“You really… discovered it long ago.”
Luolun’s lips trembled as he slowly revealed the true purpose of this commission.
“Actually, our village… is in the middle of a war.”
“A war?”
Ailin was stunned.
At that moment, the sudden attack by three Minotaurs had already proven Li Si’s judgment correct.
She no longer insisted on setting up camp and decided to pack up and travel through the night.
However, upon hearing the word “war,” she couldn’t help but pause in her actions.
Village Chief Luolun signaled Luola and Suoda to take out their respective items from the hidden layers of the sack they had been carrying all the way.
Ailin was startled.
To her surprise, they were two pieces of heavy armor even more exquisite than the one she was wearing.
“They are the strongest defense members in our village, and the only ones who have changed class. Our war is not against humans…”
Li Si glanced at the Minotaur corpse on the ground and said softly, “Magic Beasts, huh.”
“Sigh.”
Luolun sighed, “You really have seen through everything.”
Ailin blinked and looked at the expressionless Li Si, then at her four teammates.
Five pairs of eyes were filled with confusion.
It sounded as if only they hadn’t noticed.
Ailin felt a bit embarrassed.
She could only help handle the last Minotaur corpse while waiting for the rest of the story.
“Here’s the thing. Our Hot Spring Village is rich in a certain fruit, but the Minotaurs hate the trees. So our village has always been at war with the Minotaurs. But a few days ago, the Crimson Moon descended…”
Li Si held the back of her head and looked up at the night sky.
She had speculated before, and now hearing it confirmed her judgment.
In essence, it was a survival conflict between an intelligent race and Magic Beasts.
Hot Spring Village’s specialty was Hot Spring Fruit.
Minotaurs loved the fruit but hated the trees.
They often attacked the village during the harvest season, plundering the fruit while destroying the trees.
Originally, relying on the Goddess’s barrier, the village could defend itself.
But now the Goddess’s power had vanished, the Minotaurs had evolved, and the balance was broken.
“Sigh… We also tried to post quests, but some special circumstances arose in Soronwell. The strong adventurers simply couldn’t leave… Some ordinary adventurers came but suffered heavy casualties. After that, no one took the quests. A few days ago, the miasma in the Beginner Village was cleared, so we decided to post quests there. But the village’s savings were insufficient, and moreover… even among Soronwell’s adventurers, few dared to accept an extermination quest. So we…”
Luolun let out a heavy sigh.
Helplessly, he reached out and gently patted the horse’s back.
The horse stepped forward, and the group set off again.
Luola guiltily took over the conversation, “We knew that beginner adventurers probably wouldn’t stand a chance against those Minotaurs, but we really ran out of time. The fruit had ripened, and for some reason, the Minotaurs’ attacks on the village were becoming more and more intense. If we didn’t do something, the village definitely wouldn’t last the month… Actually, we had already decided to wait a few more days. If no one showed up, we would… stake our lives… But then you appeared.”
Luola shamefully cast her gaze toward the silver-haired figure beside the carriage.
Li Si nodded.
She had found it a bit odd when she accepted the quest.
After accepting, the originally scheduled departure the next day was immediately changed to the same day.
Looking back, this was a classic fraudulent quest.
Li Si gazed at the pink glow in the night sky.
As they approached Hot Spring Village, the glow grew denser, and the black miasma within it dispersed more and more.
In her Strict Father perception, the places connected to this miasma were all gathering auras similar to that of the Minotaur they had just fought.
“Hey, hey, hey… I want to get off! You’re not really going to that hellhole, are you…”
On the carriage, Jian, who had just been startled, quickly jumped off in the dark.
She only wanted to go back to Soronwell to see the princess; she didn’t want to get involved in some war quest.
But when she turned to look, Li Si was holding her head with no expression, her delicate profile bobbing up and down as she walked, completely unreadable.
She quickly looked at Lili Ya as if begging for help.
In her eyes, Lili Ya was the one most like herself among everyone.
But when her gaze fell on her, she was stunned again.
Lili Ya seemed not to have been listening to their conversation at all.
As she walked, she kept staring at her hands holding the staff, occasionally making a grasping motion, as if savoring the feel of the previous battle.
Though she really didn’t want to, Jian placed her last hope on that strange purple-haired little girl but before she could speak, her hope was dashed.
That little girl was sitting on top of the sack.
Though her voice was very soft, Jian heard it clearly.
She farted, then immediately turned around, lay down on the sack, and sniffed it hard while saying that she needed to supplement some Hot Spring Fruit.
Jian thought she was doomed.
But soon she noticed the five-person swordsman team.
She remembered that they were also headed to Soronwell, and they had been very flustered when facing the Minotaur just now.
Obviously, this was a team that had just left the Beginner Village.
Jian’s eyes lit up.
She was about to run over and try to communicate but just as she took a step, she heard the tall female captain, who was a head taller than Li Si, speak as if taking an oath.
“I see. However, our mission is to escort you all to the village. Until that mission is complete, nothing changes.”
“Damn it… A bunch of lunatics!”
Jian stomped her foot in frustration.
Suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder.
She quickly turned around and saw a face with short pink hair, smiling gently at her.
“Don’t be afraid. Li Si didn’t say no, so there’s no problem.”
“But… I… war…”
Jian clenched her fists and finally sighed.
All she could do now was entrust herself to the demon.
“You… are you really prepared to go…”
Luolun was both excited and uneasy.
He watched the silver-haired girl walking nonchalantly beside the carriage, afraid she would change her mind the next second.
He urgently confirmed, “Lady Dictator, are you truly willing… to help us…?”
Li Si turned her head.
Following the pink ribbon of light above, she fixed her gaze on Luola.
The designated target of Kind Mother’s sense should be the next bond, no doubt.
But what was this faint sense falling on Luola?
Li Si was very curious, so she wanted to know some things about Luola.
The three people from Hot Spring Village all looked at each other, almost feeling like they had hit the jackpot.
Luola was even more excited.
As long as she could save the village, she would be willing to do anything, even become Li Si’s slave, let alone talk about herself.
She held nothing back and explained her situation in every detail.
She clearly recounted everything from her background to her adventure record.
Li Si’s eyebrows twitched as she listened.
When she heard a name, her heart seemed to skip a beat with a telepathic feeling.
She repeated, “Liewata?”
“Yes, she is my little sister. She is my only family. Like me, she is a defense member of the village, a very hardworking adventurer. But…”
Luola suddenly became a bit melancholy.
She sighed, “But she can’t get stronger… She is a mage, but she only knows the Spark skill, which requires the lowest affinity.”
Li Si looked at the night sky.
At that moment, the pink ribbon of light gave a clear response.
So the sense that had been spread onto Luola was a resonance of wanting to protect a shared goal.
Kind Mother’s sense was telling her that this was someone she could trust.
“Liewata… the defense team. It seems we need to hurry.”
Li Si’s gaze deepened.
In her Strict Father perception, the miasma had begun to converge toward the core of the pink ribbon.
A war was about to begin.