[So that is why.]

[If that is all, now continue with your training.]

Though after the first increase in energy density, the increment continue to be gradual and slow for three additional days, but before he could start to go crazy from the unchanging scenery, the sight of a village appeared in their sight, which made not only levis but the majority of the guards, to have a rise in their moral, from the long march they had just experienced.

"A village! Finely something other than the trees."

However, as they were approaching it, Levis was quite intrigued by the tall wooden wall, which was far more robust and strongly built than the one at the camp.

And yet, the biggest surprise was that of what it was behind the walls, as houses that were built far sounder and bigger than what he had seen till now, were numerous as they moved down the street, towards a larger one.

“We will take the Inn. Adrian, Hubert, and Levis go and see if they have, rooms for all of us. I will visit and talk with the leader of the village, about our arrival.”

“Yes.”

However, the large group, was quite eye-catching, as numerous people were staring at the blue cloth and armored guards, though there seemed to not be much emotion towards them, instead, they gave the impression of observing peculiar and rare visitors.

“They are staring at us.”

“Well we make for quite a scene, we should have not entered like this, and the horses will need someplace to be looked after. Though this is the second time we do this. Let us go inside and see how many will sleep in a bed, and how many will not.”

[Cultivators, this village has cultivators and they are quotes strong, one, two—, seventeen, three just as strong as me and one as strong as Adrian. And from what it looks, this village is smaller than the village, if we round up all the villagers at the camp.]

[This is the true world if you can say so.]

Nevertheless, in his mind, Levis was in high spirits as he was scrutinizing all the people that were looking at the group while being shocked at the number of cultivators that were in the small village.

“Innkeeper! How many rooms, do you still have in a vacancy state?”

“Not that many, sir guard. I can not accommodate you all, unfortunately, just like the last time, there are five rooms with twenty beds available, how you will allocate them to your men is up to you sir.”

“Alright, we will take them all. I will speak with them, and have the ones that will stay come to you.”

“Very well, sir.”

With everything stated, Adrian seized a pouch from his waist, taking several round and silvery coins, that he handed to the innkeeper, while in exchange, he received several keys, after which he and the other two, walked out of the inn, and in the front of the large group of guards.

[This “Innkeeper” person, is a cultivator also.]

[---Stop reacting, to all cultivators that you see, it is not like you are going after their dantian anyway. And do not forget to reject the lodge, it is better if you are outside close to the ground.]

[Yes.]

After exiting the inn, Adrian stood silent, as he and all the other guards, waited for the young and old man, who returned after some time, from the center of the village, where one large house was noticeable to all.

“Adrian?”

“Yes, it is the same situation.”

“In that case, the one most injured and fatigued will take the rooms for this night. The rest will camp near the wall, where the horse stables are.”

At his words, the large group divided, as twenty of them came forward and took the keys from Adrian, while the rest took the horses and moved towards the north-west part of the village wall, where stables used to house the steeds of visitors and the locals were located, while nearby, a large open area existed, as the guards immediately begin to raise the tents and occupied their resting spots for the night.

“Good. Now, Levis, Adrian, and Hubert, you are with me as guests at the village head estate."

“Yes, we will gladl—.”

“A-actually!”

“Eh—? Levis?”

“Actually, I want to stay outside. I feel more relaxed when we are outside.”

“Eh! Levis, Levis, let us go, if we go, we can take a warm bath, soft beds, and good food, why stay outside in the cold, and hard ground, come one buddy?”

“That is right, is better if you come with m—.”

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“Captain. In truth I have the same request, someone should stay and look after them.”

“You, too?”

“Haha, young master, I too also believe that is still premature to bring them close to your sphere of influence, as it will not truly benefit them at all, as things stand.”

“Alright, no need to add more, you can do as you like. They can drink but with limitation, and have them sleep early as we will depart tomorrow, before light. The extra time here we will put in the early move.”

“Yes.”

“Huu-, wait. No!”

Though as he was left out of the conversation, Hubert could do nothing but stare blankly at Rowen, and Old Wan who were proceeding towards the center of the village, even as the old man took another path as he left the young man to walk alone, while Adrian and Levis were moving in the opposite direction near the inner part of the wall.

“Argh---, wait! You two stubborn idiots, why did you refuge the young ma—, the captain?”

“I need to continue with my post. Overseeing the whole squadron is my job.”

“I feel better out here, than inside one of these buildings. These houses evoke a sense o-of—, danger!”

“What kind of reasons are those, when compared with my–our well-being!? On a soft bed and refreshing bath— wait---, you bastards! ”

However, in the time that the guards were splitting among themselves, as so did Levis and the others, whilst one of them was taking the situation far worst than the rest, though the many eyes that were gazing at them, began to decrease, as the people observing them started to leave.

Even so, as they had their reasons and problems, some among the many gazes that left them, particularly, two men in their thirties, had been giving rather long and deep glances, towards the young man in armor. Although they were suppressing the cold glints in their eyes, which were escaping from time to time, as they were scrutinizing him till the moment they could not see his figure all that well, it was then, that the two men took the closest alley and moved away from the main road.

“He is back.”

“I can see that too.”

“Do we report?”

“Well obviously, you genius.”

“Can we do it?”

“That old man might be a problem, but they should have someone that will be able to deal with him.”

“Alright.”

“We will intercept them, on the road to Rud, do the job, take our share, and be gone.”

“Hmm.”

