NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1248
Chapter 86: The Jumping Date
Vilyric’s actions were quite reasonable. Although she didn’t specify what kind of buffs she provided, once explained, Enrique and Sophie naturally wouldn’t refuse her offer. Before long, the three of them casually picked an empty room to settle in and continue observing.
Prior to this, the Tree Bow had sneaked out of the village alone to communicate with a few others who were left behind outside, briefly explaining the situation and plans before rushing back to regroup with the others.
With Enrique’s skills as a seasoned legendary adventurer and under the cover of night, the village guards and militia simply couldn’t detect him, not even if all of them were veteran soldiers like Marcelo.
For safety, the three didn’t split up their sleeping arrangements. Instead, Vilyric and Sophie, the two girls, shared a room, while Enrique sat quietly in the outer room, resting. He kept his weapons nearby, ready for any situation. As top-tier elite adventurers, this unspoken understanding came naturally.
As the night passed, no one disturbed them, and before long, morning arrived.
Lying on a rather uncomfortable flat bed with only a layer of cotton padding, the first rays of sunlight spilled into the room, and Miss Vilyric opened her eyes at just the right moment.
“What’s going on?!”
Enrique’s surprised shout echoed from outside the room. With her back to the Priestess and still in her clothes from the night before, the Tree Spirit girl shot up from the bed like a startled rabbit and, without hesitation, leaped out the window with her weapon!
“Those long ears do come in handy; she may be carrying quite a burden but is still surprisingly agile…”
Slightly amused yet exasperated, Vilyric got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and headed outside.
Of course, she walked out through the door like a proper lady.
When she emerged outside, the Tree Bow and Tree Wall were already on alert, surveying their surroundings with astonished expressions. Upon seeing her arrive, they rushed over.
“Miss Vilyric, did you see this—”
“Uh-huh.”
The black-haired girl nodded slightly, her expression a mix of surprise and understanding, as if to say, “I knew it!”
The buildings surrounding the village watchtower were specifically designated for Marcelo’s militia, housing about twenty soldiers who rotated shifts.
When Vilyric and the others arrived yesterday, they had already seen several guards at the village entrance and near the watchtower, including Captain Marcelo himself, confirming that this was a well-structured team.
However, just one night later, this place was completely deserted.
I mean, literally—empty.
The watchtower, which should have had someone on duty at all hours of the day and night to monitor the village and protect its citizens, was now eerily vacant; not a single soul was in sight.
If the night before was somewhat excusable because most of the militia had to rest, then the abnormal silence this early morning, when the soldiers should have been training, was clearly troubling.
“By the way, Enrique, have you checked the surrounding rooms?”
“I barely had time to look into a few nearby rooms, and they were all empty, seemingly uninhabited for a long time. It’s incredibly strange; I could feel life energy in there just last night…”
The Priestess nodded thoughtfully and pointed towards a central building in the direction of the watchtower.
“Let’s go check on Marcelo.”
“Okay… be careful, Sophie.”
“Leave it to me.”
The Tree Wall lifted her hefty wooden shield, which was almost large enough to cover her whole body, its surface brimming with strange vines. With an unexpected strength for her slender stature, she moved forward in a combat-ready stance, as if prepared to respond to any sudden attack.
In fact, as the younger sister, she was primarily responsible for taking incoming hits in this legendary adventurer team. A rather unique shield warrior, her role closely resembled that of Captain Lester from the Black Knight Mercenary Corps in Demon Town.
And Enrique, being the Tree Bow, was the agile archer as his title suggested. With Vilyric as the Priestess, their trio seemed well-equipped.
Soon, they arrived outside the house where they had met with Captain Marcelo yesterday.
The door wasn’t tightly locked but was ajar. Sophie approached and examined it, quickly making a professional assessment.
“The door lock is damaged. Judging by the breakage, it looks like it was done with tools commonly used by adventurers or thieves. However, it’s clear this wasn’t done recently; it must have happened over a month ago.”
After saying that, she pushed the door open cautiously and moved in, shield at the ready.
Inside, the place was obviously empty; not only had valuable items been taken, but cobwebs covered everything, and a thin layer of dust coated the table—clearly, no one had visited this place for a long time.
Nevertheless, even so, useful information could still be gathered.
“It seems like it was ransacked by bandits or something similar. The place, while messy, shows no signs of fighting or blood, indicating the people who raided here struck while Captain Marcelo was away. This aligns with the typical behavior of normal thieves from the Ost Empire—steal without attracting too much attention and avoid bloodshed, or they might get wiped out by the regular army.”
Enrique scrutinized the surroundings and eventually arrived at the corner wall where Marcelo had hung his large sword and mechanical arm, leaning down to inspect it for a moment, frowning slightly.
“Weird… there’s not even a trace of cobwebs here. Did someone come and clean this place? But that doesn’t make sense. If it were adventurers who came to investigate and tidy up, why would they only focus on this small area?”
Sophie shook her head in a resigned manner.
“Come on, big bro, who cleaned the room isn’t the important part. The real issue is why these people suddenly vanished overnight. I didn’t sleep well last night; if there was any movement, I would have definitely heard it. And what’s with all this dust accumulating out of nowhere?”
Glancing at the Priestess, who was also surveying the room but hadn’t rushed to offer her opinions, the Tree Bow pondered.
“Do you remember the information Marcelo provided last night? The 21st of the 8th month in the year 125 of the Empire. If last night was indeed that date, and we’ve somehow jumped to two months later, then it all makes sense… but how is that even possible?”
Vilyric turned to correct her.
“At a time like this, saying it’s impossible, or jumping to conclusions, might be a bit premature. Let’s head outside and take another look.”
After that, the three adventurers left the now-deserted watchtower area and meticulously searched throughout the entire Adelaide 192 village.
Every place was just like that initial area—long devoid of any human activity. It appeared that thieves had broken in at some unknown time, stealing away most of the valuable items.
Just as the adventurers’ guild had provided intel, this mountain-side village had long been abandoned, turning into a… ghost town.