The human village that Rino saw from a distance looked like there was a cloud of death over it. Normally, every village would have a firekeeper standing watch at night just in case the village was under attack. However, the village was deadly silent without a single light source.

Unsummoning the other eight Dullamen, Rino only took Acht to lead him to the village, down the rocky mountain. Mutt was busy getting acquainted with the newcomers, giving them the briefing about the dos and don'ts of joining Rino's shadow army. None of the shapeshifting spectres voiced their complaints when Mutt started his long lecture about how Rino founded Noir Province. The lich wisely tuned out to everything in the background and floated down the mountain.

The human village did not look as well built as the farmhouse back in Spudville. It looked slightly worse than what Rino managed on his own at the base of the mountain in his new town, and the lich wondered if these villagers were worth saving.

Despite ending his previous world and reincarnating into a lich, Rino still found a sliver of pity for the creatures called humans. He could understand how they thought sometimes, and not all humans were bad. If there was one human in that village who was as likeable, if not more, than Fronzo, Rino would consider saving them.

Honestly, Kragami could do with some mortal company from time to time. Rino was thinking about his teacher. It definitely wasn't pity that he felt for orphans reminding him of his humble beginnings. Rino wasn't sentimental, not lopped off the heads of nine bandits.

His private tour guide cautioned Rino about moving too quickly over the sand even if Rino was powerful and knew magic.

"The sand during the night tide can sometimes cave into the ground if the waves push a huge bed of clams ashore. They can dig very fast, and some bigger clams eat animals that fall into the sandpit."

Intrigued by the strange shellfish, Rino hoped that he fell into one such pit tonight. There was a long stretch of beach to transverse under the stars, not that Rino minded. He could summon Mutt, but the sabre tooth wolf sounded busy.

"We're flying," he told Acht, who nodded and followed after his new master as quickly as he could.

Rino arrived at the village in a few minutes and hovered within the shadows to observe the buildings. Excluding the hut that looked like a community gathering building, the rest of the huts were tiny and slightly claustrophobic. These villagers probably only used the huts to hide from wind and rain. It was impossible to spend the whole day in these tiny huts.

The village's structure was unique, and Rino had never seen anyone building round huts yet. The walls were not made solid, and wind could pass through them. Rino wasn't sure if the temperature here was warmer or colder than Noir Province but judging from the clothing he saw hanging on the laundry line outside the hut, the climate here had to be warmer. 

The villagers wore little clothing and slept in woven nets that they hung from pillar to pillar. The huts were built by stocking strong wood into the ground and weaving giant dried leaves between the wooden poles until it was mostly covered. The little gaps in the walls provided ventilation and wind, so there were no windows, only a gap in the hut facing away from the sea that acted as a door.

Rino listened carefully for sound and scanned the area twice before re-materialising. Acht followed closely behind Rino without a sound. His eyes glowed dimly as he attempted to conceal his presence.

Rino pulled his hood up and quietly invited himself into the closest hut. He had no idea what kind of plague this was, but there should be something Rino should be able to learn by observing.

The lady in the hut that Rino snuck into was staring blankly at the ceiling, even if it was night. A few tears were rolling down her eye, but she did not wipe them away. If anything, the dried streaks on her other cheek told Rino that she had been doing this for a while now.

According to her bone structure, the lady was in her mid-twenties, but her skin was sunken and sallow as if she had not seen the sun in years. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she reeked. It took Rino a while to understand that she defecated on herself. She was breathing, and her heart was beating, but that was it. She was alive without living life.

It was such a strange disease that Rino found himself visiting a new hut, recording his observations mentally. What kind of disease would erase a person's natural desire to live? These villagers did not seem to be depressed like Rino was. They did not look as if they wanted the world to end.

If anything, they looked as if they did not know how to live. Everything that made a human what they were was erased, and these humans should be plants from how they were behaving. They simply breathed and took everything that was done to them without retaliation. They had no questions, no misgivings, no desires and certainly no will of their own.

The magician used healing magic on one of the sick villagers, but strangely, the healing magic had no effect.

What kind of illness was this? Shouldn't healing magic heal something if it was weak or broken physically? If the illness affected internal organs, Rino should get some indication too. However, these villagers were healthy enough that healing magic had no effect on them. Apart from the obvious malnutrition and lack of exercise, the villagers appeared in the pink of health.

Shaken, Rino decided to retreat. Acht followed his master in silence and wondered if he should give his master more information about this strange plague. Honestly, it was nothing new. This village isn't the first victim and will not be the last either. Nobody was safe from them, and it was why he decided to become a bandit with the remaining orphaned survivors in his old village.

Those ambitionless eyes scared Rino more than dying and helplessness. The fact that there was such a powerful disease capable of de-humanising a person existed… he only hoped it would not affect the undead.

The pleasures of life were discovery and learning. Rino would rather die ten thousand times than become a living dead. In comparison to what the villagers have become, Rino was suddenly thankful for his situation. At least, he could still keep his will and formulate thoughts of his own.

Shuddering, Rino decided to come back after a while when the village had turned into a place full of corpses. Judging from the condition the villagers were in, it wouldn't be too long.

"We will return another day," he told Acht. "Show me where the caves you mentioned earlier are."

Glad to be away from the village, Acht quickly complied.