Chapter 657: Aegena

Due to the density of the forest, they had to take a specific path through as it would be impossible otherwise. However, they didn't need to worry too much since the monsters here weren't hostile due to the unique nature of this section.

Naturally, it didn't mean that there weren't any hostile monsters. With them being so far from the tower's influence, a few monsters would be unaffected and attack them on sight.

But with Shiro releasing subtle amounts of killing intent whenever a monster approaches, they were able to travel without fighting at all.

After travelling for another two to three hours, the town of Aegena was finally in sight.

Located just past the forest, the town was located in a deep crater of sorts and had different layers due to the nature of the crater. There were waterfalls formed by a river that flowed over one of the steep edges of the crater and into a pool at the bottom.

Leading to the bottom most part of the crater was a spiral road to make it easier for the carriages to travel in this area.

Looking down at the town from above, Shiro noticed that the layout of the place was similar to that of a labyrinth of sorts. Each of the houses and alleys formed a 'passage' of the maze.

"Pretty interesting place isn't it?" Dimos chuckled.

"It's something alright. What's that tree in the middle?" Shiro asked while pointing at the centre of the town. Isolated in the lake was a small island that had a tree growing out of it. The sheer size of the tree dominated the surroundings but it looked withered. The leaves were no longer green and the roots looked like they could snap at any moment.

"That tree is kind of like a measuring device. The more abundance the nutrients in the land is, the more vibrant the tree looks. Now that the tree is withered, you can guess that the land isn't in a good condition." Dimos sighed.

"Is that so?" Shiro nodded her head and glanced towards the tree once more.

"Anyways, the school's located on the third layer so we'll be going there to meet an old friend of mine."

Taking the carriage down the spiral path, they passed quite a few houses and Shiro could see that many of people surrounding the houses seemed rather depressed.

Realising that it must be because of the impending doom, Shiro couldn't help but shake her head.

Without nutrients, the crops can't grow and without that, they'd eventually starve. While they can try to hunt, they would need to be careful of the tower's influence. Plus, it was going to be hard to hunt enough food for everything in the town.

They'd need to ration it carefully and even then, it was unlikely that many would survive.

Sooner or later, this town will become completely barren of life.

As they were making their way down, a young girl knocked on their carriage door.

"Beautiful miss, do you have any food?" She pleaded as Shiro felt her heartstrings being tugged.

Looking back at Dimos, since he had the food, Shiro was about to open her mouth when he passed her a small bag. Without her even saying anything, he already knew what she wanted to say.

Taking some bread out of the bag, Shiro gave it to the girl.

"We don't have much on us either but eat it quickly ok? Or else others will try to take it from you." Shiro smiled softly.

She didn't want to give the girl too much since she wouldn't be able to eat it quickly and knowing human nature in times of need, they'll definitely try to take it from her.

"Thank you!" Nodding her head, she quickly ate the bread.

Patting the girls head, they continued down the path.

"It's a sad sight isn't it?" Dimos said while glancing out the window.

"Mn. Really makes you wonder what caused all of this." Shiro frowned. If she found out that it was a person behind this then she was going to make sure that they regret the fact that they haven't killed themselves yet.

Seeing her furious gaze, Dimos shook his head as he understood her feelings of anger.

Soon, the carriage stopped as they arrived at the school.

Hopping off the carriage with their luggage, they walked to the door. Compared to the school back in the last town, this one was more well built with richer materials and glass covering the windows rather than just empty holes.

"Manos, are you in?" Dimos called out while knocking on the door.

After waiting a while, they heard the sound of the door unlocking.

Taking a step back, the door opened up, revealing a young man that had long black hair that was tied up loosely.

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"Oh it's you Dimos, come on in, we'll talk inside." Manos sighed in relief and ushered them in.

However, when he saw Shiro, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrow.

"This is?"

"She's Shiro and she's my assistant for now. She can teach classes in my place while I sort out this problem in town." Dimos explained as Manos nodded his head.

Entering the school, Manos had them enter his office. Gesturing for them to take a seat, he brought out a few pieces of parchment.

"As I have told you before through my letter, this problem started happening a few weeks ago when people first saw signs of withering on the tree. The fishes that were in the lake have now completely died out and all the crops have died. We're currently using rations but we're not sure how long that can last. Without any nutrients in the land, the Divinity of Harvest can't do anything. Here's a report on all the signs that we've picked up and as for locations, they're marked down on this map." Manos said while giving Dimos the pieces of parchment.

"Hmm…" Furrowing his brows, Dimos started to browse through all of the information given to him.

From the reports, it seems like the drain of nutrients originated from the tree and slowly spread outwards. They had already tried to investigate the tree but nothing has shown up in their investigations. 

"Alright, I'll try my best to look into this." Dimos nodded his head and stored the parchment away.

"Thank you. You're the only one I know who could help us now. If you can't solve this, I'm afraid we'll have to move to a different town." Manos sighed.

"Your place of residence has been prepared. If you want, I can also get them to set up another room for your assistant." Manos said while gesturing to Shiro.

"That would be much appreciated. When do lessons resume?" Dimos asked.

"No idea. Hardly any of the students come to school anymore due to this. It was slightly better a few days ago but now no one comes." Manos shook his head.

"Alright. I suppose it can wait till this withering problem is solved." Dimos nodded and stood up.

Gesturing for Shiro to follow him, the two left the school.

"Do you think there's something absorbing the nutrients?" Shiro asked.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well think of it like this. If you have a bowl of water representing the nutrients in the land and you poke a hole in the middle, it'll drain outwards which is like what's happening here. Meaning, there might be something absorbing it from the tree. While they have investigated the tree and found nothing, I'm thinking the culprit hid the source of the problem exceptionally well." Shiro explained as Dimos nodded his head.

"That is what I believe as well hence why we're going to look at the tree first."

Walking towards the tree located at the very bottom of the crater, Shiro couldn't help but feel a little stuffy. It was as if there was a lack of air for her to breathe.

"Say, sir, are you noticing the lack of air?" Shiro asked as she tried her best to regulate her breaths.

"What do you mean?" Dimos frowned when he noticed Shiro's abnormal condition.

"Just realising that for some ungodly reason, I am having a hard time to breathe." Shiro replied jokingly but took a moment to try to catch her breath.

"If you want, we can take a break." Dimos furrowed his brows.

"No it's fine. I think I'm good now." Shiro replied with a small wave of her hand.

"Ok, if it gets worse, tell me and we'll stop for a while."

Nodding her head, Shiro continued to walk further down into the crater.

Every step felt heavy but it wasn't like the feeling she had during her ascension of the staircase on Mount Olympus. This time it was heavy due to her body feeling extremely weak. Her head was hurting and sweat could be seen dripping from her face.

Feeling a slight numbness spreading across her body, Shiro knew that there was something wrong with the tree. The closer she got to it, the weaker she felt.

"I think I'll stop here." Shiro said while struggling for breath.

"I can see that. Let's go back first then, maybe you're just not feeling well from travelling." Dimos frowned and helped her walk back up the path.

Unfortunately for Shiro, even when she was walking away from the tree, her body continued to deteriorate. By the time they arrived at the school again, Shiro was already on the verge of collapsing. 

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