Chapter 649 Unexpected Encounter

"Allirella—who is she?" Xia Nan asked bluntly, looking at the name engraved on the gravestone behind the girl.

Hearing this, Sarah suddenly froze.

Her expression stiffened, and she pressed her lips tightly together.

Just a moment ago, she had intentionally shifted her footing to block his view and changed the subject, trying to leave the cemetery with Xia Nan. Her entire goal was to keep him from noticing the gravestone behind her.

Now, hearing Xia Nan ask about it directly, her heart instinctively tightened. She lowered her head, unable to speak.

A long silence followed.

Xia Nan began to wonder if he had been too direct and whether he should switch to another topic to ease the tension.

But then, Sarah's voice emerged from under the thick felt hat she wore securely on her head.

"Half a month ago, when those adventurers arrived, I was drawing water by the well. They made a massive commotion," she said. "I heard that Aunt Chrissy, who lives in the southern part of the village, was viciously whipped just because she walked a little too slowly and blocked their path. She's still limping to this day."

"They claimed they were here to help us clear out the monsters in the nearby forest, and they demanded that the village chief bring out the village's finest things to entertain them."

"The village chief did as they asked. He even served the food that had been prepared for the Midwinter Festival, but they complained that it tasted terrible and demanded booze—"

Sarah suddenly lifted her head, looking at Xia Nan in front of her.

"I don't mean to complain to you," she said.

"I just want to say, Mr. Xia Nan, that you are different from them—different from all the adventurers who have passed through our village."

Those two sentences seemed to drain all her gathered courage, and Sarah lowered her head once again.

"Our village is right inside the Rime Forest, so it's not like we don't see adventurers passing through on a normal basis."

"We've long since gotten used to it. We just endure it, and once they leave, our lives can go on as usual."

"But—"

Sarah's voice halted, as if she didn't know how to continue.

After a moment, she slowly spoke again. "Grandpa Jerry lived in the small cabin on the east side of the village. For as long as I can remember, he always had a white beard. He was a few years older than the village chief, but his health was excellent. Sometimes he would even go out hunting with my father."

"Grandpa Jerry said that he was an adventurer in his youth, wandering through all the southern provinces. In the end, he claimed he hadn't made a name for himself, so he retired and came back home."

"He was a good man, Mr. Xia Nan," Sarah said, her tone heavy with nostalgia. "When I was little, the other children in the village didn't like me very much because of my— because of my... It was Grandpa Jerry who took me into the forest to pick ice crystal flowers and catch rime-fluff rabbits."

"Once, my father was attacked by a monster while hunting. He was badly injured and didn't come back for days. In the end, Grandpa Jerry went deep into the Rime Forest all by himself and carried him back to the village on his back."

"But half a month ago—"

As if she couldn't bear to recall it, the young girl's voice trembled.

"Those adventurers had too much to drink—if they could truly even get drunk on what they called our 'vile, cheap booze'—and started causing trouble in the village."

"One of them was huge, with pale green skin, and he said he wanted to find some fun in the village."

"He saw Mary, a girl who's only two years older than me, and reached out to grab her."

"Grandpa Jerry had just returned from the forest. When he saw it, he stepped forward to stop him, shielding Mary behind his back."

"He apologized to that lord on Mary's behalf, speaking extremely politely. But the adventurer thought Grandpa Jerry was in the way and felt he wasn't showing enough respect."

"With just a single strike, the hammer fell on Grandpa Jerry's head, and he never opened his eyes again."

"Grandpa Jerry was a good man, Mr. Xia Nan," Sarah said, lifting her head one last time. "Just like you."

After speaking, she lowered her head and squeezed past Xia Nan, hurriedly disappearing into the gradually fading twilight.

On the Aifala Continent, many adventurers lacked both a firm faith in orthodox gods and the baseline morals of a good education. While they might not go so far as to make murder and pillaging their daily routine like bandits, in reality, their treatment of ordinary civilians was hardly any better.

Those who could follow the rules and handle matters as peacefully as Xia Nan were, ultimately, in the minority.

The tragedy that had befallen Sarah's "Grandpa Jerry" played out every single moment across this continent.

