Hibi is dead.
I thought I misheard them, but it’s true.

According to what I’ve heard, they say that Hibi sensed a strange presence outside their territory and went to have a look along with two others, and that was when she was killed.
Her face turned white and life faded from her eyes.
I just stood there in a daze, listening to the Lithuvar Tribe talking and panicking.

【“Hey…… Ya okay……?”】

…………

【“Uhm…… o-oh yea, let’s heal ‘em up first, ‘kay?”】

…… Yeah, sure.
There are still others in need of help…… I don’t know what’s happening, but right now, they’re first priority.
With Hibi gone, they don’t have any means to communicate with me now…… and that’s making the Lithuvar Tribe all anxious.
Healing the injured will slightly alleviate their anxiety.
Partner, do you mind?

【“R-, Right……”】

I approach the man whose status I checked, the one with very bad ailments…… Rodgie.
His eyes are closed and he’s breathing heavily. His fingers are also shivering while holding onto the wall.
An old lady next to him, who’s probably his acquaintance, gets flustered as we approach.

Rodgie notices us getting close to him and he opens his eyes, tears leaking out.

“P-Please…… don’t concern yourself with someone like me, Ryujin-sama……”

Rodgie says as his hold on the wall gets weakened. He leans his body closer to the wall and rests his cheeks on it.
Eventually, he fell on his knees and dropped on the floor.

The old lady gets startled and tries her best to lift Rodgie up.
The others become worried and they all approach us.

“We told you not to push yourself too hard!”
“Your family is worried sick, you know!”
“He couldn’t help it! That Rodgie, it’s ‘cause he noticed Ryujin-sama approach him……”

I gave Partner an eye signal and she slightly nodded.

“Gra~a”

Partner used〖High Rest〗.
A warm light surrounds Rodgie’s body.
Rodgie is slowly starting to look better.
The Lithuvar Tribe watches in awe and Rodgie weakly moans.

“I’m…… alive?”

Rodgie widely opens his eyes and attempts to stand up.

“I, I really thought he was a goner……”
“Amazing, as expected of Ryujin-sama’s healing magic!”

The Lithuvar Tribe starts showering praise to me again.
At least with this, the heavy atmosphere got lighter.

…… Thanks for reminding me Partner, if we left that guy alone, he wouldn’t have made it.
For now, let’s circle around the villagers.

I’m kinda surprised to see Partner willingly help out humans.
Maybe the positive treatment that the Lithuvar Tribe is giving us influenced her or something.

【”…… It’s coz ya keep coming here a lot and they gib tasty food too”】

Ah, I see…… well, thanks for healing him up.

Checking his status again, his【Poisoned, Paralyzed】 condition became【Poisoned (small), Paralyzed】.
After using〖High Rest〗on him again, it changed to【Poisoned (small), Paralyzed (small)】. And, after using it one more time, his status went back to normal.
Seems like〖High Rest〗is also capable of healing Poison and Paralysis.
Well, the〖Rest〗skills are life-saving skills that has natural healing powers, so maybe it’s just the norm.

It’s a big discovery, but healing them all up to max HP is only a waste of MP.
And, I don’t even know how many of them need emergency treatment.

I’d like to have an actual conversation with someone here and ask them what’s really going on, but…… should I use〖Human Transformation〗or not……
If I turn into a human in front of them, they might panic, or worse.
But, time is of the essence here and using〖Human Transformation〗would only waste more of my MP when I could be using it to heal them all up in the meantime.

About Hibi…… and, about this mysterious predicament…… there’s a lot to be answered for, but right now, let’s make sure we don’t lose anyone else.
I circle around everyone, with Partner using〖High Rest〗as we pass by any injured villager.
We decided to save MP and only use〖High Rest〗on those with severe injuries, remove any negative status condition, and also heal a few patients with minor injuries.

The village has a population of approximately 300…… and, more than half of them are suffering from negative status conditions.
The remaining half all have a normal status, but their HP were greatly reduced.
We’re gonna be abusing〖High Rest〗a lot today.
Added to that, we had to keep coming back to patients we already healed because for some reason, they suddenly got poisoned again.
I thought we would still have enough MP left, but when I checked, we were already about to reach zero.
A part of me really wanted to save some MP so I can humanize and ask them what’s happening……

While we were walking all around healing people, our〖High Rest〗skill went from Lv 6 to 7, and our〖Hero〗title went up from Lv 6 to 7 too.
I also obtained some new information as well.

Turns out, Hibi was killed by a stab from a sword and there were signs of her body being dragged along the soil.
It’s obviously human handiwork.
Neither of the Lithuvar Tribes use swords.
They all like to wield spears.

There were even talks about that Derek guy being suspicious.
Derek didn’t look like a bad person though, but…… I somehow agree with them that his untimely arrival in the forest isn’t a coincidence.
Unexpected humans arriving from outside the forest…… the Dragon God’s shrine maiden, HIbi’s death…… mysterious status conditions…… I should assume that all of these are connected in some way.

Although, I have no idea where their negative status conditions are coming from.
They said the symptoms started appearing when they brought back Hibi’s body to the village.
The symptoms showed up faster for the weak compared to those who are fit, but I can’t really make anything out of this. It’s not like these symptoms are happening elsewhere, and I don’t think it’s because of any strange food they ate.
I can only guess that it’s an outbreak of an irregular illness.
Just where is the source……

Then, I remembered about them saying Hibi’s body being dragged on the ground.
…… Was it the person who killed HIbi?

They said Hibi sensed something near their village and went to check on it, which then lead to her death.
It’s possible that they’re the ones who caused all this.
If I go to where Hibi found them, it might lead me to the source.

But, if these ailments were caused from the outside, how could it have arrived in the village indirectly.
There has to be some trick behind this.

Humans eat different food because they have different tastes.
In this village, what’s something in common that everyone consumes…… wait, is it water?

I immediately use〖Status Inspection〗on a nearby bucket of water.

【〖Cursed Water Bucket: Value F-〗】
【A bucket containing cursed water.】
【Drinking the water from this bucket will inflict various random ailments to whoever drinks it.】

So, it’s the water that’s infected……
That means Hibi was killed close to the riverside.

…… They were intentionally targeting the Lithuvar Tribe.
Adofu did say that the Lithuvar Tribe is feared as a demonic tribe.
Travelers would often get captured to be sacrificed for the Manticore after all.
It wouldn’t be surprising if there are people out there who hold a grudge against them.

They were threatened by the Manticore so they had no choice.
The Manticore demanded an unreasonable amount of sacrifices too.
And besides, the Lithuvar Tribe has started treating travelers nicely now that the Manticore is gone.
It was evident with how Hibi treated Derek back then.
I’m sure rumors of how one person was saved by these villagers would’ve improved their reputation just a little.

Whoever they are, they must really hate the Lithuvar Tribe a lot.
Going so far as to kill Hibi, a person who has no intention to fight, poisoning the water system to weaken their entire village.
They’re playing dirty.

The mastermind behind all this must have had an important friend who got captured by the Lithuvar Tribe and was sacrificed to the Manticore.
“I won’t forgive them, I’ll avenge you.” They must’ve had this thought weigh on them this whole time, but that only makes two of us.
Just because I empathize with you…… doesn’t mean I intend to hold back.
The anger I’ve been holding in reveals itself with a loud growl that is heard by everyone and the villagers became anxious again.