NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Village
There was a small group of guards searching the officers quarters as we arrived. They were filling a crate with any documents that survived the demons. I browsed through their discoveries but found nothing too noteworthy. There were certain books on demons, not surprising considering what the Empire had planned.
“I am not sure if we can find any clues here.”, Lucy said. “Anything linking an officer to the demons might have just been part of their job. I doubt that any cult would carry an easily identifiable mark while infiltrating the inquisition.”
“That is true.”, I had to admit. “At least this base confirms what Emily told us. Her testimony combined with the documents from here should make quite the impression at the summit. Still, it would be nice to know if the Empire failed due to incompetence or sabotage.”
“If we meet Elias again we should ask him.” Lucy suggested.
I laughed. “Do you think the Empire will punish him for this mess?”
“Being able to cast 9th circle spells gives you a lot of leeway. He will probably lose favour with the emperor but I don’t expect much else. In the end they will pin the blame on some mid level officers. They will also start a witch hunt for dominion spies in their ranks.”
“It's a shame we can’t listen to their meetings. There should be a lot of shouting, accusations and paranoia. Anyway, I think we are done here. The guards can sort through all that stuff and inform us if they find anything.”
“Before we head back to Iron Rock we could check the surrounding area for any surviving demons. Maybe we should visit the closest village as well.” Lucy suggested.
“I am sure the duke has sent guards to the villages already. But we don’t have anything important to do in the next few days so, why not?”
We said goodbye to the guards and left the hideout. Lucy was confident she could find the village so I followed her. We travelled in our animal forms again. Shortly before we made camp for the evening we ran into a single demon. It had a human torso with the lower body of a scorpion. Before it knew what was happening, Lucy was on it. She easily ripped out its throat in her fox form. I sat there and watched while casually licking my paw.
“Good job, Lucy. We should take the body with us. Maybe we can harvest some poison from it. Although the market might be flooded with demonic corpses right now.”
Lucy stored the dead demon in her amulet and we continued. Instead of using our tents we just curled up next to each other for the night. Being an animal made travel a lot more comfortable.
The next day we reached the village. We transformed before entering to avoid scaring the people. The village was bordered by the lake. There was a small pier, probably for fishing boats. Overall there might have been about 20 buildings. The biggest was the local inn, most likely to accommodate traders. There was no wall, or any sort of defence. In a world filled with monsters that seemed a bit questionable. On the other hand, it meant the area was patrolled enough to be considered safe.
The people looked at us curiously but did not approach. A few children were running around chasing each other and waving sticks. Overall it seemed rather peaceful. I would have expected a lot more concern. There was not even a guard visible. I approached an older woman who was carrying a bucket of water from the local well.
“Greetings. We have just arrived in your village and I am wondering about your safety. Are you aware that there might be demons in the area? We actually encountered one yesterday not too far from here.” I said.
The woman frowned. “Some guards came yesterday telling us about the big battle. Spent the entire evening drinking and telling stories. They said it’s all over now and there is no need to worry. Are you sure you found a demon?”
Lucy dumped the demon corpse on the ground. “Does look like a demon to me.”
The woman’s eyes unfocused then she blinked. “That is just a big bug my dear, nothing to worry about.”
Clearly something was wrong with that woman. So I used dispel magic on her. Suddenly her eyes widened and she shrieked: “MONSTER! THERE IS MONSTER!”
“Don’t worry, it’s dead. There is no need to panic.” I said in a soothing voice.
The people in the village looked in our direction briefly, then continued with their day like nothing was wrong. Somebody, or something, must have enchanted the villagers to ignore certain things.