Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: The City Where Black Rain Falls (5)
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To hear the temple's story, we ended up having lunch together as they suggested. While waiting for the meal to be prepared, I opened the old book.
[Quest: Make Our Dehid Green Green]
“…….”
It had a familiar ring to it. No, what kind of quest name is this? Does the one issuing the quest not know how dire Dehid's situation is? Or...
‘...Are they just not caring?’
Just like how I never paid attention to disasters and calamities in a ‘game’ when I was just playing it for fun.
But now that it’s reality, I can’t enjoy it at all. Because real people are suffering and dying. I only checked the reward before closing the old book.
‘Since it involves the whole city, the reward is solid, as expected.’
The reward was [Starfish Leather Gloves]. Not particularly useful for soldiers or knights whose jobs force them to deal with metal, but for a druid like me, who’s relatively vulnerable to metal, it’s incredibly handy.
With [Starfish Leather Gloves], at least my hands won’t get hurt. Starfish hide is so tough and strong that no bow or spear can pierce it. If I block a sword swing while wearing them, my hands might break, but they won’t get cut. They boast absolute durability against metal damage and grant immunity to acids and poisons. The only weakness is fire.
The only way to kill a starfish is to burn it. In that sense, it’s similar to a troll. Since the creature itself is weak to fire, gloves made from its hide are weak to fire too. I’ll have to be careful against flame attacks.
‘But the most important function is something else.’
It’s immunity to ‘hallucinations,’ including nightmares.
Starfish are tricky and dangerous monsters, but they’re also famous for warding off nightmares and driving away evil spirits. They say if you put a single starfish hair under your pillow, you’ll never have nightmares, and if you put a starfish claw under it, you’ll never be attacked by dream demons.
The most important function of the [Starfish Leather Gloves] is surely this ‘hallucination immunity.’ If I’d gotten them first, I might not have fallen into Didier’s cabin trap in the Silver Mountains.
‘...Well, that’s all in the past. And I gained something from having those nightmares.’
Anyway, succeeding in this quest and getting the [Starfish Leather Gloves] will make them useful in many ways going forward.
Oh, right. And as a ‘bonus,’ I’ll earn some favor with Donar, the god of rivers and seas.
‘Maybe I can ask Donar to cure my seasickness?’
Giggling at the irreverent thought, the meal was served. It was quite simple. Just chicken stew and rye bread... But I couldn’t complain since it was free. I tore the bread in half, dipped one half in the stew, tore the other half into smaller pieces, soaked them in stew, and gave them to Legion on my shoulder.
Legion, who used to be a cat, was now in the form of a small lizard. He whipped out his long tongue like a lash and swiftly swallowed the bread piece I offered. Then he shuddered and whispered to me.
「Theo. Me. Tastes bad. This.」
“Shh. You need to get used to stuff like this.”
「Theo. Me. Tormenting.」
“It’s not torment... How can you eat delicious things every day?”
「Theo. Me.」
“No. Sometimes we have to eat bad stuff too. Like now.”
「Tastes bad. Tastes bad. Tastes bad.」
“Eat a variety without being picky, and you’ll stay healthy.”
Had I spoiled him too much? Legion pounded my shoulder with his tiny paws and kept shaking his head. Not that it hurt at all. I kept soaking bread pieces in stew and feeding them to him. I also fed some bread crust crumbs to Ppippi, who was behaving in my pocket.
Well, not just Legion—Eld’s expression wasn’t great either. Lloyd... well, his face always looks the same, so let’s leave him out.
‘Sigh...’
Honestly, it does taste bad. Bland and watery... Luckily, I could feed half of mine to Legion under the pretense of sharing. Of course, that’s a secret from him.
“The meal is simple, isn’t it?”
As if reading my mind, the high priest quietly asked.
“Oh, no. It’s delicious.”
“Ever since the black rain started, fewer people have been coming to the temple. They’re probably suffering too much to even make it here. To share in their pain, even a little, we chose this method.”
“I see.”
