NOVEL NEXT The nameless village had quietly nestled at the foot of a mountain for hundreds of years.
It’s already been 20 years since the orc couple, James and Miraen, settled in this village.
Before even getting married, these two adventurers set down roots here, got married, and had kids—
During those 20 years, the couple had absolutely no complaints about the village.
A river flowed not far away, and the mountains behind them, like a backdrop, provided plenty of rich game thanks to their natural bounty.
Thanks to that, there were no problems making a living peacefully, and the 130 villagers lived their daily lives with hardly any complaints.
“Well, you know. This seems to have started about half a year ago.”
While Miraen went into the room to tuck the kids in, James, Kaiyak, Yona, and Alex gathered around the table, each with a glass of fruit wine in hand.
“A bear showed up, a bear.”
“A bear? There’s bound to be some around… hmm, it must not have been an ordinary bear.”
Kaiyak scratched his chin as he spoke.
James wasn’t clueless, that’s for sure.
Even if they weren’t like Kaiyak, James and Miraen were still respectable copper-ranked adventurers, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to be troubled over just a bear.
“It was an all-black bear, you know, an all-black bear. And its size looked like it was double mine.”
James, the enormous orc whose build nearly matched that of the hulking Kaiyak, wouldn’t be mistaken if he said that bear was two times bigger, making it unlikely to be one of the local bears.
“An all-black bear, and very large…”
As Kaiyak sipped his fruit wine, he fell into thought.
But when Yona heard “all-black,” she flinched in surprise.
For some reason, it struck a chord with her.
Of course, the timing didn’t quite match, though.
“That bear showed up here. Of course, the whole village went into an uproar. The vigilante group rushed out, and everyone who could fight from the village ran out too.”
“And then what?”
The vigilante group of a hunting village could rival any regular mercenary band.
Their arrows were sharp, and their triggers were precise, indeed.
“More than half of them were killed.”
“What?”
Kaiyak, Alex, and even Yona widened their eyes.
More than half of the vigilante group killed by just one bear?
No matter how huge it was, a bear is still just a bear.
For the vigilante group of this hunting village, which captured all sorts of predators like bears, tigers, and wolves, to lose more than half was truly astonishing.
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. And that bear vanished without a trace… and after that… could I light one up?”
James pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Not the kind sold in stores, but clearly homemade, as he pulled one out and glanced at Yona. When she nodded, he quietly moistened the cigarette with his tongue and placed it in his mouth.
James pulled out a cigarette that was clearly rolled with poor craftsmanship, and after Yona nodded, he silently licked his lips and applied saliva to it before sticking it in his mouth.
He sparked the flint attached to the edge of the table and lit the cigarette, causing a haze of smoke to rise.
The smoke drifted aimlessly through the flickering candlelight hanging from the ceiling, swirling and dissipating into thin air.
After a long pause of gazing at the smoke, James finally spoke up.
“…The black beasts have begun to appear. The black beasts. Wild boars, once brown-furred with black stripes, now totally devoid of any brown and completely covered in black fur, and the deer, once covered in brown and black spots, are now also disguising themselves in black fur. It’s hard to kill them.”
With a deep inhale, the cigarette flared brightly, emitting an orange glow.
“Even if you manage to kill them, you can’t eat the meat. It’s all rotten. If you strip the skin, it’s just going to dissolve into mush and disappear.”
“…It disappears, you say?”
Yona, who had been quietly listening, couldn’t help but exclaim loudly at James.
James was caught off guard by her reaction and glanced at her with a hint of surprise.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s shocking. Saying the skin disappears is indeed bizarre.”
“Well… it’s not just that, um, Kaiyak.”
“Hmm. You’re talking about that goat-headed creature, right?”
“Yep.”
Kaiyak nodded at Yona.
The massive goat-headed monster that the first hunting party encountered on the second basement floor of the catacomb.
It was a fact that they had killed the creature, but when the second hunting party entered later, the corpse had vanished.
It was too short a time for the corpse to have decayed completely.
“Do you have any leads on this, Kaiyak?”
“More than leads… by the way, have you tried requesting help from the Adventurer’s Guild?”
“Would I not? I’m an adventurer myself.”
“And?”
James flicked the ashes of the cigarette into the ashtray.
Even half-burnt, the cigarette still glowed with a vibrant orange light, proudly showcasing its life as it released swirling smoke.
“We couldn’t find the cause of it all. I think that bear might be the problem. It seems like that bear is the culprit, considering all this chaos has started since it showed up. We ended up wasting our request fee for nothing.”
Yona was taken aback to see that orcs could make such expressions.
