The sound of the water crashing against the coast reverberated ceaselessly as I sat on the sandy beach, clutching my knees.
I barely slept for three hours last night; needless to say, I am not in my best condition at the moment.
My ability to think has gone next door to ask for sugar, even though I don't even use it.
Well... I wouldn't mind a tea with sugar.
Heck, I am so thirsty that I am thinking about drinking salty seawater.
All the clean water we had has been used by the other villagers.
Rose and some others went to bring more water, while I came here to rest my mind and wait for the tax collector's ship.
We had a meeting to discuss our next course of action and decided to stay here and wait for the ship for another day.
If no one comes, we are planning to send some messengers to the city in the north, Ilkcity.
Apparently, other village members have also seen those strangers in the north, inside the forest yesterday morning.
Some villagers informed the village elder, but they say he simply brushed them off.
Considering the multiple sightings of these strangers in the north, we can assume that it is a dangerous area.
That's why we are intentionally delaying the dispatch of messengers as much as possible.

*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*

I heard someone's footsteps behind me.

"What are you doing over here?" asked Rose.
"As you can see, I am sitting here."

"I can see that, but why are you sitting in a circle of sea shells?"

I didn't even notice that I was sitting in a circle of sea shells.
I must have collected and arranged them like that subconsciously.

"This is my protective circle; it protects me from bad Roses."

She sighs.

"You must be doing okay if you are making stupid jokes like that."

She bypasses my protective wall and continues to talk.

"Don't worry; I am a good Rose."

She passes me a cup smoke rising on top of it.

"Here you go."
"Thank you, your buckets are getting smaller, huh?"
"How are you even able to make jokes in a situation like this?"
"I am making jokes BECAUSE it's a situation like this."

Then she sits next to me.
I take a sip from the tea.

"I guess this means you managed to bring water."
"Yeah, it was a calm walk, no issues."
"Glad to hear that."

For a while, we stay silent, listening to the sound of the sea, until she breaks the silence.

"So... I heard you saw something back in the forest."
"Yeah, I was trying to forget about that."
"Sorry... but have you really seen a weird 'Giant Iron Vehicle' that ran over some villagers?"
"Yes, you don't believe me?"
"It's not that I don't believe you. Miss Pearl said you've fainted along the way back then, and you might just be tired."
"Just say that you don't believe me. It's okay; there were others who didn't believe me either."
"I am not saying that."
"It really is okay. I was always the insane person in the village to some people."

She opened and closed her mouth as if she had something she wanted to say but shut herself.
I took the last sip from my tea and got up.

"Let's go; there might be someone who needs help."
"...Okay."

I walked a few steps ahead of her.
Then she holds my arm.

"Just so you know, I've never thought you were insane."
"Yeah, I guess I am still better than you."
"In your dreams."

We walked towards Rose's house.
Our village is very small, and I don't think we even have 100 people living in it.
Currently, everyone is gathered around this house, some camping outside, some sleeping inside.
Seeing them gathered like this does make it look like we are very crowded.

"Hey Lumberjack!"

I heard a man's voice that was getting closer.
It was Hope.

"Oh, hey, none!" I said
"None? What are you talking about?"
"My bad, I thought we were calling each other's skills."
"Oh, I see that you have a few unnecessary teeth there let's make em fall shall we?"

Rose gets between us, "Stop fighting, you two!"

He backs away and continues to talk,
"Anyway, we need some help to chop some wood."
"What for?"
"We are going to build a boat."
"And what are you going to use that boat for?"
"To escape in case of an emergency, of course."
"No, even if we start building a boat now, it would be impossible to create one that is big enough for the whole village quickly."
"Whole village? Why did you think we were building a boat for the whole village?"
"What?"
"We only need to make a boat big enough for me and my friends."

Rose interferes,
"That's selfish! Are you going to leave all of these people to die?"
"Of course not. It's going to be hard, but with a small boat, we might be able to arrive at the Unut Castle at midnight."
"You are lying! You don't have any intention to help those people at all; you are just going to leave the village and not come back," she says.

He sighs,
"And what's wrong with that?"
"I thought you were a warrior, not a coward."
"Of course, I am a warrior. A warrior knows when to evade danger."

He puts his hand over my shoulder,
"And if you help us chop some wood, you can come with us too."
"Not a chance. If you want to build a boat, do it on your own."
"Whatever,if you want to die here be my guest."

He just left after saying that.
Rose and I both look eachother and sigh.
A realy hopeless case indeed.
Rose pulls my arm and points towards the tent.

"Let's go look around and see if anybody needs help."
"Yeah."

Not long after that, we came across an arguing group.
A man shouted,
"Let me go!"
"No, you can't. It's way too dangerous to go to the village center now!"
"NO, I NEED TO GO NO MATTER WHAT!"

We got close to them to understand what was going on.
Rose asked, "What is going on here?"

One of the men holding the raging man answered,
"This guy's son got cursed, so he bought some Water Of Regeneration from Ilkcity, and he says he dropped it while coming here."
"Your son got CURSED?!" Both Rose and I screamed at the same time.

