Chapter 5
SMELL OF DEATH (1)
When we arrived at the front gates of the Kasse village, they were completely unguarded. It was one thing that the village was surrounded by poisonous vegetation and a dense forest making it completely isolated.
But the gates were left entirely open, devoid of any sense of security. The moment Ken, Elsie, and I stepped into the village, passing through the gate. My eyes started to burn incessantly, and my head felt heavy.
It was only after Elsie pointed out how she too got a bad feeling from this village, that my headache calmed down.
“I too come from a village, and so I know something here isn’t right. I just don’t know what it is.” Elsie seemed lost in thought. But she didn’t seem to be the thinking type as she soon gave up.
“We just need to get the job done and get out of here as soon as possible.” Ken made a point since we were here for a quest, there was no point in turning back now after coming this far.
The village consisted of very few houses along the straight road, and at its end stood the largest building.
“I can’t even see a single person around. Isn’t it too empty?” I asked.
“It’s too early, for the main road to be this quiet even for a village. There is not even a single shop open now for business.”
“Let’s directly go to the village chief’s house. Our business will most probably conclude there.” Ken looked unaffected by the state of the village as his pace remained steadfast.
It was just about to be sunset when Ken knocked on the village chief’s house. With each knock, the door emitted a faint creak before slowly swinging open.
“Who are you people?” The village chief had a surprised but stern look as if he was not expecting any visitors at this time.
“We came here to deliver the item you put a request at the adventurer guild.” Ken handed him the official document we got at the guild.
“I see.” The village chief’s expression softened from before but he still looked at us with doubt.
“Did the three of you come here alone, passing through the village?” He asked in doubt.
“Yes. Can’t you see we are all dirty and tired after fighting all the monsters on our way?” Elsie did not take lightly to his suspicions aimed at us.
“I am not blaming you. It’s just you all came too early than I expected and looked too young to cross the forest by yourself.” The village chief rubbed the back of his head as if caught off guard while trying to hide his surprise.
“We are young and strong.” Elsie emphasized.
“Alright. You may come in.” The village chief finally welcomed us and we followed him inside.
He wore simple clothes, but his looks made him seem like he hadn’t slept for days. And then there were his usual gazes he would steal at us.
The three of us sat on one side of the dining table while the other seat on the other side of the table was occupied by the village chief.
At the centre of the table Ken, placed the bag I got from the Alchemy Association and the contract paper.
“Alright, I have received the parcel.” The village chief after giving a quick glance at the contract and holding the bag.
In a hurry without checking the contents of the bag, he signed the contract as evidence that we had safely made the delivery to the correct receiver. Once we take this back to the adventurer guild our quest will be marked as completed.
The village chief himself served us some refreshments which Elsie happily began to feast over.
Ken and I too got our hands on the food, since we were hungry from the long journey ourselves.
⸺But it became too late not to regret it.
“…. It's too bland. Didn’t you put some salt in it?” Elsie made a distasteful face as if she was about to spit out the food but swallowed it in out of consideration.
“We don’t have any right now.” The village chief said in an unconcerned fashion.
“Couldn’t you have got a hand on some salt or spices from the merchants that come to visit here?” Ken made a sharp question indirectly inquiring whether what we heard about this village was true or not.
“We like our food as it is. We don’t want much involvement from outside either so we stopped trading with the merchants.” The merchant remarked as if trying to dodge the question but he indirectly revealed his secret.
Looks like the trade has been halted here for far too long. The food was bland, and the place lacked any materialistic value, to the point of being almost empty.
Are other people in the village living like this as well, even though I haven’t seen anyone else!?
Suddenly, a woman entered the room holding out a tray with three bowls.
“We can’t leave our guests to head back this late at night. That’s why I prepared our village’s sweet delicacy made out of native herbs grown here.” The women put forward the plate.
“Wait… this wasn’t what we decided. It would be midnight soon; they should leave before it becomes too dark.” The village chief protested as he abhorred the idea of us staying here any longer.
The women held the village chief’s hand and made a charming face.
“Father.” On hearing the woman call him out, the village chief felt confused and uncomfortable.
The woman continued saying, “You know we never get any outsider visitors here. So, let’s have them here at least for tonight. They can sleep at the inn.” She insisted.
Even though we never agreed to the idea ourselves. But Elsie and Ken looked tired since they did most of the navigating and fighting on the way.
But the village chief was against the idea of us making a small stop here for tonight.
