Chapter 34: Fishing Village

“We’re about to enter the village. Are you still going to follow?”

“Your body is in a bad state right now. You can’t even stand steadily without me supporting you. I have to follow.”

“Alright, you’re right.”

At the entrance of the village, Elvira and I had a brief conversation.
Given the obvious outcome, our dialogue was quite pointless.

Elvira supported me, my steps unsteady, as we walked into the fishing village, looking very much like I was helping a grandmother cross the road.
Her fair, jade-like dragon claws held my arm.
I was completely leaning on Elvira now.
Anyone who didn’t know would definitely think I was being coy.

Also, why do these dragon claws keep touching my hand?
Taking advantage whenever she can.
As a dragon, isn’t that a bit beneath her?

I’ll settle the score with her later.
First, I need to figure out the situation in this fishing village.

Elvira had said from the sky that the fishing village was frighteningly quiet.
Now it seems it’s not just frighteningly quiet, but also ridiculously dilapidated.

The walls of the houses were dilapidated and covered with mold.
The windows looked like they had been smashed open.
The door panels were just a few broken wooden planks pieced together.
Every wooden house was like this.
The architecture of this fishing village took the phrase “old, dilapidated, and small” to the extreme.

Have we found a deserted village?
This place doesn’t look inhabited at all.

There was not a single sound from the surrounding buildings, only the “creak” of the wind blowing through the broken wooden planks.
Combined with the dilapidated environment, it was like walking into a horror movie set.

I’m a staunch materialist, I don’t believe in any ghosts or spirits!

But in another world… materialism might need a little adjustment.
Objective reality can also apply to magic.

My body unconsciously shrank closer to Elvira.
Seeing this, she was very pleased, a slight upturn at the corner of her lips.

Damn it, if no one lives in this wretched place, can’t they just tear it down?
Who are they trying to scare to death by making it so spooky?

As we walked, we reached the middle of the fishing village.
The damage here was far more severe than at the entrance.
There were no houses to speak of, just broken wooden planks scattered all over the ground.
Only a few skeleton-like house frames remained, proving that residences had once existed here.

The ground under our feet also began to become muddy and damp.
Puddles of various sizes were everywhere, with green algae floating on them, emitting a salty, fishy smell.

“Elvira, can we… go a little faster?
I don’t think there’s anyone here.
Let’s hurry to the seaside and see if there are any boats.
If not, let’s leave quickly, okay…”
My voice was heavy with a nasal tone, like the whimpering of a small animal, soft and weak.

What’s going on?
It’s as if I’m very afraid of gloomy environments.
It’s all this wretched village’s fault.

“Verona, are you scared?”

“Scared? No… it’s just, it’s just… I don’t really like water, especially seawater. It’s so salty.”

“Is that so?” Elvira tilted her head.
“Then I’ll go check the houses over there. You wait here by yourself for a bit.”

Hearing her say this, I immediately panicked.
I hugged Elvira’s arm with all my might, my head resting on her shoulder.

“Don’t! Elvira, don’t tease me.
I… I admit, it’s not that I don’t like water… I don’t like wood.”

“Alright, alright~ you don’t like wood.
Then I’m afraid you won’t acclimate well in the City of the Sea of Trees.
A very serious case of it.”

“Aiya!” I punched Elvira and urged her, “Hurry up and go!”

Crack—!

A crisp sound suddenly came, like the sound of a wooden plank breaking.
I was so startled that I kept pressing myself against Elvira, almost jumping on top of her.

“Ah! W-what was that?!”

Elvira held me with one hand, protecting me in her embrace.
Crimson lightning surged in her other hand, ready to attack at any moment.
But… the “crack” sound only happened once, and then there was no other movement.

A hand gently patted my back.

“It’s okay. It was just a wooden plank breaking somewhere. Don’t be afraid.”

“Oh… I’m not scared.”

“Then shall we continue?”

“…Mm.”

This Elvira just wants to see me make a fool of myself.
I can’t let her succeed.
If we’re going, then let’s go. Who’s afraid of whom?
I don’t believe some filthy thing can pop out of a mere broken village.

As we went deeper, we were almost at the seaside.
But to my surprise, the houses became denser and were all relatively intact.

The seawater had washed up, forming a thin layer of water only a palm’s thickness.
The reflections of the houses swayed on the water’s surface, blurry and indistinct.
But I felt that the reflections didn’t look like the houses of a small, broken village at all, but more like… a city… a city even more prosperous than Port Otas.

Bell towers, churches, spired tall buildings, round spires, and houses.
Everything on the water’s surface was arranged in an irregular, illogical manner, absurd and strange.

‘An illusion… it must be an illusion…’

Ignoring that strange feeling, I began to focus my gaze on the real houses instead of the reflections.
These were all very standard fishermen’s huts.
Most of them had fishing nets drying outside, but the nets hadn’t been used for a long time and were covered with moss.

The houses… why do they look swollen…
It’s like something is crawling on them, grayish-white… barnacles?

After getting closer, I realized that these coastal houses were all covered with barnacles.
They were so dense that even though I don’t have trypophobia, my scalp tingled just looking at them.

It’s so disgusting to look at…

“Verona… there’s a sound, it’s in the house,” Elvira said, pointing to a house.
That wooden house was obviously larger than the others…
Perhaps, it’s because there are more barnacles crawling on it?

The fence around the house was in disarray, rotting in the seawater.
An oil lamp hung at the entrance, covered in rust, like a head with flesh and blood.

“Shall we… go and see…?” I asked.

“If you don’t like it, we won’t go.”

“Why not! A look won’t hurt… you go first.”

With a light chuckle, a dragon tail wrapped around my waist, and Elvira placed me behind her.
I hid behind her and looked ahead.
It was only then that I noticed something—Elvira was a bit taller than me.

Speaking of which, I still don’t know the height of this body.
It’s definitely shorter than in my past life, probably… about 1.65 meters?
Then Elvira must be over 1.7 meters.

No wonder I always have a feeling of looking up at her…

The two of us walked up to the house one after the other.
I also heard the sound Elvira mentioned.
It was like the sound of some kind of mucus flowing.

Immediately, Elvira turned to give me a look.
I nodded to show that I was fine.
Then Elvira lifted her leg.

And kicked the wooden door open.

The old wooden door couldn’t withstand her kick and fell down flat.
A rotten smell rushed out from inside the house, very pungent.

It was like rotten seafood that had been left out for several days, mixed with the stench of a kitchen waste bin in the summer.

The source of this disgusting smell… was probably the three skeletons sitting around the wooden table in the middle of the house, and the wriggling food on the table.

Two large and one small skeleton, obviously a family of three.
They were in the same posture as when they were alive, leaning on the chairs, lying on the table.
I don’t know why, but I felt that they weren’t murdered, but had committed suicide.

Perhaps… it’s because of my related experience?
I feel that these corpses died too peacefully, with no signs of struggle.
They were even eating before they died.

The wooden plates on the table were in disarray.
White, soft-bodied insects crawled and squeezed all over the table.
That’s why the food was wriggling.

This scene made me a little nauseous, but Elvira was unfazed.
She blasted the insects away with a bolt of crimson lightning in one hand, and led me to the table.
Then, she gestured towards the largest skeleton with her chin, signaling for me to look.

That skeleton was unremarkable, probably a man’s skeleton.
But under the spiky bone hand was a very conspicuous note.
I had never seen the words on it before.
It was probably the script of this world, but I knew what it meant…

“Let the pain cling to you, like a mother’s love, and welcome the gift of the gods.”