After two days of camping in the woods, they managed to reach their destination in the southwest.

Luo Lan and the other scholars did not catch up, they may have taken the road due south to the inland area, or they may still stay at the longhouse, in short, they have little to do with the group.

The snow has melted a lot after a few days of sun exposure, and walking on the ground is no longer a step by step, which makes their physical exertion and physical injuries much better.

Rigal's world-popular leather boots require frequent maintenance, and if you don't put enough beeswax on them, they can easily become a moisture attack. Blisters on the soles of your feet after a long walk are painful enough in itself, and even worse if you add the erosion of clammy and cold breath.

That's why at the end of each day's walk, the sage asks the group to take off their boots and woolen socks to check their feet, and if the whole ball of the foot becomes bruised and unconscious, the problem becomes too serious.

In the northern part of the world in Rigal, straw is stuffed into their shoes and boots in winter to keep them out of the cold and humid environment. Because farmers can see them everywhere, straw poles are also very common, and they only need to be tucked into the boots and stepped on tightly, with beeswax sealed and waterproof leather boots, to form a relatively good shoe environment.

Here they could achieve a similar effect with the leaves of other plants or even sun-dried moss, but despite this, the walk was a torment.

Melting snow always seeps into the seams of leather boots that lack beeswax maintenance, so that the shoes that are dried overnight by the fire will start to make a "pop tower" sound again because they are wet as long as they come out of the fire the next day, but this annoying sound is only its lightest harm, long-term soaking in water makes many people's feet begin to have eczema, and wool socks are worn out, and the wounds on the heels and the surface of the feet caused by friction between the inside of the boots during walking do not heal in this environment, which is really distressing.

The sewing and patching work had to be done almost every night, as they were expected to arrive directly in the bustling city, and they didn't bring enough replacement woolen socks.

Wool drains well but is not wear-resistant, and when the socks are in tatters, they have to use cotton canvas to sew them together, but cotton absorbs water easily, and for various reasons, it is almost a matter of course that socks eventually become stinky.

Luckily, our Sage was an experienced traveler, and he paired a knife with a thin bark rope, and he used small wooden hooks cut from branches to allow everyone to attach their socks to their knapsacks.

In this way, in the process of moving forward, you can ensure that the socks are always drying, and you are not afraid that the other pair of socks that need to be replaced will also be wet and smelly.

It's just that the smell of the whole team won't be very good, of course, but everyone who hasn't washed for a long time is also considered dirty. Anyway, if things go well, they should be able to find a bathhouse to wash up when they reach the friendly village that Lulu mentioned.

With this expectation of painting a pie for themselves, the people who should have been tired also had a little more strength under their feet when they saw the outline of the building from afar.

It was only when they got close enough to see every piece of wood used to build the house that they immediately realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere.

Estimating the time from the winter sun and the intervals between their walks and rests, it was almost ten o'clock in the morning, but the whole village was a little too quiet.

On a cold winter morning, if nothing else, it is still necessary to light the fire pit and burn something to keep warm. Although the Land of the Moon also has a firewood tax, it is not as strict as Suomir used to be, and people can go up to the mountains to cut down their own, but they need to pay taxes when cutting trees, so fuel is generally abundant.

But none of the dozen or so huts that could be seen from this angle had smoke wafting out. If it is said that the buildings of the Moon Country do not have chimneys and are not so easy to recognize, or the firewood is very dry and not easy to produce cloud smoke, then it is okay, but even the unique smell of firewood burning that will drift ten miles away with the wind is not perceived by everyone.

Although the snow has almost melted, standing here and looking into the distance, the whole village takes on a cold hue in the sea breeze.

"Are there so few people here?" Mira, who had learned more of the Moonland vocabulary in a few days, spoke to Lulu, and the native girl shook her head, "I don't know, I've only heard it from my ancestors, and I haven't really been here." ”

She said that it was clear that even though they lived close to each other and had exchanges and intermarriages in history, the cultures were relatively closer, and the communication between the Yi people was still very restrained despite the barrier of identity.

"Be careful, the village may have been attacked by someone, so get your weapons ready. Turning around, Henry gave the order, and although a group of armed outsiders in a foreign land usually does not make a good first impression, safety is still a matter in the face of an atmosphere that is clearly wrong.

"Won't you take a detour?" said that the person who asked was Galeva, and he would not have asked such a thing in the past. The frizzy young porter had become more or less cautious after Tarva Sutache had experienced the cost of an impulse.

"We need supplies, and we need all kinds of information. The sage replied with a short sentence, which was one of the reasons why they chose to go to the village.

As we have said earlier, the Lamanite missionaries are confined to the central part of the Luna Country, and although some small individual traders are allowed to travel to other regions, the main forces are concentrated near the ports in the south-central direction.

In other words, the entire Crescent Continent is an unknown area for the Rigalis except for the capital.

There are no maps or road markings, as these messages are strictly forbidden to circulate in the Land of the Moon. Even if it can be bought on the black market, as we mentioned earlier, the group of people going south by land is a temporary move, and they don't even have all the daily necessities, how can they expect to bring the local map with them.