Was there really a reason for him to be this suspicious of us? It could be because we are strangers and adventurers.
Maybe if we can further help him, he will feel less tense. I just need to look for an opportunity and maybe this way I could overcome my uneasiness as well that I am getting from this place.
It was the same kind of feeling I got from that dungeon with that evil goddess. So, I could not just let this moment slip to know what was happening to me.
“I am a light magic user and a healer. If you want I can use my healing magic to help any sickly people here. And I will do it for free.”
“See father. They are so nice people.” The woman clapped, but the village chief looked even more apprehensive.
I looked at Ken for confirmation.
“Do whatever you want. It would be dangerous if we lost our way on the way back. So, I have no problem staying here and we can leave with the first light in the morning.” He sighed.
I at least expected him to ask for a reason. But maybe he had the same idea. If we were able to meet the people here we might be able to identify the problem with this village or it was all just our imagination.
“Alright, since it's decided. I will go and ask all the villagers to collect at the inn itself. You can have the dish I prepared for you. Father, please make sure they finish their food to the last spoon and bring them back to the inn.” Even though the woman might have emphasized for us to go through the complete dish as a part of courtesy, it sounded weird as she left the room.
I looked at the bowl filled with a sweet white pudding.
Elsie picked up the bowl, sniffed it a little, and didn't find any problem with it.
Ken too observed the bowl for a bit but did not react.
Maybe they can’t sense it because it's prepared so well.
[WARNING. BLACK POISON DETECTED]
Al warned me. I knew this area was filled with poisonous magical herbs and since the women said it was a native delicacy here. Maybe they used some of the local herbs here.
The people here might have developed some kind of immunity, but I am sure the people from outside won’t be able to tolerate it.
Well, the problem was pretty simple to fix as I quietly cast light magic to disperse all the poison from Elsie and Ken’s food.
For some reason, Al was unable to identify the nature of the poison. Well, there was only one way to find out. I could just eat the poison myself, so I did not purify the poison in my food alone.
“At least this one has some taste. It’s so sweet.” With those words, Elsie was already finished with her bowl.
Ken and I too finished our bowls. Maybe I didn’t realise it until now but Ken might have a sweet tooth. How cute, maybe I can try cooking something sweet for them as well.
I had a fleeting thought when the village chief suddenly stood up and made us follow him to the inn.
A young girl came running outside as soon as we reached the inn’s entrance.
So, we finally met the first villager here apart from the village chief and her daughter.
“Hello, adventurers. My name is Sasha and this is my inn. I hope you all have a pleasant stay here.” The young girl wished us.
Sasha wore a plain white shirt and a pink skirt. Her hairs were done in twin tails and knotted together at the back of her head.
“This red scarf looks good on you.” Elsie complimented Sasha pointing at the red cloth tied around her neck.
“Yes, it was given to me by the adventurers who visited us last month. They were our last customers and now you came. Thank you.” Sasha told us about some adventurers who might have visited this place before us.
“You are such a nice little girl.” Elsie took a quick liking to Sasha.
Sasha then escorted us into the hallway of her inn where some villagers were patiently waiting for my treatment.
At least the hotel looked well furnished and clean from the inside despite how old it looked from the outside. Sasha really did a good job maintaining this place well despite having no visitors.
I sat on a comfy sofa and the villagers came one by one as I analyzed them to look for any anomalies.
There were not any severe patients that my simple light magic couldn’t heal. Elsie was astonished to see my strong healing magic work without any spell. And the villagers were mesmerized by the bright light emanated when healing them.
Ken was the only one who knew about my strong healing powers so, why was he intently staring in my direction every time I cast healing magic? It was making me feel embarrassed.
But that was not the only reason for my discomfort. There was still something eating at my mind.
With each patient, I went through the healing process. Both Al and I discerned that they became healthy after using my healing magic.
Yet, every time, it triggered a headache—a sharp, piercing sensation, much like my spidey senses.
But this was different. It awakened a dark, primal urge within me.
My mind screamed a warning: that everything was out of order, and I had to eliminate them before more damage could happen.
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After about an hour we were finished with healing all the people and they had all left. And they all thanked me.
It was right for me to go for this job and I wasn’t usually that nervous when talking to new people because I was on the job.
“I have prepared the two rooms you asked for. So, you can go to rest now.” Sasha came and informed us.
To save money on our trip, Elsie and I were to stay in one room and the other would be taken up by Ken.
We proceeded to our rooms, but my headache was getting more unbearable. My self-regeneration ability failed to heal me nor Al was able to determine the cause or solution.
