Hearing them bicker felt...
Comforting.
Munnu looked him up and down.
"So?"
"Did you find whatever you were looking for?"
Kai hesitated.
"I..."
He glanced back toward the distant crater.
"I think so."
"...Maybe."
"But..."
He couldn't explain it.
He found answers.
Yet somehow...
He had even more questions now.
Munnu laughed.
"That's usually how ruins work."
"You enter looking for treasure."
"You leave with a headache."
Several Outlaws nodded in agreement.
"True."
"Happened to me."
"I only found rats."
"You found rats?"
"They stole my lunch."
The group burst into laughter.
Even Kai chuckled.
For a brief moment...
Everything felt surprisingly normal.
---
As they resumed searching the ruins...
Kai noticed something strange.
Without consciously trying...
His eyes naturally drifted toward objects that still contained faint traces of mana.
Broken crystals.
Half-buried magical conductors.
Fragments of ancient circuitry.
He somehow knew...
Which pieces still worked.
"...Over here."
He called.
Munnu looked over.
"What?"
Kai picked up a rusted metallic plate.
"This one."
"It still works."
Persia frowned.
"How would you know?"
Kai froze.
"..."