"Boss, Your Highness. This is the only place in this area where people live."
"In the western section, pulling down the parchment with the emblem of the Facade on it," said Gallo.
As he said, the entrance to a smalI village appeared on the shabby dock.
"The village is small, but it's a place that rangers and hunters traveling through the Swamp of Gluttony stop by, so I think it would be a good idea to finish preparing supplies here."
Although most of the supplies prepared on the ship could have been used to solve the problem, it was difficult to replace fresh hay and clean drinking water for the horses.
"We have to move as fast as possible."
Cesare nodded as if agreeing with Medea's words.
"Gallo, prepare your supplies within half a day. We'll enter the forest as soon as it's light."
"Yes, boss."
Cesare turned around.
"From Eta to Kappa, stay here and block the rear. Find a stronghold."
"But Your Highness"
"We can't take too many people to the canyon. They'll attract attention."
By now, the Holy Kingdom must have also become aware of Medea's absence. They would not have just sat back and let the oracle's sacrifice escape.
"The temple is spread everywhere."
Cesare's mouth turned up as he gazed at the shabby roof of the chapel rising above the village fence.
'Perhaps the Holy Nation will send the Knights Templar to chase me.'
Medea also anticipated the reaction of the Holy Nation. In particular, Rachel and the High Priest Paul would try to capture her somehow.
It didn't matter.
'By the time the Knights of the Temple arrive here, I will have returned to Valdina.'
Holding the corpse of an evil dragon.
So Medea, Cesare, and their party entered the village entrance.
Located in the rugged terrain at the edge of the Swamp of Gluttony, this place was closer to a deserted village than a town.
Around the village, there was a fence made of sharp thorns and black logs.
There were shabby pieces of iron and sharp pieces of bone stuck in various places in the fence.
"Your Highness, the security is not good. Be careful."
Neril straightened her back and whispered softly.
She said that because it is such a rough terrain, no one willingly lives in this area.
Most of them are criminals on the run, rangers and hunters hunting down demons, or people with specific reasons for keeping their identities a secret.
Medea nodded absentmindedly.
"It's okay. And Neril, you can't call me that here anymore.'
"...Yes, Neril. If Lord Kensington knew you were so vulnerable to irregularities, he would not have wanted you anymore. Little Neril, this suits me like a charm, so just trust me."
Tom joined in, grinning as his freckles gathered around each other.
He looked like a true beginner hunter, wearing leather armor and carrying a hatchet tied to a loose rope at his waist.
Medea was also disguised as a ranger.
'With a whip, a crossbow, a dagger... You've got it all.'
Cesare almost burst out laughing when he saw her attire.
Beneath her thick robes, she appeared to be twice as large as the weapons she was carrying.
"Dea."
Medea looked up at him as he called her name.
With her thick hood, her hair tied back invisibly, and her cheeks slightly flushed by the dry sea breeze, she looked to Cesare like a young seed just emerging from the field.
It must have been her first time on a sea voyage in her life, and he felt sorry for her for enduring the ten days of rough seas with her small body.
Medea, however, was not impressed at all.
"Gallo has found lodging, so let's rest there for a while. Once we leave here, things will be much harder than they are now."
Cesare gently tugged at the hem of Medea's hood.
Medea frowned as her head sunk deeper into the hood.
When she looked up again, Cesare was gone, along with Terence.
No one, not even Peleus, could have treated her so cruelly. They either admire Medea or believe in her tricks and try to help her.
But Cesare sometimes treated her like a young child who still needed care. He was the only person who treated her like that.
"Wait here, okay? Can you do that?"
When he patted her hand and soothed her affectionately, or when he played a prank that even a ten-year-old wouldn't do.
"Ha...!"
Medea felt embarrassed and moved.
"Where are you going? To the pitch-black forest? Others are going to die again."
The owner of the inn that Gallo found was a middle-aged man with a bushy beard.
Like the gray town, the inn and its owner had a gloomy air.
His sunken eyes, puffy face, and scar on his cheek hinted at the hardships of his life.
"Master, aren't you being too harsh on your big-time guest who has already paid a lot of rent? You can't even cheer him on, but you're spewing out bad words."
"I can fill up the docks with people like you who shout and get killed."
As Gallo grumbled slightly, thud. He roughly slammed the bowl of stew down on the table.
"Just last month, the evil dragon devastated the village. My son, my mother, and my pregnant wife..."
His eyes flashed with despair and anger.
"They all died after inhaling its poison and spitting out blood. All because they flapped their wings and stepped into its shadow!"
The innkeeper pointed to the gray sky and let out a sigh that sounded like a scream.
"Do you think there is life here? One way or another, for a life as dead as ours, this is the only thing left, so we stay here. We are all just living because we can't die."
His tone was full of resignation.
"This is a forsaken land. Even the Holy Land dares not touch it. If you don't want to be cursed, stop talking nonsense and go back quickly."
The owner, as if his advice ended there, put down the food and left.
"Ugh... What should I say then?"
Gallo scratched his head and glanced at Medea.
He was wondering if she was offended by the owner's words that were almost like a curse.
"Gallo. Remember this well. The evil dragon was created from the remnants of the darkness of the beginning, so when you step into its shadow, you are imbued with the energy of darkness."
Although he was tired of the brutal experience of the evil dragon that his master had vomited out, he found a clue there instead.
"Your limbs will become numb, and your senses will become dull as if you have been poisoned. So be especially careful not to step into the shadows. And tell your companions."
And she handed him a parchment with the supplies needed for the expedition written on it.
Her characteristically calm face was no different from when she was at the Valdina Palace.
"Your Highness, no, how do you know that, Sir?"
The venom of the evil dragon was something even Gallo had learned after coming here.
"So you thought I jumped into this unprepared?"
When Medea raised the corners of her lips, Gallo looked unusually flustered.
"Give the horses a rest and give them as much water as possible. We'll get some supplies and come back later, so see you later."
Medea and her party disappeared into the street in an instant. Gallo had a sullen look on his face.
"Why do you always make me do all the chores?!"
The streets of the town were equally eerie. Even though it was daytime, the fog was so thick that you couldn't even tell if the sun was shining.
Most of the stores were locked and had no counters, let alone soliciting customers.
"Miss, what are you looking for?"
"Everything."
Medea, who had been scanning the streets closely, entered an alley.
As she took the side roads here and there, she was able to encounter more travelers on the road than before.
After walking for some time like that, Medea stopped in front of a shabby shop.
"Let's go here. If we want to avoid any trouble."
Squeak.
The door opened with a creaking sound.
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