Chapter 53 A woman? Sadako!

What a muscle-bound, simple-minded fellow.

I leaped onto another dead tree. Since it was a swamp where green dragons lived, I wasn't worried about man-eating trees nearby.

If such a place existed, green dragons would never inhabit it, not even their favorite swamps.

Even a green dragon's skin wouldn't withstand two hits from such a physical attack.

"Earth Spike"

After landing not far away, I quickly used magic to wipe out the remaining green dragons.

Towards the end, two more creatures emerged from the swamp, but they weren't attacking me.

They actually wanted to run away!

I naturally wouldn't let them go; magic followed closely, piercing their abdomens and lifting them off the ground.

"call……"

I was exhausted, panting heavily. In the end, I only managed to kill a few green dragons, but it cost me a lot of magic.

Most of the green dragons did not die; even with their abdomens pierced, they continued to struggle on the earth spikes.

"I don't know Martha...?"

If Martha gets caught by the green dragon, I think she'll really be nothing but bones...

I continued walking towards the pile of bones.

The smell was almost suffocating...

These were mostly bones of prey eaten by the green dragon, mostly four-legged monsters similar to forest wolves, and some others...?

"Holy crap! These guys even eat their own kind."

I believe I am not mistaken; that rotting, enormous body is indeed the corpse of the green dragon.

The flesh on its tail and head had been completely eaten away, exposing the white bones...

"What kind of ethnic group are they, exactly?"

I covered my mouth and nose, forcing myself to suppress my nausea as I searched through the bones.

These guys seem to have a habit of piling up leftover prey and bones.

The purpose was probably to use the strong smell of decay to lure many monsters to come and feed, so that the green dragon hiding in the swamp could launch a surprise attack. By then, it would be too late to escape, and it would only be able to become a member of this bone mountain.

It's terrifying that such a simple-minded monster could develop such intelligence.

"..."

While searching for glowing objects, I also found some scattered pieces that looked like human bones.

Judging from the skull and body shape, it does not belong to a woman, but rather to a man, probably an adventurer who was attacked by a green dragon in the past.

"Got it"

Beneath that human skeleton is that glowing object.

"Earrings?"

Upon closer inspection, it appears to be an item similar to women's earrings, with a blue round crystal at the bottom.

These are earrings I've seen before...

"..."

I tried hard to recall the scene of greeting Pro and the others this morning.

Marta was wearing a grey-blue robe, a grey-blue hat, and...

Blue round crystal!

It's Martha's earring...

Combined with scattered human bones, those whose sex was indistinguishable, lying to the side...

"Waaah..."

Marta died in the end.

Separated from Pro and Lia, she ran alone in the mist and was ambushed by a group of green dragons. In the end, she exhausted her magic and became their food.

That scene is still vivid in my mind.

She clearly has the demeanor of a gentle older sister...

now……

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Clutching the earrings in my hands, I squatted down and wept bitterly...

Martha, an elf, her mother's student, a water king-level mage...

Despite desperately trying to survive in this world and escaping the perverse pleasures of the nobility, they cannot escape the death rules of adventurers.

I don't know how long I cried...

Sighs...

Until they heard a sound coming from not far away!

Is it a remnant of the green dragon? Or a dirty trick by the man-eating wood?

I quickly composed myself and looked warily toward the source of the sound...

Besides, this isn't a place for weeping; that's for Marta's funeral.

The sound was very faint, like something being dragged across the snow.

The sound didn't seem like a monster's; it was getting closer...

Soon, a figure came into my view!

Disheveled long hair! A bloodied and mangled body!

"ghost……"

"A ghost..."

I almost screamed, and took off running towards the stone house...

This scene is so shocking, it's like Sadako jumped out of the TV.

It wasn't out of fear, but rather an instinctive reaction.

"etc!"

"That's a person...?"

Then it occurred to me that in this magical place, encountering ghosts wouldn't be unusual, so what was there to be afraid of?

Wasn't that clearly a person?

Long hair? It's a woman? Marta!

I don't know why, but I can't help but think of Marta!

"Martha!"

I quickly turned back, and she was still crawling towards me, very slowly, as if she didn't have much strength left.

"Martha"

I rushed over and picked up the woman from the snow, calling her name repeatedly.

"Um... help me..."

Her faint voice reached my ears; it wasn't the voice I was familiar with.

Brushing aside her messy long hair, I was astonished to discover that this woman was not Martha; she didn't have elven ears, but was a human adventurer.

Who is it?

I have no recollection of this woman, nor have I heard of her in the guild, or of any of her party members going missing or dying.

The closest ones are Pro and his group.

"Azure Crown"

Even if it weren't Marta, I still couldn't stand by and watch her die.

Her magic was depleted too much, so I could only use the Azure Crown to stabilize her breathing. As for her injuries, they looked quite serious.

Although not as badly fractured as Leah, she showed signs of multiple fractures.

Most of the injuries were frostbite and cuts; judging from her attire, she was probably a swordsman.

I still haven't seen her in the guild!

I carried her all the way back to the stone house. To be honest, Vilia was much heavier than I thought, probably because of the armor she was wearing.

When I put her down, I was almost completely exhausted.

Leah was also awakened by my noise, and looked at the corpse on the ground and me with a puzzled expression.

"Don't look at me yet... take off her clothes first!"

"..."

For some reason, Lia's gaze towards me seemed to have returned to its original state, glaring at me fiercely, which startled me.

"What's wrong, Leah?"

I originally thought that after I saved her, our relationship would take a step forward. What's going on now?

Menopause arrives after just one night's sleep?

Is it my fault for leaving her here alone? Didn't I just wake her up?

"snort……"

She didn't answer my question. She glanced at the woman on the ground and then took off the clothes that were so wet they could be wrung out of them.

After she took off her underwear, I could see that the woman's skin was almost frozen stiff, as if it were covered in frost. I wondered how long she had been in the wetland forest.

Leah seemed to sense my gaze, and immediately took off her coat and covered the woman with it, revealing absolutely nothing...

"Well……"

What are they trying to protect against? Me?

You showed it to me openly before, what's going on now?

Leah hung the woman's clothes by the campfire, still glaring at me fiercely, which gave me a real headache.

"Women are such troublesome creatures."

This thought flashed through my mind...