I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 314: The Strange Village

After walking around the village twice, Village Chief Hodel followed the group step by step.After obtaining permission, Gauss eventually chose an empty plot in the village.

Then, under the curious gazes of the villagers, they unfolded the Fold House.

The existence of the Fold House shocked the villagers who were wondering how Gauss and his group would build a house.

The villagers looked at the house one by one, exclaiming and discussing something.

"Village Chief, my teammates and I are a bit tired from our journey, so we'll head inside to rest now."

After speaking, Gauss led his teammates into the house and closed the door.

"Is there something wrong somewhere?"

Aria had long been unable to contain her confusion.

But she wasn't foolish enough to miss social cues, so she hadn't asked too many questions in front of the villagers earlier.

Gauss sat at the dining table in the living room, pouring a glass of water for himself and his teammates.

His gaze looked outside through the one-way window glass. In the village's open space, the villagers were clearly very interested in their group and the magical house. Even after they entered the house, those villagers hadn't left.

"Don't you think it's strange? This is the first village that doesn't need our help."

Gauss withdrew his gaze and slowly spoke.

This was very unreasonable.

Human nature is greedy and never satisfied.

Faced with free help delivered to their doorstep, even if the village's situation was better than most villages, there must surely be areas worth improving.

For example, they could request strengthening the fortifications. Although there were medicinal powders to drive away monsters, having an extra layer of preparation is never wrong. Or they could ask them to help clear out the monsters lurking nearby, train the young people in the village, help Uncle York search for his missing daughter... Their group could provide plenty of help, right?

Moreover, the lack of fortifications itself also carried a hint of strangeness.

Even if the medicinal powders were effective, the protection they provided was only a soft defense. And since the villagers lived here, wouldn't they feel a lack of security?

Even if ordinary villagers didn't understand, wouldn't the village chief and elders managing village affairs have even the slightest concern? This was directly related to their lives and property.

Or perhaps they were absolutely certain that monsters wouldn't invade the village?

Thinking about it now, the village chief's desireless attitude, could it be that he was seeing them off?

However, later when he requested to stay for a few days, the village chief didn't seem to show any particular expression.

"Isn't it actually good?" Aria nodded. "Since the villagers can be self-reliant, we can conveniently save some effort."

She wasn't thinking as much as Gauss.

"I feel this place is quite nice, the air is very fresh."

Aria's "perception" made her feel this was a good place. The environmental energy field felt very comfortable, which was also why she subconsciously didn't delve deeper into some puzzling aspects.

"That village should indeed have some problems."

Serlandul, who was nearby, suddenly spoke. Since entering the house, their expression had seemed somewhat strange.

It wasn't until Gauss spoke that a certain thought of theirs was confirmed.

"How so?" Aria humbly sought guidance.

"Earlier, when I was examining that man named York, I discovered a large amount of residual medicinal potency in his body. Clearly, he has been consuming many medicinal herbs during this period."

"Normally, if someone becomes mentally unstable due to shock, they shouldn't need such potent medications."

"A village that makes its living gathering herbs should have a physician of decent skill level."

The conversation between Gauss and the village chief, combined with Serlandul's discovery, made everyone realize the peculiarity of Herbal Medicine Village.

"Should we leave as soon as possible?" Aria asked quietly.

Even though she was inside the Fold House and had been quite carefree not long ago, after hearing their analysis, she seemed to grow tense as well, as if they had entered a den of thieves.

"Not urgent, just investigate carefully."

Gauss had observed the village earlier and seemingly hadn't noticed any noteworthy people or things.

Moreover, ultimately, his and Serlandul's analysis earlier was just speculation. There was no direct evidence indicating something shady was happening in this village.

"Shadow, I'll entrust you with scouting the village perimeter, and also investigate the distribution of monster tribes in the surrounding area."

Gauss looked towards Shadow, who was lost in thought nearby, and softly instructed.

Shadow was undoubtedly the best at scouting in the team. After breaking through to level 6, her scouting abilities had risen accordingly.

When she activated her scouting ability, even Gauss found it hard to detect.

