117 In Doran Village

Fusion Souls were confused as the village they saw in front of their eyes was too far from their imagination. Aiena rubbed her eyes to make sure she saw correctly, and Ryu was wondering if they had discovered a barbarian hideout.

"Big brother, this village looks so cool!!" said Jue as he looked towards the village, his eyes shining,

Even though they called it a village, it looked nothing like one. There was a giant wall almost two meters tall surrounding the Village, and the gate was three meters tall with an animal head attached to the top. Ryu was considering turning back and going to another dungeon, but there was no guarantee other villages wouldn't be like this,

"It was not like this last time I visited," Ardian spoke, looking confused and sad as the village was looking quite different from what he remembered.

"What's the difference?" Ryu asked as he thought,

'Aside from unnatural DIY walls.'

"The trees near the walls all are dead, and there wasn't a wall there before," Ardian said with his face full of despair and his voice shriller than before as he looked toward dry, dead trees.

"I see," replied Ryu as he considered his options.

'I can either choose to go directly to the dungeon or try checking the information once in the village,' he was considering the pros and cons of both options when Jue said,

"This is my first time going to such a village… I wonder how it looks from the inside" hearing this, Ryu thought,

'Well, it is my first time too… and as Ardian said that the walls are newly built, I can't help my curiosity' he nodded to himself,

*

After 10 minutes of driving, the carriage was finally near the gate, and as soon as the gate opened, Ardian rushed out of the carriage and ran towards the gate. Seeing his actions, Ryu felt bitter, and Aiena spoke.

"Ryu, Adrian was telling us a lot about the village before you woke up."

"Yes, big brother. He told us about gardens and orchards," Jue added, and Aiena nodded.

As they all stepped out of the carriage, they saw Ardian was already at the gate, knocking it loudly,

"This village looks nothing like that, though," Ryu replied, and Aiena nodded,

"I did not think he was lying though…. I mean, he was excited to see the stuff he saw as a kid. He mentioned"

"I did not smell a lie," Rafa said, pointing at her nose funnily,

They all walked towards the gate, and it was starting to open slowly. A man dressed in a plain khaki shirt and loose pants questioned the Fusion souls, and Ardian was confused.

"You all are not on ration duty?" he titled his head, and Ryu questioned,

"What is Ration duty? We are just travelers."

"I see," the man replied and began closing the door after bowing once when Adrian suddenly held it tight and pushed,

"Hey, don't close it!! Let me enter."

"We cannot allow travelers in the current situation," the man insisted, but it only got Ryu curious, and he too began pushing the gate, and a game of tug o war began between Ryu and Adrian vs common Villager,

"I am the son of Drasil!!" Adrian said while pulling tightly, and Ryu couldn't make sense as to why they both couldn't push the gate closed against a single person,

"What did you say?" the man questioned Adrian, and he repeated,

"I am the son of Drasil!!" suddenly, the man stopped pushing the gate

Ryu and Adrian, who were both pushing the gate, ended up pushing the gate all the way inside and tripping as the force opposing theirs vanished,

"Aii, it hurts," Adrian said as his knees got scraped, and Ryu stood back up, dusting the dirt off his pants when Aiena asked,

"Are you hurt somewhere, Ryu?"

Ryu replied,

"I am fine, Aiena. Can you heal him, though" he pointed at Adrian, and Aiena nodded as she chanted a small healing miracle.

Adrian's pain was gone in a second, but the people surrounding them were looking at Aiena in shock.

"A priestess!!" the one who was pushing the gate shouted, and that was when Ryu noticed that there were five people stationed at the gate, and that was why they were able to compete with Ryu's pushing.

"So, what is going on here" Ryu questioned, but the man and his fellow villagers ignored Ryu and kneeled before Aiena.

"Please help us, Priestess,"

"They are very weak, please,"

"We would give everything to the church,"

Aiena, who received the sudden request, was confused, baffled, and replied hurriedly,

"I am not a priestess… please do not call me one" the people looked at each other, confused when Ryu asked, irritated,

"Would you tell us what is going on already?"

The man who was pushing the door earlier apologized for his desperation and spoke,

"Please follow us. I'll explain everything at the hut…" although he was listening now, his eyes had a sudden shine of hope as he looked towards Aiena once again. Not liking his gaze Ryu moved next to Aiena and put an arm on her shoulder,

'After all, she is not a priestess, the villagers thought' and seeing a chance, Ardian spoke.

"What happened here? Where is Grandmother? What happened to all the gardens and trees?" he shook the man's shoulders.

The man just stared for a bit, and Ardian face and with a sad look on his face spoke,

"Please follow us. It is better to see yourself than us telling you."