After some time passed, we managed to calm the man down and asked for details.

"My son has been diagnosed with 'Organ Shrinkage Syndrome.' His lung is sick and is periodically shrinking day by day. If not treated soon, he will..."

Organ Shrinkage Syndrome, or with the more common name Organ Shrinkage Curse, doctors like to call it a Syndrome, believing there is no such thing as a curse.
Anyway, it's a very dire situation.
This curse affects certain organs, making them sick and unable to function properly.
The worst part is that it shrinks the affected organ to nothingness.
Of course, a person affected by it will most certainly die unless it's treated by the "Water Of Regeneration."
But the Water Of Regeneration itself is not enough; there is a special ritual that needs to be performed.

"So you have the Water Of Regeneration, but what about a healthy organ donor?"

The ritual of the organ transplant. This ritual needs to be performed with the Water Of Regeneration and a healthy organ.
The procedure is simple.

Dig a big enough hole for a human, Put the person that is going to get the new organ in the hole, fill it with water, add the Water Of Regeneration; the water will turn green.
Lastly, drop the healthy organ. The affected person and the organ will sink in the water.
After that, god will take care of it; the faulty organ will disappear and be replaced with the new healthy one.
Sadly, this doesn't work with all organs, so this guy is very lucky it's his lungs that got affected.

"I... will give him my own lungs." he said.

All of the crowd suddenly lost their grip on their jaws, as if we had all heard the worst thing we had ever heard in our lives.
No! We had heard the worst thing ever.

Usually, organs are removed from deceased donors who have agreed to donate their organs before they die by specialists.
It's common to see them in stores in cities, and the ritual is done using these organs.
They are damn expensive, and only nobles are able to buy them.
But there is another way to successfully conduct the ritual.

"You are going to jump into the water after your son?"
"Yes..."

After the Water Of Regeneration has been poured into the water, and the sick person sinks, if someone jumps after them, it's possible for the donor to transfer the organ of their choice to the sick person.
But regardless of their choice, they will vanish after the ritual, not even leaving their body behind.

"But who is going to look after your family?"
"Before I jump, I will cut my arms and gouge out my eyes if they sell them-"
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!"
"What else can I do?" he says with a quiet voice.
"Think about your family; they will be traumatized if you do that."

He holds my collar.

"WHAT ELSE CAN I DO!" He says again, this time shouting.

He looks at me in the eyes with red eyes for a while and lets me go.
He was right; we are in the middle of a crisis, and his son's condition is getting worse by the minute.
But there should be another way!

"Your son can work with me."
"Huh?"
"We can talk with Miss Pearl and work something out; he can get paid this way."
"Really..." His tone is quiet once again.
"Yes, also Rose and I always fish, so we are never short on food; we can share with your family."

I look at Rose, and the man looks at her after me.
She nods.

"Would you do that for me?"
"Yeah, after those strangers are gone and we return to our daily life."
"Thank you." he says with a quiet tone.
"But we still need to get your Water Of Regeneration back do you have any idea where you might have droped it?"
"Probably somewhere along the stables and the road here I still had it when I checked back in stables." he said with a nervous voice.
"I see. I'll talk with Miss Pea- Cough* Village Elder to see if we can gather some people to go search for it."
"Thank you." he said again.
"How did you even drop something that important?"
"Yesterday, I arrived from Ilkcity, and I started walking towards my home. The stables are on my way, and when I was passing by, I smelled something horrible - worse than their turd."
"You saw the corpses of the horses?"
"Not only that, there were wolves, and they saw me."
"Wolves?"
"Yes, they were horrifying. They started chasing me, and I must have dropped the Water Of Regeneration then it was in a green bag."
"How did you get rid of the wolfves?"
"I was lucky. I ran into some people who were coming here, and the wolves retreated when they saw the crowd."
"That, or they thought the horse was more delicious than you."
"Really?"
"I don't know, let me have a taste, and then we can compare it to horse meat."
"No, I mean, are you really joking in a situation like this?"
"I am joking because it's a situation like this."

I suddenly felt pain in the back of my head.
Rose had once again hit me on the head.
Then she spoke,

"Sorry about this. He's an idiot; that's how he deals with stress."
"Is that so?" the man said with a nervous face.

After talking with him, Rose and I found a quiet place away from the others.
As we left, I noticed the man's anxious expression.
Rose started talking,

"Poor man."
"Yeah, he is having a really hard time."
"Are you sure about taking his son to work with you?"
"I was, as I said. After we solve this situation, he can come work with me, and that means less sardine for me."
"You are really something to be able to joke in a situation like this."
"I wasn't joking about any of the things I said."

She sighs.

"Anyway, let's go."
"Go where?"
"To find that man's Water Of Regeneration, where else."
"No, no, no. It's way too dangerous to go there didn't you hear there are wolfves there."
"You're just saying this to make me leave and go there yourself, aren't you?"
"Nooo..."

She sighs again.

"You can't fool me like that. Now hurry up and let's go search for it. We should be able to find it if we just follow the road to the stables."

She started walking as soon as she finished talking.
I sighed and started to follow her.

