In the morning the villagers found the body. Of course, they didn’t do it immediately. They needed to wake up, find the broken-down door, and then call the swordsman to check it out as they were too paranoid to do it themselves. When the swordsman ran out to alarm them while carrying out the half-eaten body, they properly found the corpse.

Unfortunately for the Bird, the fox decided that it was not going to make sure the human was dead and did not even touch to throat, focusing on the torso and the organs in it. That meant that the cut that killed the civilian was on full display.

Judging by everyone's reaction they didn’t even seem to consider that an animal did it. Which they would have done if the beast did the only thing it was supposed to do --- get framed for the murder.

The village head and the swordsman were discussing something probably related to the murder, not that it would know for sure with the language barrier, but it could guess.

The corpse was cleaned and dressed. All the belongings in the house were taken except a small wooden statue which was covered by red cloth. And finally, a pearl was placed under the dead body’s tongue.

The denizens dug out a hole, put the dead body in it, and filled the pit with dirt. Then they did some speeches while many cried and some looked horrified.

The shard of The Core knew that humans didn’t eat each other but it didn’t understand why they wouldn’t use the dead body for fertilizer. Maybe they were afraid that the corpse was carrying some diseases? But then why bother with all the weird preparations?

After that, the swordsman pointed at the human with lines and told him something. The lined human’s reaction to that was a look of determination and a nod.

The night was already falling so everyone went to their homes. No one seemed to be sleeping though and the guards were more on alert than ever before.

The Bird counted that day as wasted because it could have been spent searching for the murderer in the forest, preferably while going towards the dungeon's direction. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and it could only hope that the next one would be more productive.

The next day as it turned out was not any better in terms of reaching its goal. The villagers didn’t even get close to the fence separating them from the rest of the world, instead, they were in their homes doing nothing. They didn’t bother even tending to the field, their only source of food as far as it could tell.

When noon hit, something started happening as the swordsman and the lined human went out of their shelters with bags and walked to the gate. Talking to each other as they did.

The Village head went to them soon after and handed them a... blue stone of unknown origins. The Bird suspected it was some sort of communication device, but it couldn’t know for sure until it was used because of its lack of Mana sight.

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It didn’t know how useful the skill was as it had it all its life but now that it was gone it understood why other races that weren’t mana-based wanted it so badly.

The swordsman took the blue stone and put it in his ring, smiling at the Village head as he did so. The lined human seemed much more nervous than him, fidgeting with the handle of their sword.

After a while of conversation between the Village head and the swordsman the duo finally departed. A good thing since the shard of the Core didn’t know what was going on. Why would the best fighter in the village go out of it when there was a killer on the loose that they suspected was a sentient being? Not that it minded the stupidity of their actions as it benefited from it.

The swordsman and the lined human traveled through the forest with the Bird following unnoticed behind.

The lined human was walking up front, seemingly leading the way with the swordsman following obediently behind. They encountered some beasts on their way but all of them were weak enough for the swordsman to kill them quickly and cleanly.

One time the lined human fought it almost ended in disaster as they tripped on some roots, leaving themselves wide open to the vampiric squirrel that they were fighting. If it wasn’t for the other humans who stepped up in time, they would be dead.

When they were pretty far from the village the swordsman stopped the lined human from going any further and pointed at the Bird. It had Stealth activated so this action threw it out of the loop as it never thought that it would be found.

The better fighter of the duo took out his sword and directed the tip towards the bird. It was as far from a battle stance as it could be, so the Bird decided to risk it.

The shard of The Core flew and landed on top of the blade, turning off its Stealth as it did so.

It only planned to reveal itself when the humans would be going away from the dungeon so that it could lead them back on track. But none of its plans survived contact with the enemy so it wasn’t as surprised as it would be if everything before worked out.

The lined human's eyes widened slightly, that activity indicated surprise if it remembered right. The swordsman in contrast looked perfectly calm, as if he expected it to show up. He probably did as he was the one who gestured towards it. That meant that he also saw it at the time when he was heading to the village. Its dismissiveness to that move led to it being unprepared for this situation, it must correct that behavior later on.

The swordsman started talking to the Bird, eyes never leaving its form. Too bad it didn’t understand a single word, a fact that it would remedy as soon as it had access to the System Shop.

As it didn’t know what the humans wanted from it, it decided to lead them to the dungeon straight away. If they didn’t follow it was certain that herding them to it with the strength disparity wouldn’t be that hard. Especially when taking other beats hiding in the forest into account.

The shard of The Core flew towards the dungeon as soon as the swordsman stopped speaking. Not at its maximum speed, of course, as it wanted the humans to follow it.

Although the lined human was hesitant at first, they soon ran behind the swordsman who was already walking after the Bird with no delay.

Taking them to the dungeon took a lot of time as the distance between the dungeon and the settlement was large. Fortunately, never once did both of them stray, merely stopping for rest or to fight an animal that had mistaken them for food.

After a journey that the shard of The Core would remember for a lifetime, they arrived at the entrance to the dungeon with the humans only having a few minor injuries that they didn’t want to waste their weird healing pills on.