Chapter 1114: Forced Entry into the Village
“Alright, we’ll prepare to enter the village to scout. We’ll leave the support to you, Viscount. You, bring the carriage and horses over there and take out your weapons!” Elena ran out to give instructions.
Buck immediately understood what Elena was thinking. It was a normal procedure to park the baggage train in a safe place before an adventure, and it wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
Through this method, they could discreetly move the carriage loaded with monster eggs to a place where they wouldn’t be noticed. Moreover, the Viscount clearly seemed satisfied with Elena’s tactful approach.
However, he was also a little surprised to see someone dressed as a maid giving orders from our side. But after glancing at the beauties beside him, he broke into a knowing smile.
In his opinion, since there was a noble young lady on the other side, it was normal for a maid to act as a bodyguard. In this world, where extraordinary powers existed, there were many powerful women. Therefore, it was common for important figures to have a few capable girls around them, serving as both guards and maids.
Several beautiful women were standing on the Viscount’s war chariot. Among them, not to mention others, was the female knight wearing provocative armor. Beside her were two very pretty maids. But the one who caught my eye the most was a girl sitting at the back of the war chariot.
The Viscount was standing, and everyone else, except those on horseback, should have been standing. But that girl was sitting behind the Viscount, and she was wearing a light, flowing gauze dress, which was very beautiful.
The problem was, it was the dead of winter, yet she was wearing such thin clothes, exposing a large area of her skin. Blue, curved tribal tattoos were drawn on her fair skin, both beautiful and mysterious.
“The girl sitting in the back is a caster, and her intuition seems quite strong. Older Brother, be careful not to let her notice our secret,” I whispered to Older Brother Jayad while taking the opportunity to tie up the packhorses.
I could feel the mysterious magic flowing through her tattoos. Then, as we were making preparations, the Viscount also asked the girl for advice. The latter stood up, looked at the village, and then sat down to say a few words to the Viscount.
It seemed that girl was the Viscount’s Occultism consultant. She was definitely a caster, but I couldn’t determine her specific profession or what spells she was good at.
At this time, Buck and the others had finished tying up the horses. To avoid arousing the Viscount’s suspicion, he didn’t even assign anyone to guard the carriage. After all, they couldn’t guard it anyway. He bet that this Viscount, valuing his status, wouldn’t come to peek at their carriage.
Even the demon hunters, who had been somewhat cold and perfunctory before, were now surprisingly serious. They properly picked up their weapons, raised their guns, and cautiously approached the village entrance.
It wasn’t just because they dared not act presumptuously in front of a Viscount; the village also gave them a very bad feeling, so they were uncharacteristically serious.
Of course, being serious was one thing, but it was only for cautious defense. It was impossible to expect them to exert their full strength. Those demon hunters were very shrewd. Their main attention was focused on guarding against the Viscount’s subordinates, and they had no intention of truly revealing their strength in front of him.
The Old Demon Hunter quietly exchanged glances with the Dragonborn Captain, then with Buck and Jayad. Basically, everyone had silently and quickly decided on the principle: don’t go all out, focus on self-preservation.
So, Buck directed everyone to form a circle and cautiously approach the village, while carefully observing the situation within.
This village was indeed full of strange signs. In an environment where the surrounding wheat fields and forests were eroded, and magical beasts occasionally passed by, this village managed to remain unharmed.
The first thing was that it was not affected by the erosion. The chaotic corrosive magic disappeared outside the village, as if blocked by an invisible wall. The ground was particularly evident; outside the village was blackened wasteland, but inside, yellow earth and green grass were preserved.
When encountering such a situation, if it wasn’t for some master or Holy Artifact protecting this place, it would be another special situation. This place might have been eroded by a more concentrated corrosive force, thus repelling other corrosive energies. This is what is meant by fighting poison with poison.
Given the strange aura in the village, the latter possibility was greater. But for some reason, this aura was so subtle that even with my strong intuition, I only had a vague feeling. Jayad’s Detect Evil could not find a specific target.
Secondly, the civilian houses in the village were too well-preserved. It felt like they were neither abandoned nor had undergone any battles. I could discern some traces of life, but in broad daylight, there were no guards, nor were people working outside. This was too abnormal.
What was originally an ordinary village was filled with terror and strangeness due to this abnormal feeling. We moved cautiously into the village, constantly on guard against our surroundings, and the closer we got, the more goosebumps we got.
“What are you doing? Go and investigate the civilian houses next door,” the Viscount’s Female Knight urged from behind. The Viscount’s subordinates were pointing their lances at the surrounding houses, but I had no doubt that they would attack us along with the houses if necessary.
There was no choice. We had to let a few soldiers approach a nearby residential house. So far, we hadn’t been attacked, but we were still only on the outskirts of the village.
After peeking through the window and confirming that there should be no one inside, the soldiers kicked open the wooden door. It was just an ordinary wooden door, which was easily kicked open. The room was indeed empty.
But there was a very strong sense of life in here. Someone must have lived here in the last couple of days. There were pots and pans, and a charcoal brazier in the room, but it was unexpectedly messy.
It wasn’t a mess caused by fighting, but rather leftover dishes on the table, in disarray, with bones scattered everywhere, and peanut shells and wine bottles on the floor.
The beds were also covered with messy bedding. Half of the quilt had fallen on the floor, and it seemed to have some yellowish dirt on it, as if someone had accidentally spilled vegetable juice on the bed, but not over a large area.
“My, this family is really sloppy,” Bartholomew commented with a rather tactful tone after looking around the room. Like Older Brother Jayad, he came from the Slums, so he was used to such messy scenes.
Bailing Ding, however, frowned and stood outside the door without entering. The strange smell emanating from the room was unbearable to her. Although she had worked as a Slave Gladiator for a period, Safah’s treatment, at least the living environment, was acceptable.
“What, is there anything unusual inside?” The Viscount finally walked slowly to the doorway. Buck had to say, “No one is inside. If you suspect anything, you can take a look yourself.”
At this moment, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. Could the villagers of such a small village afford to drink wine? Looking at the leftovers, it seemed they were eating quite well.
