Chapter Sixty-six: Clues

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  At noon, the two horses stopped on a small path. Except for the official road of the capital, the rest of the journey was basically mountainous dirt roads, which took up a lot of time for the two people.

  Looking at the scattered houses below the mountain and the rising smoke, Lantigriess took out the map from her ring "The mission said it was here, we've arrived!"

  "Don't be so serious, Tiel! With me around, this task is a piece of cake!" Glay said nonchalantly as she popped her head out and climbed onto Lantiegrace's shoulder. She then turned to Francis and said with a provocative tone: "As for you, little magician who's hiding behind others! If anything happens, just shout loudly, and I'll take care of it for Tiel's sake." Along the way, Glay kept provoking Francis, but Francis remained unmoved, which only served to infuriate Glay further.

  On the road, Francis learned that the cat's name was Gret, a Sacred Stage Shadow Leopard. Unlike Francis, Lantiegris had been very successful in signing this contract and could use Gret's talent ability. No wonder Lantiegris was so confident, relying on the abilities she got from Gret, not to mention Seventh Stage, even Eighth Stage, a moment of carelessness would make her end up in her hands.

  "Just don't make a scene when the time comes!" Francis retorted indifferently, provoking Greta to jump up and down, shouting that she would show him.

  "Stop it, Gret! Lantigriss hugged Gret back into her arms and covered her with the cloak. "Don't underestimate the White Robes of the Church, those two White Robes must have their own means, they disappeared here, this place must have some secrets! Let's be careful, now you just pretend to be an ordinary cat. Remember, when there are people around, absolutely don't speak!"

  Francis gazed down at the village below, sensing something was off. The village seemed normal, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss. What was going on? The continuous disappearances could still be explained by the cult's activities, but what about the church's white-robed attendants?

  "Anyway, let's go down and take a look! We might hear some useful news!" Francis turned his horse around and headed towards the village.

  "Hey, wait for me! Francis, shouldn't we disguise ourselves? This is too conspicuous!" Lantigua Gris said, pointing to the white warrior suit on her body. Both of them were dressed in white, and anyone with a discerning eye would definitely be suspicious, how could they gather information like this?

  "It's nothing! There's no one strange down there!" Francis didn't turn around either and continued riding his horse.

  "How did you know? Have you been here before?" Lantigua asked in surprise, for Francis's tone suggested that he was familiar with the place.

  "I've never been there, it's just my intuition! I'll go to the east of the village to gather some information, and leave the west side to you."

  "!" Lanting Gris's temples throbbed with rage, this guy was really infuriating at times.

  "Tee! What's that guy trying to do?" Greta poked her head out, she had a vague feeling of something strange on Francis, a very strange feeling, mysterious.

  "What's wrong with you today? You usually don't bother with others, why are you talking so much today?"

  "Really?!" Hearing Lantie Gris, Gret also felt that she had talked a bit too much today. "I don't know! That guy gives me the feeling... he's very dangerous!"

  "Danger!?" Lantigua said strangely, how could Gail have this feeling.

  "Hmm! That's exactly what it feels like. He seems quite mysterious and his face is covered too! Say, Teele, do you know what he looks like?"

  "Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen what he looks like!" Lantigri thought for a moment, realizing she really hadn't.

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  "Is anyone there? Sorry to disturb!" Francis led his horse and stopped in front of a farmhouse.

  "Hello! Honorable Master!" An old farmer came out of the house, saw Francis standing outside the fence, and quickly ran over to open the gate.

  "I don't know what I can do for you!" The old farmer said with his head down. On the mainland, strength is respected, and ordinary people like him would naturally be cautious when encountering a noble magician.

  "Oh! I'm passing by here, it's already noon now, thinking of borrowing some food, don't know..." Francis said softly as he tied his horse to the door.

  "It's truly my honor, I have some freshly made ones here, but I don't know if you..." The old farmer worried that his plain tea and simple food wouldn't be enough for the monk's taste buds, and inviting trouble would be disastrous.

  "It doesn't matter! I'll just eat whatever, I'm not picky about food." Francis said nonchalantly, the food wasn't the point, he was here to gather information.

  "Oh! Alright! Just wait a moment!" The old farmer said and walked into the house, soon came out with several plates. A few small dishes, a bowl of porridge and some mantou (steamed buns).

