A call for dinner managed to ease the slightly awkward atmosphere between the two.

Ogre glanced at Macal and decided to take off his mask.

Beauty is something that, no matter how much you look at it, can become tiresome.

"Eat more, little sister Geling." Maggie used a silver knife to cut a piece of meat and placed it in front of Ogre. "Our place is small, so please make do."

She instinctively categorized Ogre into the group of people who grew up in a relatively good environment.

This was quite normal.

In any social system, beauty is invariably linked to wealth and power.

The food of commoners cannot nurture children with rosy lips, white teeth, silky hair, and delicate skin.

Innate beauty does exist, but the influence of the environment is equally important. Those who possess beauty are not commodities, but the privileged.

"Mm..."

Ogre looked at the insufficient portion of food in front of him and sighed inwardly with worry.

He had miscalculated the food situation...

'How is this enough to eat? Looks like I'll have to go out tonight.'

Ogre took small bites of the day's meal portion.

Even in the wild, he would try to maintain his energy reserves, keeping himself at about seventy percent full.

But now, for the sake of disguise, he could only eat until he was half full.

'As expected from the direct lineage of the Church... even eating such good meat makes one feel dejected.' Maggie silently observed Ogre's eating.

She noticed that Ogre didn't seem to be enjoying his meal.

'Looks like my brother really has no chance...'

...

Night fell.

Ogre sat up from the soft bed in his room.

'As expected, I'm still used to harder beds...' Ogre rubbed his neck and then walked to the window.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

'No one should notice me now.'

Ogre took the mask and the nun's habit that had been sent earlier. Although these things had limited concealment effects, they were better than nothing.

A plain black nun's habit was better for disguising identity than that set of stockings and high-waisted skirt.

He let down his hair and casually tied it into a ponytail, completing his 'disguise.'

Ogre gently pushed open the window and observed for a moment.

After confirming there were no issues, he leaped down lightly and landed softly.

Soon, he disappeared into the night.

At this moment, in the second-floor room, Macal, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them.

He looked up and then lowered his head.

"Geling hasn't slept yet... well, traveling alone in a foreign land, it's normal to feel uneasy."

Originally, Macal had planned to arrange for Maggie and Ogre to sleep together, but Ogre's 'shy' refusal had given him enough space.

"Tomorrow, I'll take Miss Geling to buy some books... I wonder if she'll like roses..." Macal took out a pocket watch from his pocket.

Opening the watch, inside was a pendant.

It was left by his mother, who had passed away early, meant for his future wife.

Macal had never been willing to give it away.

After hesitating for a moment, Macal put it back.

"Let's wait a bit longer..."

...

Meanwhile, the 'Geling' nun that Macal was concerned about had already ventured into the wild under the night sky.

The village's nighttime defenses were not as tight as those in the city, and with Ogre's skills, he could easily leave.

"Finally, I can eat something..."

Ogre grabbed a fish and began eating it raw.

After eating two, he picked some ripe fruits.

"In another two months, when the cold wave hits, even the tree fruits will be gone."

Ogre wiped the bright red fruit and took a bite.

The fruit had just ripened in the past couple of days. The green fruits on the tree before weren't truly green, just unripe.

Of course, in terms of taste, the fruit was still unpleasant, but it was more nutritious, changing from purely bitter to a mix of bitter, sweet, and sour...

After munching on a few, Ogre picked some more and put them in the pockets of the nun's robe—these were for breakfast.

After replenishing his energy, Ogre stretched his limbs—sitting for most of the day had made him feel a bit stiff.

On a regular day, Ogre was either training or fighting.

Suddenly being made to sit all day was indeed a bit uncomfortable.

"I should go check on those fleeing mutants."

Ogre quickly decided where he needed to go.

He could guarantee that there was one place where he could definitely find relevant information, and that was—the cemetery.

...

Due to the proximity to the Demon Beast Forest, the local villagers gradually let go of their obsession with guarding the graves through repeated migrations.

After all, no one knew if the beast tide, which occurred every two years, would impact the village.

So far, no village had withstood more than ten beast tides without being destroyed. Besides the beast tides, marauders of various races and human bandits were also threats to small and medium-sized villages.

Equipping a gravekeeper, what's the point of that when even the living don't have guaranteed days? Who would care about the dead?

The village's cemetery...

Rather than calling it a cemetery, it was more like a mass grave.

Only in towns with relatively complete defenses would there be gravekeepers and corpse stitchers.

'Did I come to the wrong place? Why haven't I encountered any mutants yet? Maybe I should ask the Black Market merchants...'

Ogre had already taken off his mask, thinking it might cause hesitation among the hidden mutants—after all, a witch had just been burned to death.

But to say that all the mutants in the village were dead was a bit far-fetched.

Not to mention whether the Church of Dawn could achieve that.

Even if they could, Ogre figured they wouldn't completely eradicate them.

Perhaps only knights and priests who had suffered severe harm from mutants would have the mindset of eradicating them completely.

'Even if the ones in the village are gone, there should be outsiders... or is it because they're worried about the priests stationed in the village?'

Ogre began to ponder.

Aside from dealing with a rogue pervert, he hadn't gained any valuable information on this trip.

'But at this time, mutants trying to escape would be more likely to die, and they still need to eat, don't they...?'

Ogre felt his reasoning should be correct.

There was no reason for an empty field.

"Oh? A nun? Little girl, what are you doing here?" A voice emerged from the darkness.

Ogre turned to see the approaching figure not far away.

It was a hunter holding a fork.

'Interesting, my super vision didn't catch this guy just now...'

Ogre's lips curled up; he finally had a lead.

"Shadow demon, huh..." Ogre identified the hunter's identity. There weren't many creatures that could evade Ogre's eyes at night.

Ogre's words made the hunter pause for a moment.

But then the hunter grinned wickedly, "What a cute little girl. I was going to let you go, but since you know my identity, I can't let you live."

Whoosh—!

A stone pierced the air and embedded itself in the hunter's forehead.

"If you're going to make a move, just do it. No need for chatter."