Chapter 4: 'Cursed Village': Discussion (4)

After Augus and Lana finished investigating Thomas' house, they continued to the other houses of 'Cursed Village' residents.While Allura and Christopher were not unyielding, the two of them thoroughly and carefully investigated all parts of the village.

The night passed peacefully. The moon began to be replaced by the sun, and just as the sun rose, the four of them immediately rushed back to the temporary residence that Thomas had given them. Despite not having an agreement on this matter, each of them knew that investigating in the daytime was troublesome. Because of the people.

Christopher and Allura arrived at the house first, then a few minutes later, Augus and Lana arrived.

Allura with a smile immediately greeted the two of them and said, "How is the investigation? Is it going well?"

Augus nodded his head, and replied, "Yeah, we were lucky that we didn't get caught, we almost did, hehe.."

Augus ended his words, with an awkward laugh, he had the intention of making a joke to lighten the mood.

Allura nodded her head, and said, "Then let's start sharing what we found."

"I'll start first, while walking around earlier, there was a child who came up to me, he warned me about the annual festival that would soon be held in this village, but unfortunately his mother came and interrupted our conversation before the child could explain further." as she was finishing her sentence, Allura was annoyed.

Then, Allura continued, "Although he could be joking, I feel like that boy was being serious, and also, I think this village is very suspicious and strange. At night, the village is so quiet and serene, I even thought that no one lived in this village. Even during the investigation, I only found the child and the mother. Although naturally, they didn't come out because it was late, I have a feeling that something is wrong."

'It's as if they were afraid of something..' Allura thought in her heart.

Lana and Augus nodded their heads in understanding. Meanwhile, Allura asked her teammate, "Would you like to add something?"

Christopher shook his head because he had nothing to share, or because, he had something he didn't want to share.

Then, Augus began to say what he had found. So was Lana. Lana took out a dull book she found at Thomas' house. Augus looked taken aback, and said jokingly, "How could you not tell me about this…"

Lana didn't respond to Augus but started to flip the book that looked torn. The pages of the book were written in a language they couldn't understand. Fortunately, Allura, the fairy - surprisingly - learned many languages, once learned the language that was used in the book.

"I'm not sure if I can translate this properly, I haven't seen this language in a long time.." Allura said to stop the high expectations for her.

Then, Allura began to focus and try to translate the contents of the book. Meanwhile, as they were waiting for Allura, Augus and Lana talking. Or rather, it was Augus who was talking non-stop. He expressed all his thoughts and analysis. Meanwhile, Christopher was left alone.

"Hm, honestly I don't understand what we should be investigating… the curse of the village? Truthfully, I feel this is very unreasonable .., there is no clue whatsoever related to the curse. There is also the matter of the annual festival, how come after we came is when the annual festival is about to be held?"

Then Augus sighed, and started chattering again, "Not only that but how come all the meat in all the villagers' houses was poisoned? Honestly, I'm suspicious of Bram, the butcher... But wait, before that, what poison was actually in the meat..., Heeey Lana, do you know?"

Lana didn't answer, she didn't seem interested in interacting with Augus.

'Are all women these days so cold...?' Augus thought sighing at being ignored.

Fortunately, Allura didn't take long to translate. So they didn't have to wait too long either. Allura didn't explain in detail, but she summarized what she found, "The contents of this book are about steps on how to celebrate a festival, what to prepare, the orders of the event, and so on. Honestly, I didn't find anything important... Not only that, many of the pages of this book are faded, and a lot of them have even been torn off somehow."

Allura wanted to ask about their opinion, but before Allura could ask anything, there was a knock on the door. The four of them instantly knew who the person that was interrupting their discussion was. Augus said, "That should be Thomas, let me open it."

Then, Augus opened the door. Their suspicions weren't wrong, Thomas was indeed the one who knocked on their door. But unexpectedly, there was also Bram behind Thomas. Bram was carrying a bag of meat.

Thomas with a beaming face said "I didn't just bother you guys so early did I? I wanted to check on you guys' condition and bring some meat for all of you to eat."

Augus didn't pay much attention to Thomas' words, because, a transparent panel appeared before him again. More precisely, in the presence of Allura, Augus, Christopher, and Lana.

[ Mission: Investigate the Village Curse ]

[ Time Remaining: 2 Days ]

[ Progress: 28% ]

'Only 28%? That's very small.' Christopher thought unsatisfied.

Thomas who couldn't see the transparent panel, continued to chat effortlessly, to which Augus only responded curtly, like 'Mhm' or 'Yes'. Then, after a short chat, Augus invited, Thomas and Bram who were carrying the meat, to come inside.

"We will be holding an annual festival this afternoon, everyone in this village is required to attend, except those who are sick. Do you mind coming along? I know that I said this quite suddenly, but I hope you guys are willing to join us in this festival.." Thomas said starting a conversation.

'Isn't this too quick!?' Allura commented to herself, she thought the festival would be held in two, or three days, but little did she know it would be today!

Unexpectedly, Lana asked, "So what can we do?"

Thomas with a relaxed aura around him, said, "We have an annual tradition. You just have to follow that if you're not interested in the festival."

Thomas also added, "You don't need to change clothes or anything like that, you just need to follow the group."

'That easily?' Christopher couldn't believe it. Plus, the little boy who met Allura, warned them about this festival.

However, from the explanation of Thomas, the village head, they just needed to follow the group to a place. Thomas also explained that it was an annual festival tradition in their village. Of course, Allura already knew about this, but she really couldn't relate it to what they were investigating.

Thomas was grateful that they did not refuse to carry out their traditions. Then, after explaining a few things, and having a light chat. Thomas and Bram left.

Christopher looked at the meat that Bram had left with a probing gaze. Likewise with Lana, Augus, and Allura. After all, all the meat in the village that came from Bram, had poison. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing what poison was in the flesh, but they could make a guess in each of their minds.

Time flew by quickly, and time for the festival was soon to begin. Neither of them expected that anything would happen that day. However, the overcast sky seemed to have noticed.

--

[ Mission: Investigate the Village Curse ]

[ Deadline: 2 Days ]

[ Progress: 28% ]