Chapter 15

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Volume 2 + Chapter 15: The Only Light  

“Boss?”  

“Boss!”  

“Boss!!”  

Xia Yi stood on her tiptoes in front of the counter, calling out loudly to the innkeeper.  

But the man merely slumped in his chair, eyes glazed, as though he couldn’t hear her at all.  

Nearly a week had passed since their arrival in Seaside City.  

And the people here seemed to be growing stranger by the day.  

Frowning, Xia Yi pulled out a coin and flicked it at the innkeeper’s face.  

The man didn’t even flinch. The coin bounced off his cheek and clattered to the floor—and then, he let out a vacant chuckle.  

“Take me away… with everyone… together…”  

Xia Yi’s frown deepened.  

This man had lost all reason.  

“Princess.”  

Sierra stepped back into the inn, her expression grim.  

“What’s the situation, Sierra?”  

“Your Highness, the Penguin Gang members didn’t show up today.”  

“What? They wouldn’t dare!”  

“I went to their hideout to investigate. You should come see for yourself.”  

“Right!”  

The two left the inn and stepped into the streets.  

If the city had once been lively, it was now utterly deserted. Not a single soul lingered outside—not even the usual loafers basking in the sun.  

Despite the bright daylight, the silence was deeper than the dead of night. The city felt hollow.  

When they reached the Penguin Gang’s hideout, the sight inside stunned them.  

Gill and his underlings lay sprawled across the room, their heads lolling. They muttered incoherently, lost in their own worlds, oblivious to anyone around them.  

“Gill, what’s wrong with you?” Xia Yi stepped forward, peering into his face.  

“Come… come… take me with you…”  

Gill didn’t even lift his head. His eyes, once sharp, were now dull and unfocused.  

His condition was identical to the innkeeper’s.  

In truth, the city’s eerie transformation had begun the very night Xia Yi first dreamed of the sea.  

One by one, people succumbed to the dream’s influence. They shunned sunlight, retreating into damp, shadowed corners, doing nothing, thinking nothing—only waiting for nightfall, desperate to return to sleep.  

Because only in dreams could they sink into the sea, embracing a happiness reality could never offer.  

At first, only a few had been affected. But as days passed, the change spread.  

And now, it had consumed everyone.  

Xia Yi had felt it too—the crushing disappointment upon waking, the longing to return to the ocean’s embrace, the urge to abandon all thought.  

Her body, too, carried a strange, inexplicable fatigue.  

But unlike the others, she could resist it.  

She glanced at Sierra.  

Her maid stood alert, her expression sharp, showing no signs of weariness.  

Sierra had admitted to experiencing the sea dreams as well—but their grip on her was far weaker, almost negligible.  

It seemed the city had already fallen.  

“Sierra,” Xia Yi ordered, “test Gill’s condition.”  

“As you wish.”  

Sierra stepped forward, her gaze turning lethal.  

“If you value your life, stand up.”  

“……”  

Gill remained motionless, like a puppet with its strings cut.  

Sierra’s hand shot up—then slashed downward in a blur, the force of her strike splitting the air as it hurtled toward Gill’s skull.  

Even faced with death, Gill only continued murmuring.  

“For… rebirth…”  

THUD.  

At the last instant, Sierra diverted her strike. Her fist smashed into the wall beside Gill’s head, leaving a crater in the plaster.

From beginning to end, Gill completely ignored Sierra.  

This was utterly baffling—just days ago, a single glare from Sierra would have sent him cowering in fear. Yet now, even faced with mortal danger, he remained indifferent.  

“Offer… obtain… happiness…”  

With those murmured words, Gill slumped forward, closing his eyes. But this wasn’t fear—he was actively trying to fall asleep, desperate to return to the coveted sea dream.  

“Your Highness,” Sierra said grimly, “this is the state of the entire city now. At first, people showed varying symptoms, but now they’ve all succumbed without exception. The sea dream has eroded their sense of reality—they reject the waking world entirely, their minds broken.”  

“And it’s all caused by those dreams…”  

“How are you holding up, Princess?”  

“It’s… starting to affect me too.”  

Xia Yi honestly described her growing fatigue, the pull of the ocean’s call upon waking. Sierra listened intently.  

“Your Highness, this matches what likely happened to our dragonkin scouts sent to Golderd. They probably suffered the same fate—gradually losing themselves in the sea dreams.”  

Dragonkin possessed far greater resistance than lesser species.  

That explained why Xia Yi only felt mild discomfort while humans fell completely. And Sierra, being vastly stronger than even average dragons, showed no symptoms at all.  

But absence of evidence wasn’t evidence of absence.  

Like seawater slowly corroding all it touches, the influence was insidious. Those earlier dragon scouts had probably started like Xia Yi—staying longer would have doomed them like these humans.  

“Princess,” Sierra concluded, “when the Black Tide comes to Golderd, it doesn’t just prevent escape—it removes even the desire to flee.”  

Just as Gill had warned.  

The test proved it—when faced with certain death, these people wouldn’t resist the Tide. They’d welcome it.  

Xia Yi fell into deep thought.  

“Your Highness,” Sierra said gravely, “the danger is clear. You must decide—do we remain in Seaside City, or leave immediately?”  

“…We stay.” Xia Yi met her gaze firmly. “But hear this clearly—I’m not being reckless. The moment you show any symptoms, we depart at once. As long as you remain unaffected, you can always get me out.”  

After a weighted silence, Sierra nodded. “Understood. This is a courageous yet rational decision. I support your choice.”  

……  

Their subsequent search across the city found not a single sane soul remaining.  

Only the two of them retained clarity of mind.  

As night fell, Seaside City became something from a nightmare.  

With its inhabitants mentally broken and now photophobic, not a single light remained lit. Darkness swallowed the coastal city whole, the silence absolute.  

“Shall we return to the inn, Princess?” Sierra asked.  

“If we can’t find any—wait, what’s that?” Xia Yi’s words died in her throat.  

Because against all odds…  

There was still one building with lights on.  

And when she recognized it, her eyes widened in shock.  

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[Author’s Note: Seems the break is ending soon, so here’s an early update for everyone!]