Ch.67The Sunken Village (1)

Whoosh!!

Rumble! Crash! Bang!

Pitter-patter….

From inside the cave, I gazed at the torrential downpour mercilessly pouring down outside.

Despite being trapped in this cave for over three hours already, this damned rain showed no signs of stopping.

“It’s coming down like mad.”

I held Raisha, who was clinging to me like glue, as we watched the rain pouring down as if the earth might collapse.

Fortunately, we were positioned on high ground and were safe, but people who had been climbing up from the lowlands must have been in great danger.

Splash!

Just then, another adventurer found his way to the cave where we were staying.

This cave was quite spacious, even containing a pond formed by a spring inside, and besides us, dozens of adventurers were sitting around their own campfires, chatting quietly.

“Huff… huff…”

“You’ve had a rough time. Come, sit down. Looks like you even abandoned your luggage.”

The lone adventurer, who looked like a drowned rat, nodded slightly at my words and sat down by our campfire, immediately beginning to warm himself.

“Are you from Shahelm?”

He asked.

“Yes. And you?”

“Cabington… I’m from Cabington… The water overflowed and the entire village was submerged. So I hurriedly deposited money received from the elder in Shahelm to request help, and was on my way back.”

“Then you’re in luck. Those adventurers and we are on our way to help Cabington village.”

Shortly before we left Shahelm, we had seen that the Adventurers’ Guild had issued an urgent request.

The village of Cabington was flooded due to heavy rain, and immediate relief was needed.

The Guild asked us to travel to Cabington village first to clear collapsed buildings and control the people, and afterward, Shahelm’s Guild would gather supplies from the city and send them later in supply wagons.

As it happened, Cabington village was one of the towns on the way to Fernheim. We accepted the request to accumulate good deeds we could proudly report to the gods, and while heading to the village with other adventurers who had taken the same request, forming a large group, we got stranded in this cave when another downpour began.

“Th-then you’re coming to save our village!”

“Yes. First, calm down. Once this rain stops, we can go rescue or rebuild, whichever is needed.”

“Haa… The storm clouds gathered so suddenly, and now this downpour…. It smells of magic.”

“C-could the village be cursed?”

“We can’t deny that possibility. Isn’t that right?”

I wasn’t asking him, but rather the mages mixed among the adventurers.

Soon the mages exchanged glances, and the one who appeared oldest cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Certainly… a downpour of this magnitude would be difficult to occur naturally without magic. Moreover… another downpour right after one has already fallen…? It can’t be explained unless it’s magic. It must be either the plot of an evil mage or the work of angry spirits.”

As he spoke, the adventurers began to stir.

In fact, all the adventurers gathered here had walked with us and witnessed how the clear sky had suddenly filled with dark clouds.

With circumstantial evidence already strong and now physical evidence added, we needed to somehow address the source.

“Th-then what will happen to our village?”

“We’re going there to prevent things from getting worse, aren’t we? Have patience.”

We comforted him and waited for the rain to stop. After confirming that the downpour, which had continued for two more hours, had ceased, we slowly began to rise.

*

Splash! Splash!

“Ah… damn it! These are brand new boots!”

A dwarf battler grumbled in disgust at the muddy ground.

Raisha and I were on horseback, so our feet didn’t get dirty, but the rain-soaked ground could turn into a threat at any moment, so we remained vigilant.

Of course, with the number of adventurers passing through here reaching about 80, even if there really was an evil mage, it would be suicidal to attack us on this open road unless they had reached a truly transcendent level.

Thud!

“Ugh…!”

“Are you alright?”

What actually worried me was the young man leading us at the front.

Despite having just fallen into the mud with mud splattered all over his body, he was running ahead, panting heavily.

“I’m fine… This way… This way.”

I looked at him with pity as he struggled in the sea of mud.

Not because he was desperately trying to protect his homeland.

But because I felt sympathy for his weakness—unable to do anything himself despite his hometown being in crisis.

“Not a good location for a village to be established…”

“With such winding paths, it might be closer to a refuge than a village.”

I caught the whispers of the mages in my ear.

A refuge…

Perhaps that’s true. Cabington village is so small that it doesn’t even appear on maps unless they’re quite detailed.

It’s possible that Cabington village might be the descendants of one of the small lords who sprouted up during the Eclipse Era.

“Hey. What’s your name?”

“Pardon?”

“Your name. I’m asking for your name.”

“Oh… Martin. Martin Miller.”

“Right. Martin. What’s in Cabington village?”

“There’s a tall, moss-covered, half-collapsed castle. During the Eclipse Era, Cabington village was an independent country.”

“An independent country, huh.”

The Eclipse Era was a period when the entire human world was fragmented.

It was a time when a group of mere dozens of swordsmen could assassinate a king, and minor lords who could mobilize thousands were treated as great monarchs wielding hegemony.

After the last descendants of the Nariaki Empire fell, and from the late Eclipse Era, a technological renaissance began again, and now in the year 1200 of the Extinction Calendar, we’ve succeeded in restoring a significant portion of the ancient empire’s technology.

The late Eclipse Era was a chaotic time when technological revival exploded, villages surrounded themselves with walls to grow into city-states, and cities united to establish kingdoms. In that process, small countries like Cabington were swept away by the tide of the times and eventually collapsed.

“See? I told you so. A refuge, I said.”

“Come on. They said it was an independent country, how could it be a refuge?”

“It could have been a country established by displaced people.”

Behind me, mages who were running out of stamina were bickering about who was right.

While they argued, we arrived at Cabington village, and the tall spire of a castle standing proudly above a lake welcomed us.

“…Where’s the village?”

“…”

Martin couldn’t answer.

*

“Somnium.”

Flash!

Miraculously, there were no casualties.

It was thanks to the fact that it was a downpour rather than a sudden disaster like a landslide, so there was relatively ample time to escape.

In the distance, mages were treating injured elderly people with healing spells, and I was using telekinesis from atop my horse to gather and clear away small debris.

Raisha was with other female adventurers, comforting children who were greatly shocked by the sudden disappearance of their village.

“My lord! My lord!”

As I was watching Raisha patting the children, I heard Martin urgently calling for me.

I turned my spotted horse toward Martin, and he pointed to a tightly locked warehouse door, saying:

“There’s food inside here… but we can’t open it.”

“I see. Stand back.”

Next to the door were several soaking wet adult men.

As they stepped back, I summoned my greatsword and split the lock in half, dropping it to the floor, and the door slowly began to open.

“Good heavens! What an enormous sword!”

“How can anyone even wield that thing?”

I put away my sword again, listening to the praise of these weak ones extolling my strength.

The strong men had already hurriedly entered and started taking out perishable dairy products first, and Martin hesitated briefly before bringing out what appeared to be long-aged alcohol from inside the warehouse and offering it to me.

“We were going to use this for the festival… but I think it’s better to give this to you.”

“Hmm… 76-year-old wine.”

I handed the wine back to him.

“It’s fine. This is wine your village has been making for decades. Soon the village will be rebuilt, and the survivors will toast to that. It would be a shame not to have such fine alcohol for that occasion.”

For the record, I prefer dark beer to wine.

I mounted my horse again and began to continue clearing debris using marking magic.

The Guild’s support was still far from arriving, and an evil mage, or angry spirits, or perhaps an evil mage controlling angry spirits, could ambush us at any time.

Even to prepare for such a situation, nothing would be more shameful than letting our guard down with ugly drunkenness.