"Alright, I'll take a few rounds around the village, though I'm not sure if I'll find anything valuable."

Aria hesitated for a moment.

"If that village chief is hiding something, then... maybe find an opportunity to use the 'Friendship Spell'?"

The effect of the Friendship Spell was like a truth serum. Ordinary people facing Gauss using this magic would have absolutely no ability to resist.

Hearing this, Gauss hesitated for a moment.

He had actually considered using this method, but the reason he hadn't mentioned it was due to his own considerations.

First, after using the Friendship Spell, the target would definitely become aware of it and develop negative feelings.

If there really was some shady secret, it would be fine. But if it was a misunderstanding, it would be awkward, and if reported to the town authorities, Gauss wouldn't be in the right.

Secondly, as the saying goes, you don't hit a smiling face.

Since Gauss's group entered Herbal Medicine Village, both the village chief and the villagers had been generally friendly. Although somewhat distant, they had always maintained respect towards them.

Finally, Gauss had a faint intuition. He felt that using the Friendship Spell on the village chief might not yield the desired result.

Don't underestimate this intuition. It might sound mysterious, but human feelings are actually generated by many external factors.

And Gauss's extraordinary attribute values also made him more sensitive to various environments and details, so his feelings were actually far more accurate than the baseless feelings of normal people.

"Let's investigate on our own first." Gauss shook his head, rejecting Aria's suggestion.

Coincidentally, he also needed to clear out the nearby monsters.

On the other hand, Aria didn't persist further.

She just mentioned it casually. For her, she wasn't very willing to use such methods on ordinary people either.

Afternoon passed.

After resting briefly and confirming their course of action, Gauss's team emerged from the Fold House looking perfectly normal.

The area outside the house was empty now;the villagers had all gone about their own business.

"Captain, I'll go check on York first." Serlandul faintly sensed that the breakthrough might lie with that mentally unstable patient.

"Alright, go ahead, be careful."

Gauss nodded.

At the same time, Shadow also stealthily vanished into the shadows.

"So what should we do?" Aria turned her head to look at Gauss.

"Let's just stroll around the village."

Gauss appeared very calm.

He needed to wait for Shadow to gather intelligence, whether about the village's anomalies or the monster distribution, so for now, he would simply await good news.

Thus, Gauss took Albenia and Aria for a leisurely walk around the village.

If not for those subtle discordant anomalies, Gauss felt this village would be quite livable.

Being situated in the forest, the air was very fresh.

The piled herbal scents also masked the odor from household waste.

Several old men were carrying small stools, sitting in front of their houses smoking tobacco.

"Honored guests, out for a walk?"

An old man missing a front tooth grinned, greeting them indistinctly, his tone still quite polite.

"Yes, just taking a casual stroll after eating." Gauss also responded with a smile.

"Our humble place can't compare to the big cities. There aren't any fine views, just plenty of herbs, and the air is passable." The old man puffed on his pipe, squinting his eyes.

"This is precisely a health-preserving paradise. When I get old, I should probably return to village life too." Gauss continued along his words. "Grandpa, how old are you?"

"Honored guest, you guess?"

"Sixty?"

"Haha, this old wreck, I'm actually already eighty!" The old man proudly stroked his pale goatee.

"Grandpa, you're in great spirits, don't look eighty at all."

"Of course! Our Herbal Medicine Village has been a longevity village for hundreds of years. In this area spanning hundreds of miles, our village has the most long-lived elders!" The old man revealed a smug expression.

Gauss casually chatted a bit more with the several elders before leaving.

"The old people in this village are all quite sharp-minded." Gauss remarked with inexplicable emotion while walking.

In this era, longevity for ordinary people wasn't a simple matter. And on top of that, having such clear mental states, thinking, and articulate speech was even rarer.

His initial guess of sixty wasn't just flattery.

It was based on reasonable analysis.

Compared to ordinary elderly from his previous life, ordinary elderly in this era generally appeared more aged. And because the diet of ordinary people was worse compared to ordinary people in his previous life, the probability of suffering from dementia was higher.

