After saying goodbye to Yakumo, Elle goes on patrol again, or in search of her prey.

It was noon, the sun was warm, and it was much more comfortable than the snowy weather, and the little shawl felt much more comfortable on her shoulders.

After eating, it is good to come out and soak up the sun.

Thinking like this, Erlie walked down the path with a satisfied face, the surroundings were relatively flat, but it was also mountainous and steep, and it was still difficult to see the scenery in the distance.

There were animals around there, they weren't threatening, and she didn't need to overreact to them. There are no people, and there are no monsters, so why not take it a little easier?

Thinking like this, her steps were much lighter.

As you accept the commission and hunt or defeat those monsters and beasts, your magic and physical strength will increase a little after each battle. Erli's demonic physique devoured the lives killed by Jing Yue's knife, strengthening herself at the cost of the other party's life.

But she still hasn't killed anyone, including sane youkai.

It's also very simple.,The current commissions are all for those little monsters who will only attack human villages.,Those who are basically not intelligent enough.,Or beasts.,Those big monsters won't specifically target human villages.。 There are two reasons:

First, this is not in line with the reputation of the Great Youkai.

Second, when the demonic power of the monster reaches a certain stage, it is almost useless for them to hunt and kill humans, which is not as good as their own painstaking cultivation.

Therefore, at present, there will not be much danger in the crusade against the monsters, and if something happens, Erli will also directly call Purple and deal with it together. If you can't beat it, then run, don't mention anything else, the ability to escape is still good.

As she walked, she saw a fork in the road ahead of her and stopped.

The road that stretches on both sides does not see where it goes, because the view is blocked by low mountains and trees.

"By feeling..."

She carefully observed and listened, but she didn't feel any difference between the two paths, so she had to choose a random path and walk.

I chose the one on the left, the man on the left and the woman on the right.

Although she is a girl now, the memories of her predecessor still affect her. Either of the two changed clothes in person, still shy; When taking a bath, it is still the same as suffering, and it is easy to bleed if you are not careful; It feels slightly better to be held by purple to sleep, but once you cover your face in some parts, you will still run away.

There is nothing to note on this road except for the sparse bushes and some yellowing grasslands.

There was no movement, except for the light wind that swept through the place.

She couldn't help but be wary, for the silence was unusual.

It is impossible for undisturbed nature to be like this, unless the place is not even fit for life. But obviously, the environment here is not bad, there are trees and water, and it is impossible not to have even a bird, or other small animals.

Carefully observing her surroundings, Elle was afraid she had missed something.

Do you want to call Purple? She thought.

After walking for a short time, they came to a clearing.

It appears to be an abandoned village, with grass already overgrown on the dirt floor where the villagers often move, and the wood of the houses has rotted a little, while some have grown moss and mushrooms.

The ruins of a few rooms had fallen silently, the fire had come early, the smell and smell had long since dissipated, and only a shell was left standing watching Ellie.

She checked the rooms one by one, and the contents were basically taken away, leaving nothing behind.

No blood or anything else was found, no bones, no rusty pieces of iron, no signs of monster destruction.

There are no graveyards or anything like that around, and it doesn't seem that the entire village was killed because of a monster attack.

"So...... What's going on here? ”

There is no feeling of demonic power, no breath of killing...

Ellie was confused, and she didn't look like she had no food.

She walked out, looked around, and observed the ground.

I grabbed a handful of soil, which was very strong, and relatively moist, and the fertile land should not be left because the land was not suitable for planting.

However, she found what appeared to be a paddy field, which was full of dead branches and leaves, but the weeds were growing luxuriantly. She squatted down and looked, and the paddy fields were fertile, but the rice had just turned into a pile of dead grass.

It's weird.

Rice is one of the plants that is not selected by the soil to nurture what is selectively nurtured.

It seems that the situation was caused by a famine caused by something.

Erli began to look around, not feeling any traces of demonic power, but only the majestic vitality of nature, rejecting unnatural things from setting foot in this place.

But why are there no animals anymore?

She couldn't figure it out and felt like she needed to observe it here.

With the village as the center, she began to take a serious look at her surroundings.

