Chapter Eighty-Four: The Shadowy Illusion of the Mountain Village

After that, one of the militants stayed behind to keep watch while the other led three adventurers toward the village.

Judging by the direction he was taking, the destination should be the western watchtower mentioned earlier by the Tree Monkey; it was the garrison point for the militia, which aligns perfectly with the usual regulations of the Ost Empire’s village guard.

At this time, the night had grown late. For most rural households, without many household lighting and entertainment facilities, apart from certain specific holidays and active periods, they generally wash up and prepare for bed shortly after dinner.

As a result, the village was already quite deserted at night. The four of them encountered no villagers along the way, and the atmosphere felt eerily quiet, with only the varying sounds of their footsteps breaking the nighttime stillness.

The young militia man seemed remarkably disinterested in chatting, focused solely on leading the way. Enrique and Sophie could not find an opportunity to gather information, while Miss Vilyric, looking rather bored, casually opened the conversation without a hint of concern.

“Speaking of which, you mentioned it hasn’t been peaceful in the mountains recently. What does that mean?”

“Well…”

Hearing this, the young militia turned back while walking, hesitated for a moment, then helplessly nodded.

“Fine, since you three are formidable adventurers from the city, you’ll probably encounter this sooner or later. I’ll give you a heads-up to keep an eye out.”

He pointed toward the large mountain shrouded in shadow in the distance.

“Our Adele 192 village is a remote little village surrounded by mountains on all sides, making transportation quite inconvenient. Because the mountain roads are too narrow, there are hardly any merchants willing to risk bringing their carts nearby. Besides adventurers like you who occasionally visit, there are basically no outsiders.”

“However, the mountains have fields, and we can hunt and gather resources, so making a living is not a problem. Since we all have to go into the mountains every day, we can almost immediately know if anything unusual happens around the area.”

“About two weeks ago, a villager who went up the mountain went missing for an entire night for some unknown reason. The next day, he returned covered in dirt, claiming he heard strange noises and saw inexplicable lights. He wandered around aimlessly for a while but couldn’t find his way back and only barely made it down the mountain.”

“At first, most people in the village thought he was just rambling, that he fainted from hunger and saw hallucinations, so nobody took it seriously. But who would have thought that soon after, others began experiencing similar situations of getting lost at night, and it grew increasingly frequent.”

“Although this bizarre occurrence hasn’t caused any real harm to the villagers, being stuck in the mountains late at night is no joke. Let’s not even mention the possibility of falling in the dark; if you happen to encounter a bear or a wolf, it could truly be a matter of life and death.”

“The captain took us to search the mountains a few times, but we found nothing. When it became apparent there was no option left, we had to seek help from Adele City, requesting that the officials or the Adventurers’ Guild send someone to investigate this anomaly. In the meantime, the villagers have avoided entering the mountains during the afternoons or evenings until the professionals address the situation.”

After hearing this explanation, the Priestess couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Lost in the mountains at night? But it seems we haven’t… So, has anyone come to investigate?”

The young militia shook his head.

“That’s something I’m not too sure about. I was just assigned to guard duty today and won’t be staying at the entrance indefinitely. They might have come and I simply didn’t run into them. If you’re interested, you could ask the captain later… Oh, we’ve arrived. Please wait here; I’ll go report.”

Arriving at a cluster of houses near the watchtower, the young militia left Vilyric and the others behind and hurriedly walked toward the central building.

“…”

The three legendary adventurers exchanged glances.

“Bro, what he just said…”

“Yeah, that description is indeed very similar to some earlier reports of missing persons that the Adventurers’ Guild received—strange lights, inexplicable noises, and reports of feeling trapped in some areas, but how strange… No, the fact that this village still has inhabitants in itself is the biggest anomaly.”

The Tree Bow turned her gaze to the black-haired girl beside her.

“Miss Vilyric, you are an expert in holy magic. Do you sense any malevolent presence that might exist in this village?”

The Priestess shook her head without hesitation.

“It’s not an illusion, there’s no aura of magical barriers. That young militia is a genuine living person, not a puppet… At least for now, it appears so. If we want to investigate in detail, we’d likely have to get closer.”

“Get closer, huh…”

Before the three could discuss further, the young militia who had gone inside to report emerged again, accompanied by a tall and imposing figure.

“Three of you, this is our village militia captain.”

The Priestess and others ceased their conversation, discreetly sizing him up.

The man looked to be in his forties, towering over two meters, with a relatively thick coat of dark brown fur covering his body, resembling a bear-human hybrid. He wore a heavier and higher-defense body armor than ordinary militia gear, though without a helmet, and sported a mechanical bracer that amplified strength on his right arm, along with an imperial officer’s standard slashing sword on his back.

Additionally, he wore a monocle over one eye, beneath which was a scar that nearly sliced through half his head, giving him a rather menacing look.

He only had one eye, which must have been the main reason for his appearance here.

In the Ost Empire’s rural militia, positions such as the militia captain are often appointed from among military veterans who are loyal to the Empire but suffered serious, irreparable injuries in battle or are too old yet not entirely devoid of combat capability.

This practice not only provides the aged soldiers a suitable position but also allows them to utilize their extensive combat experience to train more backup fighters.

Under normal circumstances, this may not show its worth, but if the Empire fell into a genuine large-scale war or was invaded, the arrangement of these dispersed veterans in countless villages could be mobilized on command, forming a significant force.

Unlike the young militia man, who still had a hint of naivety, the bear-human captain’s single eye gleamed with sharpness upon seeing the three young adventurers standing by the light of the watchtower, as if he had sensed something.

He waved the young man back to continue his watch at the village entrance, and then spoke in a deep voice without revealing much emotion.

“Adventurer squad? May I ask who the captain is? Could you please show me your adventurer badge?”

“Oh… that would be me. I’m Enrique. Please have a look.”

The green-haired youth mimicked previous actions as he offered his fake badge again. The captain took it, scrutinizing it for a moment, then furrowed his brow and scrutinized the three adventurers up and down as if deliberating and calculating something.

“Golden rank… you don’t seem like just golden rank adventurers. Well, whatever… Marcelo, Third Class Sergeant under the Southern Group Army of the Ost Empire, currently serving as the village militia captain of Adele 192.”

After a formal and polite self-introduction, he slightly nodded toward the three and turned to leave.

“Follow me; let’s talk somewhere else.”

   

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