Sophia glanced around, the heavy stench of blood already spreading through the air, causing her to instinctively cover her mouth and nose with her hand.
But covering her nose wasn’t going to solve the problem.
So, she summoned a Withered Staff in her hand.
Grasping the staff, Sophia lightly tapped the ground. Enya immediately felt the earth beneath her feet tremble, as if an earthquake had struck.
Outside the three of them, where the bodies lay, cracks began to split open one after another, and the corpses fell into the fissures.
Sophia buried them beneath the soil, which not only erased the traces but also put the bodies to some use—a perfect twofold solution.
The remaining bloodstains were dealt with next. Raising her staff, Sophia summoned dozens of water spheres about the size of a human head. They dropped onto the blood pools.
Then, the water condensed again into bright red spheres. Roots sprouted from the ground, piercing into the blood spheres, drying them up.
In an instant, the spheres turned into dead branches, eventually decomposing into dust.
This was only the surface cleaning.
Sophia took a deep breath, grasping her staff firmly as a uniform wave of Magic Power emanated from her.
She used these ripples of power to smooth out the magical field anomalies left by the battle.
If left alone, the magical field would slowly return to normal, but that would take time to fully stabilize.
If anyone came here before the field had settled, they could likely detect traces of the battle through the magic residue.
Moreover, those with strong magic perception might even be able to decipher a wealth of information, such as the combatants’ strength and the course of the fight.
Once the magical field was restored, the cleanup was complete.
Sophia exhaled the breath she had held, then turned to Enya and Nina.
“Let’s go.”
The three set off again, but this time they didn’t follow the main road. Instead, they took a shortcut and soon arrived at the outskirts of the town the old man had mentioned—Water Well Town.
Along a narrow path beside the fields, Nina looked at the lush plants growing in the fields and asked Sophia curiously,
“Sophia, what’s growing in these fields?”
“This…”
Sophia clearly did not recognize the plant in front of her.
The crops were neither rice nor wheat, nor sorghum or any other grain. They didn’t even look like vegetables.
Enya tilted her head to glance at the plants and said,
“This is tobacco.”
“Tobacco? What exactly is that?”
Nina was quite annoyed. She had noticed that even Sophia didn’t recognize the plant, yet her “stinky mother dragon” Enya did, which annoyed her immensely.
Sophia looked at Enya with curiosity.
Enya explained,
“It’s a plant that, when dried and shredded, is allowed to smolder and release smoke. Some people then inhale this smoke for pleasure, so it’s called tobacco.”
“Why do humans smoke? Doesn’t it choke them?”
Sophia was genuinely curious. Humans were such strange creatures—growing crops that weren’t food but tobacco instead.
Does smoking tobacco make them less hungry?
“That, I don’t know. I’ve never tried it nor have any interest in trying.”
“Tch, stinky mother dragon, such a coward!”
Nina seized the opportunity to mock Enya, but Enya ignored her. She wasn’t unaware; she just didn’t want to go into details. Tobacco was planted because it sold for a higher price than grain.
As for what the commoners ate?
Don’t ask. They just endured the hardship.
The three continued forward.
As they neared the town, Nina suddenly ran ahead of Enya.
“Hey, stinky mother dragon, are you going to just walk in like that? Have you forgotten what happened before?”
“Nina!”
Sophia frowned and stepped between Enya and Nina, ready to scold Nina, but Enya cut her off.
“How about this—I’ll hide my presence and sneak into the town to gather some intelligence.”
“Hmph, the stinky mother dragon knows when to be sensible.”
Nina snorted triumphantly and looked down her nose at Enya. Enya smiled softly. She liked this little one but knew she’d have to give her a good scolding eventually.
Sophia turned to look at Enya. From her subtle gestures, it was clear she felt a bit embarrassed, but Enya really didn’t mind.
“Don’t worry, my employer. I’m not the type to take the money and run.”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant… never mind.”
Sophia’s voice carried a kind of awkwardness, as if unsure how to explain further. In the end, she just watched Enya leave their group.
Enya took a side path and quickly disappeared from Sophia’s sight.
Sophia withdrew her gaze and looked at Nina, who was beaming with satisfaction after “sending away” Enya. She sighed helplessly.
Nina, however, was ecstatic, saying,
“The stinky mother dragon is finally gone! Sophia, let’s hurry and leave too!”