'That sounds ominous,' thought Ryu, and Ardian nodded. The villagers take Fusion Souls, accompanied by Ardian, to a giant makeshift hut like the walls surrounding the village. All the other homes look better, but the plants and greenery were dead in the surrounding,

The gate of the hut opened everyone was quiet. The hut contained various beds laid one after another, a total of forty beds, and they were occupied by people young and old, all looking pale and weak. Suddenly Ardian, who was standing at the side, exclaimed,

"Grandmother!!!" his voice was extremely high pitched that Ryu and Fusion souls, along with Villagers, covered their ears with their hands,

"Ardian… Ardian, how are you here" the old woman laying on one of the beds spoke; she looked as if steps before death, but her eyes looked warmed up and nostalgic as she looked towards Ardian, who moved towards her,

"Grandmother, what is happening here? What sickness is this?" he questioned rapidly, but the grandmother on the bed just smiled once and closed her eyes.

"No!!!! Grandmother, you cannot die!! When I finally came to meet you!?"

Ardian began punching the bed near the grandmother when the Villager spoke.

"She is fine… she is just asleep. It happens now and then with her," Ardian ignored him as if words didn't reach his ears and began punching the ground, saying,

"Why!? Why!! Grandmother, please wake up" the Villagers all now stare toward Ryu, who thought,

'Why are you all looking at me!? I'm not his care or anything, but the people kept staring, and Ryu finally moved near Ardian and punched on the back of his head,

"Oii cut it out already, she is fine, can't you see you are disturbing everyone," said Ryu and finally, Ardian noticed that his grandmother was indeed breathing, and in a deep voice, he apologized to the villagers,

Finally, it was time for their questions to be answered. The villagers had Fusions souls seated on stools they took from near the beds and sat on a few of them themselves.

"So, what is going on here?" Ryu asked straight, not wasting time. The Villager looked Ryu up and down and finally spoke.

"It is due to that damn dungeon…." And the villager explained how there was an emerged dungeon near the village with monsters in the form of fungi and mushrooms. The trees all rot as when the stampede happens, those monsters would suck the nourishment out of the trees. This dungeon was quite unique as the monsters all went back inside the dungeon after the stampede.

"What happened to Grandmother and others!?" Ardian questioned, and the villager nodded and took a deep breath as he began explaining,

"Their vitality is being absorbed,"

"How can that happen?" Ardian questioned, and the villager began explaining,

"The monsters that usually only go after the plants marked humans, and their vitality began decreasing day by day. We asked the priestess for help in the town of Hinsmark, but Lord Hathi denied our request, and the medic we brought told us that there was no disease and hence nothing to cure; Lord Hathi wants this dungeon to be permanent and turn into a cash source for Hinsmark, so he invalidates us from putting up the quest on this dungeon too."

"Why would he do that? He is a lord!?" Ardian asked angrily, and Ryu finally understood something,

'Faltar didn't reward us…. He wanted us to blow up his father's plans!?' Ryu felt a slight irritation at the fact that he got played, but the fact that Map and dungeons would help him didn't change either way, and Ryu spoke.

"So, how much time do these people have?" Ryu knew his question was a sad one, but someone had to break the ice, and the answer to this question would decide his course of action,

The villagers all bowed on the spot and pleaded,

"Many of these have a mere few days left…. One died already. Please help us. We know the miracle arts can restore vitality."

Ryu sighed as he knew that he couldn't demand much of the people in these conditions and thought,

'I'll settle for what they were going to tribute to church only' he turned towards Aiena and, with a gesture of eyes, asked,

'Can you heal them?'

"I don't know Ryu…. I have miracles for Vitality recovery but not for this many people… I can only cast it thrice a day."

"I have Miracle Song of Vitality!!" the grandmother who was sleeping previously woke up and spoke suddenly, and it nearly had Ryu's heart jump out of his chest.

"What is tha…." Ryu was about to ask, but before he could, Aiena cut in the middle, clearly excited and smiling brightly. Her blond hair fluttered as she moved toward Ardian's grandmother.

"Is it true, Grandmother? You have that [Miracle Song of Vitality]" the grandmother spoke nothing and nodded. Aiena was smiling wider than ever as she thought,

'I can help them…. They can be saved' she turned to Ryu, who asked, confused,

"What is Song of Vitality Aiena?" and she explained with great interest and enthusiasm as it was something that Priestess always taught her about; songs in Miracles are like constantly applied effect on many patients until the Priest or priestess is reciting the right song no matter the loop they can apply effects on a room for of patients constantly at a lower mana cost,

Ardian, who saw the ray of hope in Aiena's words, shook her shoulders.

"Can you help my grandmother?" Ryu suddenly pulled him back by the collar,

"Do you know what giving space means?" Ryu was visibly irritated due to him shaking Aiena, and seeing Ryu's face, Ardian spoke,

"I did not mean to do that…. also don't forget you are the murderer here!!" suddenly, all villager's eyes shot toward Ryu, filled with horror, and Ryu exclaimed,

"IT IS NOT LIKE THAT!!"