The village was in turmoil.

Refrigerators returned from their trip to the forest in not so graceful way.

Not in the way the villagers imagined them to return.

One of them, mage especially, was practically being carried by his companions, a wound on the side of his chest wasn't sealed properly making blood pour out even now. His robes, once an object of envy for every man and woman in the village, its arctic blue colour seemingly blending with fresh snow, were now in shambles. The contrast between bloody red and its former colour was mesmerising, but also disgusting and horrifying at the same time.

The sight of the bloody robes pained Adam especially, among all the people present.

'One time, one fucking time I decide to go in my, sweet, beautiful, precious, robes. And of course, I return practically red, robes tattered and stained. Just like with that hat...

Gods forbid I have something pretty...' He lamented inside his head.

But that sight wasn't the thing that raised the most tension in the villagers around, it was a person or at least a remnant of a person carried by two men in the back. Mr Torak, the last person to be robbed, was dead.

"They killed him." Whispers began to circulate in the crowd as the citizens started to weave their theories.

"Don't be foolish, it were the thieves who killed him. It makes no sense for the investigators to kill him....., unless they were involved with the robberies from the start. That means that the governor is also their associate! They wouldn't be brought here if not for him!" Even crazier ideas brewed in those countryside brains, hungry for drama and gossip but staying insatiated in the monotone village.

Those thoughts were mere attempts to push away the horrifying thought. It could have been them. It could have been their children. It could have been their siblings, friends, or parents, just anyone.

The village they lived in all their life, and thought of as a safe haven, untouched by plague, war or beast tide, was in fact very much the same as the rest of the world, anyone could die at any moment, without experiencing their life to the fullest and having not accomplished their goals and strife.

They were mortals, and now, they felt that more than ever before.

The investigators themselves had a hard time walking through the city. They separated into two teams, one consisting of Berta and Adam, who went to the local healer. His wound wouldn't close nicely without somewhat professional treatment.

The second team included everyone else, Max, Watt, Kyll, Monica and Iler. They headed towards the governor, but first made a stop at Mr.Torak's house.

The dead farmer wasn't a lonely old man, as they hoped him to be. His house was one of the few that were full of their inhabitants, as they didn't go outside after hearing the commotion, they had to clean up the mess left by the animals after all. They didn't worry about their father and husband, as they trusted he would come back safe and whole. Also, the weather was wonderful for a day in the middle of winter, perfect to do some chores. Their father wouldn't like it if they wasted such a great moment on tormenting themselves with dark thoughts.

Max came near the oldest person present, a woman who looked about the age of the deceased man. Likely his wife.

"Miss, we come with some horrible news. I don't know who he was for you, but we discovered this man dead. He was already cold when we found him." He said apologetically while moving away to show the body to the supposed wife.

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Some time passed as the family comprehended the death of Mr Torak, they were unprepared and devastated.

Ms. Torak, his wife and the same woman Max talked to accepted the situation the easiest, probably because she was worried from the start, her mind was already full of theories varying from the best possibility of him returning safe and sound with his animals, to the worst, so when the worst really happened, she was somewhat prepared. She didn't share her worries with her kids, not wanting to distress them.

She eventually stopped the mourning and comforting her kids and came to the team, presumably to ask questions.

"Thank you for bringing him here, it would be much worse if we didn't see the body. Even in that state." She looked at the body of her dead husband, thou Monica sewed his stomach together, the mortal injury was still visible.

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"Could you tell me how he died? It would really help." Like nearly always, the narrator was right, the woman wanted answers.

"Don't you want your children to hear it too? Should we call them here?" Asked Max, who as a leader, acted as a spokesman.

"No, I will tell them later, when they calm down a bit." She said.

"Okay, let's skip the journey. We found your husband's body in a lair of some creatures. They were the ones to steal the livestock from the village, that's for sure, as the lair was full of semi-fresh bodies." Started Max. "Your husband was lying among them, the creatures killed him when he found their lair. About the beast themselves, they looked like a crossbreed between rats and cats, they were quite small, maybe the size of a dog. They had unnaturally long bodies and even longer tails that served as their main weapon, they used it like a whip."

"But why would the beast hoard such massive amounts of food? The animals stolen could feed a large portion of the village for months!" The widow asked, clearly confused.

