The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

However ominous he might've looked, Johan did his job diligently. He knew the importance of staying careful, cautious and on-guard, so he took his post as watchman seriously. Johan didn't take many things seriously, but when he did decide to do something properly, he would do it very well. He kept a proper watch for the first part of the night, then woke up Eva so she could take over.

Eva did her job with equal seriousness, then it was Isaac's turn and finally Abbie's. Soon it was morning.

Abbie woke the others at about 7 o'clock and they all ate breakfast together. Over breakfast, they had a group discussion about how they would find clues about the wild beast.

For their plan to work, they needed to discover its species and the location of its den, so those 2 things were their priorities. They decided Isaac and Abbie would ask the village head some questions, while Johan and Eva would search the village to try and find clues.

The pairs had been chosen so that they were both composed of a melee fighter and a supporter, with both pairs having a middle stage cultivator. With groupings like that, Isaac wasn't too concerned about either his or Johan's group running into trouble. He was only worried that Eva and Johan's personalities might clash, so he had a word with them before they left.

"Eva, I want you to listen to Johan on this job. He's extremely skilled at searching for clues and investigating things, so if he makes a decision, his word is final."

Then Isaac turned to face Johan,

"But that doesn't mean I'm giving you free reign to do what you want. You need to consider each possible course of action and decide on the best one. If Eva's suggestion is better than yours, don't be stubborn and stick to your guns – listen to her, that's what teammates are for. We'll meet back here at midday and brief each other on what we've found."

Eva and Johan nodded solemnly. This was their first medium difficulty mission, so they didn't dare take it lightly. Both were determined to perform well and get a good result. After Isaac's short pep talk, they left the house and got to work.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Abbie stayed put. She looked up from the table and spoke to him,

"Our meeting with the village head was scheduled for 7:45, so I recommend leaving soon. The walk to his residence should take approximately 10 minutes."

"Let's leave in 3 minutes. We have to time it so we're neither late nor early."

Arriving late would show that they didn't really care about the mission. Meanwhile, arriving early would be unbefitting of their status as cultivators: it would be like a King arriving early at the Duke's mansion. Being punctual conveyed just the right amount of seriousness in carrying out their task.

When the clock on the wall hit 7:35, Isaac and Abbie donned their jackets and left. They walked through the quiet village streets towards the centre of the settlement, which was where the village head resided.

Isaac was slightly surprised when they arrived. He'd been expecting the village head's residence to look like the one from the 2nd trial – the trial where he'd fought a village's head inside an illusion. However, the 2 residences looked nothing alike. The head's residence in the 2nd trial was an expansive one-storey house surrounded by a large courtyard and a fence. Leon's residence was also single-storey, but that was where the similarities ended.

There was no large courtyard or extravagant exterior. In fact, the house was entirely nondescript – it was only distinguishable from the other houses on the street since it was slightly larger than them. Then Isaac noticed that one of the wood panels of the house had writing on it.

He got closer and saw that names and numbers were engraved into the wood,

'17597 - 179614 T.C. Kirk Pedersen

179614 – 179618 T.C. Klara Henrik

179618 – 179641 T.C. Aaron Hilsberg

…'

The list went on and on. Isaac couldn't read it all so he skipped to the end,

'18092 - T.C. Leon Daleson'

It seemed to be a record of all the previous village heads – perhaps they had all lived here, in this very house? The mere thought of it was impressive: over 500 years' worth of village heads, all living in this one place, passing on their sacred duties down the generations. Unfortunately, as grand as that might sound, it was unlikely. A wooden home such as this would last 100 years – 150 at most, so there must've been at least 4 or 5 village head residences over the years.

Instead of the age of this building, Isaac focused on the years written on the panel. The first village head was appointed in 17597 T.C., a year after the Full Moon Sect was formed. The sect had actually been created by unifying the villages in this area, but some of the villages had resisted. The sect had forcibly subdued most of them, but many villagers had escaped and moved further away from the sect to start new villages. Kirk Village was likely to be one of those villages.

However, the sect had been expanding its territory for many years. Eventually, Kirk Village had fallen back into its clutches. Based on the village history, Isaac guessed that some people here might resent the sect for taking away the freedom their ancestors had fought for.

Then Isaac turned his attention to Leon's name. The new year had started just a couple of months ago, making it 18125 T.C. now. However, Leon had begun his tenure as village head in 18092, a whole 33 years ago. That meant he was wise and experienced. He had undoubtedly met many people from the sect during that period, so he must've become an expert in dealing with them by now.

Even though this was a village of commoners, it had an experienced head and a long history. There could be many secrets or hidden dangers within this village, so Isaac wanted to complete the mission and return to the sect as soon as possible. The less time they spent here, the less time there was for things to go wrong.

As Isaac was thinking this, Abbie knocked on the house's door.

It took no more than 10 seconds for Leon to answer it. He welcomed the pair inside and shut the door behind them.

"You are very punctual." He smiled, "I thought you might've arrived early, but you're right on time."

As someone who'd been involved in politics for a long time, Leon knew all the tips and tricks of the trade. He even took notice of things like arrival time, so he knew that Isaac was trying to show they was serious about the job. However, it wasn't enough to be serious. The wolf wild beast was an urgent issue for the village so they had to be quick as well, which is what Leon was referring to when he said Isaac might've (or should've) arrived early.

Abbie also understood the hidden implication in Leon's words. She flicked her hair back and spoke,

"We might not be early, but we're efficient. I can assure you we'll find the wolf quickly and kill it before it attacks again."

"I sincerely hope you do so. As I stated previously, I will do my best to assist in any way possible."

"Perfect. We have some questions, so your cooperation would be much appreciated. Firstly, could I ask whether you've noticed anything unusual recently?"

Leon chuckled at Abbie's question,

"Nothing strange at all, this is just a regular village. Nothing has been out of place this last month or so; everything has been the same as usual."

"So you don't have any idea why the beast might be attacking Kirk Village?"

"None at all, I'm afraid. As I've said, everything's been normal. I have no idea why a wild beast would suddenly attack our village, other than its innate hostility towards humans."

"You've been attacked 3 times, correct? When were the attacks and when did you request support from the sect?"

"Yes, that's right – 3 attacks, all in quick succession. The first came 7 days ago, then the second was one day after that. We sent for help immediately after the second attack, but we think our messenger was killed by the wolf since we received no response. We sent another message to the sect 2 days after that, and then we got a response the next day. That was 3 days ago, the same day as the beast's third attack. It hasn't returned since then."

Just as Abbie was going to ask another question, Isaac interrupted,

"I saw where the wall was damaged from the second attack; it still hasn't been repaired. But then, instead of targeting that weak area, the 3rd attack was on the other side of the village. Do you know why it did that?"

Leon got more serious when he heard that question.

"I've wondered that too. When we started repairing the damage done in the second attack, we knew we severely lacked wood. Nothing we did would be enough to stop the wolf if it attacked here again, so I told the workers to focus on making the wall look strong and stable rather than using all our wood to reinforce it. Maybe the wolf saw our repairs and thought the wall was back to full strength, but still... even if the wall looked like it was repaired, there was still some visible damage it should've noticed. I'm afraid I'm as baffled by this as you are."

"That's not a problem, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it in the end."

Abbie resumed asking the questions,

"More pressingly, we lack a good description of the wolf right now. It would be of great help if you could introduce us to somebody who's seen it."

Leon thought about it for a moment and sighed,

"There's only one person who's gotten a clear look at the beast and isn't currently dead or laid up in the doctor's infirmary. She is still injured so I didn't want to bother her right now, but... this is for the village's safety; I have no choice. Come with me, I'll bring you to see Astrid."