, but even throughout the Church World outside it.
In fact, however, viewed through doctrine and its historical development, what the Order God Church valued had never been the number "twelve," but "one plus twelve."
People remembered "twelve" most clearly because ordinary people generally failed to consider that above the Twelve Knights of Order stood a ruler: the God of Order.
That was perfectly normal. After all, the God of Order did not really count as a person.
Kallen had been a captain himself for a long time, so what ordinary people saw as a twelve-person unit had always meant thirteen people to him.
But judging by the thinking displayed by these twelve people, they really did seem to be just as Neo had described. When another consciousness suppressed your thoughts and made you naturally believe in and agree with its words, your perception of yourself and the reality surrounding that self had already been blurred.
When she heard Kallen say "one person is missing," Luna began looking around. The others also looked ahead and behind them in confusion, starting to count off their teammates' names and nicknames:
"Captain, Kuzan, Gray Wolf, Bison, Angel..."
"Blind Man, Kuzan, Gray Wolf, Iron Nail, Captain..."
"Gray