Doubtful

A thin man of medium height emerged from the woods with heavy steps. His left hand clutched a small sack containing a few berries and common medicinal herbs, while his right hand held a long branch that he carefully used to sweep the lush grass on his way, avoiding snakes and other small animals.

His sweaty skin appeared reddish from prolonged exposure to the hot sun, and he wore only thin, white-washed navy linen clothes on his body, along with long black pants that barely covered his ankles.

His sleepy eyes glanced at the lush green leaves on the towering trees around him with an exhausted expression mixed with relief.

"I thought it would take half an hour at best, but–" Mauri raised his wrist to wipe his sweaty cheeks. "It's been five hours…"

He had spent more than five hours trekking from the broken stone house to the nearest village. Although he could see smoke rising from the villagers' fireplaces from there, the exact location was too far away!

Not to mention walking blindly inside a forest following the smoke that can barely be seen, as a person who used to live in modern times, he really can't stand hunger and thirst!

He had managed to forage some edible berries and a moisture-laden plant to quench his thirst, but the journey had been agonizingly slow. The sun was now setting, casting a dim glow on the landscape.

"It's alright, I can endure," he reassured himself with a deep breath, quickening his pace as a vast cornfield came into view.

The closer he got to the cornfields, the more he realized that the condition of the crops in the field wasn't good.

He had thought that this village hadn't been affected by drought, as the trees and grass around here looked okay. But… Why did the corn look so pitifully small and shriveled? Could they still be eaten?!

Before he could even look around the cornfield, he heard dogs barking and men shouting from behind the village's wooden gate.

"Who is that?!"

"Who? A thief?"

"Catch him!"

Mauri shuddered when he saw a group of men approaching. He almost ran away in fright, but–

If he ran away, wouldn't that make him appear guilty? He wasn't a real thief, anyway!

He coughed as if in pretense and took out a few medicinal herbs from his small sack. "You guys misunderstood! I'm just a herb picker who got lost around here!"

The men hurriedly surrounded him with guarded looks. When they heard his explanation, their attention shifted to the plants in his hand. One of them noticed the silver ring on his middle finger. Although he had doubts about it, his gaze suddenly focused on one of the herbs in Mauri's hand.

"Is it fenugreek?" The man moved closer.

Mauri noticed his excited expression and realized that this man needed this herb right now. He immediately nodded and handed it over. "Yes, do you want it? I can give it to you."

"Great! My wife is going through labor today!"

After taking the herb from Mauri's hand, he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Uh, I can pay for this. But–"

The men beside him understood that he intended to invite this stranger into the village. Although his self-explanation as a lost herb picker had lowered their vigilance a bit, they still guarded against him.

It was evident that the villagers had a strong sense of territorial awareness, perhaps due to past incidents involving troublemakers from outside their village, which explained their cautious behavior.

Mauri knew he shouldn't cause trouble, so he simply smiled and took out a handful of berries from his small sack. "I haven't eaten since this morning, and I only picked these fruits from the forest."

"You mean, you walked through that forest?" A green-eyed man asked with doubt, pointing at the woods miles away from their location. The others also stared at him in disbelief.

"No way, no way, who in their right mind would go into that forest?"

"Yeah, everyone knows there's a dragon there!"

"Maybe he came from afar?"

Mauri was caught off guard by their questions, so he quickly explained to avoid any misunderstandings. "No, the dragon flew away at noon. Didn't you guys see it?"

The men fell silent for a while, until one of them asked in total disbelief, "Fly… fly away?" He glanced at the others, and everyone looked pale, as if the sky had fallen.

Mauri didn't understand what was happening; shouldn't they be happy when the dragon had gone? Why were they so frightened?

Before he could ask, the green-eyed man waved his hand and instructed the others to go back to the village. "Let's inform the village chief!"

"This is a big problem… Without a magic fluctuation from higher-level magical creatures, the land's nutrients will be gone!" They hurriedly ran back into the village, leaving Mauri and the green-eyed man alone near the cornfield.

He glanced at Mauri and smiled awkwardly. "Uh… do you want to take a rest in my house? As a thanks for the fenugreek."

Mauri nodded. As he followed the man, his eyes kept scanning the village with curiosity.

He saw rows of wooden houses separated by a dozen meters, a few thin and old cattle sleeping in a big shed, and chicken crows could be heard from the backyard behind the houses. One house stood out from the rest because it had two floors, and he found the men from before crowding in the front door of that house.

It must be the village chief's house, Mauri thought.

During his journey to this village, he has been thinking about the reason why people dare to build a village near a dragon nest. Although it took hours from here to the forest, the big guy could fly in a second, and the whole village would be destroyed by a huff of dragon's breath.

And the way they mention the relation between magic fluctuations and this land…

There must be something wrong.

Did they deliberately build a village near a dragon? And when the dragon left, they immediately panicked. But– why?

What can they get from that?

If Mauri wanted to live in this village, he should get to the bottom of it.