Volume 3, Chapter 11 – The Crisis at Crescent Moon Spring

We had entered the sixth day of our desert journey.

Even though it was the dead of winter, the daytime temperatures were probably around 10 to 15 degrees Celsius, so it was fairly warm. However, at night, the freezing cold was so intense that I couldn’t even tell what the temperature was anymore.

Even inside a sleeping bag, I was shivering, so I ended up using my leather water skin as a makeshift hot water bottle.

“Oh, Fiene-san, look! That’s the oasis, Crescent Moon Spring.”

Looking in the direction Marco-san pointed, I could indeed see some buildings.

“Two families live there. They have two children—a six-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. They’re pretty cute kids. If I recall, their names are Ulfa-chan and Dargil-kun.”

“I look forward to meeting them.”

As we spoke, the buildings gradually grew larger.

There were about five brick houses, with what looked like a field to the right of them, and a crescent-shaped oasis next to the buildings.

Eventually, we arrived at the entrance of the settlement.

“That’s strange. Usually, there’s someone here to greet us. Hey! Hardy! Yazan! It’s Marco!”

He called out, but there was no answer.

“Hey! Rashid!”

Marco-san called again, but still, there was no response.

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“Strange. Fiene-san, could you get down and hold the reins for a moment? I’ll go inside and see what’s happening.”

“Understood.”

I asked the camel to sit, climbed down to the ground, and took the reins from Marco-san.

“Just wait here for a bit.”

With that, Marco-san ran into the settlement, only to return moments later with a panicked expression.

“Fiene-san, you’re a cleric, right! Please, come with me!”

“Did something happen?”

Guided by Marco-san, I was led into one of the buildings in the settlement. There, I saw people lying on the beds.

“What is this…?”

“They’re the residents of this village. Listen, can’t you help them? If it’s a matter of money, I’ll—”

“No, it’s fine. Marco-san has taken such good care of me; I’ll do everything I can.”

I examined the young boy lying on the nearest bed.

His breathing was clearly labored and shallow. He also seemed to have a very high fever.

Maybe a cold, or something like the flu.

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The fact that everyone was bedridden at once was odd, but for now, I’d try Disease Treatment Magic.

——Pathogens afflicting this child, vanish. Disease Treatment!

For a moment, he was enveloped in light, but there was no effect at all.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be a disease. Since everyone in this building is in this state, it might be poison.”

——Detoxify!

Oh, that worked. He was detoxified with ease.

“Yep, it was poison after all. Now, let’s do everyone at once.”

I cast Antidote Magic on everyone lying in the building.

Immediately, the color returned to their faces, and their breathing steadied.

“They should be alright now.”

I spoke to Marco-san with a beaming professional smile. It seems the post-treatment “customer service smile” has become a habit; I do it naturally now without even thinking.

“Eh? Ah, yes. Fiene-san, you’re amazing.”

“Thank you. Are there any other patients?”

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“Ah, probably in the other house too…”

And so, I proceeded to treat the residents of the second house as well.

◇ ◇ ◇

“We cannot express how grateful we are, Fiene Argentata-sama.”

The villagers were all prostrating themselves before me. I watched the scene with a strange feeling, wondering if the “dogeza” culture existed here too.

“Please, raise your heads. More importantly, you all seemed to be afflicted by poison—what on earth happened?”

“Well, you see, starting around yesterday afternoon, people suddenly began collapsing one after another. We have no idea what happened…”

Hmm. Since Antidote Magic cured them so easily, there’s no doubt they took in some kind of poison.

“Did you all eat the same thing for lunch yesterday?”

“Yes. As you can see, we are a small settlement, so we all eat the same meals.”

“What was on the menu?”

“Let me see… it was a stir-fry of meat and vegetables.”

“Is there any of that meat and vegetables left?”

“Yes. We dry and preserve both the meat and vegetables, so it’s what we always eat. There was nothing special about yesterday’s lunch.”

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Hmm, if that’s the case, there doesn’t seem to be much room for poison to have been mixed in.

“Would you mind if I looked around the area for a bit?”

“Of course, please do.”

I left the house and began exploring the settlement.

“Lu-chan, what do you think?”

“Eh? Um, I… hmm? Oh! Maybe Riche-chan would know something?”

“Riche would?”

I summoned Riche.

“Hey, Riche. The people in this village suddenly collapsed from poison. Do you know anything about it?”

Riche tilted her head curiously, then looked around the area. She placed a hand on her head in a thinking gesture.

Even that gesture was cute. I really think Riche might just be the cutest girl in the world.

Riche then pointed toward the spring and signaled for me to follow her with a gesture.

When we reached the edge of the spring, what we saw was a dead oasis, with fish floating on the surface, their bellies floating upward.