Cain slowly walked behind them, feeling the stinging pain inside his chest, each breath feeling like he was pressing on an open wound.
He could bear with it for the time being but he was certain it will only get worse, there is just no way around that.
Up in the distance, the villagers were weirdly gathering around a house. For a community this small that could be all of them in one place which meant something big happened.
The house they were gathering around looked like a decent shed with a cow enclose next to it, a massive pine tree was flailing beside it under the rough southern winds.
Cringing his face, Cain could feel it was something that might keep them here for longer, he just had that feeling. “Let’s hurry and go, I don’t want us to get entangled in that!” Cain told the girls as pushed them to move away from the gathering.
“OH! My lady, you came to check on what transpired!” The old man from yesterday came rushing on his cane and the entire crowd looked in their direction.
“Yea…” Before she could speak, Alice’s body stopped listening to her, “Sorry but we need to go quickly, an important matter awaits!” She said naturally, not showing a single sign that she was controlled.
“Heard the lady, sorry for this but we have to move immediately!” Cain stood in between them as he signaled to the girls to keep moving.
“But my lady, we had an unfortunate and abnormal death. We heard your esteemed envoy is a great mage so we thought he might have a look at it.” The old man said rubbing his hands together.
“No means no, we don’t have time,” Cain said, firmly standing in front of the old man.
“He told you no-nya, want me to help you talk to your deceased friend instead-gaw?” Selena could feel the urgency in Cain’s voice, a bit of intimidation never hurt anyone in her book.
Sofia awkwardly listened to the conversation, she honestly wanted to help the villagers but remembered what happened at the hydra’s fight, the adventurers inside the cave. “He is right, we have no time to spare!” She said, brushing the idea of speaking against Cain from her head.
Alice as well wanted to help, if not for Cain’s keeping her standing in her place she would have rushed to the shed to see what happened long ago.
“My lady, sir. It’s just that this incident resembled what happened to the Gray family years ago, we can’t ignore the possibility of the culprit being the same!” The old man said, trying to get them to help.
The name Gray rang a bell, could it be her?
Alice’s eyes blinked as she connected the dots, looking back at Cain. “Cain, could it be?” Sofia also asked, Selena on the other hand didn’t remember the name Gray at all.
“F-fine, but for each hour after the first, we’re doubling your taxes,” Cain said, he could ignore it now that the name Gray was brought up.
The old man’s face lit up, as long as he got them investigated in the first hour it would be okay. His daughter had spent the last night speaking about great a mage was the white-haired guy, she did shut up. ‘Dad, he built a house with the flick of a finger! Are all mages like that?’
“Please follow me.” Said the old man, quickly leading them to the shed, pushing anyone who stood in the way.
“Cain, the smell-gaw!” Selena growled as soon as they got close to the shed, her claws extending as she looked around relentlessly.
Cain grabbed her shoulder, “Calm down, she already left the town!” Cain knew exactly who she was smelling, as he couldn’t sense the fiend magic it meant she already left.
As they got inside to check the victim, they found him covered with a large Blanket. The old man said that they found him naked on the floor so they had to cover him up.
The victim was a man in his late twenties, he was working as a guard keeping an eye on the cattle at night.
The man’s body looked like a shriveling piece of dried meat, his eyes were sunken and Cain noticed that his private parts have turned blue, it was obvious.
“A succubus, just look at the smile he has on his face.” Cain said, “Luckily I can’t sense her magic, she has already left the village!”
“How do you know that she isn’t just hiding?” The old man seemed distressed, just hearing the mention of the fiend made him tremble.
“Yesterday when we arrived she wasn’t here, she most likely was a wondering one who just stopped for a quick meal!” Cain told them what was best for them to hear, it was true that he can’t sense the succubus’s presence so they are mostly safe for now.
“Before you mentioned that this happened before, would you mind telling us what happened?” Alice asked as she sat on a chair at the side.
The old man nodded before he started telling the story.
A couple of years ago, on a cold night, a traveler visited their village. He was a tall man with long flowing red hair and rare pink eyes, the Gray family showed him their hospitality. Giving him both food and lodging for the night.
The next morning the village only found the father dead in the house with no signs of struggling. Panicking they send a request to the guild for investigation. It was later discovered that it was an incubus attack, the red-haired man was the culprit.
After following the tracks, the guild finally pinpointed a cave where they suspected the fiend to reside yet not a single adventurer returned. Several days later they found the mother dead in the street. Her corpse was in a horrible condition and not with wounds.
“Last year we heard that an adventuring party managed to save what remained of the Gray family from the fiend yet not a single one of them returned home, they said only the daughters survived.” The old man said with a sad face.
The story made sense in Cain’s head, this was Gracie’s village whether it was luck or just coincident, they have stumbled upon the fiend who ruined her whole family. There is no need to mention that one of the surviving daughters is working for him as a maid, if Gracie didn’t want to contact the village then Cain isn’t going to tell them.
Something else bothered him, the incubus’s description remained him of Leon, and now that he thought about it, the succubus’s face and red hair reminded him of Lisa, the lord’s wife. Cain quickly dismissed the thought as it was ridiculous, he didn’t feel anything weird from them before so it must be just a coincidence.
“If that’s all then we’re leaving. Don’t worry as the succubus won’t come back here in most cases.” Cain said his last words before leaving, he would have liked to stay and help them but he was sadly pressed on time.
…
With the pieces of information they got from the village, Ourals was just a day’s walk to the north. Add that with the time to get back to Forberg Cain would have lost at least three days of his remaining five days of being able to walk.
‘I really don’t want to resort to calling Sylph, she must be busy with the civil war by now.’ Cain thought as he gripped his painful chest. I have to deal with this on my own.
Luckily nothing major happened on their way back, they only encountered weak monsters like slimes and traveling goblins, they encountered a bear but just walked the other way without attacking.
All the trip, Cain refrained from fighting up close and just used magic from a distance. Leaving most of the work to the girls as he didn’t want to strain his body as he might fasten the curse.
Cain also discovered something that should’ve been obvious. He would feel less pain if he warmed up, just moving around and exercising a bit helped him endure the pain. He took some time to jog around with Selena.
Sofia was giving him a cold shoulder as he left her hanging yesterday, she was mad she didn’t get a go at it. Seeing her act like that Cain dragged her inside the forest and asked the other two to keep guard, he gave her what she needed and above. To the point, she found it a bit hard to walk.
Quickly they spotted Ourals in the distance, Cain decided to tell the girls about his condition after they met with Dolrig, Cain was sure the man was suffering mentally now.
Another thing that was in his mind was Gracie, he would talk with her to know more about that Cubus. She is bound to know something as she spent years captive, despite that getting her to speak might be a problem.
Cain quickly juggled the thought out of his mind, now he has to make sure that Dolrig hasn’t lost his sanity first.