It is true that our Sage has the ability to roughly deduce where there may be passages by observing the direction of the mountains, and can also use the shadow of the sun to point the way. But this is a technique used in a completely uninhabited wilderness, in a state of survival. In areas inhabited by humans, it is likely that people have built more convenient and labor-saving roads over thousands of years.

Just because you can do this doesn't mean you have to rely on it every time, just as equipment needs to be selected based on the situation, so are countermeasures.

There is a local saying in the Land of the Moon that "a strong dragon does not suppress the head of the earth", which is very easy to understand because the Lamanites used to translate it in the past. It's a fitting description of the current situation—no matter how powerful and versatile Henry is, he is always an outsider to the land.

Without the cooperation of the locals, any movement of the group will only be restricted everywhere. They did not know where to find merchants willing to trade with foreigners, nor did they know which areas were more hostile to foreigners and where other places might be able to negotiate in exchange for peaceful passage.

Because of the ignorance of road traffic and the political tendencies of the local population, if you think that you want to find a way to reach your destination by judging the terrain on your own, you will not die on the way, and it will take at least 10 times as long as taking the ready-made road.

And if you're unlucky, you'll run headlong into the army of the Moon Country, and you'll be in a stalemate without knowing what to do.

All in all, it's important to find locals who are familiar with the situation, no matter how strong or professional you are. Lulu is from an ethnic minority after all, and the gap between her and mainstream society makes it impossible for her to act as a suitable guide outside of Yidi. However, her level of knowledge is also enough to lead the group to find the villagers who might help them.

It's just that the plan for booking seems to be disrupted now - under Henry's guidance, the team has changed to a compact formation. The missionaries were guarded in the middle, and they looked nervous due to their lack of armor and weapons. But Henry and Mira didn't pull out their weapons directly, because the situation only required vigilance, and it had not yet reached the level of confirming danger.

The sage exposed Kramer's hilt from the cloak, while Mira lifted the side of the woolen cloak and draped it over her shoulders to facilitate the drawing of her sword.

They all wore Brigunt floor armor and lined up in front of each other, using their bodies as the first line of defense for the team.

Something further on the right stood Kaleva with a backpack, a tall young man who was not good at fighting, but whose physique was able to bluff some people.

Lulu, who is dexterous in front of the right, has opened a certain distance as a scout to detect danger in advance, while in the rear on the left side is an alert little unicorn as a flank and rear guard.

In addition, the little unicorn also had three light crossbows hanging from its body, two of which they had obtained and one that had been captured from pirates in Kirishima.

They are small light crossbows with bolts, mounted on small unicorns and covered with cloth. At this point, they still haven't set off, let alone reloaded, and although it would make them lose the head start in the face of unexpected situations, it is true that they are not there yet.

In case it was all a misunderstanding, and they bumped into the villagers who suddenly broke in front of them in full force and nervousness, then there is a high probability that someone in this team of only two professionals would cause the situation to become irreparable.

Experts need to consider all aspects of the situation at all times, not only for the present, but also for the aftermath.

When you take one step, you have to think about what will happen after three steps.

All in all, on the lookout for threats that may arise nearby, in a tight formation, they move forward in an orderly manner.

But until the party entered the village, nothing happened.

"Hot—" The sage raised a hand to adjust to the crowd and stopped, then shouted to Lulu in front of him in the language of the Moon Country.

The small Aboriginal girl ran briskly back to them, nervous, though not quite visible.

The cold sea breeze whistled and blew, taking away people's body temperature one after another. Although it didn't snow, it was quite uncomfortable to stand outside the house in this kind of weather.

Henry and Mira immediately began to observe the environment to assess the threat, and the others did the same, except that they didn't necessarily know what they were looking at.

The sails of the small wooden fishing boat were folded and frozen next to the pier. The ice here is not thick, and because of the small size of the fishing port, the large ice floes cannot float in. The sun shines on the harbor and it is clear that the harbor is not completely closed, and there is a waterway that looks like it should have been carved out with pickaxes, which people should have used to go out to sea, and there are several wooden sleds lying crookedly, and rattan fishing cages hanging from them, apparently used by people to carry fish on the ice.

The wooden doors of several houses were not locked, and they swayed slightly with a "creaking" sound in the wind. On the inside of the wooden door there is a roller shutter made of thick cloth and bamboo strips and hemp rope, which is used to protect against the cold, and when the door is opened, without this second curtain, the cold wind will blow "whirring" in.

The Land of the Moon had no glass, their windows were made of paper, and the nearest room had a hole in its paper window, so Mira leaned in. Through the hole, she saw the snow shovels, brooms, and straw sandals neatly laid out in the hallway of the entrance.

Because of the living habits of the Moon Country, they are not like the Rigal people who only slip their shoes when they go to bed, and basically take off their shoes at the door when they enter the house.

