Chapter 67

The Mareas, carrying us, was sailing through the sea under the night sky, keeping a distance from a few other ships without losing sight of them.

Looking at the land the fleet was heading towards, Selena said,

"...It's not very bright."

"Probably a fishing village. And a pretty small one at that."

As Yuri, who was steering the ship, said, the destination where the ship was fleeing was likely a fishing village.

Elysia and I checked the map, but it wasn't in the direction of a port town. It was an area where the coastline of the western shore of Lux Bay formed high cliffs.

Most of the population lived on the wide grasslands atop the cliffs, engaging in pastoral activities. The land below the cliffs was limited, and there were few fishing villages, which was a characteristic of the region.

Moreover, the area below the cliffs was a place where many of the demon races, who were disliked by humans, lived.

"Land is near... What should we do, Lord Alex?"

Elysia asked.

"Getting too close to the shore might cause the ship to run aground. From here on, we'll pursue them in a small boat. Elysia, will you and Selena come with me? We'll also bring the golem."

"Sure! I'll handle the oars!!"

Selena answered enthusiastically, and Elysia raised her index finger to shush her.

"Please try not to make too much noise... Even with the *Invisibility* spell, it would be bad if we were discovered."

"S-Sure. I'll row quietly!"

Selena, who wasn't whispering very quietly, immediately had several blue-haired people lower the boat into the sea.

Once a folding ladder was set up, we descended it and boarded the boat.

Yuri's face appeared from the deck and said,

"Be careful, Lord Alex! You two as well."

"Yuri, I'm entrusting the ship to you. Alright, let's go."

As I said this, Selena started rowing the boat.

The golem that Selena brought was only slightly larger than a human, so it wouldn't cause the boat to sink.

The boat itself was also equipped with boards that had *Invisibility* and *Dark Wall* spells, but I also cast *Invisibility* just in case.

As we approached the village, I noticed something strange.

"What is this..."

The fishing village had densely packed buildings, but most of them had collapsed.

It looked more like they had been recently destroyed rather than weathered. Indeed, there were a few lights still on.

Selena also looked suspicious and said,

"Maybe it was attacked by pirates?"

"No, if they were using it as a base, there would be no need to destroy it."

Another thing that felt off was at the edge of the village, where there was a large, deep crack in the cliff. It seemed to extend deep into the cliff like a cave.

Around the crack, there were signs of rocks having fallen. The boulders had rolled all the way to the beach, which seemed unusual for a simple landslide.

It looked as if it had been forcibly opened...

Elysia then said,

"The ship is landing on the beach."

As she said, the ships we were tracking were gradually moving onto the beach.

There were about five ships in total, each with one or two masts, capable of carrying around ten people. They were impressive fishing boats.

On the beach, people with torches were welcoming the ships.

"Let's get a bit closer and observe from the sea."

"Okay."

Selena, whispering, brought the boat closer.

With the many torches, the figures on the ships became visible.

As expected, they looked similar to lizardmen. Most of them were naked, exposing their scaly bodies.

They generally looked like lizards, but they had fish-like fins on the sides of their faces. On their backs, large, glass-like dorsal fins protruded.

Elysia whispered,

"...I've never seen this race before."

"Yeah. Maybe they came from outside Lux Bay."

I couldn't describe their appearance. They reminded me of something I had seen in an old book... perhaps a dragon, one of the dragons that were said to have ruled the eastern continent in ancient times.

Before the reset, I had visited areas in the capital with many demons, but I had never seen them.

For now, I decided to call them "dragon people."

"They might have come from far away to engage in piracy... Anyway, let's observe. I'm curious where their treasure is being taken."

I said this as I watched the treasure being unloaded from the ships.

All the treasure was being taken towards the crack.

"Selena, land a bit away from here. I want to investigate that crack."

"Understood! ...Understood."

Selena, correcting herself to whisper, rowed the boat towards the beach. No one seemed to notice us.

As we walked along the beach, passing by the dragon people carrying the treasure, we headed towards the crack.

Soon, we could see a light from the bottom of the crack.

"This is..."

Inside the crack, many dragon people were lying down. It seemed that a significant number of them were injured.

One of the caretakers shouted,

"There's no more medicine!? We bought so much!"

"The medicine and holy water are not enough! The temple people said that holy water should heal them immediately..."

...These aren't just ordinary wounds?

I strongly cast *Invisibility* and approached one of the injured dragon people.

His back was completely blackened.

This wound... it's been invaded by dark magic.

It seems they were injured by a sustained dark magic spell. The dark magic had penetrated deep into their bodies, beyond what holy water could remove.

From the conversation of the caretakers, it seemed they had bought medicine and holy water to treat the injured.

There must be several hundred visible injured... buying that much medicine and holy water would require a significant amount of money.

Could the dragon people have been attacking noble ships to buy these supplies?

I don't know why this situation occurred. Was it a natural disaster, their own fault, or some other cause? I don't know, but my hands moved on their own.

There were also injured dragon children. I couldn't leave them. I was the only one who could remove the dark magic from them.

"...We'll investigate in detail later. First, I'll remove the dark magic from them. Elysia, after I remove it, heal them with holy magic."

"Okay!"

Elysia nodded deeply without hesitation. Selena and I also agreed to use regular healing magic.

Then, I began treating the dragon people.