Well past noon.
Warm sunlight slipped in through the window gap
and settled quietly across the wooden floor.
The room was quiet.
But beyond the table,
Pyrug’s fingertips kept moving as he sat at a small desk, sorting through his notes.
Rustle—
pages turning, then the careful sound of someone getting up.
“Mmm…”
The first to wake was Rynel.
He pushed his messy hair back and looked around.
“…The sun’s already high.”
Without turning fully, Pyrug spoke.
“You’re up, Rynel?”
“Yes… I guess I was more tired than I thought.”
Rubbing his eyes, Rynel glanced outside.
When he didn’t see the others, he asked,
“Where are the others?”
Pyrug nodded simply.
“Still asleep.”
“Ah… Since we said we’d help, I should go wake them.”
As Rynel started to stand,
Pyrug lifted a hand and stopped him.
“No, it’s fine.
More importantly… that man you saw at dawn.
Tell me more about him.”
Rynel halted.
He gave a small nod and stepped closer.
“…He was standing alone in front of a tree on the outskirts.
His presence was faint, and his shoulders were shaking.”
Pyrug kept flipping pages, asking briefly,
“What did he say?”
Rynel paused, quietly tracing his memory.
“…He kept calling the name Modia.
‘Just wait a little longer… we can meet again.’
He repeated things like that.”
Pyrug’s fingertips stopped.
Slowly, he turned to look at Rynel.
“You’re sure?
That name—did you hear it clearly?”
Rynel nodded without hesitation.
“We heard it through the spirit stone. Aira used magic.
His voice didn’t waver. It was… blind. Like he truly believed it.”
Pyrug’s expression hardened.
He drew in a deep breath and said low,
“……Modia.”
A heavy silence.
Then Pyrug dropped his gaze back to the desk and murmured,
“That man… he might not be just a victim.”
Rynel’s face tightened.
“…What do you mean?”
Pyrug left a beat, then continued in a low voice.
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“The name Modia isn’t something you hear often in this village.
And that man… for months, he’s been talking to himself more and more.
But everyone just thought he was grieving.”
Rynel asked quietly,
“…Then could it be
Piara’s ‘false memories’… got to him?”
Pyrug nodded slowly.
“It’s possible.
No… maybe—”
He shoved one book aside and spoke heavily.
“That man…
might be ‘guarding’ Piara’s main body.”
Rynel’s eyes narrowed.
Quietly, but clearly, he said,
“Then tonight…
we’ll need to investigate that tree more thoroughly.”
“You’ll be tired, but I’m asking you.
Hungry? Want me to give you something?”
At Pyrug’s careful question,
Rynel remembered the herb dishes that had taken over his mouth the night before.
Pickled dried leaves, blanched wild greens, medicinal mix…
“No… I’ll just walk around the village and grab something simple.”
He shook his head gently, answering with a faint smile in his tone.
“Alright. Then… do that.”
Rynel put on his outerwear and opened the door quietly.
Cold wind brushed past,
and he lifted the corner of his mouth as he muttered to himself.
“…Sorry, guys.
When you wake up… enjoy your meal.”
There was a tiny, almost inaudible apology in the way he said it.
Once he stepped onto the village road,
people were everywhere.
Half the day had already passed—there should’ve been some liveliness.
But fatigue sat on their faces instead.
Dark shadows pooled under their eyes,
their steps were slow,
and some stared blankly into empty air.
And yet—
whenever they spoke to someone,
a bright smile spread across their faces.
“So get this… in my dream last night, I was in a field of red flowers…”
“No way, really?
I want to meet them again soon too…”
Warm voices.
Eyes full of anticipation.
To them, the red flowers weren’t symbols of grief.
No—
the red flowers were a key
that opened a door to happy dreams.
Piara.
That dangerous flower
had been wrapped up as “happiness” in this village.
Reality was exhausting, heavy, dried out—
but in their dreams, people laughed.
They met the ones they’d lost again,
held the wishes they couldn’t fulfill,
and lived while setting down the reality they wanted to forget, just for a moment.
Rynel watched them quietly,
then let out a thin breath.
Is happiness in a dream… really happiness?
The question echoed inside him.
But no one could answer it easily.
As the sun hovered on the edge of setting,
Rynel finished a slow lap around the village
and carefully opened the door to Pyrug’s house.
Inside, it already felt like they were eating.
But something about the mood—
was off.
Across the table,
Aira and Monero were eating with serious expressions.
Meanwhile,
Pyrug was grinning as he crunched greens with clear enthusiasm.
“Oh, Rynel, you’re back?
You haven’t eaten, right? Come sit and eat.”
Pyrug greeted him brightly,
but Rynel waved a hand, looking flustered.
“No, I…
I ate something simple outside.”
At the same time—
a silent gaze stabbed straight into him.
Forks even stopped mid-motion
as Aira and Monero turned their heads together.
‘Traitor…’
Taking that look full-on,
Rynel gave an awkward smile and added like an excuse,
“Haha… Well, I…
walked around a bit. Did some observing too.”
Rynel sat down,
but spoke without looking at the sea of green on the table.
