Ruin.
Desolation.
Weeds everywhere.
Shane looked at the village before him, doubt rising in his heart.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
Frieren crouched in front of the wooden sign at the village entrance, took out a letter, and carefully compared it.
"Yes, this is the address."
Central Lands, Tack Region, a small mountain village called Krel.
"But this place…"
Shane frowned.
No matter how he looked at it, this didn't seem like a village people actually lived in.
"So what's the commission this ti? Don't tell we're here to do construction repairs…"
"No. This ti, it's a commission from Heiter."
Hearing Heiter's na, Fern paused slightly behind them. "Mr. Heiter left us a commission?"
Frieren nodded.
"He said this village has been afflicted with a very strange plague. He couldn't cure it, nor could he find a solution, so he wanted to try."
"A plague?"
"Calling it a plague might not be entirely accurate, but Heiter couldn't find a better word either. In short, it's so kind of illness he couldn't analyze—possibly an unknown curse. Even he wasn't sure."
Shane fell into thought. "Sounds troubleso."
As they spoke, the three of them walked into the village…
The entire place was silent. Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. Weeds had overgrown both sides of the streets, and several fences in front of houses were nearly collapsed. There wasn't a single animal or person in sight.
And yet, they could feel countless eyes.
Through door cracks, beside windows… it seed like people were hiding in the shadows everywhere.
Fern looked tense, instinctively tightening her grip on her staff as she edged closer to Shane.
He glanced down at her.
The girl's eyes flickered away. She subtly stepped back half a step, then, when Shane wasn't looking, quietly shifted back closer again.
After that, she firmly wedged herself between Shane and Frieren, following them step by step.
Shane scanned the surroundings, exchanged a glance with Frieren, then walked toward the nearest house.
Knock knock knock—
Knock knock knock—
No response.
Shane didn't give up. He knocked repeatedly.
After at least five or six attempts, the tightly shut door finally opened a crack, revealing a pair of murky eyes.
Those eyes stared at Shane, the voice behind them old and cold.
"If you don't want to die, get lost."
Before Shane could respond, Frieren stepped forward from behind him.
"Sir, we were sent by Archbishop Heiter to investigate. Could you co out and speak with us? Or tell us where the village chief is?"
After hearing Frieren's words, the eyes behind the door looked on her.
They sized her up from head to toe, hesitating. In the end, the door opened a little wider.
From Shane's angle, he could see half of the man's face—a gray-haired, gaunt old man.
Wait!
Why were there black, twisted goat horns growing from his forehead???
A demon!!!
Without hesitation, Shane drew his sword and shoved Frieren behind him, already preparing Goddess's Barrier, ready to shield all three of them at any mont.
"Wait, Shane. He's not."
At the critical mont, Frieren stopped him.
"Not? But his head—"
Shane cut himself off, because he noticed sothing even stranger.
As the door opened, a beam of sunlight fell on the old man's face.
The horns on his head seed alive. Under the sunlight, they twisted and wriggled, slowly shifting from his forehead toward the back of his head, as if trying to escape the light.
The horns were alive!
What the hell?!
This bizarre sight made Fern behind him instantly cover her mouth.
Her face turned pale green. She looked like she might vomit, but was desperately holding it in to remain polite.
Shane quickly stepped forward, successfully blocking her view.
"Did Archbishop Heiter really send you? Has he found a way to cure us?" The old man's voice was filled with urgency, as if Shane and the others were his last hope.
But Frieren shook her head regretfully.
"Heiter didn't find a cure. I ca on his behalf to investigate again."
"Didn't find one…"
Hearing that, the old man seed to collapse. His earlier excitent vanished, replaced by deep despair.
"Even Archbishop Heiter couldn't solve it…"
"It seems we truly are cursed people…"
With that, he ignored Frieren and shut the door.
After that, no matter how much they knocked, there was no further response.
Shane looked at the surrounding houses. They were all the sa.
It was obvious people were watching them from inside, but no one ca out again.
"Heiter said it would be troubleso, but I didn't expect it to be this serious."
"What do we do now? Did Heiter find anything before?"
"No."
Frieren took out the letter Heiter had left behind.
The handwriting was ssy. It recorded his earlier investigations—he had examined the village's water sources, tested the villagers' food and vegetables, and even carefully inspected the walls and foundations of every house. He found no traces of magic.
At the sa ti, there were no signs of demons or monsters around the village.
It was as if this "plague" had appeared out of nowhere.
He had searched through the Holy Scriptures and countless records, trying to analyze it, but made no progress.
In the end, he entrusted the village's hope to Frieren, hoping her Analysis Magic could uncover the problem.
"But Heiter is a priest. He doesn't fully understand my magic."
Frieren rubbed her chin, troubled. "My Analysis Magic only works on magic. But right now, we don't even know the source of this 'plague' or whether it's caused by magic. That makes it impossible for to start."
Shane imdiately understood.
Magic was the manifestation of imagination.
