Chapter 165: Urgency
Aelric’s emerald eyes shifted toward Regaleon the moment the silver-haired Knight made a request for clarification.
For a brief moment, the green-eyed youth simply stared at him. Then, a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he swept his gaze across the group.
"Have none of you even thought to relax for a moment and consider something rather elementary?"
His expression was one of profound bemusement, as though he genuinely couldn’t comprehend how they had arrived at their current conclusion.
"What I mean is this: despite the danger you supposedly associated with this cave, I still brought you here, didn’t I?"
Aelric didn’t give them time to answer. He spread one hand toward the others as he continued.
"Most of you are already imagining yourselves being eaten alive by a pack of Animas..."
His hand moved across the group; then it stopped directly in front of Veyrath, causing the auburn-haired Alchemist to immediately stiffen.
A faint flush crept across his face as he knew exactly why Aelric had stopped there. And, unfortunately, the green-eyed youth wasn’t wrong.
Veyrath had indeed been one of the first to react with alarm.
In his defence, however, anyone who heard that the cave they had entered might contain a pack of Animas would naturally be alarmed. Remaining completely composed in such a situation would have been difficult for anyone.
Still, his reaction had hardly been warranted. Because had he simply stopped for a moment and considered Aelric’s behaviour, he might have reached the same conclusion the green-eyed youth was now trying to explain.
Yet knowing this did little to soothe Veyrath’s wounded pride.
His embarrassed expression darkened almost instantaneously, transforming into one of palpable indignation.
Aelric noticed the change but he merely smiled and continued.
"But you didn’t stop to consider the circumstances."
His voice became slightly more deliberate.
"Had you thought about it more carefully, you would have realized the caveat in what I said earlier. Yes, this cave was indeed a habitat for a pack of Animas when I first discovered it."
He paused. "But that was three years ago."
Aelric shrugged as he added. " And I’m fairly certain that they might not even be here anymore."
His words had barely left his mouth when Aureleah spoke again in that cold voice of hers. "Might is not a criterion for certainty."
Her silver eyes remained fixed intently upon him.
"So using ’might’ and ’certain’ in the same argument tells me that even you aren’t entirely sure of the situation."
Her gaze sharpened as she asked. "So tell me, if even you aren’t certain about the circumstances, how can you expect us to simply accept what you’re saying?"
"Aureleah is right." Regaleon immediately followed calmly.
His golden eyes remained fixed upon Aelric as he spoke. "I think we’ve reached something of an impasse. And at this point, simply tell us what we should expect. Are there Animas living in this cave or not?"
The silver-haired Knight had barely finished speaking when Caelestra chimed in. Her brows were furrowed, and her expression had become one of exasperated impatience as she spoke.
"Seriously, it’s not that difficult." She gestured toward the tunnel around them. "Also, the longer we stand here talking about this, the more time passes, and the more we diminish our chances of achieving a breakthrough. So I think you should simply tell us exactly what we’re dealing with."
Her eyes narrowed as she added seriously. "And this time, don’t sound uncertain or try to be evasive."
"What do you think I’ve been trying to say?"
Aelric’s asked, his voice carrying a distinct note of exasperation.
"The last time I was here was only last year. I can’t exactly tell you with absolute certainty whether the Animas are still here or not."
He sighed. "However, even if they are still here, there was a perfectly reasonable reason I made us undertake this journey this morning."
Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Aelric raised his brows.
"What?" He looked around at them. "Did you think I simply brought you here this morning on a whim?"
He gave an incredulous snort as he spoke further. "Excuse me, but that would be utterly arbitrary, and I’m not arbitrary."
He shook his head.
"Think about it. I told you about a place where you could break through into the Etheryean Realm. And despite how desperately you urged me to come here yesterday, I deliberately postponed the journey until this morning."
His smile returned as he asked. "Shouldn’t that have made you suspect that there was a reason I did so?"
The group fell silent. One by one, they began to mull over Aelric’s words. And the more they thought about them, the more they realized that there had indeed been more to his decision than they had initially assumed.