After two hours of circumambulation, no valid information was found. The surrounding plants are growing very well, too good to be true. If she didn't know that this was Japan, she would have thought that she had reached a place where humans would never have set foot in it.

Each of the trees was at least seven or eight men wide together, and all kinds of flowers grew very luxuriantly, and as far as the eye could see, they were all flowers.

But now it's winter, and it's really abnormal to have such a flourishing flower season.

Oriental Flower Reflection Mound?

She had a clue for thinking of such a word, but it didn't feel like it very much.

"It's so weird here... Let's get out of here. ”

After checking for a long time, she didn't find anything, so she had to remember this place and choose to leave.

Returning along the road, at the fork in the road, to the road on the right, the road was much better than the previous one, not the frightening silence, but the peaceful stability.

As she walked, Ellie wondered what was going on over there.

It's terrifying, and the natural life force seems to be dissatisfied with something, and it's constantly concentrating somewhere.

Just ask someone nearby, and maybe they'll have a clue.

This time I didn't go far, only about an hour. I saw the cultivated paddy fields, and after a while, I could see a village.

There were a lot of people inside, and judging from their faces, they were able to eat enough without worrying about famine.

Erlie walked in and observed the villagers around her.

The ratio of men to women is normal, the gap between the old and the young is not bad, the houses are often repaired, and there is no feeling of dilapidation.

It seems that there are very few places where youkai attack.

When the people in the village saw her, they were a little strange and came out to observe. At this time, apart from going out hunting and gathering, the people in the village basically have nothing to do.

“……”

She didn't say anything, and walked straight to the square where the villagers were meeting, and stood there waiting.

After a while, an elderly villager walked out, looking to be sixty or seventy years old, and the years had deeply polished his skin and made his body supple and bent down. Leaning on a cane plucked from a tree, he walked and asked Erlie:

"Stranger, where are you from?"

Ellie paid her respects to the old man before she said,

"Elder, I'm from the southern island of Iyo-no-Nina."

"Iyo-no-Ni Na Island? It's a far away place, stranger. ”

The old man sighed, and then spoke to her.

"Why are you here, stranger?"

"I'd like to ask if there are any monsters here?"

"If youkai say, no... A few months ago, the official family came here to help us patrol. Everything was fine, nothing was needed. ”

"Really......"

Some are lost, but more than that, they are happy, and they can still survive here.

"By the way, I want to ask about something. Do you know why the nearby villages are deserted? ”

The old man listened and shook his head.

"I don't know about this... What's wrong? ”

"I went over there and looked around, and I found it really weird...... Only the grain can't grow, but the other plants can grow like crazy..."

The old man was silent for a moment, thought for a moment, and then motioned for Erli and the prime of life behind him to follow.

"Please come with me."

"I'm in trouble."

The three of them walked to a large assembly room, there was no one in it, but there was still a fire burning in the brazier, which was a little dark and a little smoky.

"This is Wotai, the current head of that village."

"Hello."

Ellie nodded at him, and the man nodded at her.

After greeting him, the elder said to Wotai

"Wotai Village Chief, tell her about the situation."

"So, what the hell is going on?"

Wotai thought about it, sorted out his thoughts and language, and then slowly talked about the situation in his village

"Stranger, as you say. The village didn't know what was going on, nothing could be grown, and there was no place for the animals that could hunt for food.

We thought we had angered the gods, so we prayed to them, but to no avail. I have asked someone from the official family to help, but I can't solve anything.

We had to move out and find a new place to live. ”

Didn't get any useful information, Ellie thought.

"Did anyone from the official family say anything?"

She asked Wotai

"I didn't say anything, just that the forests and plants here are too dense."

It's still useless.

"Stranger, do you have any observations?"

Otai asked, and Erri shook her head.

"I don't know, the situation I saw as the official family was a strange sight.

The land seems to be rejecting something, refusing other life to set foot in this place. ”

"That's a problem...... How long are you going to stay here, stranger? ”

"I want to observe the land, it's so strange after all."

She knew that there was definitely something here, and so did the people of the official family.

It's just how do you find this thing that has affected that land? The official family searched for it, but found nothing.

What about yourself, can you find it?