After a day of observation, Weston was almost certain that this team was definitely not just a recruitment team for the Baron Quilt's mines.
If the Baron Quilt truly needed a large workforce for mining, then as the recruitment captain, the young man's correct approach should have been to take these refugees directly to their destination.
But he didn't do it that way.
Weston recorded the team's route on a magic map using Super Archive, discovering that the young man had led the refugees left for a while, then right for a while, taking various detours throughout the day.
There were only two possible reasons for doing this.
One was to exhaust the villagers' energy, and the other was to make them lose their sense of direction.
This way, once the team reached their destination, they might never be able to leave again, doomed to a lifetime of hard labor in the mines.
No, perhaps there was no such thing as a mine at all!
But if there were no mines, what did they intend to do by recruiting this group of people?
Everything could only be judged once they reached the destination.
Another half-day passed, and as night fell, the team finally arrived at their destination.
An extremely secluded valley.
The valley was surrounded by mountains, covered in lush vegetation, with dense branches and leaves blocking out the sun. Ancient tree roots intertwined, and a thick fog enveloped the area. Clear tracks of large wild beasts were visible on the ground.
While hidden, it was also more dangerous.
Once ordinary people entered here, they couldn't leave on their own.
Led by the young man, everyone entered the valley.
Here was a considerably vast flatland, upon which a settlement about half the size of Magnolia was built.
The settlement was walled with wooden stakes. In the very center was a large palace-like building, and outwards from there were more ornate residential houses, ordinary factory buildings, and military barracks.
It looked more like a hidden tribe with a mature class system.
"I say, young man—"
"Didn't you say you were bringing us to mine?"
"This place doesn't look like there are any mineral veins at all."
It wasn't until the team arrived in the tribe that the villagers finally couldn't help but voice their doubts.
The young man stopped, turned around, and a cold smile appeared on his face.
"Mineral veins? There are!"
"Water resources are also mineral resources. You just have to follow orders and dig wells for now."
"Why, why do we have to dig wells?"
"That's a given!"
The young man said as if it were obvious: "After all, you people are going to live here forever in the future. How can you manage without a well?"
He finally stopped pretending!
"You said forever—?!"
"Hey, hey, hey, young man! We never said we wanted to live here forever!"
The villagers panicked, sweat broke out on their foreheads, and their hands and feet became flustered.
They finally realized that they had likely been tricked.
So, a group of people tried to rush forward to question the young man, while another group simply turned and ran away.
However—
Thump, thump, thump!
A large group of soldiers armed with spears and swords rushed over from a distance, surrounding everyone.
"All of you, quiet down!"
"Obediently squat down where you are and await the chief's command, otherwise... hehe—"
With cold spearheads so close, the villagers were all terrified, their faces ashen, not daring to make any rash moves.
The young man glanced at Weston and the others, and seeing that the three of them made no move, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, then gave orders to the soldiers.
"Take them to the Third Camp, and guard them with the people who came in yesterday. I'll go inform the chief!"
"Oh, and pay special attention to those three, especially that giant!"
"Yes!!"
The young man nodded and turned to walk towards the largest and most luxurious palace in the tribe.
Chief?
Sure enough, there was no such thing as the Baron Quilt or any mineral veins!
"Guild Master, Sister Mavis, aren't we going to make a move yet?"
Joey bent down and asked in a low voice.
"No rush."
"Didn't you see him go to fetch the chief?"
"Let's follow these people first to see how many have been tricked here. It would be best if we could free everyone who has been deceived in one go."
"At the same time, we can also see what they intend to do by tricking so many people here."
Under the escort of the soldiers, everyone arrived at the 'Third Camp' within the tribe.
Here, there was a group of people who looked similar to them, appearing to be commoners or even refugees.
However, they were all confined in cages.
"These bastards, have they tricked innocent people again?!"
Upon seeing Weston and the others arrive, the people in the cages immediately began to clamor uneasily.
Through the gaps in the cages, one could see that these people were all sallow and emaciated, with dull eyes, dry lips, and sunken eye sockets, exuding endless panic and despair.
It seemed they hadn't had food or water since being tricked here—
"All of you, quiet down!!"
The tribal soldier forcefully slapped the cage twice, then looked at the villagers behind him and shouted: "You, all of you get in!"
The villagers dared not enter, and even less wished to.
The soldier grew impatient, grabbed one of the elderly men, and threw him into the cage.
Weston recognized him as the old man who had spoken with the young man in the village square earlier.
The old man had been silent since arriving here, likely regretting his action of bringing the village's young people here.
"Ouch—!"
Thrown by the soldier, the old man lost his footing and fell to the ground, scraping his knee, which immediately bled profusely.
Seeing this, a small figure in the cage angrily stood up.
"You guys, is this how you treat an old man?!"
The soldiers scoffed upon hearing this: "You, you can't even take care of yourself, and you have time to care about others?!"
Weston looked up.
When he saw the appearance of this small figure, he was stunned.
A rectangular face, small eyes, rough features, bold eyebrows, a large inverted pentagon nose, striking stubble, and a butt-shaped cleft chin—
The appearance of this person before him was exactly like Ichiya from Blue Pegasus!!
"—Ichiya?!"
Weston was so shocked his mouth hung open.
In an instant, he felt as if someone was rubbing a dirty rag repeatedly on his skull.
In a daze, a voice seemed to echo in his ears: "MEEEEEN~"
No!
At this time, Ichiya's grandfather probably hadn't even been born yet!
Weston's consciousness finally cleared.
Just then, the guy who resembled Ichiya also turned his gaze.
Oh no, their eyes met!
"Hmm?"
The air was silent for a full five seconds.
What is this guy going to do?
Just as Weston was feeling uneasy—
"My name is Reiya!!"
[The grandfather of Ichiya, the strongest Wizard of the future Blue Pegasus]
"Who the hell wants to know your name?!!!"