If Frieren couldn't imagine how this "plague" worked, she couldn't analyze it.
"That makes things difficult…"
Both of them fell into thought.
At that mont, Fern's soft voice ca from behind them:
"Mr. Shane, Ms. Frieren… when I was little, in my hotown in the Southern Lands, I think… I think I've seen people like this… 'people with horns'…"
Shane and Frieren turned at the sa ti.
"!"
Fern was startled by their intense gazes.
She lowered her head, recalling. "…My father was an herbalist. People often ca to him for dicine, including one 'horned person.'"
At this point, her face turned pale, as if rembering sothing unpleasant. She paused before continuing, "Just like that villager, the horns would move around in sunlight."
Shane and Frieren exchanged a look.
What a coincidence.
"What happened afterward? Did your father cure him?"
Fern frowned, thought for a mont, then shook her head. "I don't think so…"
"He was a hunter. Very healthy. Even after growing horns, nothing really changed. He just scared people whenever he appeared, so he stopped coming down the mountain. I never saw him again."
"A hunter…"
Shane tapped the hilt of his sword, deep in thought.
The word "hunter" imdiately triggered associations.
In his previous life, so strange "plagues" were often caused by close contact with wild animals or consuming bushat.
Viruses. Parasites.
"If Heiter checked all environntal factors around the village and found nothing, could the source be in the mountains? Maybe a new disease transmitted by animals? Or poisoning caused by so plant?"
"Plant poisoning is common, but… animals can transmit diseases?" Frieren asked.
"Animals carry many bacteria. Normally, they don't infect humans, but if sothing unusual happens… rare cases like this can occur."
Frieren and Fern both frowned, clearly unable to understand.
Right.
Shane stopped explaining. At the current level of this world, microbiology probably didn't even exist.
How was he supposed to explain this?
"I understand now."
"?"
"So you really did train as a priest." Frieren patted his back in satisfaction. "Heiter convinced you after all. That's great."
"…"
You didn't understand anything at all.
Shane didn't bother explaining further.
After all, as Frieren said, he had indeed learned quite a bit from Heiter over the years.
"In that case, let's search the mountains behind the village. Split up, but stay within shouting distance. If you find anything strange, call out imdiately," Shane instructed.
The three of them headed into the forest behind the village.
————
Shane walked through the overgrown grass.
His sword occasionally pushed aside thorny vines blocking his path.
He carefully observed the environnt, focusing on whether there were small animals like rabbits or wildcats.
When he saw those "horns" earlier, his first thought had been demons.
But thinking about it again, sothing felt off.
Those "living horns" looked a lot like parasites. Could it be sothing they ate?
Rustle—
A gray blur darted through the bushes ahead.
Shane's eyes widened.
It was a plump gray rabbit, its head covered in black tentacles—dense and horrifying, even worse than the villagers.
At the sa ti, a line of text appeared in his vision:
[Demonized (Gray/Inferior)]: A cursed mutation that occurs with a small probability in animals with low mana after contact with high-level monsters.
Found it!
Without hesitation, Shane activated [Sprint (Blue/Rare)] and chased after the gray figure.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the rabbit seed faster than normal.
But no matter how fast, it was still just a rabbit.
Smack!
His sword slamd hard into its back.
Crackle—
[Electrocution (Blue/Rare)] triggered. The rabbit's limbs stiffened, it convulsed twice, and fainted.
At the sa ti, Fern "flew" over.
"Mr. Shane, I heard fighting—what happened… wuh!"
She saw the grotesque "demonized rabbit" at first glance and froze mid-sentence.
Covering her mouth in disgust, she took a step back—only to bump into Frieren behind her.
Following Fern's gaze, Frieren saw the captured target.
"This is probably the source of the plague. Hmm… it does look like a curse."
Shane nodded.
Their thoughts aligned. Just as the description suggested, the rabbit had likely been cursed and mutated. The villagers probably ate infected animals and were left with residual curse effects.
"Can it be reversed or purified?"
"We need to analyze it first."
Frieren waved her staff, and the unconscious rabbit floated into the air.
To avoid alarming the villagers, they didn't return to the village. Instead, they set up a temporary camp in the forest.
Night fell.
Frieren sat near the campfire, focused on analyzing the magic.
Shane and Fern sat together, chatting.
Because she found the demonized rabbit disgusting and frightening, Fern kept glancing toward Frieren, worried she might bring the rabbit over.
Shane noticed her small movents.
But didn't point them out.
The girl clearly had a very low tolerance for certain things.
"Fern, want to read you The History of Continental Magic?"
"…"
"Co on, a bedti story."
"…"
Fern's attention successfully shifted—from being disgusted by the rabbit to being disgusted by Shane.
Seeing him actually pull out a thick magic history book, she pressed her lips together, grabbed her blanket, and moved to the farthest corner from him.
Shane chuckled.
At that mont, Frieren waved at him from across the campfire.
"Shane, co here."
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