It was astonishing enough that races categorized as monsters like humans, orcs, and goblins lived intertwined, but now she was surprised again that James, an orc, could wear such a sorrowful expression.
“So that’s why you welcomed me.”
“To be honest, yes.”
“Then it seems there’s only one thing left to say. Go on, James.”
“Go on, speak up, James.”
Kaiyak twisted his mouth slightly.
Must be smiling.
James crushed a cigarette in the ashtray.
There was still some left, but he crushed it like he cared about that kind of thing.
“…Help us, Kaiyak. Help our village.”
“Is that so? But the leader of our party is that lady over there. So, what do you think? Yona, we need your decision.”
Kaiyak’s eyes rolled toward Yona.
‘Me? Me?!’
Yona was quite startled and looked at Alex.
She was surprised to learn she was the leader of this party and didn’t expect them to seek her permission.
After all, she thought Kaiyak was leading the party.
“Yona, do what you want.”
“Um, well, then…”
There’s some stuff I want to find out.
The fact that corpses are disappearing is concerning, and those ‘black’ things have caught my attention too.
“…Well, let’s do this. I’m not sure if we can, though.”
“Thank you.”
“Thanks? Well…”
Seeing James bow his head was a bit strange, making Yona scratch her cheek.
She didn’t expect this older guy to act that way towards her, which felt a bit burdensome.
*
The next morning, Alex went out alone to look around.
Yona wanted to follow him, but since she wasn’t fully healed, he didn’t want to drag her along, so he went out by himself.
It seemed the rumor about more than half of the vigilante group being dead was true, as young men were nowhere to be seen in the village.
Children were still running around and laughing, but there were hardly any young men.
Most were elderly folks and women.
“Excuse me, can I ask something?”
In times like this, it’s definitely the general store.
A tavern would be ideal, but they said it’s not open right now, so the general store is the next best place with people coming and going.
“Who’s there?”
An old man, half-bent over, was sitting on a chair. When he saw Alex entering, he tried to stand up, but Alex waved his hand.
“Uh, I’m a guest of James down there. I want to ask something.”
The old man squinted as he shielded his eyes from the sunlight Alex was blocking and finally managed to look at him with a frown.
“James? Ah, that orc fellow… What do you want to know?”
“About bears.”
“Bears…”
The old man’s face instantly turned beet red with fury at the mention of bears.
“Maybe the old man’s son also belonged to the vigilante group and met his end at the paws of a bear or something like that.”
“Bears, that damn bear…”
“Yes, that bear indeed.”
“I told them not to touch it, but those stubborn fools had to go and do it anyway…”
“Excuse me?”
This was the first time Alex heard such words.
He quickly reached for any random item within his grasp and showed it to the old man.
“I’ll take this. How much is it?”
“10 copper.”
That was more expensive than he thought.
Only then did Alex take a closer look at what he was holding.
It was a hunting dagger, about the length of Yona’s hand.
Ah, well, that’s something.
‘Since I’ve bought it, I should give it to Yona. She can use it for self-defense. She can handle a weapon with her left hand too.’
After paying the 10 copper, Alex sat down in the chair opposite the old man.
“Could you tell me more about what you just said?”
In deep mountains, there are usually sacred trees or holy rocks passed down through generations.
This village was no different; they said there was a sacred tree deep in the mountains.
Six months ago, before that black bear showed up.
It was a night of heavy rain with thunder and lightning.
Lightning flashed in all directions multiple times, shaking the heavens, accompanied by deafening thunder.
At that moment, the sacred tree, which was revered in the village, was struck by lightning, splitting it into several pieces.
But even if that happened, the sacred tree shouldn’t be touched; it had to be left alone until new shoots would appear naturally. However, the villagers thought that the lightning strike was an omen and insisted that the tree should be cut down and a new one planted.
The old man had desperately warned them not to cut down the sacred tree, that they absolutely must not do such a thing.
Yet, as if under some kind of spell, the villagers descended upon the tree with axes, and right when they were about to chop it down, the heavy rain started pouring again.
“So, that’s why you couldn’t plant a new one, huh?”
“Exactly. The sacred tree must not be carelessly touched. Not just touched; they even brought axes to it… it’s the wrath of the sacred tree. That bear is its messenger. It’s karma, pure karma. This village is bound to wither away.”
“Oh come on, no way…”
“Ah, you’re just going to spout the same thing, aren’t you?!”
Before the old man’s sparks could leap onto him, Alex quickly left the general store.
He needed to check with James if that was true, and if it was, he thought he had an idea of where to start looking for answers.
When he returned along that path, what Alex saw was James’s third son, nestled and playing between Yona’s breasts.
For some reason, he felt really uneasy about it.