“…”
Sophia nodded without much enthusiasm.
Their destination wasn’t this town, nor was it White Stone City. Their true goal was still to find the hidden Mist Lord Church stronghold.
Elsewhere, Enya had already concealed her aura and watched from a short distance as two elf girls approached Water Well Town.
After just one look, Enya slipped into the town ahead. She landed lightly in an alley, wandered around, and found the place deserted.
Some houses emitted faint auras, but only from elderly women and small children—no adult males could be found.
The town was not small, but nearly everywhere was like this—desolate and empty.
Yet, as Enya approached the town’s bustling central area, the scene changed.
In several alleys near the center, people sat or lay about in a daze. They were old and young, even some women.
They looked soulless, their eyes vacant, yet they continuously inhaled tobacco smoke, clutching whatever they had. Those without any ran to the side to breathe in secondhand smoke.
Those without smoke wore expressions of fear and despair, coughing incessantly, wailing and moaning in pain.
But this was not an effect of tobacco itself.
They were sick, and only inhaling that smoke could ease their suffering. They were just a group of pitiful people controlled by tobacco.
Enya narrowed her eyes.
She had seen this before—in Red Pine City, some Mist Lord Church members had infiltrated and lured people into the sect through tobacco addiction.
They gathered to smoke, and eventually their souls were drained by the smoke.
The look of those smokers back then was no different from the people in front of her now.
So, Enya immediately took an interest in this entire town.
Just then, Sophia and the others entered the town and noticed the strangeness as well.
They cautiously began investigating the situation.
As they delved deeper, intending to ask around, the ground trembled slightly and distant hoofbeats sounded.
Sophia froze for a moment, then quickly found a hiding spot with Nina. They concealed their auras and watched toward the main road.
Enya did the same, turning her gaze to the approaching riders.
A cloud of yellow dust rose as dozens of riders charged through the town’s gates. Wherever they passed, sharp bloodstains marked the ground, dragged by ropes tied to their horses, pulling around rotting flesh chunks.
A normal person seeing such a cruel and inhumane scene might faint from shock.
Nina squinted her eyes and muttered under her breath,
“Humans are disgusting. They treat their own kind like this!”
Sophia, luckily hidden behind her veil, did not let her horrified expression show.
She couldn’t imagine how a race could be so ruthless to their own people.
Even Orc Tribes had the rule of not harming their own kind.
Among the Elves, although there might be individual conflicts, at worst they would just cut off contact or arrange a fight to vent.
But dragging people tied behind horses like this had never been seen before!
Enya landed in the courtyard where they were hiding.
Nina pouted upon seeing her and jabbed,
“Stinky mother dragon, you’re not scared, are you?”
Enya ignored her and looked at Sophia, who was still in a daze, scanning her up and down—the sheltered noble elf girl.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh… I’m fine.”
Sophia turned her head away, avoiding Enya’s gaze. Even with her veil, Enya couldn’t see her face clearly, but Sophia still did it.
Enya didn’t press the matter and instead shared her findings.
“The outer part of the town is nearly deserted. But many people remain inside.
And I discovered they seem to suffer from a strange illness.
This illness can only be eased by inhaling the smoke emitted by that tobacco. But it only alleviates symptoms; it’s not a cure.”
“Could this be…”
Sophia quickly came out of her trance.
After hearing Enya’s words, she frowned and said,
“Perhaps this is one of the Mist Lord Church’s strongholds. We need to investigate what exactly happened here. That’s our mission.”
After confirming those people had moved away, Sophia and Nina left, weaving through small alleys along the main road and making their way to the town’s inner ring.
Here, they finally sensed a bit more “human” presence.
The two elves found an inn where they planned to stay temporarily, wanting to spend more time uncovering the town’s secrets.
Two elves meant two rooms.
Enya squatted atop the rooftop, her tail so lush and eye-catching it was impossible to ignore.
Soon after, Sophia and Nina entered their rooms.
Just as they opened the windows, Enya climbed inside, landing steadily.
She glanced around the inn, which seemed well-kept.
This town was also built following the Outsider-Commoner, Insider-Noble Principle.
The place they were in belonged to the Noble District.
Because of this, there weren’t many addicts wandering around. The shops here were mostly legitimate businesses, at least on the surface.