Night fell, and the village was silent. The various problems brought by the daytime hunt were simply too numerous. In the silent night, no one could sleep peacefully. Suddenly appearing prey, attacks that suddenly intruded across the boundary—these were like stones pressing down on them, suddenly making them feel breathless.
Inside the inn, Kevin and the others were leisurely drinking tea in the hall. Bian Locke also sat beside them.
"Your performance today was truly dazzling. Are all Hunters outside so powerful?" He couldn't help asking.
Menchi glanced at him and asked strangely, "You said you've been in charge of this inn for several years, right? You must have hosted many Hunters. Why would you ask such a question?"
"Idiot, under normal circumstances, why would Hunters use force in the village? This hunt was purely an accident." Buhara said, holding a teacup with two fingers, adjusting his sitting posture.
Bian Locke nodded. "That's right. You are actually the first Hunters I've seen make a move." Mainly, he wasn't very old, and past hunts were always very easy.
Menchi pondered for a moment and then said, "Among Hunters, the average strength is slightly less than Gawain's. The average strength of the combat faction is slightly higher than Gawain's, but weaker than ours. Buhara and I should be considered upper-middle among the combat faction." After speaking, she pointed to Kevin, knowing that the other person actually wanted to ask about Kevin's strength. Because their three-person combat performance today was very normal, like what a Hunter should be. But Kevin's fighting style was obviously a bit exaggerated, and the visual impact was maximized. "As for this guy, he is definitely considered a master in the combat faction, and there shouldn't be many Hunters who can compete with him."
Bian Locke nodded slightly, having a certain psychological judgment.
Kevin didn't care about these things. He looked at Bian Locke and asked, "What impact do you think today's events will have?" These words made Bian Locke's expression turn a bit ugly. He thought in silence for a while, then shook his head. His tone could not hide his worry. "I don't know, but everyone will definitely be more careful in future hunts."
"Who cares—today was a big harvest!" Menchi didn't care about these things, instead saying happily that those several monsters today were all carrying top-tier ingredients. And they were big, so the amount of top-tier ingredients that could be stripped off would definitely not be small. Kevin was somewhat looking forward to how many good materials there would be. He wasn't afraid of the villagers cheating him. How to put it—after two weeks, he found that the villagers in this village were more or less relatively simple. Not stupid, but simple. After all, they had little communication with the outside world, and most of those who came here were Gourmet Hunters. There wasn't much deception. So he wasn't worried at all about being shortchanged.
Menchi's thoughts jumped, and her attention quickly shifted to another matter. She leaned next to Kevin and nudged him with her elbow. "Hey, how about that Saintess?" Seeing the joyful smile on Menchi's face, Kevin's veins throbbed.
"Can you stop being so gossipy?"
"It's not just me—Gawain too." Menchi said, pointing.
Kevin looked to the side. Buhara and Gawain, seeing his gaze, quietly turned their heads away. Even Bian Locke silently picked up his tea and took a sip. It had just become quiet all of a sudden. Eating melon is a natural instinct of life.
"Nothing, just simply saving someone. Could I have just watched? You were much more active than me during the day."
Menchi chuckled, looking like 'you can't hide it from me'. "I'm a girl too, you know. That look in her eyes, hmph—it's no different from the way Neon looks at Kurapika. A hero saving a beauty!"
"Stop talking."
Melusine was currently sprawled on her bed, rolling around with a pillow over her face. One of her maids sat beside her, flipping through a comic book. This was Bian Locke's sister.
"It really is a classic plot," she giggled, reading aloud.
"Lorian, stop teasing Miss," another maid said with a smile.
Hearing that address, Melusine lifted the pillow, revealing her flushed cheeks. "Don't call me Miss—it's embarrassing."
Hearing this, Lorian threw down the book, stood up, and twirled around twice, lifting her maid's skirt. "We are maids, you know, and maids must call you Miss, right?" She said, a brilliant smile on her face.
The other maid also said with a smile, "Then, how about calling you Princess?"
"Ahhh, no, no!" It was too awkward.
The two maids clearly didn't care about this topic. Instead, they directly leaned next to Melusine and quietly asked, "How was it? Does he like you?" Facing the inquiring gazes of the two maids, Melusine's face flushed slightly, but she shook her head. "I don't know."
"Don't know? Why? Didn't he grow wings?" Lorian asked confusedly.
As maids, they clearly knew Melusine's Nen ability. Melusine became hesitant. The other maid next to her narrowed her eyes slightly. "What kind of question are you asking?"
"I—I asked, I asked him if I was pretty." Hearing this, Lorian stood up, looking disappointed.
"At such a good time, you should have asked directly."
