The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

The two, both preoccupied with their own thoughts, returned to the tavern.

Lorraine pushed open the door and glanced around, but didn't see the little guy; he was probably still with the dwarf instructor.

However, even though it was almost dinner time, there weren't many people in the tavern lobby.

The few customers were gathered around the bar, chatting quietly with Gustave.

Upon seeing the two people enter, the guests all turned around and scrutinized them, their expressions not very pleasant.

"What's wrong?"

Lorraine walked to the bar and found that they were all looking at her warily.

Gustav looked up when he heard the voice, and his furrowed brows relaxed when he saw the two of them, but he still looked worried.

"You didn't go to the guild? Something happened in the city, and the adventurers in the guild have all heard about it."

Lorraine was about to reach for the water bottle on the bar when she heard this and her hand froze in mid-air. "Something happened?" she asked.

"Two teams of adventurers accepted the task of cleaning the sewers, but there has been no news for many days. The guild suspects that there is something in the sewers, so they have withdrawn the task."

Gustave spoke vividly, glancing again at the group of people gathered around the bar, and lowered his voice:

"This is nothing, we can just send some high-level professionals to take a look."

But recently, several families in the upper town have fallen ill with high fevers, and some adventurers have connected the dots...

"They think that monster in the sewers is spreading a plague?" Lorraine asked.

"yes."

Gustav nodded solemnly, then pointed to the empty hall and said:

"Many adventurers ran away when they heard the news, but I don't think it's that far-fetched. If it were really a plague, why would it only affect these people?"

Lorraine remembered seeing the sewer cleaning mission when they accepted the task before, but thankfully they didn't choose it then.

But after carefully considering Gustav's description, he gradually realized something was amiss, and then a possibility suddenly occurred to him, which terrified him.

The sewers... plague... could it be the bubonic plague?

He quickly confirmed:

"Were those few people in the upper district sick? How quickly did the illness develop? Are they still alive?"

Gustav shook his head and said, "I don't know, I'm just listening to what they're saying."

Eileen, who had overheard their conversation, asked疑惑地问道, "You know about this plague?"

"It's just a guess, but hopefully it's not what I imagine, otherwise we can only hope that the temple has enough priests."

Lorraine remembered that the temple had a disease treatment service, and the priests mostly had the means to control the plague, but he didn't know if they could keep up with the speed at which the plague was spreading.

He suddenly missed Anya.

The tavern fell silent for a moment, and no one spoke.

"squeak--"

The door was suddenly opened, and a cold wind carrying a small snowflake blew in, landing on Lorraine's face and interrupting his thoughts.

He turned to look at the doorway.

Anya, wearing the rose gold half-plate armor, walked in. She glanced around the lobby with a serious expression, and visibly relaxed when she spotted Lorraine and the other person.

"Thank goodness you're here."

She walked straight to the bar, quickly noticing the strange atmosphere around her, and said knowingly, "You've heard?"

"I just heard Gustav say that." Lorraine nodded and quickly continued, "There have been cases of plague in the Upper City recently. Do you know the specifics? When were they infected, how is the infection spreading, and how are the patients doing now...?"

Anya glanced at him in surprise, seemingly not expecting him to know these things, then shook her head and said:

"It shouldn't be a plague."

"This was first discovered by a pastor. In fact, people had experienced these symptoms a long time ago, probably in the slums outside the city."

"A man came to the temple seeking healing, and the priest did not refuse. After the healing was performed, his condition improved somewhat, but he was certainly not fully recovered."

"The pastor said she hasn't seen him since. She had thought his condition had completely improved, but now it seems perhaps..."

She remained silent for a moment, then did not continue speaking.

So he's already dead?

Lorraine was unsure whether to be worried or happy. She was worried because the disease was also deadly, but happy because it was clearly not the plague, and probably not even contagious.

Because he was living in the slums not long ago, and he's fine now, with no abnormalities on the system panel.

You should know that when he was sick at the beginning of his transmigration, there was a clear sign that something was wrong with his physique.

No... maybe that's how the original body died?

Lorraine suddenly felt a sense of dread.

"How is that pastor now?" he asked.

Anya nodded and said:

"They're very healthy. I went with 'The Dawn Chaser' to visit those families who were showing symptoms. 'The Dawn Chaser' believes they were being corrupted by negative energy."

"Negative energy erosion? What's that?"

Lorraine asked, puzzled.

"Negative energy is the magical manifestation of death, decay, and corruption. It generally exists independently in a plane, but sometimes it can infiltrate the material plane."

Eileen gave him a disdainful look, as if anyone should know the answer to that question:

"It acts like a slow poison, eroding the body, mind, and emotions of a living organism."

"So...wait, mind and emotions?"

Lorraine suddenly raised her head.

Eileen nodded matter-of-factly and said:

"Yes, it's a terrifying power."

So that's how it is... Lorraine suddenly felt that many of her previous doubts had been answered.

It seems that the young man and the nobleman were both affected by this power.

Perhaps the unusually greedy city guards were influenced when they first arrived in Frostvale.

However, since he was sitting at the back of the convoy, he didn't think to use magic to sense the situation.

Lorraine nodded thoughtfully and said:

"People in the upper city certainly wouldn't go into the sewers for no reason, so how could this negative energy...actively infect others?"

He thought for a long time but couldn't find a word to replace radiation.

"No, it only affects organisms that come into direct contact with it."

Anya shook her head and explained:

"The infiltration of negative energy usually doesn't last long, so we believe that a certain infiltration produced some kind of monster, and the subsequent events were caused by it."

Looking at her attire, Lorraine quickly understood her meaning. He took a sip of water to moisten his parched throat and said, "So that's the origin of this whole thing?"

"Um."

Anya responded, reached out and grasped Eileen's wrist, and whispered, "Eileen, the Knowers feel there are still problems with this matter, and have gone to investigate further."

The temple doesn't have enough manpower, so Renn has to stay there to guard it. I'm not confident I can go alone, so wouldn't it be better if you came with me?"

"Okay, let's go."

Eileen pulled her hand away and gently patted the back of her friend's hand to reassure her.

Anya smiled warmly, then turned to Lorraine, gave a slight bow, and earnestly requested:

"Mr. Lorraine, this is not within the scope of our previous agreement, so on behalf of the Temple of Dawn, I formally extend an invitation to you."

We hope you can assist us in investigating the source of negative energy in the Frostvale sewers. The reward will be paid by the temple.

How about you keep 50 gold coins all to yourself?

"What a generous reward..." Lorraine exclaimed.

"I have one more question," he said.

"Speaking."

"Doesn't your church have paladins? Shouldn't they be the ones doing this kind of task of clearing out undead creatures?"