"By the way, aren't you finding that man a bit suspicious?" I asked.
"What do you mean? He looks absolutely devastated, and by no means is able to lie about anything."
"Is that so?"

We are almost at the stables.
It was a quiet walk with no issues.

"Look over there!" Rose pointed out with her finger.

I turned my head towards the place she was pointing and saw a green bag.
It was standing next to the stables.
Where it was dangerous.

"Wolves might still be there; let's not rush," I said.
"There is one way to find out."

She picked up a stick and started to walk towards the bag.

"Wait! What are you doing?" I said as I gripped her arm.
"I am going to go grab the bag?"
"Didn't you hear me when I said there might be wolves there?"
"I have, that's why I picked up the stick."
"Don't think you can play fetch with wild wolves."
"It's for making a torch."
"Oh."

She tore her skirt and wrapped the cloth around the stick.
She then took out flint and steel from her bag and sparked the torch.

"Here you go," she said with a smile while handing me the torch.
"Huh? I am the one going?"
"Yep, good luck."

I gulped and started to advance forward.
I was holding the torch in front of me with my hands shaking.
Slowly... Very slowly...

"C'mon, be faster!" Rose shouted behind me.

Suddenly I wasn't scared anymore; I was mad.
With that, I quickly grabbed the bag and took a look at the stables. There were no wolves;
I sighed in relief.
I walked back to Rose.

"There were no wolves there."
"Really? That's great."
"But there was a snake behind me who shouted 'faster'."
"Oh, c'mon, don't cry now. Besides, don't you always deal with wolves in the forest?"
"I do, but they are still dangerous, you know."
"Fine, I am sorry, happy?"
"Yes, anyway let's take a look inside this bag."
"Maybe we shouldn't look at other people's belongings."

I didn't give her a mind and continued to open the bag on the floor and check what was inside. As I suspected, there was no Water of Regeneration in it, just some books and a little gold.

"There is no Water of Regeneration in this."
"What? Did it fall? Is the bag torn somewhere?"
"No, the bag is fine. I think the man never had any Water of Regeneration to begin with."
"What do you mean?"
"You know how expensive the Water of Regeneration is, right? It's imported from a different country, a country that was once at war with our own."
"Yes, I know that, so what?"
"So how can a normal villager buy something like that?"
"I don't know, maybe he had savings or something?"
"Could be. Let's say he really had bought the Water of Regeneration; then why did he lie about wolves?"
"Lied? Maybe the wolves just left?"
"Nah, take a look at the stables."

She gives me a confused look and walks towards the stables, then comes back.

"The corpses of the horses are not eaten."
"Correct."
"Okay, so he lied, but why?"
"This is my theory: I think he didn't want to take the blame for his child's death."
"How so?"
"If that man arrived when the people were still leaving the village center, he must have arrived sometime between noon and afternoon."
"Okay, and?"
"Usually by that time, everybody would be outside and there would be lots of noise."
"I see now. He realized something was wrong because it was too quiet and then he saw the dead horses and confirmed his thoughts."
"He probably also checked his house and found out his family had gone somewhere."
"But how did he find out where they had gone?"
"I don't know that actually. His wife could have left some message behind for him, or he might have seen some footprints."
"So you are saying he threw away the bag and then ran towards the crowd that was running away from the strangers and told them he was chased by wolves."
"Yes, and he didn't tell about his bag until today so that they won't return to look for it."
"This way, he becomes the victim and evades the blame for his child's death," she said with a sad voice.
"Truly a tragic situation."
"I understand what he is doing, but he gave false hope for his child and wife."

I stood up and closed the bag.

"Can you really blame him? Would you be able to tell the truth to your child?"
"No... don't make me think about it."
"Anyway, we should get rid of this bag also let's keep quiet about this."
"Okay."

We quickly gathered some wood and started a campfire.
We burned the bag along with the books that were inside it.
I took the gold with me to give it back to the man later.
After we watched the bag burn out in the flames, we returned to the man.
He was sitting next to his child's sickbed, looking really worried.
I sneaked up behind the man and tapped his shoulder, then signaled him to come with me.
I took him somewhere quiet outside.

"What's wrong?"
"We didn't find your bag."
"Is that so?"
"We searched all over the forest but couldn't find a trace of it."
"..."
"I know this isn't much, but take this."

I gave the man his gold back.
His eyes opened up, realizing this was his gold.

"..."

He was speechless.
Rose looked at the man with a sad face as if she was pitying him.

"Let's go—"

"Finally found you two!"

I was just about to tell Rose that we should leave, but someone's shout stopped me.
I turned my head to the owner of the sound and saw Miss Pearl.
She looked anxious.

"I need your help. Angel is missing."
"She is missing?" Rose and I shouted at the same time.
"She wandered off somewhere, and I can't find her."

The man who was behind us started to speak,
"By Angel, do you mean that loud girl with black hair who was wearing a white dress?"
"Yes, that's her. Have you seen her?" Miss Pearl questioned the man with haste.
"I saw her talking with some other kids just in front of my tent. She said something about the Unut Mansion."