I decided not to speak to anyone about my burning eyes or headache. First I needed to find the cause, maybe I could talk to mom when I return and tell her about it.
After all, I just can’t go saying around that my right eye throbs. I am sure I haven’t analyzed any vampire with my gluttony skill to unexpectedly turn into one here.
I will sound like a total nutcase even if this is a fantastical world.
While Elsie slept the moment, her head hit the pillow. At least she was ready to share a room with me and not on guard around me like before.
Healing those people really worked out in a good way.
I decided to take a bath to get rid of my tiredness.
Thankfully, Sasha had told me that our rooms had a shower here.
“I can at least relax myself in a shower and get rid of this headache.”
***
KEVIN NOVA [KENTA KAZUKI]
Even though on the surface this looks like a normal village, I now knew Elsie’s gut feeling was not completely misplaced. This place is hiding a secret.
While Elsie and Alicia had gone to their rooms. I took the opportunity to secretly scout the village myself.
From what I was able to find, not only did they cut off their supply of rations from the merchants. The village’s granary was empty as well.
Just what is the village chief up to?
Of course, as a prince, I had the right to investigate any city without showing up for any cause or permission. So, this could not be counted as trespassing.
As I freely roamed around the village, I also noticed strange roots growing out everywhere in the village. Spreading around and encroaching into the walls of the buildings and houses.
Usually, people should have gotten rid of these roots so as not to weaken the walls. Not only they had been thriving for a long time, but I was not able to spot the plant or tree these roots were a part of.
Unfortunately, my analysis skills were still not at par to analyze this large mesh network. And the only thing I was able to find was that these roots ran deep under the ground. They were forming a huge network and flowing with energy more unique than dark magic.
When I quietly returned to my room and was about to pull the handle of the room. At the far end on the backside of the building with a single-window facing outside the village.
I sensed something out of place.
“Could this be it…”
I murmured and ran towards it. Despite the unfamiliarity, I felt attracted to it.
Only to later find I couldn’t have been more wrong.
A girl in her eccentrically white flowing outfit and a quirky mask stared daftly at the wall.
“It's just you. What are you doing here so late at night?” I asked.
Alicia did not reply, so I moved closer thinking she might have not heard.
“Where is Elsie? Is she with you or did you again get lost while finding your way to the washroom?”
Even though I had decided to stay far away from her and not get involved. This could very well be our last adventure together.
But for a moment I felt like teasing her.
Alicia suddenly turned and with a speed I had never seen her move before came close to my face and directly peered into my eyes.
“Alright, I was just joking. If you want I could take you back to my room.” I said for a moment scared, thinking she might start sneering at me angrily for no reason.
But she kept on staring at me, only to realize a second later her eyes were glowing with a faint blue color amidst her red eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked again, trying to step back.
Alicia raised her hands a bit to point at the wall. Surprisingly, it was completely shrouded in dark vines same as the roots I saw before.
I came closer to touch these vines, but then they slowly moved and retorted back. Reacting to my approach as if they had a conscious of their own.
I turned to Alicia to ask how did she find this. But she had already moved to another location. She intently gazed at something far off as she looked outside the window.
I too joined her to know what made her curious. Even though I found it odd, how she was being awfully quiet.
I could only see a huge greenhouse placed outside the premises of the village. But from the dust and dried leaves collected on the top, it looked like it hadn’t been used for decades.
“I ne..ed to get… ri...d of that.” I saw Alicia’s lips move but could not make out what she murmured.
I looked back at Alicia with several questions in mind, but I was caught off guard by her asymmetrical smile.
“Would you like me to take you back to bed… you look tired.” I couldn’t help but back off this time.
I could ask her about it in the morning.
“Umu.”
Once again I felt like my heart skipped a beat for no reason.
“Its late at night. So, let’s go…” Without thinking I caught her hand, as if I had done this many times before, and walked her to the room.
Only later to realise that it was my room that we entered.
Of course, I wouldn’t want to be spotted this late at night near the room occupied by the girls. So, I had no choice.
Alicia without noticing it was not her original supposed to be room went close to the bed.
“Wait… I will take you back.”
I was about to stop Alicia, but this time she pulled me by my hand and pushed me on the bed. Her movements were so quick and precise I couldn’t resist the flow.
“You were out late?” Alicia asked, her eyes narrowing.
