Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 330 The Barn and the Decisive Struggle

Xia Nan's question remained unanswered.

When the strange little wooden house was mentioned, the unusual behavior of the villager leading the way caught his attention.

But when he tried to ask for more information, the villager seemed to have some kind of taboo, and kept silent, not daring to make a sound, and just kept his head down and continued on his way.

This prevented Xia Nan from carrying out his plan to gather information about Fog Lantern Village during casual conversations on the road.

Fortunately, this silent and stiff atmosphere did not last long.

The appearance of a familiar figure, just like when he had just arrived in the village, broke the deathly silence in the air.

"Uncle Jem, I... Phew, I'll take care of it!"

Accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps, a panting boy's voice came from behind.

The visitor was Dongshu.

The young man, whose face was still somewhat immature, had clearly followed his older brother Aspen's instructions. After leading Xia Nan to the wooden house where the village chief lived, he went back and took a shower.

He rushed over before his hair was even completely dry.

“The village chief and Brother Aspen have already told me that there is an empty house on the east side of the village. I will take Mr. Xia Nan there. You can go and do your own thing.”

Having already felt embarrassed and uneasy because of Xia Nan's persistent questioning, the villager named "Jem" breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Dong Shu's words.

They only gave a few polite instructions such as "treat them well" and "don't neglect them," and then turned and left without lingering, as if they had unloaded a heavy burden.

Xia Nan naturally had no objection to this; having an acquaintance guide him was certainly better for him.

He didn't say anything, just stood there quietly waiting for the boy in front of him to put his hands on his knees and catch his breath.

"Excuse me, Mr. Xia Nan." Seeing that Xia Nan didn't seem to be urging him at all, Dong Shu seemed a little shy and scratched the back of his head with a silly smile.

Then she quickly stepped forward and continued to lead the way for him.

At the same time, he introduced Xia Nan to various aspects of the village with great trust:

"Uncle Jem, who led the way for you, is a well-known tailor in the village. I entrust him with processing all the animal hides I bring back from hunting. If you need any help, you can also ask him for assistance. If you want to mention my name... you should mention Brother Aspen's name instead. Maybe he can give you a discount."

"The wooden bridge here has been broken for almost five days. We have to take a short detour, but I heard that the village chief is already arranging for people to rebuild it, and it should be repaired next week."

"Hey, that's the village's threshing ground over there in the distance. I used to go there often when I was a kid..."

The winter tree in the village was much more enthusiastic and lively than he was in the wild, chattering away, its mouth never closing since it came to Xia Nan's side.

It wasn't a pretense, but rather a reflection of his own personality and his welcome to Xia Nan.

Seeing this, Xia Nan, who still harbored resentment towards the oppressive atmosphere in the village and was puzzled by the hut where the villagers had remained silent, asked casually:

"Your Fog Lantern Village is quite different from the other small villages outside; it's very quiet. Has something happened recently? The villagers seem a bit... tense?"

He spoke in a calm tone, as if he were just asking casually.

But Fuyuki's reaction was unexpected.

The bright smile on his face froze instantly, quickly disappearing, replaced by a complex expression that mixed anxiety and helplessness.

"The village chief should have mentioned to you that the village's traditional sacrificial ceremony will be held in the next couple of days. Everyone... everyone is preparing, so the atmosphere is a bit strange."

"Actually, it's not like this on ordinary days! If Mr. Xia Nan had come a few days earlier, you would have been able to feel the difference."

"I see...no wonder." Noticing the change in the other person's expression, Xia Nan agreed and stopped asking questions, instead changing the subject to another area that puzzled her.

"On my way here, I saw a house behind your village chief's wooden house. The area around it was quite clean. Does someone live there?"

At the age of sixteen or seventeen, the boy, who had grown up in the village, was naive and did not know how to hide the ups and downs of his emotions.

As soon as he finished speaking, Fuyuki's face, which was already somewhat stiff from the previous topic, darkened even further.

“It’s Lillie…”

He murmured a few words, his lips moving slightly. His gaze glanced unconsciously towards the village chief's wooden house in the distance before quickly looking away, his expression momentarily darkening.

