Chapter 144
Chapter 144
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: The City Where Black Rain Falls (9)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next day.
I quietly met with Draven. After explaining the whole situation to him, I asked if he could help me out. Draven readily agreed to my request.
“Then, for now, please increase the number of people guarding the village. We don’t know what might happen.”
“Understood. And?”
“If you could select two or three people to assist us, I’d be grateful.”
“I have to look after the village, so I can’t go... Ah, perfect timing—the Hunting Dog Brothers are available. The three of them can handle the work of five with ease. They’re incredibly quick on their feet, too.”
“That should be more than enough.”
“...Thank you.”
“Haha. You can save the thanks until everything’s over.”
“It doesn’t hurt to say it early. I mean it—thank you again. It’s been a long time since we settled in Dihid, but you’re the first person to care about us like this. It’s no exaggeration.”
“...”
“You’ve more than earned our gratitude.”
Draven clasped his hands together and bowed deeply. I returned the gesture with a nod of my own.
“I didn’t do it for thanks.”
“Excessive humility isn’t always a virtue.”
“Is that so...”
Haha. I burst out laughing and scratched the back of my head. Still, it felt a bit embarrassing. Situations like this always did.
“...Once we catch these guys and figure out how they made the plague, we’ll definitely be able to create an antidote.”
“That child has to hold on that long...”
“I’ll return before it’s too late.”
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
In any case, since the plague was spreading through the food supply, the village’s food storage needed precautions as well. I set up a barrier using “golden cords” around the food warehouse. Woven from clean rice straw twisted into cords, interspersed with herb stems, salt sticks, and small pebbles inscribed with spells, the golden cords radiated a faint purifying energy once hung over the warehouse door.
‘It’s working well enough.’
It didn’t look much like a traditional golden cord, but at least this would keep whatever remained of our food supply safe from tampering.
We stationed one guard in front of the food warehouse as well, and I returned to the caretaker couple’s house with the Hunting Dog Brothers. Lloyd, who had been keeping watch around the area, gave a slight nod.
“Lloyd, these are the men Draven sent. This is the eldest, Sean; the middle one is Roy; and over there is the youngest, Cade.”
Lloyd and the brothers exchanged greetings, discussing the area’s weak points as I blew a long whistle toward the dark mountain.
-Whiiiiiist!
Not long after, Ayla came bounding through the darkness from afar. There was no moonlight, but her silver fur still gleamed beautifully.
-Woof!
“Yeah, good to see you too, Ayla.”
Unlike before when we were always together, we’d spent more time apart since arriving in Dihid. Maybe that was why Ayla was expressing her joy so exuberantly. Her tail wagged so fast it blurred, and the force of her charge was immense. I braced my legs firmly to keep from toppling over as I stroked her.
“I-Is that a wolf?”
One of the brothers asked.
“Yes. A shadow wolf. Ayla, say hello.”
-Woof!
Ayla sniffed the brothers cautiously—far more carefully than she would with ordinary people—before wagging her tail happily. The brothers reacted the same way. I could see their tails wagging under their clothes, and I stifled a laugh. Ayla was a wolf and they were hunting dogs, but blood was blood, after all?
“There’ll be at least two of them.”
The ones who came to the caretaker couple’s house before had been a pair, so likely two again today—or possibly more.
“Lloyd and Sean, when I give the signal, cover the front and back doors respectively. Make sure they can’t escape.”
“Got it.”
“And Roy, Cade—keep watch outside the house. Subdue anyone else who shows up immediately.”
“Understood!”
I entered the caretaker couple’s house with Ayla. On the table sat the bucket still holding the rotting mass of flesh and a sack of contaminated grain, just as before.
“Whew...”
I blew out the small candle that had been dimly lighting the house and waited in the darkness for them to arrive.
How much time passed?
-Creeeak...
They entered without even knocking, like common thieves.
“I didn’t expect manners from you lot, but this is a bit much.”
“...!”
The voice from the darkness startled them considerably. Then came the sound of metal scraping.
-Grrrrr...
“Whatever you’re planning, I wouldn’t.”
“...Who the hell are you?”
“Theodor... Does that name ring a bell?”
With a low chuckle, I stood up. Ayla’s growling intensified, her fangs glinting sharply.
“Now it’s my turn to ask the questions?”
“...”
“What are you?”
“...”
“Actually, I don’t care about you small fry. Who sent you?”
“You arrogant bastard...!”
