A faint voice could be heard, speaking in the darkness. Perhaps to another person, or perhaps just muttering to itself.

【…Why? The mountains and rivers, the people, the things… all turned into ■■… Will someone come? Will someone save us?】

【…】

The dim darkness receded slightly, flowing red lines appearing at the edge of her vision. The metallic smell of rust lingered in the air.

【…Only you and I are left.】

【■■.】

It seemed as if someone answered, but the words were unintelligible. Before they could be understood, the person’s information shattered, crushed into a jumble of black and red.

【Looks like you’ve returned home… Ha ha, I’m almost there, too. Hey, want to… rest for a bit…? I’m tired, and you must be tired too.】

【…Do we really have to…? We can get out, I…】

After a long silence, after what felt like an eternity, the voice spoke again.

【I’m sorry… I…】

...

Selene opened her eyes.

The last scene of the dream, along with that voice, had also revealed a “truth” hidden in the shadows. It was right before her, beneath everyone’s feet. It was…

What was it?

It was clearly something she’d just seen in her dream, but Selene couldn’t remember a single detail. Her body was still trembling from fear, but her mind was blank.

“Creak…”

Selene instinctively turned towards the source of the sound.

It was Louise, looking tired, and Richter, who looked even more exhausted. They were pushing open a dilapidated wooden door.

Only then did Selene realize that she wasn’t in the tent she’d seen before going to sleep, but in a room that smelled of rotting wood. Not only the door, but even the floor and the bed she was lying on were broken. They creaked under her movements.

Unnamed insects crawled everywhere, on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. There was a breeze in this windowless room, carrying a sharp, almost overwhelming odor.

It seemed to be the smell of sulfur and some kind of herb.

“…This is…?”

Moving fluidly, she got out of the wooden bed. Selene noticed that her clothes had been changed. Her brown adventurer’s outfit had been replaced by a pale blue dress, and a pair of well-fitting, rough leather boots were next to the bed.

She tried to put them on as she asked,

Louise lightly stamped her foot, seemingly testing the sturdiness of the floor. Seeing Selene, she seemed to relax considerably.

“This is where we were after we woke up, scattered in different rooms. Richter and I explored a bit after we woke up… It seems like a small village. We’re currently in an inn. There are many carriages outside, probably belonging to the caravan. It seems this is the time period after nightfall, but besides the three of us, there’s no one here.”

Richter touched the area around his collar and nodded at Selene, indicating that his wound was fine.

He and Louise were wearing similar dark green clothes, like those worn by servants or maids.

“To be precise, besides the insects and us, there are no living things,” he added impassively. “The horses, the beasts of burden, the drivers and the merchants, the inn staff, the villagers, the village’s livestock… all gone.”

“Including Jose, there’s no one here,” Louise’s gaze swept across the room, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a place like this… It’s like I’m back in the old days. The inns were all like this.”

“Even now, there are still places like this,” Richter crossed his arms. Though he looked like a child, he acted like a seasoned adventurer who had traveled all over. “They’re mostly in the east of the North Continent, in the sparsely populated wilderness beyond the Beastmen Empire.”

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“It’s a miracle there’s anyone living there at all,” Louise shrugged, not dwelling on this topic. “Anyway, we need to gather some information… To be honest, this kind of drastic change is unsettling.”

In the caravan, although there were clear and present dangers, they had a clear objective. But this inn and the village outside had nothing. She and Richter had been exploring for several minutes and hadn’t encountered anything unusual… In this kind of situation, normalcy was the biggest anomaly.

Selene didn’t object and, after adjusting her clothes, followed them out of the room.

The faint smell of sulfur and herbs intensified. The hallway, which was almost as dilapidated as the room, was covered in dark stains. They reached the stairs at the end of the hallway and, with an unsettling creak, went down to the first floor of the inn.

Passing overturned chairs and tables, then crossing the “bar,” which could only accommodate a dozen or so people, and through a half-collapsed door that looked as if it had been ripped off, the three went outside.

Outside was an uneven dirt road, stretching to the small wooden houses at the end of the road. Looking up, they could see more buildings extending along the mountainside, connected by crooked, steep paths. The area below the inn was the only relatively flat ground in the village, which is why more than a dozen carriages were parked there. The others from the caravan were gone.

There were low fences and earthen walls surrounding the village, seemingly for protection against wild animals.

As she observed the surroundings, Selene suddenly smelled something unusual.

