Since they were in carriages, it didn't take long for them to reach the area where the reports came from.
However, they weren't able to find anything from a preliminary glance.
This place was a clearing that was by the side of the road that was surrounded by forest.
No matter how they looked at it, it didn't seem like this place would have what they were looking for.
After all, this place was filled with greenery and life.
The report had said that there were signs of rot on the plants in this area, but as far as I could see, it didn't seem like that was happening at all.
I had also been paying special attention to the system, waiting for a notification of a quest. After all, when it came to things like this, it would usually trigger side quests or even main quests.
But that didn't seem to be the case.
After a while, Ronnie suddenly asked, "You said that there was a ruin nearby? Why can't I find any traces of it?"
I revealed a bitter smile before saying, "We heard that there were traces of a ruin nearby, but we can't seem to find it either. This is why I was saying that there was nothing to gain from coming with us."
Ronnie narrowed her eyes to look at me, but then she suddenly said, "I'll go look around a bit longer."
Without even waiting for me to say anything, she ran off to the side of the clearing.
Ron quickly followed behind her without a word, with his hand at his sides as if he was prepared to pull out a weapon at any moment.
This little detail made it clear that he was a bodyguard that her family had sent out to protect her.
But for now, it didn't seem like there was any danger, so we didn't pay attention to the two of them.
Instead, I started searching around the area, looking for the clues that I wanted to find.
There was nothing in the clearing, so I started going further into the forest around the clearing. However, even then, I wasn't able to find a single thing.
That was until I heard Ronnie calling out, "There's a river over here!"
I turned in the direction that this voice came from and walked in that direction until I found the 'river' that she was talking about.
But to call it a river really was an exaggeration.
It was nothing more than a little creek that barely had any water flowing.
Still, that didn't stop her from happily splashing in the creek.
She hadn't even taken off her shoes and didn't seem to care about getting wet.
Ron just stood there on the side with a helpless look on his face.
However, I couldn't help being surprised when I saw her like this. With the glimmering sun and the splashing water, it really created a beautiful scene with her beautiful appearance.
I couldn't help being stunned as I watched her splash in the water like this.
That is until I realized that there was something else here.
It had blended into the grass that grew here, but I could see the traces of it through the grass because of the dark black colour.
I went over to the grass and looked down carefully at it to find that it was a fish, but it wasn't just any normal fish. This was a fish that was completely covered in what seemed to be a black mold that was rotting the fish from inside out.
This was clearly not a natural kind of disease and was caused by something.
But of course, I didn't move too close to it.
Instead, I started looking around the area and to my surprise, I found that there was much more of this black colour than I thought. Looking carefully, I could see that there were even more of these fishes scattered in the grass around the river than I thought.
I immediately turned and said, "Get out of the river now!"
Ronnie was immediately caught off guard by this, but she didn't question me when she saw the serious look on my face.
After coming out of the river, I didn't hesitate to pull us away from this place and back into the forest. Once I was certain that we were far enough away from that place, I immediately pulled out some water canteens and started pouring them over Ronnie.
She was shocked when she saw this and quickly dodged out of the way before saying, "What are you doing?"
During this, Ron had pulled out a sword from who knows where and was carefully watching me.
I said in a serious and deep voice, "Stay still."
When she heard this, she couldn't help being dazed as she froze.
Then I started pouring the water all over her, making sure to get every part that had touched the river. After making sure that not a single part was missed, I finally sat down on the grass and waited while watching Ronnie's body.
Our group just sat there in silence as no one had any idea what was happening.
After a few minutes and seeing that there were no changes with Ronnie's body, I let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Ronnie finally asked, "What's going on?"
I pointed back at the river and said, "Did you not see the fish that was scattered around the edges of the river?"
Ronnie revealed a confused look before shaking her head.
With a sigh, I said, "Those fish were suffering from some kind of disease and it was most likely something that was transmitted through the water of the river."
When she heard this, Ronnie looked down at her hands and feet that had been splashing in the water.
Ron also immediately rushed over to Ronnie's side and started looking over her body, trying to find anything that was wrong with her.
But in the end, neither of them could find a thing.