There Is a Traitor Among Us

Hello there! My name is Pocori!

Um… first, let me tell you about our village.

We live under the protection of our guardian spirit, Blue-Ring!

Every drop of mana that spreads through the forest comes from Blue-Ring's breath, and the very ground beneath the forest is Blue-Ring's body!

Every living thing here—from the beasts of the woods to the smallest flowers—is a life that exists under Blue-Ring's grace and mercy.

All who dwell in the forest live in constant gratitude for that kindness and care, you know?

But… recently, a rather serious problem has come up.

It all began a few months ago, with words spoken by the priest who relays Blue-Ring's divine oracles.

Find those people.

The village fell into chaos.

Who on earth could be causing pain to our blessed, benevolent Blue-Ring?

We suspected one another, but before long, the suspicion turned in a different direction entirely.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The village next door.

We marched straight over to demand answers—but it turned out the neighboring village suspected us too!

Suspicion became conflict, and the conflict came to the very brink of violence.

I don't want a war… isn't there some other way?

And who could it be, tormenting Blue-Ring like this?

The moment I entered the Blue Forest Plateau, a familiar tip scrolled past my eyes alongside the cutscene, just like always.

Find the culprit, huh.

It was similar to the Crab Empire, yet a little different.

"Ooh. Being a new dungeon, I guess it does feel fresh."

Yena, who had been watching the same thing, crouched down with an amused expression and touched the ground. Blue-tinted grass sprouted from the soil. Since the ground itself was the guardian spirit's body, even a single blade of that grass was saturated with a considerable amount of mana.

"Standing on the guardian spirit's back, huh. Guess we're not here to capture it, then?"

"If we attacked here, would it even count?"

"Yeah, probably not, but…"

Yena shook her head.

"I don't think a dungeon like this is about capturing the guardian spirit. It looks way too tough to take down anyway, and the boss is probably whoever's corrupting the guardian."

"We do have to kill the boss, though."

"Your class advancement quest was to kill a boss, right, Lily?"

"That's right."

Bosses above level 40 were rarely found out in the open field. In the end, hunting a boss of the required caliber meant clearing dungeons one by one, and each of those took a fair chunk of time. It was a quest that simply couldn't be rushed.

"I'll leave the last hit to you, Lily. Let's look around first."

Yena and I walked into the forest.

Unlike the view from outside, the interior was darker than I'd expected. But blue points of light drifted around us like fireflies, casting a soft glow of their own. A forest with no monsters in sight—nothing but grass and insects.

"Something's off."

"You think so too? Something should be coming by now…"

The Crab Empire had been the same, and every other dungeon, too—wander around a little and some monster or quest event would kick into gear. But no matter how far we explored here, absolutely nothing appeared.

Apparently bored, Yena switched on her flight module and lifted lightly off the ground, climbing at high speed into the canopy above.

"Fine, then. I'll go take a quick look up tooooop—?!"

"?"

WHAM—!!!

High in the empty air, Yena was seized by an invisible force and dragged away somewhere.

"Yena!"

I immediately twisted and hurled my spear. Spear's Roar tore a chunk out of the invisible force, but—

TWOOONG!

"…It deflected it?"

The unseen power had swatted away my Spear's Roar outright. Yena had vanished without a trace.

I considered flying up after her to search, but the thing showed no real intent to attack. The reason I hadn't committed to a full attack in the first place was that it hadn't felt like an attempt to hurt Yena so much as an attempt to carry her off somewhere.

Besides, Yena was a seasoned DOEN veteran and a ranked player. Whatever happened, she'd manage.

"Let's keep going for now. Yena will handle herself."

After walking through the forest for quite a while, a village came into view.

It was home to small beastfolk with the ears and tails of animals. Slightly smaller in build than humans, every single one of them wore eyes brimming with distrust.

Their roads and houses were in sorry shape—not because they'd always been that way, it seemed, but because the place looked like it had gone untended for the past several months.

I'd barely finished a quick lap of the village before the beastfolk had surrounded me.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Please, calm down."

"This is not a time to be calm!"

KAANG!

The largest-looking of the beastfolk charged at me, claws bared and sharpened. It looked like he intended to subdue me first and interrogate me after.

"Gwak!"

KRAKOOOOM!!

I seized him by the throat and drove him straight into the ground.

"I told you to calm down."

"You! That's Poro, you bastard!"

"Isn't that the one who's been attacking Blue-Ring?"

"Are you a spy from the next village?!"

"The bastards next door have started attacking us like this!"

"Capturing Poro as a prisoner—unbelievable!"

"And why is she so pretty!"

"Huh?"

The beastfolk were already worked into a frenzy, and each of them tossing out their own comment left my head spinning. I released the one called Poro ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from my grip. Considering he'd been slammed into the dirt, he came to his senses remarkably fast and scrambled backward.

"Grrrrrrrr…"

"Calm down, all of you. I have no intention of hurting you—for now."

"What's that supposed to mean! Kghk. Since when did—hkk—the next village ever…"

KRAKH!

Gripping his own throat, the wolf beastman staggered, then collapsed back against the flimsy wall of a house, gasping for breath.

…I didn't even use that much force.

I had only made the motion exaggerated in order to dominate the attention of everyone watching; I hadn't actually squeezed hard at all. And yet Poro, being propped up by a fellow wolf beastman, looked gravely unwell.

"You! Driving Poro to that state! A spy, just as I thought!"

"She is!"

"Arrogant bastards from the next village!"

A chorus of shouts rose from the crowd of beastfolk. Yet not a single one of them stepped closer to me. Naturally enough—people fear an enemy they know they cannot beat.

I approached Poro slowly. A brown-furred beastwoman bit her lip hard and planted herself in front of him.

"S-stay back! What are you going to do to Poro…"

"Looks like he was sick to begin with."

"…"

"Cora… don't… talk…"

Poro shook his head, breathing raggedly. But the beastwoman called Cora, trembling with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fear, opened her mouth anyway.

"Yes… It's a sickness that's taken some of the beastfolk ever since Blue-Ring came under attack by someone. The priest could heal it, but we can't get an audience with the priest, so…"

"Why not?"

"The priest has gone into seclusion. He says he'll trust no one until the culprit is found, and he refuses to see anyone at all."

A sickness, is it…

I passed by Cora and examined Poro's condition. Even baring his teeth, he didn't refuse my touch. To be precise, he couldn't—the being before him was strong enough to slam one of the village's top three warriors into the ground in a single blow.

"Mana corruption, mana loss, and healing resistance? What is he carrying around, a whole collection?"

"…What?"

"From the look of it, I'd count the corruption and the loss as part of the sickness—but it seems someone's been throwing healing magic at him pretty persistently, too."

Every so often there are illnesses that simply refuse to be cured. They're commonly called incurable diseases, and people whose lives hang in the balance will subject themselves to endless rounds of healing magic even knowing it won't work. Things look like they improve a little at first, but the disease remains incurable, and the repeated overuse of healing magic breeds resistance—until one day, not even a Grand Archmage's spells can touch it.

If there was one way out, it would be the entirely-uncommon-in-any-sense divine magic. And that, of course, was exactly why I'd been so busy.

As Poro wheezed, Cora cried out from behind him.

"No! Poro has never received a single healing spell!"

"…He hasn't?"

"No… healing magic can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only be performed by the priest…"

So the healing resistance is part of the sickness itself…