I glanced away, feeling like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "If you're still mad at me for thinking you couldn't keep quiet if I invited you, I will—"
“I just wanted to ask you about something?” Alicia interrupted, her tone innocent.
“Uhhh…” I was unable to process what could be so important to discuss at this hour in this awkward position.
Unexpectedly her grip was too tight to even move my hand between her soft grasp. I felt like a ragdoll in a tornado.
Was she finally going to reveal her powers here?
“That girl you are together with… are the two of you together or something.”
Is she talking about Elsie?
“Of course not. She is just my companion.” I replied quickly.
“Oh,” Alicia backed off to leave me space to stand back.
“Is that all?” I said fixing back my hair.
“Umu.”
Alicia without giving a second care, and avoiding me. Slept on the bed that was supposed to be my place.
After all these hard-working sleepless days I spent to bring the town I was governing back on track. I thought I could finally get to rest.
But I was too fast to judge.
I looked at Alicia who now slept soundlessly on my bed. One might think she was a lifeless doll.
Seeing her sleep so defencelessly, my hands moved towards her face.
“Maybe this will be my only chance to see her face?” I said to myself.
My hands moved towards her mask to lift it off, making sure her eyes remained closed and her breath steady.
***
KASSE VILLAGE
Elsie was sleeping soundly, like a log in her inn room. Early the next day she had to head back to Maybell City.
SHWAAA..AA….
But just in the wee hours, her deep sleep was interrupted by an uncanny sound coming from the hallway.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room and the space close to her bed.
“Where did she go now?” Elsie realized she had been careless in not keeping an eye on this new girl who had joined their party out of nowhere.
But Elsie’s instincts were now more alert than her sleeping brain. She quickly grabbed the sword from the table and walked cautiously toward the shut door.
Putting her ears at the door to listen to the sound she just heard then more clearly.
Her heartbeat became faster and the following sound became more tense. Like several snakes crawling on the ground altogether, the sound halted right at the inn room’s door.
A moment of silence passed, and then dozens of green, wriggling things completely pierced through the door. However, they failed to make contact with anything else.
The green roots then contracted and pulled back, completely wrecking the door and tearing it off its hinges.
The creature entered through the door, breaking through the wall. Its body size was too big to simply accommodate and pass through the door.
The creature turned around to look for any life signs even though it did not seem to have any eye organs.
But before it could make a decision; like lightning, a sword comes down to strike it from above.
As Elsie stuck close to the ceiling, kicked the upper wall to gain momentum. Her blade covered in golden lightning slashes through the vines protruding from the monster’s body.
The creature agitated from the attack thrusts its body backward to avoid a fatal blow and is then trapped in the room.
Elsie stands guard at the door and decides to not let the creature out of the room.
In the dead of the night, only its silhouette and dozens of protruding vines coming out of its body were visible to Elsie.
“I can’t believe I would be attacked by a monster in the middle of the night when I am sleeping.” Elsie sighed as she took a quick breath and took a stance with her blade.
The reason she decided to fight in the room was to stop the monster from attacking and move freely. It was clear to Elsie that she might be at a disadvantage in an open space since the monster could use ranged attacks with its vines.
All she needed to do was quickly dispatch the monster and not let it escape from the door.
The vines that Elsie had successfully cut down grew back from the monster’s body. The monster swept across the room quickly lashing its vines around and destroying everything that came in contact with the sheer pressure of its attack.
Elsie did well dodging the slashes, rolling down quickly to take shelter under the table.
Once the monster pulled back its vines, Elsie kicked the table at it. The table shattered upon contact with the monster's body.
By then, Elsie had reached the monster’s back, ready to slice it open with her sword.
But then, the moonlight sped across the window, briefly illuminating the room. Elsie’s eyes narrow down on a certain piece of clothing wrapped around the monster’s body.
“That… red scarf…. Why do you have it? What did you do to her?” Elsie could not proceed forward and had to pull herself back to figure out the situation.
Under the moonlight, she could see a giant green body, just like that of a carnivorous plant. But it wore a shirt and skirt that were riddled with holes throughout.
The appearance reminded Elsie of someone, especially with the red scarf being an indicator.
“Why? Why? How can this be? Sasha, is that you?” Elsie had a feeling that what she might have been attacked by was not exactly a monster.
The monster glowered as if it just now understood what Elsie said. Its green body pulsating with fibrous vines, its mouth opened in four and a large thorn appeared at the base of its mouth.
Aiming it at the front wall, the monster launched the thorn. As soon as the piercing thorn made contact with the wall it was blown to smithereens.