“I didn’t find any new flowers,
but I did watch the villagers closely.”
Pyrug nodded and asked,
“As expected…
it’s going to be hard to get their cooperation, right?”
Rynel thought for a moment, then answered quietly.
“Yes.
They’re… too deep inside the illusion.”
His voice was low, but firm,
and silence settled over the table again.
Pyrug took a breath, then spoke softly.
“Alright. We’ll move again before dawn,
so it’d be better to sleep early tonight.”
At his words, Aira rose slowly,
and Monero stretched his arms and nodded.
“The notes I organized today…
I’ll tell you before we leave at dawn.”
Pyrug added that, glancing toward the desk.
Rynel stood and murmured quietly.
“Yes… tonight’s going to be a long one.”
◇
In the dawn air,
Pyrug spread out a scroll and said quietly,
“Alright. This is what I put together.”
Two village maps were laid out,
and two areas circled in red ink stood out.
“The last bloom we couldn’t find.
There’s a very high chance it’s in one of these two zones.”
Rynel studied the map and murmured,
“Hmm. Both are on the outskirts.”
“Yeah. But we narrowed it down a lot.”
Pyrug nodded and continued.
“And that man from yesterday might show up again.
So… tonight, it’s better if all four of us move together.”
Monero frowned.
“But won’t that raise the chance we get spotted?”
“It’ll be fine.”
Pyrug said firmly.
“The villagers will be deep in the dreams Piara gives them by now.
They won’t wake up easily.”
At that, Aira tilted her head and asked,
“…Then why
didn’t we dream?”
Pyrug chuckled and shrugged.
“That’s because
the answer was in the greens I put in dinner.”
“Wait…”
Aira’s eyes went wide,
and Pyrug nodded boldly.
“Right.
I mixed in herbs that block Piara’s hallucinatory effect.
I told you, didn’t I?
I’m a herbalist—of course I studied that much.”
Then Aira blurted out with an even more shocked face.
“But Rynel didn’t eat dinner yesterday!”
Pyrug smiled calmly.
“Don’t worry.
Once you take it, it holds for three days.”
Hearing that, Monero cut in with a grumbling voice.
“Then…
we didn’t have to eat only greens yesterday at all, did we?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Pyrug said like it was nothing.
“But you didn’t say anything, so…
I thought it suited your taste and made it again.
It was good, wasn’t it?”
Aira went stiff and muttered like a whisper,
“I hate…
meals that are only greens.”
Monero muttered too,
“Meat…
I wanted meat…”
“See? If you don’t say it, how am I supposed to know?”
Pyrug laughed easily,
wiped his mouth, and stood.
With his back turned,
two stares glared at him like he was unbearable.
But Pyrug, unaware of those looks,
packed his gear like it was routine.
Srrk—
quietly,
the party stepped out toward the first place they’d investigate today.
◇
A cemetery where moonlight barely reached.
Leaning headstones and wind edged with frost
sent a chill crawling up the spine.
Monero hunched his shoulders and said,
“Haa… I don’t even want to come here in daylight…
Do we really have to come this far…?”
Pyrug laughed lightly at that.
“Still, it’s better since we came as four.
You’ve got teammates to rely on.”
“…‘Teammates to rely on’… that makes me nervous.”
Monero muttered,
but the other three were already scanning the area.
“Alright. Check your sections.
Search everything.”
At Pyrug’s short order,
the four split up through the cemetery.
Beside headstones, shallow pits of dirt,
around old graves half-buried in snow—
they carefully pushed aside the thin layer of snow
and continued the silent search.
Kneeling on frozen ground,
shining the magic tool behind headstones,
checking each spot one by one.
Every breath cut through the air as white vapor,
and sweat on their brows cooled in the sharp wind.
Then—
“Hey! There’s something weird over here!”
At Monero’s shout, the other three hurried over.
But there was only
a dry stem buried under dead leaves.
Rynel shook his head.
“…Not a flower.
This spot’s empty.”
Pyrug swept his gaze around once more, then said firmly,
“Alright. There’s nothing here.
We move to the next place.”
They nodded,
and slowly began to leave the cemetery.
“Hm. Still, with four people, we’re definitely faster.”
Pyrug said with satisfaction, nodding to himself.
Rynel let out a small, exasperated breath,
then answered calmly.
“Of course we are…”
Pyrug tilted his head.
“Hm? Why? What is it?”
Rynel nodded his chin backward.
“Look behind you.
Two scared idiots… just wanted out as fast as possible.”
Pyrug turned around—
Aira and Monero stood there,
faces drained, patting each other like they’d survived something.
“I seriously thought I was going to die…”
“Let’s… never come to a place like this again, okay?”
They were sharing the feeling of being alive.
Pyrug smiled awkwardly
and reached for the back of his head.
“…Well, still. It’s true we finished quickly.”
Rynel clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“You call yourselves C-rank adventurers.
What if an undead had shown up…?”
“Don’t say that.
What if it actually does show up…”
Monero blinked and pressed his lips tight.
And—
the party took a breath,
and prepared to head for the next location.