After all, they had been ecstatic when Aelric revealed that he knew of a place where they could potentially achieve an easy breakthrough into the Etheryean Realm.
In fact, ecstatic was hardly an adequate word; they had been practically ravenous with anticipation. So much so that they hadn’t even wanted to wait.
Looking back, it probably hadn’t been entirely fair to Aelric.
The moment they learned about his revelation, the eight of them had spent the remainder of the previous day attempting to convince him to make the journey immediately.
They had pestered him relentlessly with argument and pleading. As a matter of fact, they had practically worn a path into the ground following him around.
Had Aelric not possessed a degree of patience even he hadn’t known he possessed, he might have snapped long before they ever reached the cave.
Indeed, even Aelric himself had begun questioning whether telling them about the location had been a mistake after witnessing just how extreme their reactions had become.
Eventually, however, he had reached his limit and finally told them that they couldn’t go.
And the explanation he had given them had been so simple that, at the time, it had almost sounded ridiculous.
When they had continued pestering him, Aelric had simply told them that attempting to make the journey yesterday would have been no different from embarking on a fool’s errand.
Therefore, they had to wait until morning.
At the time, the group had accepted his explanation with considerable reluctance. And this was because he was the one who held the key to their breakthrough in his hands.
Now, however, they were beginning to realize that there had been far more behind those seemingly whimsical words than they had understood.
While the others remained absorbed in their thoughts, Aelric continued.
"You see, the type of Animas that inhabits this cave are diurnal creatures."
The group immediately focused on him.
"In other words, they hunt during the day and return here at night."
Aelric’s tone became more serious.
"And that conclusion wasn’t something I reached through guesswork. I spent days observing their behaviour and studying their patterns."
He raised one finger as he explained further. "For that reason, when you guys insisted that we come here yesterday, we couldn’t."
He gestured deeper into the cave. "As that was precisely when they would have already begun returning to their habitat."
His eyes swept across the group.
"Which is why I said we should come this morning."
"So you’re saying the entire reason you brought us here this morning was to avoid those Animas?" Valmyr asked, his expression filled with dawning realization.
"What do you think?" Aelric replied. "Of course."
He gave them an incredulous look.
"And do you want to know something else?" He asked, pointing toward the tunnel behind them. "We already spent the last four hours simply travelling here."
He then gestured toward the group. "And now we’ve spent another hour standing around discussing this."
Aelric sighed. "That’s five hours altogether. Five entire hours spent on something that has absolutely no productive value."
His expression became serious as he asked. "So tell me. Do you still want to continue standing around?"
He pointed deeper into the cave. "Or do you want to do what you actually came here for before those Animas return?"
"Now you’re talking as though all of this is our fault." Caelestra rolled her eyes. "If you’d explained all of this earlier in a more comprehensive manner, we wouldn’t have spent the last hour squabbling and misunderstanding each other."
The failed Merchant crossed her arms as she added. "So you have just as much responsibility for this mess as we do."
"Okay." Aelric nodded. "I’ve heard what you said."
His tone was surprisingly conciliatory as he didn’t bother arguing. Actually, there was little point in doing so, especially when they were already losing valuable time.
He looked toward the others and asked. "So, can we continue now?"
His expression hardened slightly. "And mind you, we only have a few hours before they return. Therefore, from this point onward, we need to move with urgency."
There was a distinct note of gravity in Aelric’s voice, one that told the entire cohort he wasn’t joking.
Their expressions immediately became serious. And after a brief exchange of glances and a collective agreement, the nine of them resumed their journey.
This time, however, their footsteps were markedly different; the casualness that had accompanied them earlier was gone, replaced by quickness and urgency.
The golden radiance of Kaeloris’ Lantern continued to illuminate the cavern ahead, casting long shadows across the jagged walls as they hurried deeper into the darkness.
None of them bothered speaking or asked Aelric to continue with his story as there was no longer any need.
The possibility of encountering a pack of Animas had transformed what had initially been an exciting journey into a race against time.
And somewhere beyond the winding passages of the cave, something waited in the darkness. Whether the creatures were still there or not, they would soon find out...