Luther saw the town for what it really was, it was a town full of the undead...every person he saw walking around was actually walking corpses that believed that they were still alive. The atmosphere was dark and foggy, as if the sun that was just out didn't even exist in the first place...

Luther's black eyes changed back and suddenly everything around him was just as it was before, the town was completely normal and the townspeople looked like regular people. It seemed that with normal sight, the truth of this town was unable to be seen with human eyes...

"What the h.e.l.l is going on here....?" Luther said to himself

...

"Why are you here in our town...?" A voice said behind Luther

Luther turned around and saw an average brown-haired woman looking at him. Under her eyes were dark and her dark brown eyes appeared lifeless. Her hair looked unhealthy, as if it wasn't washed or cared for in a while.

Luther smelled the rotting stench get stronger the closer the woman got to him

"....." Luther didn't respond

"Would you care to come to...my home?" She asked

"No." Luther bluntly declined

"I need help moving a few boxes....if you could just-"

"No." Luther cut her off

"You wouldn't want to help out a weak lady like myself...? I have a few drinks prepared just in case you get thirsty from all of the work you'd be doing...." The woman said

"No." Luther said as he walked past her, he felt disgusted that he had just spoken to a corpse

The woman's face turned a dark shade as she looked at Luther's back as he walked away...

....

Luther sensed Ivery nearby and followed the magic trails she left behind. He felt her presence was strong as he stood in front of an inn. Luther entered the inn and saw Ivery, Danya, and Yannel standing at the inn's admittance counter.

"Would you all care to try our new drinks?" The bartender asked Ivery, Danya, and Yannel

"Um...sure." Danya nodded and walked to the bar

"I'm too young..." Yannel shook his head

"Pa.s.s." Ivery declined, she didn't want anything from this town...something didn't feel right to her

Danya took the cup from the bartender's hand. She looked inside the cup and noticed how beautiful the liquid inside was, the top part of it was pink and the base of it was purple and the colors blended into each other. It sparkled with every little movement Danya's hand made.

"I a.s.sure you all, it's to die for...." The bartender smiled

"Hm..." Luther's eyes turned black and his eyes narrowed

The inn was filled with corpses, unmoving, and moving...

Luther noticed the bartender was also an animated rotting corpse, the gla.s.s cup in Danya's hand was dirty and the gla.s.s was old and murky, inside of the cup was filled with a black bubbling liquid.

The shelves were stocked with the same type of black bottle, most definitely holding the same type of liquid that was in Danya's cup...

Luther waved his hand and suddenly the cup that Danya was about to bring up to her mouth dropped from her hand and fell on the floor.

The cup shattered, splattering all of the liquid inside all over the floor.

"Oh! I'm sorry..." Danya apologized

"It's fine...let me make you another..." The bartender smiled

Luther walked over to Ivery.

"We can't stay here." Luther whispered beside her ear

"I know, we aren't." Ivery said

"Oh? What's your reasoning?" Luther asked

"I just don't feel right about this place....and plus...it stinks." Ivery told him

"I feel the same way..." Luther said

"And why do you not like this place?" Ivery asked

"Can I show you?" Luther asked with a meaningless smile

"Show me what?" Ivery raised an eyebrow

"This." Luther put his hand over Ivery's eyes

Black mist flowed from his hand and entered her eyes. He moved his hand away from her eyes after he finished.

Ivery felt a slight sting in her eyes, and just as she opened them. She looked around in disbelief....she couldn't believe her eyes..

Everyone around them was rotting corpses, the whole inn was slightly dilapidated. The stench she smelled finally made sense...

She saw the bartender's corpse pouring a new cup for Danya, the bottle the bartender held was completely black and the liquid that came out of it was a black bubbling liquid she had never seen before...it looked thick and gooey.

"What is it pouring her..?" Ivery asked Luther

"I'm unsure what it is but it's certainly not an alcoholic beverage." Luther answered

"It might be the reason everyone here is reanimated corpses." Luther said

"So they trick the living that enters their town into drinking that liquid....and it turns them into walking corpses..." Ivery theorized

"That seems to be the case." Luther nodded

Ivery walked over to Danya and slapped the cup out of her hand. The cup fell and shattered on the floor.

"Ivery? Why..?" Danya was confused by Ivery's action

"We're leaving." Ivery told her

"Leaving? But we just got here." Danya didn't understand why Ivery wanted to leave so soon

"This place is not good, I'll explain everything after we leave." Ivery told her

"Not good? This place looks fine to me, let's just stay here for the night...please." Danya pouted

"No Danya, we're leaving now and that's final." Ivery seriously told Danya

"Are...you trying to order me? I know you're strong but you're not the boss of me or them Ivery! We're supposed to be your companions, not your slaves! We deserve to properly rest, we've been walking for hours with little to no breaks!" Danya shouted, feeling annoyed with Ivery

"Why are you being so stubborn?! I'm only trying to do what's best for you right now but recently you just don't listen! You just do things without thinking!" Ivery raised her voice

"What...? How is forcing us to keep going on with no rest what's best for me?! Is this town not big or fancy enough for you?" Danya ranted

"What are you trying to say?" Ivery was getting p.i.s.sed off with Danya's att.i.tude

"You don't think that I didn't realize that you're royalty?" Danya crossed her arms

"What's your point?" Ivery narrowed her eyes

"You think of no one but yourselves! You don't care what people lower than you go through, you all look down on poor n.o.bles like me! I'm tired of agreeing with every single thing you say, it's time that use my voice and I do something that I want to do for once!" Danya shouted

