Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 77

It took four days by carriage to reach the Drang Basin where Vile’s old laboratory was located.

Setting aside Oscar and Zepetia, even the horses pulling the carriage needed frequent rest and sleep.

Traveling long distances by carriage made me understand why the Order doesn’t commonly use horses.

It also made me appreciate anew the greatness of scientific technologies like airplanes and trains from my past life.

“Have we arrived…?” 

Zepetia asked with an exhausted face.

For the past four days, we all had to sleep in the cargo area of this carriage.

Since the five of us were quite conspicuous, we couldn’t visit villages, so there was no other choice.

Of course, while Dominic, Sephira, and I could sleep fine with just a blanket on bare ground, and Oscar managed decently in the cargo area, Zepetia couldn’t sleep properly and often dozed off during the day.

“Yes. That’s the Drang Basin.”

I pointed to the massive ravine ahead.

Just like in the Blood Moon poetry collection, mountains surrounded the flatland in a circle, and a large river flowed through the ravine on one side – from above it would indeed look like a creature’s mouth devouring a snake.

Though the Drang Basin was quite remote even in this country, it was treated almost like a small independent state since Beast attacks were strangely rare here.

The lack of Beast attacks was due to meteor fragments buried underground that created this basin long ago, but no one knew this and simply considered it sacred land.

Moreover, many renowned artists were born in Drang Basin, so the residents’ sense of belonging and pride was extremely high like in Hameln.

The difference from Hameln was that they sacrificed children to Iron Hans, while Drang Basin was simply lucky to have moonstone deposits underground.

“…This is strange.” 

Said Dominic as he stopped the carriage by the riverside leading into the basin.

“What’s strange?” 

Sephira asked.

“According to information, there should be a guard post around here.”

While there naturally would be a guard post at the only entrance to Drang Basin, since Beasts never invaded this land, it was more like a place to welcome visitors than actual guards.

So the post was said to have a separate room for receiving guests, similar to an inn.

But no such place was visible around here.

There was just the large flowing river and thick grass growing around it.

“Could this be it?” 

I said, picking up one of the mosses on the ground.

When I shook and cleaned off the moss and dirt, something like a broken spoon appeared.

It must have been fairly expensive originally, as there was engraving on the handle part.

“…”

Dominic and Sephira’s faces stiffened slightly upon seeing it.

“Huh? What’s that?”

Oscar asked, not immediately understanding.

“Well, it means the guard post was here but not even traces remain. And it’s been quite a while too.”

Only then did Oscar’s expression tense up as he grasped the situation.

Zepetia already seemed timid so there wasn’t much noticeable difference.

“Then… the village inside…” 

Oscar’s voice carried a hint of fear.

“Lady Sephira.” 

I called out to Sephira who was the leader of this mission.

“Yes?”

“How about I go scout ahead?”

“Surely you’re not planning to go alone? I could go with you…”

“I believe I would be more suitable for that.” 

Dominic stepped in.

“Moving quietly is my specialty. Mr. Eugene and I will go together to check and report back.”

“…Understood. Then I’ll stay here to protect Ms. Zepetia and Mr. Oscar.”

Though Sephira seemed somewhat dissatisfied, she quickly agreed.

We briefly surveyed the surroundings and turned the cargo carriage into a base camp.

Though we heard no Beasts appear in this area, they would actually start appearing little by little now.

The reason Drang Basin was safe was the moonstone buried underground, but Vile had already used most of it for research with only a little remaining.

After setting up ropes with bells in various places for safety, I headed into the Drang Basin with Dominic.

The judge’s movements were truly incomparable to a lower-ranked hunter like me.

Not only was there no sound, but not even wind stirred when he moved, and his motions were minimal yet effective.

A stealth that even hunters couldn’t detect – no, being reminded that he was trained to catch hunters made me slightly nervous just being next to him.

But those unnecessary thoughts completely vanished when we saw what should have been the village after crossing the mountain into the basin.

“…As expected.”

The village in Drang Basin was frequently visited by pilgrims and tourists.

I heard there were many masterpiece-level murals and magnificent buildings thanks to the many renowned artists from there.

But looking down at the village from the mountain peak, it was utterly desolate.

“This is strange. It’s too clean.”

Dominic said.

The difference from the abandoned northern pioneer village of Vinears was that the village’s exterior was still clean and there weren’t any Beasts on the streets.

There were no people, and no creatures either.

Yet the buildings and artwork seemed clean at first glance.

“While I’m not an expert in Beast hunting, I’m not certain, but what do you think, Mr. Eugene?”

“You must know there are cases where Beasts take human form. Such Beasts sometimes incite people or secretly kidnap them. Of course, it’s hard to say for certain before investigating.”

“I think similarly. Since there don’t seem to be any visible threats for now, let’s go into the village first.”

Dominic and I entered the village of Drang Basin.

Besides the dust accumulated from lack of human touch, the village’s living conditions remained exactly as if people had disappeared in a single moment.

When we checked inside homes, even food remained set on dining tables.

