822 Dont leave a matter of life and death up to someone else to decide (1/2)
”You can only tolerate and bear it or leave,” Yomi continued.
Seiji frowned upon hearing this.
”It was so difficult to reach this far already. I can't leave until I find Shigure's body,” Seiji replied. ”How much time do I have left?”
”It's difficult to say… if this environment continues collapsing at the current rate, you should be able to tolerate it until this place completely collapses. But if the environment starts collapsing quicker, you might not be able to handle the pressure for very long.”
”What will happen if this environment completely collapses?”
”It will return to the form it originally should have had.”
”What would that form be?”
”I don't know, either.”
”I'm guessing you also don't know how this place was created?”
”Indeed.”
'Such a useless bonded spirit!' Seiji almost wanted to retort like that, but only in a joking manner.
He knew already that Yomi was incredible. It would have been impossible for Seiji to make it all the way here alone.
Basically, he interpreted the situation as there being a permanent debuff and time limit imposed upon him. The longer he stayed here, the more he would be affected by the debuff, until finally this place collapsed or he was no longer able to bear the pressure. He would need to complete his mission before the time limit was up.
But, just how was he supposed to find Shigure's body here?
Seiji was unable to come up with a good idea even after thinking for a while.
All he could do was look around the town.
As long as he was patient enough, he could continuously load and eventually search every single nook and cranny of this town. Although this was a simple and perhaps dumb method, that was all he had.
Seiji used a spell to make himself invisible before exiting the alleyway and beginning to search along the street.
...
Koutarou heard some frightening news as he sold coal.
The carpenter Saida and his entire family had died.
All the adults and children in that family had been eaten by demons!
Apart from them, several farmer families living outside the town had also been eaten by demons… Several dozen people had already died!
Koutarou was scared after hearing such news. He became extremely worried about his own family.
It was said that demons wouldn't appear in the daylight. However, Koutarou was still quite anxious and worried that he would see something terrible upon returning home.
Many people bought coal today, so he finished selling coal earlier than he normally would. Koutarou then hurriedly returned home.
He kept constantly increasing his pace as he walked, until he was basically sprinting on the mountain path back home.
The door to his home was wide open for some reason!
In such cold and snowy weather, it would be completely abnormal to have the front door wide open.
The anxiety in the coal seller's heart reached a boiling point when he saw this.
Koutarou got closer to his home and smelled something strange.
”Mom…” Before he could even say anything else, Koutarou was stunned by the sight that he saw.
Blood was everywhere. Clothes were ripped, and some people were collapsed on the floor…
”Ahh… AHHHHHHHHH!!!” A shout of pain echoed through the mountains.
Koutarou's mother and younger brother… had died.
Koutarou didn't want to accept this reality. Yet, the cruel scene was right before him. He shouted out with an endless amount of pain. He kept crying, yet nothing changed. It was impossible for crying to change what had happened.
His younger sister was his only family member that was still alive.
She had bled a significant amount and was very weak. She was on the verge of death.
Although Koutarou had yet to completely accept what happened, his instincts of an older sibling kicked in and he started moving automatically. He hurriedly treated his younger sister's wound, and then carried her on his back down the mountain!