She turned back and told her teacher about it, and the Sage thought for a moment, and asked Mira and Lulu to separate up and inspect the houses.

Both nodded, then stepped forward, pushed open the unlocked doors, and went in to check them out.

"Nobody's here. I don't know if it's because I'm a little scared, but Lulu, who was checked after a while, ran out and shook her head. Mira, who was taught by our Sage Gentleman, carefully inspected the environment in the house and made a more detailed report.

"The fire pit was cold, at least it hadn't been lit for a few hours. The soup was still on the table, and the surface was already frosty, not like it was in the morning. There are four pairs of chopsticks in total, and the shoes at the door are also two pairs of adults and two pairs of children. There is a pile of scattered firewood at the entrance to the firewood room connected to the main room, and a basin of water next to it. The white-haired girl explained, and if she didn't mention the radical tendencies in battle, she still had enough judgment to find information from the environment.

"At dinner time, I was almost ready to boil water for a bath. Henry nodded and gave a corollary. Mira continued, "And then who suddenly attacked?"

"That should have been a little more panicked, did you find any blood, did the basin have been spilled over except for the scattered wood, and were there any signs of damage or collapse?" reminded the sage, and the girl shook her head.

Lulu, who had become closer in the past few days, took the initiative to ask about the situation next to her, and after Henry translated for her, the girl lowered her head and thought for a while, and said a word.

"Kami Kakusi. She said that because the first half of the book was similar to the name of the brown bear earlier, Mila and Kaleva could understand that it meant "God", but this time it was not our Sage Mr. Sage who gave the full explanation, but the missionary Aegie next to him: "Does it mean that God has hidden people?"

There was a reason why he understood the word faster than Henry: first, these occult things were the focus of the Church's research, and were the things that missionaries to the East had to learn, and second, that our Sage had not spoken the language of the Moon Nation for a long time, and that he could still remember how to pronounce and speak, which was an extraordinary thing in itself.

Lulu nodded: "That's what people call it, this incomprehensible disappearance." ”

"People disappeared inexplicably, everything was still there, there was no trace of moving away, as if everyone was still living normally a moment ago, and then suddenly disappeared. ”

"I kind of shuddered. Kaleva rubbed her hands together, then grabbed the strap of her rucksack and looked around.

There are no traces of struggle, and there are no traces of fighting. There was no damage or blood to be found, and the shoes were neatly arranged, not like people were fleeing to avoid something.

And so it disappeared in place.

It was as if the whole village had suddenly put down everything they were doing, put on no shoes, and left the place without anything.

Because the snow had melted so much that no footprints could be seen on the hard frozen ground, they didn't know if the villagers had left on their own or if someone had taken them with them.

"Teacher, let's take a look at the other rooms—" "Shhhh

His sudden reaction made everyone a little frightened, they unconsciously held their breath and ran directly to the family's house without even wearing shoes. The sage quickly instructed Mira and Caleva in sign language to remove the unicorn's crossbow and place the crossbow bag beside him. Then I came to the paper window with a hole and looked out.

"Is that a villager?" said a man dressed in black in the distance, with a strange gait. He walked very staggeringly, swaying, and therefore very slowly. This, combined with the sage's superior eyesight, was why they were able to hide before they were seen by this man.

"Click-" Kaleva accidentally slammed his crossbow against the plank, making a loud noise in the silence. Lulu and Mira immediately glared at him, and the young man looked a little overwhelmed.

But fortunately, the other party did not notice this in the whistling wind.

Lulu licked her fingers and used her wet fingers to dig a hole in the paper window and look at it, as did Aegie and Kaleva.

They watched the man who was staggering in black, and when he walked into the crowd, they suddenly noticed that the whole person had a strange smell - it was a pun, he did have a salty body smell mixed with the sea breeze, but on the other hand, his attire was also very unique.

The man dressed in black and wrapped himself in a ball resembled the clothing of the inhabitants of the Absera's steppes in the southern part of the continent of Rigal than the costume of the Moon Nation depicted in the missionary books.

It's just that the similarity is limited to this, I don't know if it's for warmth or whatever, this person wrapped his somewhat fat body tightly, only revealing a pair of eyes, pale and bloated hands, and-

"He was barefoot. Although it was impossible to determine the gender, the girl said in a very soft voice.

The sage and Agey and Galeva all nodded, which was obviously in line with the impression that Mira had seen that the inhabitants had their shoes on, but this person was the inhabitant of the place?

There were still many suspicions, and as they were thinking about it, the faltering man suddenly stopped.

Then, he turned his head and glanced to their side.

"Shhh

"——!" Mira and Lulu glared at him, and the young man scrambled to gesturing with his hands and mouth.

He looked at him with eyes open and closed for a long time, which made the two girls feel inexplicable, and when they hurried back to see if the movement had been noticed by the man, he also turned his head from the window.

And at this moment, Henry, Age, Mira, and Lulu, who were gathered next to the window, all saw it clearly.

The man's bare eyes blinked for a moment with transverse translucent eyelids.

"Shhhh