"The mother was incredibly fat, but we don't know why. There were also numerous eggs in the lair, maybe the creature's species needed big amounts of food after being born to survive? We have no way of knowing, as we destroyed each and all of them. If you want, you can make a trip to their lair with some people and salvage some of the bodies, it's still very cold outside so maybe they aren't rotten yet." Proposed Max.

"Wait, I take back what I said, don't do that, the meat is unsalvageable" He changed his mind after imagining the cave, while something may not be covered in maggots, the parts it layed on, definitely were.

The woman nodded, thanked them once more and returned to her children, they needed her more than she needed answers.

Refrigerators helped the family to bring their father's body inside, where it would wait for burial. Then, they returned to their previous path, towards the governor's house.

When they arrived, Adam and Berta were already inside, talking with the governor, whose name was Brian. A very non-villagerish name I would say. Another thing to note was that his surname was Smith, and he wasn't a smith. No one from his family had ever been. The source of his surname remains a mystery even to me, and to you surely too.

"Hello, did they tell you what happened?" Max asked the governor as he entered the room.

"Hi, and yes, but I would like to confirm some things, to write in the report about your mission." Answered Brian. "But first, please sit down."

"Okay, I am ready." Max announced after everybody took a seat.

"So, what were those cat-rat-whips? Do you know?" Started governor.

"No, I didn't know there was such an animal in our kingdom. Or even if they existed." The team leader answered.

"How about the stolen animals, are those salvageable?"

"I don't think so, some looked okay, but around them were parts I would describe as disgusting. I don't think any of them are ok to eat. The hide is relatively intact thou." The beast attacked with their tail, making the wounds quite clean.

"I presume you returned from Torak's house. Did you tell the family the whole situation?" The governor needed to know what the people knew to handle the situation in the best way, at least Adam thought so.

"We talked with the wife of the deceased. She knows what killed her husband and in what circumstances we found the body. Nothing more."

"What about the beast itself? Do you have any idea how it captured the animals in such a stealthy manner? How could we prepare for other of its species?"

"I think it used some sort of illusions. For the first part of the fight we fought against a puma, and if we hadn't discovered the fake wall, we wouldn't have guessed that the puma is also fake. It probably made some sort of illusion that attracted the animals, I think you should make the gateways to the barns more.... difficult to open. And maybe teach the animals to react mostly to verbal commands, we haven't seen the creatures impersonate voices. To tell the truth, it roared.... but it should be possible with its cat-like features." Max thought about the whole situation while travelling, and that's what he figured out.

"Okay, I will need you to stay in the village at least until tomorrow. Until then, please go to your camp and let me deal with this situation."

And as the governor proposed, the refrigerators did, they didn't have anything to do inside the village anyway.

While walking to their camp, Max asked about Adam's situation. It wasn't the best, he had three broken ribs and a huge wound, but the wound was not deep and the ribs didn't pierce any organs inside. It was bad but manageable, he would just have to rest for a few weeks to come.

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The next day, Brian the governor didn't have any additional questions, in fact, he was completely absent from the village having left commands for the team on a note nailed to his door.

'To "Refrigerators".

Thank you for your help with the investigation. I will forward my evaluation of your work at a later date, as I am going to visit the creature's nest with a few of the men from the village.

I apologise for my early departure and lack of farewell.

Once more, thank you for your work. Brian Smith- The Governor'

What they deciphered from the message was that they could go home, thou it wasn't stated in an obvious way, the governor clearly inclined that they wouldn't see each other again, meaning that they could go their way.

And that's exactly what they did.

After packing their things and cleaning up the campsite, they were once more situated on the wagon. This time heading towards the capital, not the opposite.

The weather was beautiful, but also painful in a way. The fluffy, fresh snow which fell in the night made a delightful crunchy noise and the horses and the wagon crushed it underneath them. In its fluffiness, it also made the horses spend more energy on pulling, making the team regret not taking a sleigh. The next contrast lay in its pristine white colour, while it was beautiful, the sun used it mercilessly to send its rays towards the eyeballs of everyone who had them open.

Just like when they were travelling towards the village, two days before.

One person wasn't affected by it though, the wounded magician lay in the middle of the wagon, peacefully sleeping. His injury exhausted him to the brim.

Not an unusual sight after someone suffers such an injury, but pitiful nonetheless.