The men present were all stunned, only Laine could be sure that Teresa had recovered about fifty percent of her strength.
"Let’s go!" Without much to say, women from the Jialan Council were never just vases. Laine led the group cautiously to the village gate as Estelle knelt on one knee, checking the footprints.
The dense footprints indicated that there had been quite a bit of traffic at this resting spot recently.
"This footprint should be Billger’s." The Elvish racial talent is Dark Vision, and although half-elves can’t see as far as elves, observing at close range is more than enough, plus the female sorcerer’s magic staff illuminated the path.
"What about these messy footprints?" Laine also knelt down, identifying the footprints in the snow. These footprints were smaller and more chaotic.
"These should be goblins’." Based on known intelligence, Estelle made the following judgment.
"Didn’t the Pathfinder leave any messages?" Wandering Knight Aik said casually, but his eyes kept wandering over the female sorcerer’s long legs and chest.
Women are very sensitive to men’s gazes, and Teresa immediately noticed it. She adjusted her coat in disgust and turned slightly to avoid Aik’s gaze: "So what you’re saying is... there might be goblins hiding in the village?"
"No worries, if there are those goblin scumbags, watch me cut them all in half for you! My lady, I’ll offer you all the goblin ears!" Aik laughed loudly, drawing his longsword and twirling it like in a beautiful dance.
"Yeah, yeah! My broadsword is already thirsty!"
"We are willing to dedicate the victory to you, Lady Trovik!"
Several wandering knights jeered.
"Well then, could you gentlemen go check out those houses? I’ll take a look at the one in the middle." Laine thought these rogue knights sure knew how to flatter the female sorcerer.
Opportunities to perform had to be given, so Laine assigned the tasks accordingly. Unexpectedly, Aik didn’t let him off: "If I heroically eliminate the enemies, will Lord Knight buy me a mug of Bagman Beer?"
"You’re dreaming; I can only buy you horse piss." Bagman Beer is the most renowned beer on the Continent, a dwarf masterpiece brewed from malt, the best and most refreshing alcoholic beverage on the entire Continent. It’s not only nutritious but can even be used as a dry ration; a few mugs can keep you from getting hungry all day.
This dwarf brewing technique’s masterpiece is naturally expensive. Aik would have to dip into his savings to afford it; otherwise, he definitely couldn’t afford it, Laine thought this guy really daydreams too much.
So the group split up to take action. Laine held the warhammer in both hands in front of his chest, heading towards the big house in the village’s center, which was generally the dwelling of the village head or lord, and likely a place hiding filth.
Snow covered the steps, and as Laine’s leather boots stepped on the wooden stairs, they made a creaking sound.
"Creak~" The house’s door was neither locked nor bolted. Laine reached out and gently pushed the door open. The heavy wooden door made a decayed turning sound, inside was pitch darkness.
"Light Spell!" Teresa had also followed along, the female sorcerer raised her hand for a Level 0 Trick Light Technique, illuminating the house’s interior.
A mess; that’s Laine’s first impression. If he were to describe it in more detail, it would be like the house was not only ransacked by robbers but also chewed over by dogs.
Yes, like it had been chewed by dogs, the entire house was full of damage marks. An abandoned village attracting adventurers and travelers passing by in search of treasures is not wrong, but leaving an environment suitable for future visitors to stay is an unspoken rule, so those holes in the walls definitely wouldn’t be the work of adventurers or mercenaries. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novelFirｅ.net
Except for the remaining wood scraps in the corner, Laine found no furniture, the floor was relatively flat though the walls had multiple points of damage letting in the wind. Anyway, let the mercenaries reinforce with boards and make do through the night.
"Wait... Laine, what’s this?" The female sorcerer found something new in the inner room.
"Huh?" Laine quickly approached, finding the female sorcerer had discovered several "mushrooms" in a corner of the inner room.
Calling these things mushrooms was quite a stretch. They had blood-red skin, yellow and green spots, looked nauseating, and even more disgustingly, there were faintly human or beast faces on their surfaces, with narrow eyes and a crazed smile.
"Oh heavens! What on earth are these!" Upon seeing them up close, Teresa felt extremely discomforted and instinctively backed up two steps, feeling her high-heeled boots stepping on something.
Looking back, she saw one of the same mushrooms impaled by her heel. The filthy yellowish mushroom juice splattered on her high-heeled boots, and a vomit-like smell filled the room.
"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" A scream was trapped in her throat, the female sorcerer retreated several steps, leaning against the man: "What is this? What is this thing!"
Laine took the opportunity to hold Teresa’s slender waist, feeling good: "This is a blood mushroom."
"Blood mushroom?" The female sorcerer took a towel from her space ring, but the disgusting mushroom juice was hard to wipe clean, exuding an unpleasant smell. She lamented: "My shoes!"
Laine released her waist and with sheer strength uprooted the entire mushroom; amidst Teresa’s complaints to "throw it away," he tossed it out through a hole in the wall: "This is goblin’s work, but are you curious how these form?"
"How do they form?" The female sorcerer was still vigorously wiping her leather boots with a towel: "Enough, let’s not stay in this room, let’s talk somewhere else!"
"As you wish, besides, let me do it!" Laine extended his right hand, light blue energy swirling in his palm. The moisture in the air formed a water ball, the pure water ball glided over the leather boots’ surface, finally cleaning off the dirty mushroom juice. Seeing this, the female sorcerer breathed a sigh of relief, quickly pulling Laine out of the inner space, and then waving her hand for a spell, the waste wood in the corner flew over, sealing the inner room’s door: "That’ll do!"
When the two came out, several wandering knights had already checked several houses. They also found some blood mushrooms, with Aik holding one of the biggest: "Dear Lady Trovik, I think I might present it to you... okay, I was just kidding, don’t point your magic staff at my face!"
"Hahahahahahahahaha!" The mercenaries and guards laughed loudly; many were fixing the broken walls, using felled trees to fortify the weak spots, while some soldiers were starting fires to cook.
"Where’s that Druid?" Laine thought with all this tree cutting, was the Druid not blowing his lid? How odd!
"The Druid didn’t stay, went directly into the forest... Mather! Stop daydreaming over there! This water isn’t enough for so many of us to drink; take some people to fetch a few more barrels!" Rost walked over, the black-robed man seemingly quite enjoying this cold, earth-moving environment, he continued shouting: "Brothers, speed it up if you don’t want to sleep outside tonight!"
"Nobody wants to sleep outside, keep it tight, boys!" Viert responded with a smile, as the mercenaries pulled the tent cloth to cover the leaking roof.
"Uh, Lady Trovik, would you like to bathe tonight? If you need, feel free to order, we can fetch more water." Oliver’s pudgy body wobbled over to the female sorcerer, speaking with a flattering tone: "It’s no trouble making them go one more trip, the water source isn’t far from here."
"No need, just arrange an individual room for me, and also." The female sorcerer pointed to Laine: "Put me and him together."
"Yes, yes, we understand." Oliver cast an ambiguous glance at Laine.
Laine pretended not to notice, the Kingdom knight wanted to continue the earlier topic about blood mushrooms, but half-elf Estelle appeared: "Mr. Laine? There’s something up here, could you come take a look?"