Chapter 181: Dead Village
From here on out, it's just me, Wince, and Julius.
"I see it. That's the village."
What Julius points to is the same size as the village we fought in the other day.
"Julius, don't get emotional, okay?"
"I know without being told! Trust me."
I'm telling you because I can't
"Wince, you have better reflexes, so please."
"Yeah, if he tries to attack, I'll twist his neck."
He's going to die so please don't do that
---------
I noticed something strange when we got close to the village.
"Julius"
"Yeah, there is no sign of anyone"
There were no people in the village.
Julius begins to make his move.
"Let's split up and search"
"We will not."
"Why is it so?"
"We don't know what's going on, so the three of us have to stick together."
"...I understand."
This guy clicked his tongue
We tried to enter a house nearby at random.
"It's well kept."
"There's dried meat and preserved food. It's not fully dried out yet, someone must have lived in it until recently."
"Firewood is burning out in the fireplace, but it's completely cold. I'd say the house has been vacant for what, a few days?"
An attack by the royal army would be unlikely.
No signs of struggle or resistance.
"Wince, do you smell any blood or anything?"
"...I don't."
"Let's check another house."
So we check a few more, but they all look the same.
In the meantime, we finally found a resident
"Shiro-san. This is..."
"You don't even have to check it."
We found a body.
When I grab its arm, I can feel the air popping inside.
"…There's gas in the skin. The discoloration is shallow. Two or three days after death?"
"It hasn't been that hot the last few days."
This corpse was strange
"The problem is the cause of death."
"It doesn't have any injuries. Could it be that it couldn't breathe?"
"In that case, it looks like a peaceful death."
I could tell by the color of his skin that it was dead.
But the expression on its face suggests it was peacefully sleeping.
"Hmm?"
"What's wrong Wince... hey!"
Suddenly Wince pulled down the corpse's pants
"What are you doing!"
Frustrated?
I'm going to stop you from venting on the corpse, no matter how much you want to!
"Shiro-san, this corpse. None."
Yeah, I'm glad I was wrong.
No, it's not good.
The corpse had no genitalia on it.
Or, more accurately, had been bitten to bits.
"The wound is ragged, as if it had been bitten repeatedly with teeth, not a blade..."
"There is no bleeding. It must have been bitten off relentlessly after he was completely dead."
But why is it only the genitals that are strange?
Julius seemed to have doubts about that too.
"I thought normal beasts would eat internal organs?"
"On the contrary, it carefully put his pants on after eating it. A normal beast wouldn't do that, would it?"
"I know that without you saying it!"
We left the body there for the moment and check the rest of the houses.
"We found eleven corpses."
All with their genitals mutilated.
The internal organs were untouched.
The male genitalia were still barely comprehensible.
But the female genitalia, well, that's hard to fathom.
As far as I can see, the corpse is dragged out, then eaten, and properly dressed.
And all with a peaceful expression on their faces.
Even Julius had to turn his head away from the eerie corpse.
"Shiro-san, it will soon be dusk."
"I don't think I want to spend the night here."
"I don't either."
"We'll camp as far away from the village as possible. It's creepy here. Is that all right with you, Julius?"
"I agree, but let's at least get some water from the well."
"Stop it, it might contain poison, you know?"
Julius drops a stringed bucket hanging in the well inside
"Don’t worry. I'll make sure it's safe before I... what the hell is this?"
The water drawn from the well...
"It's a strange blue color?"
"! Julius, don't touch that water!"
At the mention of blue water, I react involuntarily.
"Wince, canteen!"
"Julius-san! Please wash your hands here! Never touch anything!"
"Ah? Ah... what is it?"
"You don't feel sick or strangely elated or happy?"
"No, nothing like that so far?"
Apparently, there is nothing wrong with Julius.
"That's blue water. Isn't it?"
"If Ginkei's explanation is correct, then yes, we should leave immediately. Julius, let's go to the next village."
"I understand that. But please explain the blue water."
"I will explain while we're moving. Hurry up."
No comments:
Post a Comment