A strong, metallic, rusty smell, carried by the wind, hidden in the earth, lurking in the wooden houses, previously masked from her senses… It smelled like blood, but also strangely sweet.

She didn’t dismiss it as an illusion, but asked directly. Louise and Richter, who hadn’t detected this unusual, impossible-to-miss stench, looked surprised.

“I don’t smell anything… just dust and rotting wood,” Louise sniffed the air, her expression serious. “Finally, something unusual.”

Richter said nothing but stamped his foot. Invisible magic spread, enhancing their senses.

Selene immediately smelled the stench even more strongly, but Louise still didn’t notice it. Neither did Richter.

“It seems only you can smell that,” Richter pondered for a moment. “This village definitely isn’t as simple as it appears. There must be some rules we have to follow, something we have to do… There should be a notice board. Let’s look for that. And tell me anything unusual you notice along the way.”

Notice boards were usually placed in the most conspicuous, most heavily trafficked areas, but there didn’t seem to be anything like that near the inn where outsiders would usually stay. The strange layout of the village and the irregular placement of the buildings made it difficult for them to figure out the pattern, so they had no choice but to head left, towards what seemed to be the village entrance.

Along the way, the three carefully observed their surroundings.

“Something bad happened here,” Louise frowned. “It’s near the Loki Mountains, based on their orientation, and seems to be between the North and South continents. From here, you can see the Punishing Strait. It shouldn’t be that far from Schwerdt Town… But I’ve never heard of a village near Schwerdt Town.”

“Maybe it’s abandoned in the real world,” Richter said noncommittally.

“…There’s something over there,” Selene said after staring at a certain spot for a long time.

The two immediately turned to look in the direction she pointed.

“I see a fence and a dirt wall, and some bushes nearby,” Louise described what she saw.

Richter observed carefully for several seconds, but didn’t see anything unusual. He waited for Selene’s explanation.

“Besides the fence and the dirt wall, there’s something on the ground. A small mound of dirt, and something hidden there, like a piece of clothing, with only a corner showing. There’s also a line of text written under it,” Selene gestured.

“… I still can’t see it,” Richter placed a finger on his forehead, using a considerable amount of magic power, but found nothing. “Let’s go look. You lead the way. We’ll be on guard.”

So the three cautiously approached. Richter’s hands were held before him, a quick magic shield almost formed. Louise pulled down her sleeve, wrapping it around her fingers as a makeshift glove.

Selene sat down in front of the mound of dirt, carefully deciphering the twisted letters.

“Congratulations. You have found my treasure.”

After confirming it several times, Selene hesitantly spoke the words.

“Is this a treasure hunt game? The kind that children play after they hear stories about finding treasure?” Louise said uncertainly.

“Whether it is or not, let’s see what’s there,” Richter stopped Selene, whose hand was reaching towards the seemingly empty space. “Let me. Tell me where it is. I’ll see if I can touch it.”

“We need to confirm the nature of those things only you can see. Are they objectively real, and Louise and I are subconsciously ignoring them, or can only you perceive and interact with them… If it’s the latter, take the item and try to influence your surroundings with it. We’ll see if we can perceive the changes caused by the 【ignored thing】.”

It was logical and convincing. Selene reluctantly moved aside, guiding Richter’s hand with her words.

After a few tries, Richter felt something touch his fingertips. He tugged at it slightly, realizing it was rather heavy. He told the two to move back, then, without hesitation, pulled with all his might.

Selene gasped.

“What is it? A bundle of old clothes? Or something else?” Richter let go. Though he had touched it, he still couldn’t see what he had pulled out. He could only judge from the drag marks on the ground. It seemed to be “invisible,” yet touchable.

But in Selene’s eyes, it wasn’t simply a drag mark on the ground.

It was a bundle of clothes, crudely rolled up and tied with rope. Richter’s actions had loosened a corner of it, revealing the contents within.

—A head, its flesh and blood mangled, its brain exposed, emanating a foul stench, more than half-decayed and crawling with white maggots.

The nonexistent pupils seemed to twitch, looking at Selene, who, though horrified, remained calm.

Just as Selene was about to describe what she saw, she heard a voice, coming from the ground, from within the clothes.

She stiffly looked down and saw the decaying head, its eyes, nose, lips, teeth, and tongue all gone, smiling at her. The rotten flesh on its face dripped as it moved.

【Shhh…】