Chapter 185- Unveiling The Mystery

"I see, you are the village head, hmm?" Liu Guanyi asked.

"Indeed, I am, honored guests." He spoke as he glanced at the beautiful woman who had been silent the whole time. "It's not that I want to hide this from you, but I was only about to explain it to you but you seem to have figured it out earlier."

"We don't mind it, don't worry and relax a little bit old man, we aren't going to harm you." Liu Guanyi casually said, easily seeing through that he was anxious behind his calm front.

"Alright, if you say so, I am reassured, honored guest." The old man sighed softly. "You have keen sight, young man. Then, do you have any preferences for beverages, tea? Coffee? I'll call my wife to make them."

"No need, we aren't here to exchange pleasantries." Liu Guanyi declined straightforwardly.

"I know our presence makes you anxious and worried, outsiders like us are rare to come to this area, after all. Also, her highness' time is precious. So let's just cut the chase to make it easier for both of us." The old man nodded softly.

"Did you see anything out of ordinary around your village in the last few months?"

"Hmm, the past few months?" He said and pondered thoughtfully.

"There should be something happening, anything, just think about it." Said Liu Guanyi as he squinted his eyes and stared at him. The old man knew what the young man signified and contemplated even harder.

After a few seconds of silence, he spoke out. "I don't know if this counts but I noticed that many birds started to migrate toward the direction of our village from the Yellow Bark forest. I remember this because since then, a lot of them come down to eat our crops, making us have to guard them all day long to prevent our yield from being eaten."

"Yellow Bark Forest? Is it the forest with a lot of elms, maple, and oak trees and a variety of small animals that is just located a few hundred kilometers from here?" Asked Liu Guanyi.

"Ah, yes, honored guest. That's exactly the place." The old man nodded.

"I see…" Liu Guanyi seemed to be thoughtful while Adori only kept watching silently.

"Other than this, did you notice something else?" He asked again.

The old man shook his head. "No, I think everything is the same as usual. There is no accident nor any incident since the past few months, honored guests."

"Alright. Then, do you know or have you seen or heard about this place?" Liu Guanyi spread out the map that he had obtained from the merchant and pointed at the image of a lake with a fish-like monster on it.

"This?!" The old man exclaimed with surprise.

"Do you know it?"

He didn't immediately answer him but took a good second look at the map again. "Are you talking about the Rotten Fish Lake?" He spoke with a serious tone.

Liu Guanyi mumbled."Hmm, so it's called Rotten Fish Lake? Weird, they previously called it the Dreadrock Lake." Before looking at the old man and said. "Of course, I am talking about it."

"To be honest, honored guests, I don't know a lot about the swamp itself other than it's located more than five hundred kilometers to the southwest of this village and that it's an extremely dangerous place. For us, it's considered a forbidden place in this region to visit."

"We never experience it firsthand, but according to our forefathers who had been living in here for many generations, they warned in the ancient records that in the lake, there lives a great foul creature of evil that will swallow the souls of anyone approaching the lake." He spoke with a serious face and solemn voice.

"From how our forefathers worded it, we dare not to try approaching it. As you have probably known, our community is incredibly tied with the traditions passed on by our forefathers and we respect them above all."

"Including the way that you isolate yourself from the major civilizations in the tower?" Liu Guanyi asked.

"Yes, as expected, you already understand it." The old man smiled.

"Naturally, I have visited a place with similar cultures like your own community so it's pretty easy to connect the dots." Liu Guanyi calmly said.

"Let's move to another question, can you explain the history of your forefathers? Are the people in this region come from a single group and then spread out over time? Why and how did they end up describing the lake as something forbidden?"

Hearing the barrage of questions, the old man became silent. So, Liu Guanyi asked again.

"Are those questions too hard for you to answer? For someone who keeps some of the past records of your ancestors, it shouldn't be that hard, isn't it? Or you simply do want to answer those questions?" Said Liu Guanyi calmly as he put his intertwined hands in front of his chin.

"We are here under an important order to investigate a certain problem in this region. If you are holding back important information that could help in accomplishing our task, then you will give us no chance but to force our hands. However, we are pretty reasonable, as long as you cooperate with us, then after we are done with our business…"

Liu Guanyi glanced at Adori and then spoke with an amicable smile. "I can promise you on behalf of her highness that we will leave you and your people in peace."

The village head was hesitant and worried. It wasn't like he was against telling them the history of his people. If they were just nobodies with no status, he certainly wouldn't invite them to his house let alone answer their questions.

Nobody in here was friendly and welcoming toward outsiders, after all.

However, he knew that they were truly important figures, especially the beautiful white-haired woman who had been silent and only watched his conversation with the young man, what he assumed was her right-hand man.

Not only that, but they were also very likely to be powerful warriors. He knew this because all of the outsiders recorded to have ever come to the village, without exception, were powerful warriors beyond belief.

But these two people, he had a premonition that both of them were likely to be even stronger than the normal outsiders!

To be honest, he didn't feel that they had any malicious intent, at all. He did want to tell them everything that they wanted and not hinder whatever business they had.

But that expression that he saw on his fellow villagers when they passed them, it was not normal, far from it. It gave him a strong-bad foreboding that told him that these people, only very few things could make their faces like that.

Although didn't mean any harm, could be dangerous to the entire village!

He knew that it could be wrong, but with his plentiful life experience, he had come to trust his intuition strongly as it had saved his life on many occasions.

Seeing that the village head was still weighing his options and hesitant to answer his questions, he spoke casually with a smile on his face. "Really? You still don't want to answer me?"

"I'll give you our last offer then. We will promise you that we won't do anything against you even if you are from an opposing group or faction that we shouldn't let go of at all costs."