It was a peaceful night — no earthquakes, no floods, no Undead, and no Evil Cult.
For everyone who had been in a state of high tension for these past two days, this was undoubtedly a huge relief.
Of course, if they hadn’t been excessively electrocuted, overly frightened, and… bullied too much like a certain rabbit, this night would have surely been the most stable sleep they had ever had.
However, the stone beds in the cave were a bit… hard. Ileya felt a slight ache in her shoulders when she woke up.
“Well then…”
The next morning, in the passage leading to Lande, the Abandoned City, Ileya looked at Jerry, who was seeing them out, and gave a light smile and a slight nod.
“We shall part ways here.”
“May the Merciful Mentor guide your path forward,” Jerry said, also nodding to Ileya and the others.
Although the two parties were not very familiar with each other, they had gotten along quite pleasantly.
After this parting, there might never be another chance to meet again…
It wasn’t that he was reluctant to see them go… it was just a bit sentimental.
Currently, there were still several injured humans in the village. Looking at their wounds… it would likely take 10 to 15 days before they could leave.
These villagers, who hadn’t had contact with humans for over a dozen years, suddenly had to live with humans for such a long time. It was hard to say whether it was a blessing or a curse…
The Ratman thought to himself as he watched Ileya and her group leave through the passage. He was about to turn around and lead his clansmen back to the dark cave village.
“Hey!”
At that moment, Ileya suddenly turned around. Her red eyes shone with a dim light in the gloomy passage…
For some reason, Jerry felt a sudden sense of unease.
“If… your Merciful Mentor gave you the order to attack humans… what would you do?”
“Huh?”
Jerry was slightly stunned.
How… how could that be possible? Their Ancestral Teaching from ancient times until today had always been to treat humans with kindness… and to live in peaceful coexistence.
How could the great and Merciful Mentor ever order their Ratman race to attack humans?
Furthermore…
“We… are not a race skilled in battle…” Jerry murmured instinctively, but he did not give a direct answer.
After all, if it truly were a decree from the Mentor, perhaps the Ratman race would indeed follow orders.
But before he could finish his sentence, Ileya had already turned around again and continued forward.
It seemed as if the question just now had only been a casual remark from the Lady.
It would clearly be a bit presumptuous to call her back now… so Jerry could only return to the village with a strange feeling in his heart.
“Lady, should I deal with them?” Amisa leaned close to Ileya’s side and whispered the inquiry.
The other party had not given her Lady a satisfactory answer.
This place was not far from Gilliris. It would be as easy as flipping a hand to mobilize troops to wipe out this village of Foreign Races, or to go back now and kill them all herself.
“There’s no need. There is no reason to pay attention to someone who doesn’t even know how to lie. Even if they went to the battlefield, they would just be cannon fodder.”
Ileya waved her hand casually.
She had only asked on a whim… or rather, it was more of a probe.
Fortunately, the Ratmen were simple enough, which allowed the Lady to confirm one thing.
That was, the Divine Kin of the Red-Hearted Witch… or rather, the Crystal Giant Tree, had likely not taken any action against humans yet.
Could it be that the Kingdom would truly take the initiative to go and find trouble with the Supreme Being in the future?
Ileya didn’t know. Unfortunately, this matter involved the Royal Family. If she were in the Royal Capital, she could still dig for some news… but here in East County… she probably wouldn’t be able to get any useful information.
“How did the investigation I asked you to do last night go?” Ileya changed the subject, her red eyes glancing at Amisa beside her.
Others could sleep heartlessly, but the Lady did not trust these Ratmen quite so much.
So, she had sent Amisa out last night to investigate the specific situation of this village…
In the end, she discovered that there were only Priests here, but no Transcendents in the true sense. Amisa had even quite easily infiltrated the deepest part of the Ratman village… a place called the Village Shrine Cave.
“In reply to the Lady, I have already investigated. Furthermore… I found this in the shrine cave of these Ratmen…”
The Head Maid spoke, opening the bundle she was carrying. Inside was a stone box about the size of two palms.
“However… this box is very tight. I tried many methods, but I couldn’t open it…”
Regarding Amisa’s act of taking without asking, Ileya’s stance was… could things involving Nobles be called stealing?
This was called “requisitioning”! It was already generous enough not to collect taxes from them…
Tap, tap, tap…
She tapped on the stone box. She felt that whatever was inside… shouldn’t be a liquid. It felt like some stones.
While they studied it along the way, the group also passed through two secret doors and returned to the surface.
At this moment, the Ruined City was even more dilapidated than before.
After the great battle last night, one could still faintly smell the scent of something charred…
Most of the dust on the ground was likely the ashes left behind after the Cultists had been burned to a crisp.
Now, because of the stone box, everyone gathered around.
After a unanimous assessment by the group, it seemed to be a four-digit combination box!
Compared to magical items engraved with runes on the surface, this thing, while not so miraculous, was quite precise.
“Although we could open it by force, there’s no guarantee the contents inside will remain unharmed… if there is a self-destruct mechanism inside…” Arthur gently stroked his white beard.
“So I think… we should take such a thing back and find a professional to open it.”
“Isn’t it just four digits ( )~? Why don’t we just try them one by one~”
The wise Goddess Young Lady announced her “wise” suggestion.
“Ahem… Senior Veil, it’s better if you talk less…”
“I think my method is quite good <(`^’)>!”
While everyone was discussing, Ileya noticed Franlot, who had been sitting beside Arthur all along.
At this moment, the Lady finally had the mind to slightly observe this Destined Traveler.
The guy sat behind Arthur, looking quite well-behaved, as if he didn’t want to attract attention.
But his wandering eyes betrayed him…
His gaze swept across all the young girls, including herself. The amazement in his eyes couldn’t be hidden even if he tried… the smirk on his lips was harder to suppress than the recoil of an AK with an 8x scope.
Who knew what this guy was actually thinking about in his heart.
However, that didn’t stop a bit of killing intent from rising within Ileya at this moment.
What surprised the Lady a bit, though, was that this guy’s injuries were completely healed… even though his ribs had been kicked and broken by Insmouth earlier.
To think that after just one night of rest, he was acting as if nothing had happened.
Could it be that Arthur had treated him earlier?
No… the Lady narrowed her eyes slightly.
He hadn’t just recovered from his injuries… his entire body seemed a bit stronger than it was yesterday, and even his spirit was much better than yesterday’s quail-like performance.
Generally speaking, when an ordinary person is injured, even if they are completely healed, there will be a recovery period of several days of weakness.
But this guy… was clearly not an ordinary person…
The Lady narrowed her eyes slightly, a flicker of interest shining in her red eyes.
‘Is it… the “cheat” that comes with being a Transmigrator?’