Chapter 301: Suspicious Outsider
“Where was Pierce’s previous residence? I want to ask the current owner, perhaps they know where Pierce went,” Sebastian said.
“It’s that one over there, the particularly large one. Old Oliver’s house. But the owner is an outsider, very… how should I put it? He has a strange temper,” the villager said with a clear look of disgust on his face.
Another villager chimed in, “That person is very reclusive, basically doesn’t interact with anyone. He doesn’t produce anything, nor does he participate in militia training. If he hadn’t voluntarily taken on the village’s dirtiest jobs, they would have kicked him out long ago.”
“The dirtiest jobs?” Sebastian asked.
“That is, cleaning out the cattle sheds, the street’s excrement, and then collecting it all to make fertilizer and such,” the villager replied.
I thought it was dealing with corpses, but the work of a scavenger is indeed the dirtiest. Considering there aren’t many toilets in this village and so many livestock, the sanitation problem is a huge burden.
Cleaning up human and animal waste is a difficult, dirty, and arduous task. It’s no wonder that although the villagers loathe him, they haven’t kicked him out. Who else would do this job?
After all, with poor sanitation, there’s no time to deal with it, not that people don’t want to. Even without awareness of this issue, people can instinctively feel the impact of environmental changes, good or bad. Who would want to live in a smelly environment all day?
Because of this, the outsider became someone no one wanted to interact with. Besides, he had a bad temper and dirty work, so everyone just pretended he didn’t exist.
Therefore, they knew very little about him. Sebastian asked around and only learned that he was a bachelor with no family, who had likely come to this village because he couldn’t make a living in Cando City. He knew almost nothing else.
However, I found something a little strange. Everyone said he didn’t produce anything and didn’t join the hunting party. Furthermore, no one ever gave him food. So, what did he eat to fill his stomach?
Finally, the villagers’ thank-you banquet also concluded. Some villagers still coveted the Blood-Eye Frog. I told them the Blood-Eye Frog’s corpse was highly poisonous, and they immediately dared not touch it.
I wasn’t lying to them; the Blood-Eye Frog was indeed deadly poisonous. However, the most dangerous thing wasn’t the poison itself, but the two eyes in the Blood-Eye Frog’s mouth. Even after it died, those two eyes were still potent. Seeing them would reduce one’s rationality and cause mutations in the blood.
We placed the Blood-Eye Frog’s corpse on a packhorse and then bought another horse from the villagers. They only sold ordinary packhorses here. They weren’t fast but were steady.
After the barbecue, it was already afternoon. We decided to go to Pierce’s house first to see if there were any clues we could inquire about, and then go to the grave to visit Madam Shirley’s tomb.
The villagers were right; Oliver’s house was indeed very large, and it was a two-story structure built with stone. One could imagine how beautiful it must have been when it was first built.
I say “must have been” because the house was now in ruins. A large section of the roof was clearly missing, the walls were blackened, and all the glass in the windows was broken, boarded up with wood.
If the villagers hadn’t mentioned that the house was occupied by an outsider, I would have thought it was an abandoned house that hadn’t been lived in for a long time. In a way, it was.
According to the villagers, after Oliver’s family died of sickness, they believed the house was cursed. Any villager who subsequently tried to live there either claimed to have seen terrifying illusions or suffered mental breakdowns, only to feel better after moving out.
After that, no one lived there, and the house was abandoned. No one dared to tear it down, and everyone took a detour around it.
Until that outsider moved in, the villagers had bet on how many days he would last. To their surprise, he continued to live there without any issues, which was astounding.
Later, the villagers speculated that perhaps it was precisely because he lived in that house that his temper became so bad and his personality so reclusive. However, apart from that, there seemed to be no other significant influence, so he just stayed.
Now, we approached the house again. Sebastian walked up the old, creaking steps, weathered by age, and knocked on the door, which seemed to be infested with termites. There was no response for a long time.
Could he be dead? Living alone in such a large house, even if he died, no one would know, would they? Besides, I could already smell a strange odor.
Sebastian knocked again and looked back at us. Just as he was about to suggest we pick the lock, a muffled voice came from inside: “Who is it?”
“Hello, I am someone who just arrived from Cando City. I heard you are also from there. May I ask you a few questions?” Sebastian rephrased.
“Speak,” the muffled voice sounded as if the person had something in their mouth, which was extremely annoying and difficult to understand. Moreover, the attitude was truly cold.
“Um, I’m very sorry, I can’t hear what you’re saying clearly. Could you open the door?” Sebastian gave a reason.
From behind the door came a sound like heavy objects crushing fragile wooden floors. Listening closely, it sounded like footsteps, but these footsteps were unnaturally heavy. Was the house too old, or was there a behemoth behind it?
Jayad nervously clutched his sword, and Claire took two steps back. We were all prepared for a monster to appear when the door opened, and we wouldn’t have been surprised if a monster had burst out, even if the door was directly smashed open.
However, no combat ensued. The door did open, and a fat-headed, big-eared man appeared before us. His face was covered in fat, his two eyes were very large, bulging like brass bells, and they were dull and unfocused, like a dead fish’s eyes. His clothes seemed stained with sweat, and as soon as the door opened, a foul odor wafted out, making me recoil.
“What is it?” The large mouth opened. It turned out his voice was muffled because his face was too fat and his mouth was too big.
And for some reason, when I saw him, I suddenly felt a great sense of hostility. It was a fear like encountering a natural enemy, making my limbs feel cold and my body unable to move.
“I would like to ask if the previous owner of this house, Mr. Pierce, left anything behind, or if you know his whereabouts. If you can provide any useful clues, we would be very grateful,” Sebastian quickly stated his purpose.
“Don’t know! Get lost!” I didn’t expect this guy to react so intensely. He immediately slammed the door shut, and no matter how much Sebastian knocked afterward, no one responded.
As soon as the door closed, I immediately felt a sense of relief. That feeling of encountering a natural enemy vanished without a trace, and I could move again.
This guy is definitely problematic, but I don’t dare to approach him again. That heart-pounding feeling from earlier was too terrifying.
