Chương 71: Landslide

Leaving now meant I was accepting that Grasiva's fate would play out exactly as it had in the previous loops, no matter how tragic the ending. My goal was to "defeat the Demon King," not to "save every miserable soul." In my assessment, whether Grasiva vanished or not didn't affect the primary objective. Therefore, I didn't need to risk my life or waste energy on an effort I was fairly certain would fail catastrophically.

Furthermore, if we left now and reported everything to the Church in time, they might deploy their military here sooner. Lealia, cowed by my warning, said nothing more. She understood that my words were logical. I knew she was worried about the patients in town, so I didn't want to be too harsh.

"Nathan's group just left, so if we leave immediately, it will cause panic. You and Iris try to treat the remaining patients as much as possible today. We head out tomorrow morning." As Lealia and Iris left the inn to visit the patients, the rain seemed to intensify. This made me deeply concerned about the road conditions for tomorrow. Every path out of Grasiva passed through the mountains; every path was a landslide risk. Slowly, the wind began to howl. Dark clouds rolled in from the sea, and my unease grew.

It had been nearly two hours since Nathan and Edgar left; they would only be halfway in this weather. Suddenly, I heard a bang. For a moment, I thought it was thunder. But my intuition told me the sound didn't come from the sky. It's hard to describe, but they were different. My home country on Earth is near the tropics, prone to typhoons and heavy rainfall. Every rainy season, the news is flooded with disaster reports. Among them, one of the most common is landslides.

I was lucky enough never to experience one personally, but I had heard enough. Witnesses describe large landslides as occurring immediately after a loud "bang." I believed that was the sound I just heard. Sitting inside doing nothing made me feel like I was going insane. I grabbed a cloak made of animal hide and leaves—the most common raincoat in Averula—and headed to the stables. Four carriage horses were inside. I led each one until I found a horse that wasn't spooked by the torrential downpour.

Luckily, two saddles were hanging outside; I wasn't about to ride bareback in this weather. Thanks to the Halunar's Eye, I could still see clearly, but the horse's vision wasn't as good. I could only manage a trot while the wind and rain lashed my face. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. As I passed through the town, I felt a small sense of relief seeing that every household had set out containers to collect water.

The only upside to this storm was that the residents wouldn't have to worry about contaminated water for a few days. Once the horse left the residential area and entered the mountain forest, I signaled it to slow down. I used my long-range vision to scan the path ahead, moving cautiously. After about fifteen minutes, my hands on the reins were frozen numb. That was when I spotted a figure moving through the curtain of rain. No, two figures. They were supporting each other.

The one being carried was Nathan, blood streaming down his face. The church soldier supporting him looked equally battered, his white uniform caked in mud. I spurred the horse forward. I could see the soldier's face light up with the joy of survival as the silhouette of the horse approached. He waved his free left arm frantically.

"Over here! We need help!" It wasn't until I jumped down that they realized it was me. They shouted over the roar of the rain, "Asher? Why are you here?" I gave them my cloak to prevent their wounds from soaking further and led them under a massive tree for cover.

"I heard a boom and guessed it was a landslide. Is it true? Where are the others?" Nathan's face contorted, whether from pain or irritation, I couldn't tell. He replied gruffly, "One soldier was buried. The others probably got away. Don't stand here; if there's another slide, we're all dead." I scanned the slope; for now, the immediate risk seemed low. But we had one horse and two injured men, meaning one had to stay. I asked the soldier, "Do you have enough strength to handle the horse?"

The soldier looked at his wrinkled, shivering hands.

"I don't think so. I'm exhausted. We've been in the rain for over half an hour."

"Then I'll leave the cloak with you. Keep warm while I take Nathan back to town and get help. Stay put unless you're in danger." The man nodded. I helped Nathan onto the back of the horse and galloped toward town. When we reached the inn, Iris and Lealia's groups had just returned. I grabbed two church soldiers and told them to take raincoats and blankets to help their comrade. Nathan was taken to his room while Lealia hurried to brew warming herbs.

Iris performed first aid on his head wound and used mana until the bleeding stopped completely. After several gulps of ginger tea, the color finally returned to Nathan's face. He muttered, "Thank you." I asked, "Tell us about the landslide. Was it big? Is the road still passable?" Nathan took another sip and replied, "The rain got heavier a while after we left. One of the horses refused to move, so we had to get out to nudge it. Then there was a loud explosion, like you heard, and the earth started coming down."

He paused, frowning.

"Something hit my head; I was dazed. I remember seeing Edgar manage to jump onto the carriage as the horses spooked and bolted. I called out to him, but he didn't turn back. After that, we had to run back the way we came to avoid the falling rocks." Lealia tried to offer an excuse.

"Maybe he didn't hear you?" Nathan said firmly, "He heard. We waited nearby for a while to see if they'd come back, but..." I asked, "Were the rest of the soldiers in the carriage too?"

"No, I saw one soldier buried under the rocks. We couldn't get his body out... I don't know about the others." At that point, Nathan clutched his head, complaining of dizziness. We had to leave the room to let him rest.