The only silver lining was that the Adventurer Squad that had wreaked havoc in the village half a month ago had already received their punishment. They had been nearly wiped out, their very corpses devoured clean by goblins, and the sole survivor—a dwarf—had sustained such severe injuries that he could never work as an adventurer again.

Watching the girl's retreating back, Xia Nan looked thoughtful.

Neither the village chief nor the other residents of Ice Tree Village had ever detailed the actions of that squad from half a month ago to him before.

Thinking back on it now, it was obvious they had been hiding something.

But this wasn't the sort of secret worth the entire village covering up together. They had to have had their reasons.

At this thought, Xia Nan's gaze naturally drifted toward the gravestone in front of him.

Even after saying so much just now, Sarah still hadn't revealed who exactly this "Allirella" was.

However, considering how Sarah deliberately used her felt hat to conceal her ears, and the distinctly Elf-like name of "Allirella," it was impossible for Xia Nan not to have his suspicions.

Perhaps... this Allirella was Sarah's mother?

"Awoo."

By his feet, the soft touch of a Winter Wolf's long tail called Xia Nan's consciousness back to reality.

Seeing that it was getting late, he reached down to rub Fanny's head and called out, "Let's go, Little Snowflake. It's time for us to head back too."

After dinner, the group of four planned their next course of action.

In the most optimistic scenario of their original plan, they should have already killed the banshee and been on their way back to Bloodcast Keep by now.

Instead, not only was the banshee still alive, but their original five-man squad was down to four. The half-orc Gank had already died in the battle.

The question they were debating was actually quite simple: whether to continue or not.

From Xia Nan's perspective, he naturally had no intention of giving up halfway.

On one hand, the banshee wasn't difficult to deal with as long as one was fully prepared. Even if it were just him alone, he could easily dispatch it by relying on the Sunflame damage bonus of [Azure Pine] and the force field energy of [Gravity Etching].

On the other hand, he was currently working hard to increase his War Merits level at Bloodcast Keep so he could exchange for the accessories to [Proof of Diligence]. If he abandoned this mission, it would inevitably slow down his progress.

Therefore, when discussing whether to continue with the others, he made his stance perfectly clear—even if everyone else quit and he was the only one left, he would still carry on with the mission.

The bald ranger Tal's stance was clear-cut; he stood completely on Xia Nan's side, which went without saying.

The bard Uriah, perhaps keeping a low profile because of his previous actions in the Goblin Lair, didn't express any clear opinion on the matter despite being the temporary leader of their "Sulfur Dragon Breath" squad. His attitude remained ambiguous.

Out of the four, the one with the strongest desire to abort the mission was the half-elf Rogue, Treebrook.

The disappearance of their captain, combined with the death of a teammate he spent day and night with right before his eyes, had dealt the Rogue quite a shock.

Even after venting to Uriah and gradually coming to understand the man's actions, a grudge still lingered in his heart.

Whatever happened in the future was another matter, but right now, it was incredibly difficult for him to fight alongside Uriah again.

Taking it all into account: two chose to continue the mission, one remained vaguely neutral, and one wanted to abort the operation.

With the minority submitting to the majority, the temporary squad ended up staying in Ice Tree Village.

Of course, as far as Xia Nan was concerned, it didn't really matter whether the rest of the team stayed or not.

Rather than pinning his hopes on them actually helping him, he was perfectly content as long as they didn't drag him down.

Thus, after communicating with Treebrook and Uriah, they decided to stay in the village with Xia Nan for three days. If they could discover traces of the banshee's movements during this period, that would naturally be for the best—they would track it down, fight it, and be done with it.

If they didn't find anything after three days, the "Sulfur Dragon Breath" squad would withdraw early, leaving only Xia Nan and Tal to continue the mission.

Perhaps because Xia Nan's strength in the previous battles had exceeded their expectations, the two members of the "Sulfur Dragon Breath" squad made it clear that if Xia Nan managed to kill the banshee and complete the mission after they left, he wouldn't need to distribute any War Merits to them.

Xia Nan, naturally, was happy to accept this.

After the discussion, the group went their separate ways to rest.

Although the battle during the day hadn't lasted very long, the pressure it brought was immense.

The ranger Tal fell asleep practically the second his head hit the pillow, snoring loudly. Uriah had no interest in doing anything else either, returning to his room early.