One person and one wolf. Did they think it was a fight they could handle? The one in front raised his drawn sword high.
-Grrrrrrrr!!!
At the same moment, Ayla lunged forward with terrifying speed, baring her teeth.
“U-Uwaaack!”
-Clang!
-Thud!
-Crash!
-Bang!
Ayla bit into the sword-wielding man’s wrist, forcing him to drop his blade. The sound of the sword clattering to the floor, the man rolling on the ground, and Ayla pinning him down echoed through the house.
“...!”
The other one seemed a bit smarter—he chose to run. He bolted straight for the door. But.
-Smack!!!
Before he could grab the handle, the door flew open and slammed right into him, sending him tumbling across the floor.
“Lloyd. I hadn’t given the signal yet.”
“Got bored waiting.”
“...Ayla and I could’ve handled it.”
“Should I apologize?”
“No need.”
“Hmm.”
Lloyd curtly replied, then dragged the fallen man inside by the collar like a sack of trash.
“What about outside? Anyone else?”
“One scouting the area. Tied him up and tossed him in the shed. Cade’s watching him.”
“Good. Sean, Roy—you two keep lookout. Signal if anything happens.”
While Lloyd bound the two men, I borrowed a flame from Legion to relight the house. Now I could see their sorry states more clearly: one with a mangled arm from Ayla’s bite, the other with a face battered to a pulp from Lloyd’s blows.
“So, shall we pick up where we left off?”
I smiled faintly as I looked down at them.
“Who’s behind this shit?”
The one with the mangled arm glared up at me with bloodshot eyes. Oh? He’d charged earlier too—quite the hot-blooded type, huh? Tsk tsk.
“Answer nicely while you still can.”
Of course, we’d already moved past “nice.” I switched targets to the one whose face was swelling purple. He tried to speak but coughed instead, spitting out a front tooth that rolled across the floor. Oh dear, what a mess. No proper dentist around here...
“The one who made the black rain fall, spread the plague, and started those ridiculous rumors about the ‘Heart of Altann.’”
“...”
“Who is it?”
“...”
“Wow, didn’t peg you for the loyal type. Not talking, huh?”
“...”
“Fine, can’t be helped. Just remember this: I tried to do it the nice way.”
“...”
“Lloyd.”
With a nod, Lloyd grabbed the man’s nape firmly and pried his jaw open. His mouth gaped wide, missing a front tooth. I scooped a handful of contaminated barley from the sack on the table.
“H-Huh! Hweee!”
He must’ve realized what I was about to do, because he started thrashing wildly. But he couldn’t overpower Lloyd. I moved my hand with the barley over his open mouth.
“Hwaaaaaah!!!!”
Did he sense his fate? A horrific scream erupted. And at that moment.
“Stop!”
The mangled-arm guy finally spoke.
The plague had a 100% fatality rate.
Knowing his turn was next, he couldn’t bear the fear any longer.
I poured the barley back into the sack and turned to the mangled-arm man. He was still glaring at me with bloodshot eyes.
“Feeling like talking now?”
“...You monster.”
“Monster? You’re mistaken—I didn’t spread the plague in Dihid. You did.”
“...”
“Anyway, enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the point.”
“Urk...”
I smiled faintly, meeting his gaze.
“Who is it?”
* * *
The two spilled everything. They must’ve been that terrified of the plague. It made sense—they knew exactly how deadly it was.
“...Not as much useful info as I’d hoped.”
“Disappointed?”
“A little.”
The ones who came to the caretaker couple’s house today were just lowly errand boys. Bottom of the barrel. So no core intel.
But.
“At least we found their rat hole. That’s something.”
We did learn about the “rat hole” they came and went through.
‘Underground, huh...’
Underground.
Their base was “underground.” They called it the “Underground Temple,” but as errand boys, they only used the entrance and didn’t know the layout inside.
The moment I heard “underground,” I instinctively recalled the message tied to the crow’s leg.
[Under ground Con tact Assault]
The “underground” in the message was surely the same as their “Underground Temple.”
Fortunately, we got the entrance location from them. Boldly enough, it wasn’t in some deserted outskirts—it was right in the heart of Dihid.
The sewer.
What the hell was going on down there?
“...We should head out as fast as possible. If these guys don’t return, they’ll get suspicious. Before that happens.”
“What about them?”
“We’ll leave them with Draven.”
We hurriedly slipped out of the house.