‘According to the merchants, it is a living disaster.’
Thinking about what Reitri had told him, Riley had a look of disbelief. The severity of the epidemic was far more serious than what he had seen in his past life.
‘It was not this serious in my past life.’
While Riley was thinking about this and muttering inside, Andal, who also started to look around the city, continued his explanation.
“I am not surprised that you didn’t notice. The most common color in Ansyrium is gray. However, all black color we are seeing here are…”
“Epidemic… is that what you are trying to say?”
Andal nodded.
“Right.”
“…” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
The look on Riley’s face hardened even more.
The epidemic left black stains. Riley realized that what he could observe with his eyes was not all of them.
It seemed the city called Ansyrium had been absolutely devastated by this single individual. Let alone any presence, there wasn’t even any trace of people here.
“It’s all done by that one bastard.”
The Epidemic man didn’t just possess the power of epidemic. He also had immortality. Last time, they were not able to put an end to the man. Thinking about this, Riley crumpled his face.
“I had been wondering why there was no news from Ansyrium lately. Is this the reason?”
Andal nodded. He took a knee to bend his upper body. He picked up a black pebble that was rolling around in the ground. Andal said,
“I am not sure if I should call this a good thing, but that bastard’s trace ends here. I haven’t heard any other side suffering from epidemic.”
It was a repeat of the explanation he had already heard at the mansion. Riley nodded and started to walk again.
They walked and walked…
No matter where they walked, the visuals looked the same. Black colored epidemic drenched the entire city. It didn’t just make the city’s color look dull. A dark aura was circulating around the city.
“While we were investigating, we met that human child with a strange atmosphere. He knew that we are dragons and he had come to talk to us first, saying that he was looking for an old friend.”
Having heard Andal, Riley had an uncomfortable look on his face.
“An old friend huh…”
With the Demon Lord, Riley could not say that their relationship was a positive one. It was closer to being bad blood. Thinking about the demon from his past life, Riley mumbled. It seemed that he was still not sure about this.
‘It is too early to conclude that this bastard really is the Demon Lord from my past life. I still need to consider the possibility that this is just another trick by Helena.’
While Riley was muttering inside like that, Andal joined his kin members who were already inside Ansyrium, waiting for his arrival. Andal let them know: “we will handle it by ourselves,” and continued to walk.
“By the way, how long do we need to walk?”
“We are almost there.”
Andal was leading the way. Facing his back, Riley asked toward him. However, he felt someone’s gaze on him, so Riley stopped walking. He started to move his eyes around.
‘A gaze?’
It was someone other than Andal’s kin. Presence of humans, something that they could not feel in the rotten city, could be felt.
“Humans?”
There weren’t just one or two. It seemed there were at least 15 of them. Feeling their presence, Riley stopped walking. He slowly turned his body toward where the gazes were coming from.
“Huuuiiic?!”
“H… He saw us?!”
“How?!”
It was inside a rundown building. The windows were all shattered, so winds were blowing right into the building. There were three children in shambles inside. Their eyes met with Riley’s and they tumbled to lower their heads to hide.
“Children?”
Riley realized that the ones staring at them were children in hiding. Andal turned to look at Riley.
“What is it? You stopped all of the sudden?”
Riley was looking at the building with the children. Riley said,
“No, there are children…”
“Children?”
“I saw children.”
Andal followed what Riley did and stared at the building. He shrugged as if he understood something.
“They are abandoned ones.”
The children were in shambles. From how the children looked, Riley thought about the time he had met Nainiae for the first time. As if he could not be sure with just this, he asked Andal,
“Abandoned?”
“What do humans say? Homeless?”
“Homeless?”