“Really, I would like to hear more about this "job"!”

“Who? Hmm!!!”

“Crack”

“What are you–? Hmmm!!!”

“Crack”

Though, as the two men were conversing with one another on their stroll in the alley, the voice of a third person entered into their conversation, however, while the two of them reacted fast to the newcomer, so did the one in question, as a hand, cover the mouth of the first speaker, and just as quick for the second one, however, immediately after, a muffled cry accompanied by the sound of bones which were being broken, slowly echoed in the alley for just a short moment, as the dark ally that was slightly overcast by the arriving of the night, became as dark as the nighttime all of a sudden, as no sounds could be heard from within.

“You should not talk so loudly, of things that you do not want others to hear.”

But after a few dozen of moments, the alley returned to normal, as the figure of old Wan came out of it while juggling with two pouches in his hand, though the two men were nowhere to be seen.

“Hmmm-!? Too easy–. A trap? Amateurs? Both? How vexing—. Rud city, I will wait to see how this will go. I really want to see, who is so daring, as to try and make a move.”

Though at his words, for a split moment, the amicable face of the old man was broken, as a cold and sinister one emerged, as the feeling he was giving, was a very strange one, however, there was something other than just the fear that could be induced from him.

“Hm? Screams??”

“It is nothing, with so many people here, how can you not hear someone shout once or twice.”

“I guess you are right, at the camp I heard it quite a few times.”

“Now leave that, let us move and raise the tent quickly, so I can visit the tavern of that Inn afterward, Adrian will look after you, as I am gone.”

“Hubert!”

“Do not call for me, you are the one with the great and honorable occupation here, so work on it!”

“Go easy then, tomorrow we part early."

Though at the same time, that Adrian and the rest were following the guards toward the spot near the stables to raise the tents, Levis turned his head, towards the center of the large village, as he was confused and slightly distracted, he was immediately dismissed by the slightly vexed Hubert.

Even so, despite anyone's mood or feelings, they proceed to the designated place, as the guards began to unfurl the tents and tend to the horses, while Adrian was overseeing the proceedings.

Still, while Adrian was occupied with his own task, Hubert had long left the place for the inn, to drink himself out of his own emotional state, consequently, the one to overlook after the boy, was nonother than the busy Adrian.

Nonetheless, at this moment, Levis was now facing both Zuger and Square in their tent, which was far from any of the guards or Adrian himself.

[How do I go now?]

[Well, kid, you want to look and be imposing, so use fewer words, and if you are not, make sure you can be as assertive as you can, so that they can not question you, even in their own mind.]

[Assertive, you mean like hard talk?]

[---.]

[Y-yes—, hard talk. Go get them, tiger.]

“Ahamm, let me just say, that you belong to me, your life that is.”

With his first line, Levis scrutinize the two men, before him, to see their reactions, but he could not get anything as though they were nothing more than wooden statues.

“Do you know what I am talking about?”

“No.”

“I will be clear and simple, you are my slave, as he is too. Your purpose is to help me find the bandits that are still missing, well there are those two– “scots” with us now, but they are nothing more than simple ants that will die eventually. What I want are the leaders. So now, speak of everything I have to know.”

Consequently, on the second try, he turned to Square, that was still unaware of his own situation. However, no reaction could be seen from him or Zuger.

“If you want to search for those bastards, it will not be easy at all, as we have no idea how we can accomplish something like that, we are nowhere strong enough to even consider the idea of taking action, but I will tell you all you need to know,---.”

As for the two, the appearance of the small boy was not out of the ordinary, as they were expecting to be visited by the boy, that had made the captain move, and gave them a string of hope, so that they could possibly live, and be out of any mortal danger from the guard's judgment.

While he had nothing to hide, Zuger begin to recount his story again, adding all the knowledge he had about the bandits, and of the three that were missing from the battle.

“Grip, Joul, the slave traders—, and the pervert. Well, now I know who to search for first.”

As they were watching the boy, while he was pondering and talking by himself, Zuger and Square looked at one another, as if they were wandering at the same thing, "how were “they” going to search for the bastards", as even if they were unchained, they were just a rank 4 and a former cultivator, were nothing more than a bad joke, when put against the near-impossible mission, that would need years to accomplish anything, As, before anything, they would need to cultivate to a level that they could be taken seriously and garner respect, otherwise nothing could be achieved.

Even as Zuger retained the impression and knowledge about the strange first encounter with the boy, he was still doubting, that there was anything viable they could do.

“Now you with the square face, as you are right now, you are in no position to help with anything if you are not a cultivator.”

“I am trying to reform my dantian, I will just need a few more days and I wil—.”

“Head down, and take a breath of energy, while you try to make your dantian.”

“What?”

“Now!”

“Yes.”

“Slap”

Without thinking much, Square, lowered his head down as he took a big and full breath of air, filling his lungs with as much energy as possible while trying to use his own mind and consciousness to form a dantian. But as he was in the process of doing so, a small hand slapped his head, however, he could not think about it, as a strong pain was unleashed over his senses, making him clench his fists and teeth while twisting his face, as the pain was at a level that he could not scream but grunt softly.

“This should help him remake his dantian, now just wait and cultivate if you can, we will talk another time. Just so you know, any help I will give to any of you will be accompanied by excruciating pain, as long as I do not want to kill you. You will atone for the rest of the time that you will live, so do not forget what is your purpose.”