"If that's how you think of someone who has done nothing but try to help you....then trying to help you was my mistake." Ivery's eyes lightly glowed, responding to her emotions

"I just thought you were different Ivery..." Danya looked down and teared

"And so did I..." Ivery sadly said, slowly regretting bringing Danya along with her

"Watch your mouth." Luther said to Danya

"What..?" Danya looked at Luther

"People like you are vexing, Ivery brought you along with her because she strongly believed that you could be the adventurer that you aim to be, she thought you had a strength within you....I'm sure that she thought you were smart and had potential..." Luther coldly said

"But you've done nothing but prove her wrong this whole time." Luther said

"You've whined and complained this whole time and even got us into trouble with that sword, and you even fell off of a cliff, how stupid do you have to be to stand that close to the edge and touch a glowing sword that fell out of nowhere?" Luther asked

"And guess who saved you in both of those situations that could've been easily avoided." Yannel added in

"Ivery..." Danya looked down at the floor

"Exactly." Yannel crossed his arms, not understanding how she could think so badly of Ivery

"Just because you've met a few impudent royals like myself, doesn't mean you should just lump them all together as if we're all the same." Luther bluntly told her

"At least he admits to the obvious..." Yannel thought to himself and lightly chuckled, he thought Luther was too self-righteous to admit that he had almost no respect for other people

"After we leave this town, I'll make sure of it myself that you find your own way to Yusveil, because, after that childish outburst you just had at my fiance, I no longer see you as apart of our group." Luther said

"Wait-" Danya's heart dropped

"...." Yannel felt disappointed in Danya, he too felt that her outburst was unnecessary for

"You think Ivery doesn't have a reason for wanting to leave? Do you think she doesn't want to rest too? She's been exhausted this whole time, the last time she slept was when we were in the carriage...she's been wasting her energy trying to get you to Yusveil but it seems that you don't even slightly appreciate her efforts." Luther sighed

"Forget it, she said what she wanted to and made her decision, what's the point of having this conversation?" Ivery walked out of the inn

"Ivery wait!" Danya shouted out

"Do you...want a drink?" The bartender asked Danya and held out a newly filled cup

Luther glared at the bartender and instantly the bartender's head was cleanly severed from his neck. His body collapsed on the floor with a thud.

"Lutris!? Why did you-!?" Danya looked over the counter and stared at the decapitated bartender

"I'll give you a parting gift." Luther pointed at Danya

She turned around and looked at Luther with confusion.

His black mist shot from his fingers and hit Danya in her face.

"Ah!" Danya put her hands on her face and felt a strong sting in her eyes

"Lutris why did you...?" Yannel didn't think he'd attack Danya like that

"Oh right, I forgot about you." Luther pointed at Yannel and the black mist shot from his fingers and into Yannel's eyes

"!!" Yannel felt his eyes sting

Just as Danya and Yannel opened their eyes, their faces looked horrified as they saw the rotting corpses all around them and the terrible state that the inn was in.

"W-Where did...everyone go..?" Danya's face turned pale as she stood up and looked around

"This is them..." Luther smirked

"And take a look at what you were about to drink." Luther pointed at the floor

Danya looked down and saw the black bubbling liquid on the floor, the gla.s.s shards inside of it were being submerged inside and was consumed by it.

Danya covered her mouth and backed up.

"This town is..." Yannel also backed up and stood beside Luther

"Yes, it's a town full of the undead." Luther said

"I-I didn't know..." Danya said

"Of course you didn't, this town is illusioned with dark magic...making you see them as living people." Luther explained

"I stopped you from drinking that liquid the first time and Ivery stopped you the second time..." Luther told Danya

"You made me drop it..?" Danya asked

"Yes, but maybe I should've let you.." Luther sighed

"If you had drunk it, it would've killed you instantly like poison and you would most likely turn into them." Luther pointed at the groaning corpses that just sat at the tables doing nothing but staring at each other

"But since you think following and listening to Ivery is so terrible, do you think can you survive by yourself without our help?" Luther asked with a wide grin

"Can you even manage to get back to the town we found you in?" Luther asked

"I wasn't thinking, let me apologize to her.." Danya teared, regretting what she said and regretting not just listening to Ivery

"No, that's your problem, you don't think....and that's what's going to get you killed one day, and without our support from now on, that'll be sooner than you think." Luther walked to the door

Danya rushed past Luther and exited the inn in a haste.

"And she's going to apologize anyway..." Luther sighed again

"Let's just leave already." Yannel didn't want to be in this town a second longer

....

"Ivery!" Danya ran over to Ivery who was heading for the town's exit

"What?" Ivery stopped and turned around

"I'm sorry!" Danya apologized

"You're sorry? So I'm a.s.suming that you see them now?" Ivery crossed her arms and asked

"Y-Yes." Danya looked at the corpses walking past them

"Are you sorry about what you said to me? Or are you just apologizing because you see that I'm right?" Ivery asked

"I'm sorry for everything! I-I'm sorry for being so weak! I'm sorry for not realizing that you're just as tired as we are....I'm sorry for not seeing that you're not like everyone else....everyone in this world is so cruel...but you're different, you do think about others....because Yannel and I wouldn't be here right now if you didn't..." Danya cried

"You could've ignored me at the inn but you took pity on me who was a stranger and even became an adventurer to help me, and you could've ignored what Yannel was going through...you stopped him from being picked on by those adventurers, and you even helped him save his family..." Danya said

"You even told me about your past...which is something that you'd only tell someone that you see as a friend..." Danya fell on her knees and cried

Ivery walked closer to Danya and stood in front of her.

"....." Ivery looked down at her and didn't say a word

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