"Who?" Sensing the possible hidden secrets, Xia Nan raised an eyebrow.

“No, it’s nothing, Mr. Xia Nan.” Dong Shu forced a smile. “I don’t know much about it either, but someone must live there, since, as you said, it’s kept so clean…”

Before Xia Nan could ask any more questions, Dong Shu, who was leading the way for him, had already stopped.

"Mr. Xia Nan, we have arrived."

Dongshu stopped where he was and pointed to a wooden house ahead of the road.

The house itself was not much different from the bungalows seen on the road, and even showed a strong sense of decay because it had been uninhabited for a long time.

Dark blue vines climbed the outer wall, weeds grew, and the damp environment of the low-lying area allowed several clusters of mushrooms to be seen in the corner.

Given the conditions in Fog Lantern Village, having an entire house available for Xia Nan to stay in temporarily was the best they could do.

Knowing full well that it wasn't intentional neglect, Xia Nan didn't really care about it.

He's only staying for two days. He's already satisfied with having a decent place to stay that can shelter him from the wind and rain. As for the environment... he doesn't care much.

On the contrary, Fuyuki seemed a little embarrassed after seeing the house.

Putting the previous topic out of his mind, he offered to help Xia Nan tidy up the house.

"No need to trouble yourself." Xia Nan waved his hand at the other party who looked uneasy, his tone casual. "There's nothing to be particular about, after all, I'm not a permanent resident."

Even so, this simple-minded boy with freckles on his face still stubbornly and sensibly helped Xia Nan clean and tidy up the inner room.

When he later said that it was really enough and there was no need to bother cleaning anymore, the boy's expression even seemed somewhat unwilling.

"Then I won't bother you anymore?"

Dongshu stood on the road in front of the door, his newly changed clothes and hair still covered in dust.

“It’s really enough.” Xia Nan reached out and patted the other person’s shoulder. “I’ll only stay for three nights at most.”

Upon hearing this, Dongshu nodded seriously.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, his gaze paused.

She stood by the roadside, not daring to look up at Xia Nan ahead, only staring at the mud and weeds on the ground.

His breathing, which had been slow and gentle, gradually became rapid, as if he were encouraging himself.

"Mr. Xia Nan, you will stay in the village until after the ceremony, right?"

"Of course." Xia Nan was puzzled, after all, he had mentioned many times on the way here and while cleaning the house that he would not leave for at least three days.

The other party repeated this, more to confirm something than to ask. "Just say what's on your mind, no need to beat around the bush, after all, I'm not from your village."

Xia Nan replied in this way.

But perhaps it was his statement that he was "not a villager in Foglight Village" that made Fuyuki realize the difference between them.

A clear hesitation flashed across his youthful face, but he ultimately swallowed the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.

A distinct smile once again appeared on his face:

"I want to say thank you for your help the other day, otherwise Brother Aspen and I would probably never have been able to return to the village."

"You're welcome, it was just a small favor." Xia Nan waved his hand, his gaze sweeping over the other person's face, which clearly concealed something. "That's it?"

"that's it."

Dongshu nodded emphatically, said nothing more, bowed to Xia Nan, and turned to leave quickly.

Standing in the sunlight in front of the house, his dark eyes reflected the slender figure gradually disappearing into the shadows at the end of the road.

Xia Nan shook his head slightly, almost imperceptibly, and turned to walk into the wooden house.

[Gravity Control] Works silently.

They wanted to improve their skills and also find a convenient place to live.

The invisible gravitational singularity gathered at the tip of the index finger did not produce any exaggerated effect, but it was enough to suck up the dust hidden in the corners of the walls and the cracks between the wooden boards.

hum-

Tiny dust particles were gathered like a vortex into the void above the fingertips, forming a perfectly round sphere made of dust.

With a flick of the finger, the dust ball flew out of the window like a bullet and landed in the mud outside.

Xia Nan placed the backpack containing supplies on the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down, looking thoughtful.

He could certainly tell that whether it was the village chief and Aspen before, or Jem who was in charge of leading the way later, or even Fuyuki, they were all hiding something from the village.

