Village of Akau 2

After speaking with the village chief, I was led to an inn owned by the guild. It was located right next to the guildhall.

I decided to visit the blacksmith to prepare my gear, as I was stepping outside.

"Excuse me!"

A young man in his twenties, wearing glasses, rushed into the guildhall.

He seemed quite frantic.

"It looks like something's happened. Let's go take a look."

Encouraged by Alek, who was behind me, I entered the guildhall once more.

The person there was a patient suffering from the peculiar illness.

Their complexion was clearly unhealthy, with vivid blue crystals adhering tightly to the skin on their arms.

These could be seen all over the body.

The patient didn't appear to be in pain—just pale and thin.

They were taken to the back room for treatment.

The guild branch chief told me, as I watched the young man working.

He's the village doctor.

Since this illness started spreading, he's been treating patients without rest. The number of patients is gradually decreasing, but we still don't know why this happened in the first place.

We can't predict when it might flare up again. I'm sorry—I've been speaking so bluntly and made things seem bleak. Today, please take a break and start the investigation tomorrow.

The guildmaster bowed deeply and returned to the inner room.

When daylight came, we headed first toward the mine.

Apparently, there are two mines, but one has seen its output decline and is now closed.

"Hmm..."

"Taro, what are you thinking? Are you still dwelling on that strange illness? We're not doctors—think about combat instead."

I know, but wouldn't you want to do something when you see something like that?

I can agree with that. It feels almost like a fairy tale.

A fairy tale?

Yes, I'm from a kingdom, and when I lived there, I often heard stories like this. It's part of the legend of the hero.

"Long ago, there was a waterfall inhabited by demons.

The demons would spill their own blood to summon creatures from the forest. The blood was incredibly delicious, and many creatures eagerly came to drink it.

But this was a demon's curse—any creature that drank the blood would become completely enslaved to the demon.

The enslaved animals gathered food for the demons and attacked humans.

A person who had been taken away had developed gems growing out of their body a few days prior. The villagers had hidden that person deep underground.

The villagers were greatly troubled by this major crisis.

Then, a hero of light arrived and swiftly defeated the demon. The hero's light healed those who were wounded and restored the village to its former state. This was the story often told to children who wouldn’t listen—used as a warning, 'You’ll be taken by the demon if you don’t behave!'

"I see, a story that'd surely work well on children. Oh, just as I was thinking that, we've arrived."

"That seems to be the case."

Folktales often stem from some kind of real incident or accident. Whether this one is directly related or not is uncertain, but I'll keep it in mind.

And now, completely quiet, we've reached the currently active mining site.

As we ventured deeper into the mine... there was nothing there at all.

The mining site was kept clean, with signs of past excavation visible in places. However, nothing particularly unusual was apparent.

"Look, Taro. The ore visible beneath that spring is water magic stone."

Alex immediately reached out to grab the magic stone.

"Wait! Don't touch it."

"Uh? Why not?"

"Since we don't know what might be causing it, we need to investigate gradually."

Saying that, I took out a small bottle and thick gloves, then carefully placed the magic stone—along with the flowing water—into the bottle.

After leaving the mining site and searching the surrounding area, we found no noteworthy information.

"Alex, look over there— a deer-like sub-beast! It's drinking water calmly, though."

"Sub-beasts drink water too, you know."

"Really? The sub-beasts I've encountered before all went wild until they collapsed from exhaustion."

"I do feel that way too. What should we do?"

"They're sub-beasts. Either way, we'll have to take them down."

"I see."

If it were just a single sub-beast, we could easily defeat it.

"Alek, I'd like to take this deer back with us. And also, I want to bring back the water it was drinking. It might offer a clue about the increase in sub-beasts."

"Your perspective isn't that of a typical adventurer at all. You're more like a researcher."

"Is that so? Well, I'm nothing compared to active adventurers. Still, it's not bad to hear that kind of praise. I'd really like to observe at night too... though..."

"I can't approve that. We're only two people, and fighting sub-beasts in the dark with minimal light is suicide."

Calm as always. I should remember not to lose focus in situations like this...

"...Got it."

After returning to the village, I begin preparations for analysis in the large room lent to me by the guild branch leader.

This was something I had commissioned from a blacksmith in the capital before taking on this job. Conveniently, it looks like it'll be incredibly useful this time.

It's a microscope using a light stone, made by shaping wood into a tube and fitting in lenses.

The lenses were quite a challenge. I couldn't get the quality I wanted, and it took a lot of effort. I must have visited the blacksmith countless times...

I immediately began examining the collected water, the monster meat, the water crystal, and other items.

"Taro, I've been assigned by the guild branch leader to go deal with the wild beasts. It seems the villagers have stopped going outside, and the beasts are running rampant."

"Hey, take it easy, now."

Alex was clearly a warrior by nature.

He probably couldn't stand still.

"...You too."

Night had fallen without me noticing.

First, I examined the beastkin deer and found symptoms similar to those of other beastkin, with no distinguishing features apparent.

The next day, I focused on observing the water crystal but found no difference from the sample.

The following day, I examined water collected from various locations.

Nothing significant was found.

The only noticeable thing was that the water contained more crystals the closer it was to the mine.

But isn't that to be expected? It's a mine, after all.