But the food on the plates had completely rotted to the point where it didn’t even smell anymore.

Though it was exactly this state in Blue Paper Moon too, making it unclear where and what to start with, since this was a place you had to pass through in the game, there were clues and methods to clear it.

“For now, there don’t seem to be any signs of Beasts or other people. Since it’s a large area, let’s split up to investigate.” 

Dominic said.

“But if we split up, won’t communication be difficult?”

“Then if you find anything, climb to the top of a building where it’s visible. We can check each other’s rooftops at least once every 30 minutes.”

I nodded at Dominic’s suggestion.

To be honest, moving alone would be better too.

Dominic and I split up and began investigating.

I went toward the village center to examine the bulletin board in the plaza.

Many notices were posted on a large bulletin board in an eye-catching location.

‘The hospital is giving out free snacks to all residents for this Blood Moon event.’

Below one of the notices was very rough map of the village showing the hospital’s location along with the content about distributing snacks.

In Blue Paper Moon there was a message window emphasizing this notice was important information, but there’s nothing like that here.

Without knowledge from my past life, it would be impossible to know this was a crucial hint.

Then how did Hilde find it when she came here alone?

Well… she’s a genius so she must have managed somehow.

I walked to where the village hospital was located.

In the original game, finding your way around this village was extremely difficult.

That map from earlier wasn’t drawn in detail, and there were no changes to the minimap either.

You could only roughly tell which direction to go, and had to check each building’s doors one by one.

Fortunately the doors you could enter had slightly different textures making them easy to distinguish, but even considering that, wandering around an empty village gave such a clear feeling of being lost that it was dizzying even in the game.

At least in the game you could memorize the path after a few repetitions and go straight there without hints, but reality is far wider and more complex than game fields.

Thankfully I had roughly mapped the path in my head from looking down at the village from the mountain peak earlier, and thanks to the murals that served as landmarks in the game being here too, I could find it without getting too lost.

“What should I do…”

I stood in front of the building that had been used as the hospital, pondering.

First, in the game, entering that place started the raid on Vile’s old laboratory.

I don’t know what might happen if I go in there alone.

…Well, since this isn’t a game.

It should be fine to just go in and come back out.

The real danger only starts after entering the hidden passage inside the hospital.

After deliberating, I went inside the hospital.

* * *

After parting with Eugene, Dominic went to the outskirts of the village.

“…There’s no one around here.” 

As he spoke quietly, someone came down from the mountain side.

“How did it go?”

That person asked.

“Nothing the Intelligence Department particularly needs to know about.” 

Dominic said to the Intelligence Department agent.

Recently the Heresy Inquisition Department had contacted the Intelligence Department to investigate Sephira.

The Heresy Inquisition Department sending Dominic to the Behemoth Tracking Special Unit citing Vile’s career was also to closely investigate Sephira.

But unlike with Eugene, even decent agents risked getting caught if they carelessly monitored Sephira.

So Dominic was assigned to monitor her closely, while sending information about Drang Basin to have Intelligence Department agents wait here in advance.

“There were subtle signs of her being conscious of Eugene, but not to a degree that felt special.”

“…Keep observing longer since the observation period is still insufficient.”

“Isn’t the information sharing agreement between the Intelligence Department and Heresy Inquisition Department only until we return from this mission?”

“Even so, hoping for closer cooperation between the two departments in the future…”

“Don’t misunderstand. The Heresy Inquisition Department doesn’t give special treatment even to the Intelligence Department.”

“What?”

“We only cooperated with you now because we needed more intelligence capabilities.”

“…Hmph. Either way, you’re the ones who need our intelligence capabilities more, aren’t you?”

“That’s not my concern.”

“Not your concern?”

“I simply carry out my assigned missions. Judgments beyond that are not mine to make.”

“Tch. Can’t reason with you. And no real gains either.”

With those words, the agent returned to the mountain.

Without hesitation, Dominic also turned back and climbed onto a building roof again to survey the village.

Just like meeting with the Intelligence Department agent, surveying this village now was also part of his assigned duties.

But this too yielded no useful information.

He couldn’t even grasp where to start or what to look for.

That’s when he saw Eugene also climb onto a building roof near the village center, waving for him to come over.

Dominic quickly jumped from roof to roof, arriving instantly before Eugene.

“Did you find something?”

Dominic asked.

“I found a suspicious place.”

“Already?”

Dominic was genuinely surprised.

It seemed less than an hour since they entered the village and started scouting, yet he’d already found something?

“I got lucky.”

Eugene handed him an old paper.

It contained information about the hospital giving out snacks to celebrate the Blood Moon festival.

“I searched the hospital as written here. There was a hidden door inside with an unusually large amount of bloodstains.”

“I see… Understood. Then let’s go examine it together.”

Dominic followed Eugene’s guidance to the hospital.

As he said, there was a door hidden behind a bookshelf in the hospital basement, with lots of bloodstains around it.

“…”

Dominic glanced at Eugene.

Was it really just coincidence that he found such a place so quickly?