South of Ma’en City, beside an abandoned village.
Nolan stood before an oval stone block half a person’s height. The lower half of the stone was buried in the soil, with clear signs of human craftsmanship on the edges.
He raised his fingertip and chanted a short incantation. Above his head, a soft ball of white magical energy instantly bloomed. The magical energy emitted a clear light, enveloping Nolan and also illuminating the stone in front of him.
This was a simple first-level spell—Magic Light. It belonged to the Evocation school, a magic of the Light attribute.
Everyone in this world carried magical power, but the amount varied from person to person. Besides innate magical power, one could also increase it through meditation and acquiring knowledge. In other words, everyone had the potential to use magic.
Paladins were the most well-rounded class among humans. After receiving a blessing, they gained additional Light affinity, allowing them to easily use some Light-attribute magic. At the same time, devout faith granted them the authority to use divine spells, giving them abilities akin to priests. Furthermore, they were also skilled warriors. In summary, a Paladin was a faith-based warrior with divine spells and magic—a total overpowered class!
“I hope that Big Tail Rat didn’t lie to me.”
“Don’t make me search all over again…”
Nolan grabbed the hem of his clothes and wiped away the dirt covering the stone, revealing the blurry text underneath. He had left the city in the afternoon and searched the forest for a full five hours. He had nearly turned over every inch of the forest, but still hadn’t found the place the Big Tail Rat had mentioned. He even started to doubt that the Big Tail Rat had tricked them.
He searched until nightfall and finally found a village. Although it was just ruins, he still pinned his hopes on it—what if this was the destination?
“Black Pig Village?”
Nolan softly read the words on the stone.
“Great, this is it.”
“Good thing that Big Tail Rat didn’t lie to me, or I’d have to go back and settle the score with her.”
After saying that, he stepped forward and walked into the village.
Underfoot was a dirt road made of packed soil, its surface pitted and uneven. On both sides of the dirt road were abandoned houses, most already collapsed into ruins, overgrown with waist-high weeds. In the center of the village was a buried well. Except for the outsider Nolan, there wasn’t a single person in the village.
“Hay warehouse, hay warehouse.”
Nolan silently repeated the target in his mouth while carefully searching the village. Following the road, he walked all the way to the edge of the village and arrived in front of a large warehouse. He hesitated at the door for a moment, then pushed open the wooden door.
The space inside the warehouse was very spacious, with stacks of bound hay bales on both sides.
“It seems someone has been maintaining this place. It’s not abandoned at all.”
Nolan took a light sniff of the air and didn’t smell the dust and rot that should be present in an abandoned house.
“This is most likely the place.”
He muttered, then walked out the door and surveyed the surroundings, ruling out dangers like traps. He erased his own footprints from when he arrived, then closed the door, disguising it as if no one had been there.
Then he went to the innermost corner of the warehouse. A row of low fences enclosed a small pen, with hay stacked up to the roof.
“This is practically a hideout tailor-made for me.”
Nolan looked at the haystack in front of him and nodded in satisfaction. All he had to do now was find a good place to hide and wait for Vivian to arrive. Then when Marco showed up, the two of them would find an opportunity to ambush him together.
Nolan, while thinking about the next steps, came to the haystack and started pulling the hay outward. He wanted to dig out a hollow where he could hide.
Mm? What’s that?
Suddenly, his movement paused. Because in the haystack he had just pulled apart, a pair of emerald-green eyes suddenly appeared. Those eyes were as big as fists, wide and shining brightly. They also exuded a kind of simple, silly temperament.
Nolan stared at the big eyes in the haystack, completely stunned. The two pairs of eyes, one big and one small, stared at each other like that.
“Moo~”
The original inhabitant hiding in the haystack let out a soft moo, low in pitch, with a fawning tone.
“There’s a cow!”
Nolan couldn’t help but exclaim. At that moment, the giant beast in the haystack suddenly charged out. It was tall, about the height of two people, with a pair of rounded horns on its head. Its skin was earth-yellow, its body round and plump, and its back was covered in a layer of soft brown fur.
“Don’t come over!”
Nolan stepped back sharply and shouted loudly. Unfortunately, the giant beast didn’t understand human speech. Like an excited puppy, it pounced directly on him. Caught off guard, Nolan was knocked to the ground by its head. The giant beast extended its pink tongue and frantically licked Nolan’s face, smearing sticky drool all over him.
“Get away from me!”
Nolan suddenly exerted force from his waist and lifted the entire giant beast. Slap! He threw the giant beast to the side with all his might, and it slammed to the ground with a thud.
“Moo~”
The giant beast actually did a nimble roll and charged at Nolan again. Nolan quickly turned around, grabbed a handful of hay from the ground, and held it out. The giant beast instantly showed a dazed look, its eyes fixed on the hay. It let out a soft moo, walked over to Nolan extremely docilely, picked up the hay, and chomped away with a huffing sound, burying its head in eating.
“This is the rent.”
“I’ll rent your den for a while, and give it back to you when I’m done.”
Seeing that the giant beast had calmed down, Nolan sighed in relief. He went up to the giant beast and patted its massive head.
This was a giant-horned cow, a very docile herbivore that was especially easy to tame. It had great strength and was mainly used to help merchant caravans transport goods. Although Nolan didn’t know why there was a giant-horned cow here, as long as it didn’t affect his next move, it was fine.
“Go over there. You’re in my way while eating here.”
Nolan picked up another large handful of hay and placed it in another corner of the warehouse. After finishing the hay in its mouth, the giant-horned cow immediately ran to the corner and enjoyed its big meal for the night.
As for Nolan, he returned to the hay hollow and crawled inside without hesitation. The hollow was spacious inside, and there was no smell of cow dung as expected. Nolan was very satisfied. He then covered the entrance tightly with hay, leaving only a small, inconspicuous gap for observation.
“Now I just wait for Marco to show up.”
“I wonder if Vivian can find this place…”
Nolan, crouching in the cow den, muttered softly.
Meanwhile, another outsider arrived at the village entrance.
“This old bones of mine are exhausted.”
“At this age, I still have to go on missions personally. Even the Pope isn’t as diligent as me.”
A figure draped in a black robe leaned against the stone block and spoke breathlessly. Above his head floated a magical light ball identical to Nolan’s. The visitor was none other than Priest Derek.
As a priest, it was only reasonable that he knew a few small spells.
“Black Pig Village, this is it!”
Seeing the writing on the stone, his tone instantly became excited. He, an elderly man over fifty, had run through the vast forest for an entire afternoon. He had finally found this godforsaken place; it almost exhausted him to death.
“It seems I misjudged little Feilin. I thought she had tricked me again.”
“But it seems a bit late. I need to hurry.”
Derek looked up at the speckled stars in the sky. Based on the positions of the satellites, he roughly inferred that the current time might be a bit later than expected, but fortunately, he hadn’t missed the appointed time.
“I hope Marco still has his habit of being late…”
He rested briefly, then stepped forward and walked into the village. He also arrived at the hay warehouse, cautiously looking around. After some thought, he chose to sneak in through the roof.
An excellent priest must also be an equally excellent thief.
Derek said thusly.