"It was too embarrassing. He doesn't know me, and it was very dangerous at that time. How could I ask such a question?" When she said this, the two maids fell silent. The situation at that time was indeed like that. At that time, how could they have thought of such things? Only worry and panic remained. In fact, even now, thinking about it, there was still some lingering fear. Talking about these topics now was just to dispel the worries and fears of the day, to divert attention, and not to let Melusine dwell on it.
"You should be more direct. You're so beautiful, you should just ask him directly." Lorian said so, and then found a comic book from the bookshelf. "Look, isn't it like this in 'Shoujo Romance Fist'? Grab his collar, pull him over, and ask him with an undeniable aura, 'Will you date me?!'" Lorian said, striking the pose from the comic.
The other maid next to her clearly didn't think so. "How is that possible? Most comics are about meeting by accident, gradual progression. You have to get to know and attract the other person first. I like childhood sweethearts the most—that kind of love makes people envious. But Melusine is so beautiful, that guy must like her."
"But, but that's too slow," Lorian mumbled in her heart, her expression a little dejected. Finally, she perked up and leaned over to offer advice. "This hero saving a beauty is an opportunity. You have to seize this opportunity, get close to him, and then seduce him."
"What do you mean by seduce? That's too evil—that's what villains do."
"Oh, right, it's attract. Attract him."
"How do I do that?"
"Send flowers."
"We only have weeds here."
"In the comics, it seems you can send postcards."
"Do we have those?"
"No."
"Then that's it—send books?"
"This is fine, but it feels strange."
"But didn't we specifically go to the library to meet him last time?"
"How about sending food—homemade pastries?"
A small river by the village. Two figures stood by the river. Looking by the moonlight, it was the village chief and Rabik, who was in charge of the hunting party today. Though the two stood quietly like this, their auras were completely opposed.
"Rabik, the festival is in two months. Prepare well." Hearing this, Rabik just calmly said, "Haven't I always been preparing for the festival?"
"Don't play dumb here." The village chief's tone became stern. "Today, you did it on purpose, didn't you?"
"Old man, don't slander me. Melusine rarely comes to watch our hunts, right? Even this time, she might not have come. You should understand." This sentence made the village chief silent. This was indeed the case; he hadn't expected Melusine to suddenly come to watch the hunt today. In the past, he would take her out for a walk, and only then would she come to watch things like hunts. Moreover, the monsters attacking outside breaking through the boundary today was truly an unexpected situation. He shook his head, shaking off these distracting thoughts.
"More words are useless. The festival is very important, and I hope you understand. Think about it carefully." After speaking, the village chief leaned on his cane and left without looking back.
Rabik stood there, quietly watching the river flow through the distant boundary and out. He silently stepped into the water, flowing downstream with the cold river water. He slowly drifted to the boundary, then had to walk out of the water, soaking wet as he came ashore.
"Are you doing that stupid thing again? I'm about to vomit seeing an idiot like you." The voice came from beside a rock. Rabik looked over. It was the vagrant-like fellow who lived at the entrance boundary.
"Idiot? Perhaps, but at least I'm stronger than a coward like you. Get lost." Rabik cursed impolitely and walked away without looking back.
"Presumptuous idiot." The vagrant picked up his wine flask, took a sip, and grumbled.
On the roof of the inn, Kevin stood, silently staring at Rabik walking below. In this silent night, everyone wandering outside was so conspicuous. Including the village chief who had just returned.
"Oh my, this village is much more interesting than it appears on the surface." Menchi held her hands in the shape of binoculars, looking left and right.
The daytime battle hadn't affected them, so they had just been barbecuing on the rooftop. After all, they had hunted four large monsters, and Menchi took a portion of the meat during the butchering. It was impossible for them to just stare at the meat without touching it. Buhara squatted nearby, eating a skewer in his hand. Gawain also stood beside Kevin, staring at Rabik walking below.
"Do you want to get involved?" Menchi asked.
Buhara ate his skewer and shrugged indifferently. "I'm fine with anything. This village is quite interesting, isn't it? It would be a shame if it were destroyed." Gawain also nodded slightly. "I still want to know exactly how my sister died."
Menchi glanced at Kevin. Kevin simply said quietly, "This isn't something I can just run away from. The 'come here' sound has targeted me."
"What do you mean?" Menchi frowned, her expression suddenly turning serious. She hadn't heard about this before.
"Do you know why I said there would be an accident today? It wasn't because I saw more monsters coming, but because I saw the dark figure I told you about before. Without a doubt, the 'come here' sound was emitted by that guy, and he was undoubtedly watching me today. As for the village today, the unexpected events caused by the hunt are most likely related to that guy too." As soon as he stepped out of the village, the 'come here' sound eagerly whispered in his ear. He was clearly being targeted. He had thought before that the other party wasn't forcing him, but today's situation clearly showed he was wrong. If he didn't solve this problem, leaving might not be so simple.