Yet, in his view, the elderly in this village seemed too energetic.

And it wasn't an isolated case. Whether the village chief or the several old men smoking pipes earlier, their speech and thinking were quite fluent.

What was their secret to health preservation?

Explaining it simply as a longevity village didn't seem sufficient.

Was it the influence of the natural environment? Or was there some special reason?

Gauss continued strolling around the village with Aria and the other. The villagers they encountered were very friendly, even proactively sharing cured meats and jams from their homes with them.

However, out of caution, Gauss just politely declined with a smile and didn't accept.

"Such a prosperous village..." Aria exclaimed with admiration.

They had set out from Sena City, heading north, and had already assisted many impoverished villages. This village's scale wasn't particularly large, but the living standard of its residents was definitely the highest.

Gauss also encountered the "fine young folks" the village chief mentioned on what looked like a "training ground" clearing.

There were both men and women, practicing enthusiastically and very focused.

So he just observed from a distance and didn't approach to speak.

"They've all mastered skills..."

"That middle-aged man leading them probably has a Professional Level."

Gauss narrowed his eyes slightly.

That middle-aged man was holding a staff, releasing Cantrips at targets.

Although he was using the most basic Cantrips, given Gauss's magical proficiency, he could naturally tell that his skill level wasn't limited to just mastering Cantrips.

"If the village has one professional and so many apprentices, living in the forest and not fearing monsters is somewhat understandable."

One professional Mage, paired with familiar fellow village apprentices, could hold the advantage against most low-tier monsters.

"But..."

Gauss glanced down at the moon-white robe he was wearing.

His identity as a spellcaster should be visually apparent even to country folk, right?

Although that middle-aged mage's skill was decent, it was only relative to ordinary people. To the current Gauss, that middle-aged mage was practically no different from an apprentice, still having significant room for improvement.

In a small village hidden in the forest like this, aside from caravans and adventurers like him who came specifically, how often would other professional spellcasters visit on ordinary days?

Even without mentioning guidance, mutual exchange would be beneficial.

Gauss's gaze focused on that middle-aged mage and the other several apprentices.

"Let's head back."

After observing for a while and noticing that those people had already detected their presence, Gauss called out to Aria and the other two and headed towards the direction of the Fold House.

When he entered the house, Serlandul had already returned.

"Any special discoveries?"

"When I arrived, there was a physician taking care of that villager named York."

"It seemed they had just given him medicine again."

"In my view... that physician didn't seem to be treating illness, but rather..."

Serlandul didn't finish the sentence, but everyone present understood the unspoken meaning.

"You're saying the people in this village are drugging him?" Aria asked, surprised.

"Yes." Serlandul nodded. "Judging by the medicinal potency, it should have been going on for a while."

"What about Uncle York's wife?" Gauss inquired.

"According to the villagers, his wife died from a strange illness not long after giving birth to their daughter. Moreover, he was originally an outsider, previously teaching people to read in the village. After his daughter disappeared, he had no relatives left in the village."

"How could this be... The people here don't seem like bad people either." Aria rubbed her chin, beginning to doubt her usually accurate feelings.

Gauss pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"If they truly had malicious intent, wouldn't it be simpler to just use some poison?"

He thought of the key point.

Since there were no relatives in the village anyway, administering some poison shouldn't be difficult for a physician. Why go through the trouble of drugging him to become a mentally unstable madman?

For those with ulterior motives, a dead person is much safer than a madman.

"That's true..." Hearing Gauss's analysis, Serlandul also nodded.

Just as everyone was deep in thought, Shadow pushed the door open and entered from the hallway.

"You're back. So, any findings?"

"Yes."

Shadow nodded decisively.

"The village perimeter is indeed laid out with medicinal powders. Many monsters and beasts are outside and haven't come in."

"The village chief wasn't lying about that."

Shadow paused. Gauss didn't interrupt her, waiting for her to continue. Shadow was a very cautious person. Since she said she had findings, they must be crucial.

"However, while I was exploring further out, I discovered an old stone house deep in the forest."