It wasn't the crowing of a rooster that woke them, but rather the sound of a wild creature, its form and nature unknown, howling from the distance outside. Remarkably, the sound penetrated the village of Enrac.
Most of the villagers were already awake, if not nearly all. Only the soldiers who had stood guard late into the night remained asleep, left undisturbed until their commander arrived.
"Wake them up; we're heading back now," Soran said, issuing orders to the soldiers who had roused.
"Isn't there still another item on our agenda, Vizier?"
"Yes, but I sense urgency in reporting what we encountered yesterday. If there are monsters capable of breaching the safe-zone system and displaying cognitive abilities, we need to address it immediately."
Soran simply walked past them. While he ordered everyone to wake up, it didn't mean he liked doing things in haste.