Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Be Honest with Ladies
Looking at the lifeless wild beast at his feet, Roger wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.
It took great effort to severely injure a first-level beast, and there was no way he would let his prey escape. With its hind leg wounded, the wolf’s speed was drastically reduced. Roger pursued it over two mountains and easily killed it.
By that time the underbrush had darkened; the sun was about to set.
“I must hurry,” he said to himself.
A wild wolf’s carcass was neither too heavy nor too light, but Roger had considered taking it back. However, looking at the blood on the corpse, he decisively abandoned this idea.
Dragging it back would take too much time, and if he carried it, there would be no way to clean the blood off his clothes.
After some thought, he decided to make do with what was available on site.
But having previously dissected the Murloc Leader, this time Roger didn’t feel too much of a psychological burden.
Half an hour later, an exhausted Roger extracted a complete heart and a pair of sticky eyeballs.
The latter could be used as substitutes in preparing the Night Cat Potion.
With his clothes covered in blood, Roger took them off, wrapped up the heart and eyeballs, and headed back to find his backpack, quickly making his way to the Hunter’s Cabin.
If he didn’t return home soon, Adeline was likely going to be angry.
Back at the Hunter’s Cabin, he didn’t have the time to thoroughly process the wolf’s heart and eyeballs. After a simple treatment, and because the cabin was near a graveyard where the nighttime temperatures were very low, Roger wasn’t worried about leaving them out overnight.
Having sweated from the day’s exertions, he had prepared several sets of clean clothes, which now came in handy.
Everything dealt with, he checked himself for any obvious bloodstains. The day’s attack had served as a reminder to Roger that until the problem was completely resolved, the threat of beast attacks would continue, and the woods were not safe.
After some consideration, he took the iron axe with him before leaving, but of course, he couldn’t carry the axe openly. Roger only needed to hide it in a specific place.
He would take it when entering the mountains and stow it away when leaving, preventing any issues.
Thinking about it, he felt a flicker of excitement. Now that the materials were ready, he could find time to prepare the Pain Potion during the day tomorrow and then experience its effects.
It shouldn’t disappoint him.
When Roger hurried back to the town, the sun had fully set and the evening lights were on. From a distance, he could see Adeline standing in front of the door.
“Sorry, Adeline,” he said.
Roger felt a little embarrassed.
“I was wandering around the town during the day and didn’t realize I had gone so far…”
Adeline waved her hand to interrupt Roger, “I trust you, Roger, and I will give you plenty of personal time, but there have been frequent incidents in town lately.”
“You need to promise me,” she said, looking at Roger, “not to go to dangerous places alone and to be home before dark.”
“Yes, I promise,” he agreed.
Knowing Adeline was concerned about him, Roger nodded obediently.
Adeline frowned, “What is that smell on you? It’s terrible. Go take a shower quickly and then come down for dinner!”
Roger gave an awkward smile and then bolted away.
Adeline’s nose twitched.
She frowned; she thought she smelled a trace of blood on Roger!
Having served Baytown for many years, she was no stranger to the scent of blood.
“Maybe it’s just my imagination?” Adeline consoled herself.
Meanwhile, Roger, fresh from his bath and in clean clothes, had just opened the door when he was confronted by a vigilant Amanda.
“Where were you during the day?” she demanded.
Roger’s face fell, “Do I need to report my whereabouts to you now?”
Thinking of something, Amanda’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she quickly concealed it, “I just came to remind you not to forget what you promised me this morning!”
With that, she clattered downstairs.
The dinner, of course, was extraordinarily sumptuous. Having not been satisfied at noon and after his afternoon battle with wild wolves in the forest, Roger was incredibly hungry, feeling his stomach sticking to his back.
He opened up his appetite, eating and drinking recklessly, which even made Adeline next to him worry that he might overeat.
After dinner, Adeline went back to her room to deal with family records, and Little Jack was playing joyfully with his new toy. Seeing that no one was paying attention, Amanda knocked on Roger’s door.
“Don’t close the door,”
He kindly reminded her, only to receive a roll of the eyes from the red-headed girl.
She pulled out a chair and sat down next to Roger’s desk.
“Out with it, what exactly are you hiding from us?”
Roger organized his words.
“I am investigating the beast attack incidents,”
“Because I believe they are not accidental, but man-made.”
Amanda couldn’t help but blurt out.
“That day in the cave, did you see something?” Roger asked. He needed to be sure of some things before deciding how much to reveal to Amanda.
Amanda looked astonished.
“Did you see it too?!”
“I’ve discussed this matter carefully with Betty, but she insists I’m crazy. She says she saw nothing and that all of this was just an accident.”
Amanda frustratedly clutched her head.
Roger couldn’t help but nod, “It seems Amanda has either some extraordinary talent or an exceptionally strong spiritual power.”
Since she saw something, there was no point in hiding certain things from her.
“You said that there haven’t been any signs of wild beasts around the perimeter of Creek Valley Forest for several years. So why just by coincidence, did it happen shortly after that ritual ended.”
“Moreover, after you all left, it wasn’t just one beast that attacked me, but several!”
“It must have been that ritual!”
Roger looked at Amanda, “Where exactly did Simpson get that so-called mystic parchment?”
Now Roger would not believe it was just a coincidence.
That piece of mystic parchment was evidently disguised, and what was shown to everyone seemed like gibberish. The real ritual was hidden, and maybe just a few simple steps were needed to activate the energy contained within!
But why would the person behind the scenes do this?
Was it to have beasts attack people, thereby creating chaos, to facilitate hiding their true purpose?
Amanda shook her head, “I don’t know.”
“Due to some special experiences, we all gathered together and would study mysterious events, symbols, and rituals and so on.”
“Simpson has always been a man of few words, until one day, he suddenly said he found such a page in his family notes—and then all that followed happened.”
“Oh, right, there’s something else.”
Amanda suddenly remembered something, “Do you know? Another person has been killed by a beast.”
“Have they identified the body?”
“Mar,” Amanda replied.
“He was the gardener for the president of the town’s merchant association, Sherman’s house.”
“Sherman is Bob’s father!”
Roger’s face shifted slightly.