The monster jumped through the gap to the ground to escape. As if it had realized its disadvantage in this closed space and that it was no match to Elsie’s lightning speed and agility.
Elsie had no choice but to follow by jumping through the gap as well and learn what had happened to Sasha.
“Wait. Come back.” Elsie shouted at the monster.
For a second the creature stopped and then turning back it launched its vines again at Elsie as if to scare her off.
“Sasha is that you? If you can understand me don’t be scared.” Elsie tried to cut the few vines that were headed in her direction. For a moment she felt self-resilience from the monster but then it all vanished as if overtaken by the creature’s carnal instincts.
The creature prepared another thorn this time to attack Elsie.
“So, that’s how you want to play it.” Elsie was not that scared of the plant monster.
Since, these categories of monsters, always had a very subtle weakness. Weakness from fire.
Despite Elsie not being the best flame magic user out there. She was proficient in using quick bursts of fire to surprise her enemy.
And combined that with the sword, she could launch torrents of fire attacks at her enemy.
Summoning fire and twisting her sword in the air, she gave a proper shape to fire like a funnel ready to take in the piercing thorn attack from the monster capable of blowing up an entire building wall just as she witnessed before.
The monster in the same fashion as before spit the thorn with the same unbelievable thrust. It entered into Elsie’s prepared torrent of flames.
Elsie moved her sword to direct the flames and altering the direction of the thorn she pushed it away from herself.
The monster had started to run again. But this time Elsie had it surrounded by her flames.
She carefully directed its path she laid out with her flames and followed it around. Until she finally saw an opportunity she rushed at the monster.
Dodging and cutting through its vines, she caught on to one of its them and started pulling it.
“Now you can’t run from me.”
The plant monster made a smart move to cut off its own vine to run away again. But Elsie anticipated this and rushed in instead rendering the plant monster confused.
She kicked the plant monster with her full strength, her boots charged and packed with lightning to make the impact more powerful.
The monster rolled on the ground, only to fall and enter a deep well that Elsie had spotted from far.
Elsie rushed to the spot to find the well dry and the plant monster that was supposed to be Sasha trapped in it completely. Unfortunately, the walls of the well were too strong and dense for the monster to break through it alone with her vines.
“Elsie…” A familiar voice called her from behind.
Elsie turned to find the prince behind her.
“Did you fight them too?” the prince asked.
“Yes. Just what are these monsters? And is that thing really Sasha? That monster had her scarf on it and it did not act like a monster. It felt for a moment that she understood what I said.” Elsie stopped talking.
Since a soldier is never supposed to show emotions when engaged in a fight. Elsie did not want to appear weak anymore in front of the prince when she was supposed to be guarding him.
“I don’t know either how this happened. I fought two of them just now. But because I wasn’t sure what they were or did they turn into monsters from humans for now. I have just trapped them like you did.” Even the prince knew little about the situation.
The prince had followed the sound of the explosion and came knowing that Elsie would be there.
“Prince do you know where Alicia is? She was not in the room when I woke up. I am sorry I failed to keep an eye on her.” Elsie apologized for her negligence.
***
KEVIN NOVA [KENTA KAZUKI]
I had never thought of anyone’s feelings before once I gained back my consciousness and memories in this world.
If I wanted I could easily uncover this girl’s secret that had me so confused.
All I needed to do was flip the mask that covered her face at that moment. But my hands stopped.
What if I ended up hurting her? What if she did not want me to do it?
Even though we are not that close, Alicia might finally trust me and show her real self one day.
It was naïve of me but those thoughts won’t leave my mind. Nor allow me to do what I wanted.
With no choice left, I retreated and pulled my hand back.
Fortunately, there was a couch in the same room, which I put in the front of the bed and slept on by facing the other side. At least I did not want to sleep in the cold outside.
It was not my fault she slept in my room. So, I should at least be allowed this much.
But when those eerie noises started echoing through the space, I quickly woke up knowing something was wrong in this place.
And whatever it was, it was quickly approaching in our direction.
I decided to wake Alicia up in case of an emergency, but by that time she had already left the bed and was nowhere to be seen.
…
“I don’t know where Alicia is either. But from what I noticed; these monsters are running in the similar direction.”
“I think you are right.” Elsie remembered how the monster she fought tried to run in one particular direction as if it were being called.
“It’s possible they might be gathering at one place. And I think I know where that place is.” I said to Elsie hoping that I might find Alicia there too.
***
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