This is especially evident when it comes to the upcoming sacrificial ceremony and the strange little house.

It seems there's something they don't want outsiders like themselves to know.

Is Xia Nan curious?
This is inevitable.

It is human nature that once a strange thing is discovered, one will inevitably have a desire to learn about it; this is an inherent spiritual need of intelligent beings.

On the other hand, despite his curiosity, Xia Nan's acquired values ​​and personality meant that no matter how curious he was, he wouldn't take any real action when faced with something that had nothing to do with him.

Just like now, even though I noticed a change in the guide's attitude while learning about the village, I didn't keep him around to interrogate him when he left.

Even though he clearly sensed Fuyuki's hidden intentions, the words that were about to slip out were forcibly swallowed back down.

When the other party said, "It's nothing, that's all," Xia Nan didn't press further and let them leave.

He knew perfectly well from beginning to end that the purpose of his trip was to collect fog lamp grass from the canyon.

That's it.

As for the people and things encountered along the way...

Xia Nan has always simply followed her heart.

……

……

Xia Nan's dinner could be considered quite lavish.

To repay him for saving Aspen and Fuyuki's lives, the villagers prepared some smoked meat for him, as well as a large pot of fragrant stew with many ingredients, especially the clusters of mushrooms, which he found very delicious.

After a large meal, he, who only needs six hours of sleep a day, naturally couldn't fall asleep so easily.

He pushed open the door, thinking of going out to find a secluded and open place where he wouldn't disturb others and could train for a while longer.

It wasn't late; the sun had just set, but night had already completely enveloped the fog-lamp village.

The moon was nowhere to be seen, and none of the surrounding wooden houses emitted even the slightest light; only the bonfire in the open space in the village, used for public lighting, crackled and popped.

The air was thick with a sense of oppression, even more so than during the day; even the occasional bark of a dog seemed deliberately suppressed.

Xia Nan gently closed the door, his keen senses spreading silently like tentacles. While keeping watch on his surroundings, he followed the path he remembered from his journey, bypassing several silent houses, and headed northwest.

He remembered that there was a relatively open threshing ground on the edge of Foglight Village, which should have been a good training ground for him.

Cold and deathly still, the air was filled with the faint, putrid smell unique to the depression, and the piled haystacks resembled giant beasts crouching in the night, casting even deeper shadows on the ground.

Xia Nan, however, felt relaxed.

Since gaining an improvement in physical attributes in the Serpent Cave Secret Realm, and due to the significant reduction in the daily required rest time, I have been able to flexibly adjust my training schedule.

He had grown accustomed to, and even come to enjoy, the wonderful feeling of solitude when the world was asleep and he could immerse himself fully in training.

However, today... there seems to be some unexpected situation.

It was a suppressed yet excited young voice coming from a barn not far away.

One of the dishes was particularly familiar to Xia Nan.

With a sudden thought, the Agility attribute, already at 10 points, quietly combined with the Perception attribute, which was 1 point higher.

With light, graceful steps, his tall figure disappeared into the shadows of the night.

Xia Nan is not good at stealth, nor does he have any special abilities related to it.

However, his so-called "expertise" is relative to the professional level of the same level.

His experience in the [Dream Corridor] secret realm gave him some understanding of the techniques for concealing one's presence, which, combined with his own physical attributes, allowed him to gain some knowledge of these techniques.

For most ordinary people, and even some adventurers with less acute senses, detecting Xia Nan's presence when he deliberately conceals himself is not an easy task.

And it was precisely because of this that he was able to get close to the barn from which the sound came, and without the people hiding inside noticing, he pierced through the darkness of the air and captured the scene inside.

We have to leave! Tonight!

"Lillie, you can't...you can't just accept this!"

The slender, thin figure and the familiar, youthful voice made Xia Nan recognize the other person at first glance—it was Dong Shu.

At this moment, compared to the energetic and cheerful demeanor he displayed when he met him during the day, this youthful-looking boy's face was now filled with only pain and resolute determination.

(End of this chapter)