The Rogue Treebrook, however, didn't seem sleepy. Stating that he was going to check the traps set around the village, he disappeared into the night.

As for Xia Nan, it went without saying. Accustomed to his pre-sleep night training, he left the cabin alone after concluding the discussion with the others, heading into the woods near Ice Tree Village to train.

Walking through the snow-blanketed woods, every step he took produced the faint sound of crunching snow and ice.

Xia Nan pondered over his training regimen for the day.

First and foremost, of course, were matters concerning his self-developed combat techniques.

Having previously ruled out the option of "Shield Counter," he had recently been planning to develop in the direction of "Shield Charge" and "Shield Bash."

He had originally wanted to use actual combat with the banshee to test his ideas, but the battle had simply been too brief. Before he could even exert much effort, the banshee had fled, causing him to miss the chance for practical verification.

"If I think carefully about it, new combat techniques don't necessarily have to be related to shields. It wouldn't be a bad idea to further diversify my offensive methods."

Besides that, combat techniques that had already reached the max level, such as [Spinning Slash] and [Heavy Tide], also required further training.

With the golden finger of his Attribute Panel, which guaranteed that anything learned was permanently retained, he could maintain his current level of proficiency even if he didn't train.

But much like with the [Hunting Arc] battle posture, if he maxed out a combat technique and then never trained it again, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to achieve such a battle posture ahead of time.

"There's also [Gravity Control]. Although the speed at which I gain proficiency has become incredibly slow ever since it was upgraded to Lv2, as long as it accumulates bit by bit, there will eventually come a day—"

Buzz. A scorching, fiery current suddenly surged from the Green Pine wooden sword, [Azure Pine], on his back.

This caused Xia Nan to halt his steps, his brows furrowing slightly.

His first reaction was to wonder if there were any snakes or scorpions hiding in the surrounding grass, but a second later, he rejected the thought.

With the climate of the Rime Forest, it was practically impossible for ordinary snakes to survive.

Furthermore, the intensity of the hot current surging from [Azure Pine] was definitely not something an ordinary wild animal could trigger.

Pondering this, Xia Nan turned his body in place, then shifted his feet, taking a few steps in various directions.

By tracking the fluctuations of the heat on his back, he judged the general direction of his target.

Then, maintaining his vigilance, he trod lightly and walked in the direction guided by the hot current.

It didn't take too long. After walking slowly toward the southeast for about twenty minutes, the sound of a somewhat muffled conversation, distorted by the freezing evening wind, drifted out from the woods.

"Looks heavily injured—heal—"

"It's fine—black hair—troublesome—"

There were two voices. One was bizarrely ethereal, unlike any sound a normal human could produce; the other, however, was exceptionally familiar.

The hot current surging from [Azure Pine] on his back grew increasingly scorching. Xia Nan raised a brow, completely concealing his body deep within the bushes before using his fingers to gently part the dense branches blocking his view.

Immediately, two familiar figures entered his line of sight.

One of them was wearing a thick cotton coat, possessed a weathered face, and had many streaks of silver in his hair. It was none other than Sarah's father, the middle-aged hunter named "Old Sonny."

As for the one standing in front of him—

A semi-transparent, slender body refracted a faint luminescence beneath the moonlight. A torn gauze dress fluttered without wind. It seemed to be standing in place, but its feet were actually off the ground, levitating in mid-air. On its exquisitely pale face, two spectral flames flickered and burned.

The banshee!?

Why was it here?

Looking at the current situation, it seemed Old Sonny actually knew it?

Xia Nan was astonished inwardly, but in reality, he maintained his restraint, calmly observing the two from the cover of the bushes.

Compared to the fierce madness it displayed when they first met, the banshee's emotions now seemed exceptionally stable. The two spectral flames in its eye sockets—unique to undead creatures—weren't fluctuating much, and it simply hovered quietly about half a foot above the ground.

In contrast, it was the hunter Old Sonny standing before it whose emotions were highly agitated. His weathered face was filled with anxiety and worry as he said, "Ellie, this isn't what you promised me."

"Didn't we agree that you would hide deep in the forest for a few days, and I'd let you know when it was safe to come back after this Adventurer Squad left? And that you absolutely wouldn't go anywhere near that place in the meantime?"

"Why—why did things turn out like this?"