Chapter 36: Village
Alex pulled out his map and examined it closely.
"This should be….huh? It's not marked on the map. It's pretty remote from what I can tell. Why is there a village so far from the main road?"
Alex was still roughly one hundred miles from the main road leading to the Devontae Kingdom. He hadn't expected to run into civilization so soon.
The village was several miles across and had large wooden walls surrounding the perimeter. Several hundred buildings could be seen inside the walls, while farmland surrounded the outside of the walls.
"Let's check it out I suppose. Maybe I can find an inn to stay in. It's been months since I've had a bath and a proper meal."
Alex walked towards the main gate of the village.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
Alex was stopped by several guards stationed at the front gate.
"Hmm? They're normal humans? They're not even Body Refinement cultivators. Why are normal humans acting as guards for a town in the middle of the forest?"
Alex walked up to the guards before saying "I'm just a traveler who happened upon this village. What is this place anyways? It's not marked on any map?"
Alex was curious as to why this village was unmarked.
The guards eased up slightly at Alex's answer. One stepped forward and responded "If that's the case you can enter. The entry fee is two copper coins. As for your question...this village was founded by those who sought to distance themselves from the Devontae Kingdom."
Alex handed over two copper coins before asking "You're all just regular humans. Does the village have any cultivator guards?"
The lead guard hesitated for a bit before responding "Our village contains no cultivators. Almost all of its inhabitants sought to distance themselves from the world of cultivators, and so we established this village roughly a decade ago."
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" asked Alex. "There's Body Refinement level beasts everywhere, and if you're unlucky you might even run into a Qi Gathering level beast. What will you do if that happens?"
"The walls are sturdy enough and high enough to deal with any Body Refinement level beasts. As for Qi Gathering level beasts...let's just say that we have a way of dealing with that as well" responded the guard.
Alex noticed that the guard had a complicated look on his face when he discussed the Qi Gathering level beasts, but didn't ask for further elaboration.
"Is there an Inn in this village?" asked Alex.
"Yes, the Luna Inn. It's in the center of the village and has a moon symbol placard posted out front. You'll easily recognize it."
"Thanks." Alex thanked the guard before heading through the open gate.
As soon as he stepped inside, Alex could see hundreds of people scurrying around, going about their day-to-day lives. Alex started walking towards the center of the village, all the while scanning everyone he crossed with his divine sense.
"They really are normal humans. How do they deal with strong beasts?" thought Alex. He soon approached the center of the village, at which point he spotted the moon-placarded building.
Alex walked inside and noticed a rather downtrodden atmosphere inside. He approached the female innkeeper and called out.
"Excuse me, how much for one room?"
The innkeeper turned around and was slightly surprised to see Alex.
"Not often we get strangers around here. What do you want?" asked the innkeeper.
"I'm looking to rent a room for the night. How much for one night?" asked Alex.
"One room is twenty copper coins." The innkeeper paused for a second before saying "I would suggest that you don't stay inside the village tonight."
Perplexed by the response, Alex asked "Why is that?"
The innkeeper hesitated for a moment before saying "Some mean folk will be arriving here tomorrow. It's best that you're not here when they arrive."
"Oh" responded Alex. "Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine." Alex handed over the twenty copper coins. The innkeeper looked at him for a bit before turning around and leading him to his room.
The room was quite small, with a bed, wardrobe, and a small washroom. Alex immediately washed himself clean before taking out a new robe from his storage area and putting it on before climbing into bed.
"Phew! It's been a while since I've been in bed. I'll take a break from cultivation for one day. Tonight I'm just going to get some good rest." Alex drifted off into a deep slumber.
The next morning, Alex was woken up by a loud racket.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Alex quickly left his room and walked downstairs. The entire main floor of the inn was empty, even the innkeeper was missing. Finding this odd, Alex thought about what the innkeeper had said to him last night.
He walked out of the inn and onto the main road. A few hundred yards down the road, Alex could see thousands of people gathered in the town center. Curious as to what was going on, Alex walked down the road and approached the gathering. After arriving at the gathering, Alex stood off to the side away from the crowd, and watched.
"The entire village must be here," thought Alex. There were thousands of people gathered together. Alex's eyes wandered over the crowd until he spotted six men standing in front of the large crowd.
"Cultivators?"
Although Alex was too far for his divine sense to reach the six men and the system couldn't scan them so he wasn't able to see their cultivation levels, but Alex knew just by the natural pressure that they radiated that they were cultivators.
"Although I can't be certain, they seem to be Qi Gathering realm cultivators. I thought this town was a cultivator free town? What are they doing here?"
Just as Alex was thinking about the six men, one of the men stepped forward and shouted.
"Alright, where is my damn money?" The man who stepped forward was quite muscular and had a nasty scar on his face, making him look quite mean and scary.
To Be Continued...
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