  "The villagers, there's only this much, Master Francis, don't be displeased!" The old farmer rubbed his hands together, afraid that Francis would not be satisfied.

  "Oh! Nothing!" Francis didn't mind either, picked up the porridge and took a sip, just like his previous life.

  "Hey, uncle! There aren't many people here! It's said that the capital is very close, how come there are hardly any people in the village?" Francis and the old farmer chatted for a few sentences before asking aloud.

  "You don't know, do you? The village is close to the imperial capital, and young people with some strength go to the capital to find work. There aren't many people left in the village, and what's worse, a few days ago, a man-eating monster appeared on the mountain over there!! People who went up the mountain to hunt were all killed, and the village organized a group of people to search together, but they didn't find anything! It scared us so much! The villagers were all frightened away, and those who remained gathered some money and hired a few mercenaries to try to catch the monster. But those mercenaries also never came back. Later, no one dared to go up the mountain again. It's strange to say, but since no one went up the mountain, the monsters in the mountains didn't come down either, and these days there hasn't been any news of anyone going missing." The old farmer recounted the events one by one.

  "Monster? Man-eating... monster?" Francis asked in surprise.

  "Yes! That's what those mercenaries said. They also said they had encountered such things before, and that the demons were nothing to be feared, but after going up the mountain, they never came down!"

  "In other words, no one has seen that monster anymore?" From the old farmer's tone, it seemed that the speculation about the monster came from those mercenaries.

  "This is not here, there were no demons in this mountain before, maybe they came from other places."

  "Oh! That's right, the other day I had two companions who also took this road. Have you seen them? Hearing what you just said, I don't hope they went up the mountain!" Francis shifted the topic to the two men in white clothes.

  "Oh! That's really... To be honest, I haven't seen any outsiders these days!" The old farmer thought for a moment, and it seemed that there were no outsiders around these days.

  Francis nodded, and the old farmer wasn't lying. Under his gaze, whether it was true or not could be seen through at once.

  "Is that so... That's good! So they didn't come here after all, and if that's the case, then they didn't go up the mountain either. I think they should be fine." Francis furrowed his brow, did those two deacons really go up the mountain, or was it something else?

  "Thank you very much for your hospitality!" Francis stood up, put a gold coin on the table, and led his horse away. In the village, Francis inquired several times but to no avail.

  "Francis!" Just as Francis was about to go find Lantigua Griss, she had already come a step ahead.

  "What did you find out?" Lantigua Gris jumped off her horse and walked up to Francis.

  "What about you, what did you find?"

  "Those two deacons haven't had any news, no one in the village has seen those two deacons. However..." Lantiegris pointed to the mountain behind her and said: "I heard some rumors, it's said that there are man-eating monsters on the mountain." Lantiegris pointed to the mountain again. "It's that one, there might be some problems there, if those two deacons really had an accident nearby, the location would probably be that mountain!"

  "Hmm! It's about the same here as it is with you, that's what they say. Apparently those two constables didn't enter this village after all. Let's go!" Francis mounted his horse.

  "Where are you going?"

  "Up the mountain, this is our only clue now! I reckon up the mountain will have the answers we're looking for!"

  "Was it done by that man-eating monster?" Lantigua Gris rode her horse, following Francis.

  "Man-eating monster? I don't believe it! And neither would Bishop Ivanov!" Francis raised his head to gaze at the distant mountain range. What rank those mercenaries were, he didn't know, but the two white-robed acolytes of the Church were genuine sixth-rankers. Would a monster that could take down two white-robed acolytes be interested in eating humans?

  "Why?"

  "Just ask the little cat in your arms and you'll know! A magical beast with higher intelligence, generally speaking, wouldn't consider humans as food." Moreover, Francis suspected in his heart that rather than saying it was done by a magical beast, he believed it was man-made.

  "Really?" Lantigua Gris half-believed, took out Glay who was already asleep in her arms and shook her.

  "What's all this, Tildy?" Greta said irritably to Lanty Grissom, who was disturbing her afternoon nap.

  "I have something I want to ask you to prove!"

  "Speak up!" Greta stretched out a lazy waist and licked her own paws.

  "Do you like eating humans? Hmm! I mean would intelligent magical creatures like eating humans?"

  "Oh, this kind of thing! Who knows, at least I don't like it, I like to eat fish!" As she said that, Gretel crawled into Lantigriss's arms, looking as if she was going to take another nap.

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