A polite way of saying their funding has dried up. The wealthy are too scared of getting sick to visit, the poor are already sick and can’t come, and some must have lost faith after seeing the Donar Temple waterfall stop working.
With funding cut off, the temple must be anxious too. That’s probably why they welcomed me so warmly. Though this lunch hardly counts as warm hospitality... I didn’t come here for a good meal anyway.
Time to get to the point.
“Have you seen the sick?”
“Yes. I have.”
“What are they like?”
“The afflicted suffer high fevers. If they survive the night, their fingers and toes turn black. After that, it’s unstoppable.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those who die from the fever are the lucky ones, in a way. The ones who endure it and whose fingers and toes blacken start melting—skin peeling off, or perhaps flowing away.”
“...Horrible.”
“That’s not even the worst of it. We isolate those whose symptoms progress to prevent spread. But...”
“......”
The priest’s face grew grave, as if struggling to find the words.
“I’m not sure if ‘died’ is the right term. The sick melt away, leaving only their fingers, toes, and ‘skin’ behind.”
“...Melt? No corpses?”
“Yes. No one at all. They leave only blackened fingers and toes, and skin.”
“Has anyone seen them fully melt away?”
“Some stayed by patients all night, unconcerned about infection, but they vanished in a mere moment, leaving fingers, toes, and skin.”
“......”
High fever.
Blackened fingers and toes.
Flowing skin.
No corpses.
‘No corpses means we can’t even investigate properly...’
Troubling.
Still...
“Then the temple has suffered losses too? The priests who went to treat them...”
“Fortunately, all our priests are safe. No one has caught this terrifying plague yet. Lord Donar must be watching over us.”
“......”
Really?
‘Yeah, right.’
No one dodges a plague with a god’s ‘blessing.’
There must have been devout believers among the dead too.
The priests surviving despite touching patients probably has another reason.
‘Maybe it’s not even a plague.’
Is that jumping to conclusions?
But the lack of ‘corpses’ nags at me.
If it wasn’t those who died on the first day from fever, then...
‘Those who survived the fever—with no bodies, who knows if they died or lived?’
If their bodies fully melted, there’d be traces.
But only fingers, toes, and skin remain.
Did the patients really ‘die’ from the plague?
Or...
“Theo.”
Snapped from my thoughts by the priest’s call, I looked up late.
“Oh, yes. I was just thinking...”
“Someone to introduce.”
“Yes?”
“Coni, come in.”
At the priest’s gesture, a priest in simple dark blue robes appeared. Under the deep hood, a youthful face peeked out relative to his build. Between young man and boy. He looked anxious, glancing around.
“This is Coni. One of our cherished priests. He’s the least skilled among us, but the healthiest. He’ll surely help you, Theodor.”
Healthy... Yeah, health matters now. But if his priestly skills are lacking, what’s the point? Hiding my thoughts, I smiled naturally and nodded.
“I see. Nice to meet you.”
Still, he knows Dehid far better than we do, so he’ll be helpful. And being ‘healthy’ is key.
“The priest who checked the patients earlier is Coni.”
“...Ah.”
That changes things.
Directly seeing all those patients and not getting infected. No wonder they emphasized ‘healthy.’
“Please take care of me, Coni.”
I stood and offered my hand to the young priest. He hesitated, then shook it after the high priest nodded.
“Please take care of me, Theodor.”
* * *
After the high priest left, we talked with Coni. I asked about the black rain and plague, but his answers matched the temple’s—baffled.
“No peculiarities?”
Since Coni patrolled the city, maybe he knew more. At my question, he pondered, then muttered as if it was nothing.
“...I don’t think I’ve seen any Altan natives afflicted.”
“Is that so?”
Altan natives. So barbarians and beastkin don’t get sick?
“Maybe they just didn’t seek temple help... Yes, I’ve neither seen nor heard of any sick Altans.”
“Curious.”
Coni gave an awkward smile. A hint of bitterness crossed his innocent face.
“...Maybe I haven’t gotten sick because I’m Altan too.”
Coni removed his hood, revealing what hid beneath.
floppy brown dog ears, like a retriever’s!