"Troublesome," Menchi said helplessly. In that case, she really couldn't leave, because Kevin was invited by her. Though Kevin himself wanted to come, it was indeed her invitation initially. Therefore, she had to ensure Kevin's safety. Now that Kevin was involved in the incident, they also had a responsibility.
"Alright, alright, let's summarize the information now." Since the problem had arisen and they couldn't stay out of it, they had to solve it. The few of them sat around together.
"First, let's talk about the problems." Kevin said directly. "The festival, the 'come here' sound, the village, the Saintess." He directly stated these four problems.
"There's no need to mention the festival. Bian Locke is unwilling to say much about it. It happens once every nineteen years, and Gawain's sister died in the last one. The problem here is the source of everything, but we can't just wait for the festival to begin in two months. We must figure out the reason for all of this before then." They had discovered this point of doubt from the very beginning; it just depended on whether they wanted to intervene or investigate.
Then came the second problem. "Then there's the 'come here' sound. This thing has been targeting me since I arrived, and it's getting more intense, clearly inconsistent with the information we saw before. So we need to know what the difference is between people who hear the sound and those who don't, and what the difference is between those who hear the sound and me. Judging from the sudden situation in the village today, this sound is related to the village's curse."
The few of them listened and nodded. If everything today was indeed related to that black figure, then the other party must be able to influence those monsters through some means. Or rather, they could have some influence on the curse in the village, amplifying its attraction. It was even more likely that both were true, which would be troublesome. However, there was too little information to make rash decisions.
Menchi also said, "Just like we saw just now, Rabik and that village chief—they clearly have some issues." A Hunter's eyesight is beyond doubt. And this village was too peaceful. They saw those two guys by the river from afar. Though they just came up to barbecue, they couldn't help but see them.
"And that vagrant at the entrance," Gawain reminded. Though they couldn't see what the three of them talked about, the behavior of these three was stranger than the last.
"Finally, there's that girl," Buhara said, glancing at Kevin. Kevin sighed helplessly and said straightforwardly, "Alright, and then there's that Saintess. Her name should be Melusine. She clearly showed extra attention to me. As for what that attention means, there's no way to know. Since she's paying attention to me, she'll definitely act later, so we can wait a bit longer on her problem."
Hearing this, Menchi patted his shoulder. She gave him a thumbs up. "Then this Saintess is up to you. Make the sacrifice."
Kevin couldn't determine what the Saintess meant. But Menchi, with a woman's intuition, just felt that the Saintess liked Kevin. Some things are incomprehensible from a man's perspective, but from her woman's perspective, they are actually very easy to see clearly. This is a difference in gender perspective, which cannot be converted or understood. Just like some male behaviors are easy for men to distinguish, but women don't understand them.
However, Menchi had to admit, putting aside whether the Saintess's behavior was strange or not, the identity of this Saintess was very strange, and today's attack also proved this point. The first villager being dragged out because he was closest to the boundary was understandable. But the second person attacked—the Saintess—was not close to the boundary at all; she was clearly the target. And the existence of something like a Saintess was inherently strange.
"But we should actually solve the 'come here' sound first, shouldn't we?" Gawain said at this moment. Looking at everyone's eyes, Gawain directly stated his thoughts. "Because this thing has indeed posed a threat to Kevin and to us. Just like when Kevin and I came back last time, and like during this hunt, it acted proactively, so its priority should be first, shouldn't it?" And the other things posed no threat; in fact, if they didn't deal with them, they were unrelated to them. The priority of these things was not on the same level as the 'come here' sound at all. They were brought up only because they were unreasonable and possibly related to the 'come here' sound.
Kevin couldn't help nodding. "You're right. The 'come here' sound problem should be ranked first."
Buhara thought for a moment and suggested, "Let's contact the outside world first and have people outside gather information. When we came here before, we gathered comprehensive information, but we only had a rough understanding of the 'come here' sound. Now that this thing has become the most important problem, we might have to investigate the information in detail."
"Exactly, and distinguishing the differences might only be possible for you, especially among those who also hear the sound. Why do you hear more than them? The other party even formed a figure visible only to you." Menchi looked at Kevin and reminded him. This clearly might involve Kevin's own problems or secrets, and they, by reason and sentiment, couldn't help him to that extent.
Kevin nodded. "No problem. I have a rough idea about this, but of course, I need more information to support it."
After the discussion, Kevin directly took out his satellite phone. Once decided, there was no room for delay. Soon the call connected. Begetto's voice came through. Kevin entrusted Begetto with looking up relevant information for him. After all, information retrieval was something a Hunter had to do.