Chapter 64 : Another Encounter with the Ghostly Fairy

The ritual’s tracking range was roughly a radius of five hundred meters.

If she found nothing beyond that distance, Li Wen would simply pretend she had never seen anything and move on.

But fate seemed determined to drag her into this matter.

Li Wen hadn’t gone far before she made a new discovery.

She had already entered the forest, where towering spruces loomed in every direction.

And there, behind a strangely crooked tree, lay a fresh corpse, face-down on the ground.

Judging by the build, the victim was a woman.

A deep wound gaped across her back, bone clearly visible.

For an ordinary person, such an injury would be fatal from blood loss alone.

Yet when Li Wen knelt to check the pulse, she realized the woman was still breathing.

She frowned.

An ordinary person with a wound like this had somehow walked from the village entrance all the way here—and after more than ten hours, she was still alive?

Almost instantly, Li Wen stepped back, putting distance between herself and the woman.

She raised her bone knife, ready to enchant it at any moment.

A second passed… ten seconds… an entire minute—and still, the figure on the ground didn’t move.

Had she been too cautious?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, a harsh, rasping voice sounded above her head.

“If you keep waiting, she really will die.”

Li Wen’s eyes snapped upward.

In the darkness, a thin, withered figure stood on a branch, its gaze gleaming like two dim candles in the night.

She was certain there had been no one there moments ago.

“You helped her?”

Li Wen asked, her voice edged with doubt.

She knew this person—or rather, this creature.

It was none other than Granny Marsha, the ghostly fairy from the Fairy Market.

Why wasn’t this ghostly fairy in her own market?

What was she doing here?

Marsha cackled, the sound like a raven’s cry.

“Help? Why, of course. Isn’t it obvious? Kind-hearted Granny Marsha found a dying girl and used fairy magic to keep her alive—just like in those Maevian fairy tales. Heh… heh… heh…”

Li Wen’s frown deepened.

She didn’t believe for a second that this was an act of kindness.

Like most fairies, ghostly fairies were capricious, driven entirely by whim.

They delighted in tragedy and disaster.

To them, “kindness” was worth less than the dirt beneath a fingernail.

Still, if this girl really was the only survivor, Li Wen couldn’t let her die.

Doubt gnawed at her, but she cast a Prayer of Words all the same.

It wasn’t much for sustaining life, but it could stop some of the bleeding.

It would have to do—at least the girl wouldn’t die right away.

A warm glow fell over the woman, and her wound began knitting together at remarkable speed.

Yet she didn’t wake.

“Do you know what happened in the village up ahead? Who did it?”

Li Wen asked.

The ghostly fairy licked her razor-sharp claws, predatory joy and greed gleaming in her eyes.

“A marvelous slaughter… but what’s it to me? Ga-ga-ga-ga…”

“Do you know where they went?”

“Rather than ask me… why not ask her yourself?”

Marsha rubbed her nails together, sprinkling a fine layer of gray powder over the girl.

The girl stirred, slowly waking.

At first she only sat up in a daze.

Then, as if her mind snapped back into place, she screamed in terror.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“Calm down. No one here will hurt you.”

Li Wen pushed back the hood of her emerald cloak, showing her face to prove she meant no harm.

“R-really?”

The girl looked about seventeen or eighteen, with brown hair and faint freckles across her face.

Her simple clothes marked her as an ordinary village girl.

She was pale—whether from blood loss or fear, it was hard to say.

But after that first burst of panic upon waking, she seemed to relax, convinced that the beautiful young woman before her wouldn’t harm her.

“Do you know what happened in the village?”

Li Wen asked directly.

The girl froze, then spoke in a trembling voice.

“I don’t know! They killed everyone they saw—blood everywhere! I could only run… Why? Why would they do this?”

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks.

“Please… save my father and mother! And my little brother—he’s only six…”

“They’re all dead.”

The harsh voice came from above once more.

Granny Marsha, who had likely seen it all, spoke with cold certainty.

“Only you survived. Lucky girl—or maybe unlucky?”

The girl looked up at the grotesque, specter-like fairy, her face frozen in shock.

“You’re only alive because of her,” Li Wen said with a sigh.

She wanted only to hear the truth of what had happened.

“T-thank you…” the girl murmured, her voice hollow.

“My father and mother… are they really gone? And Grandpa the village chief… Uncle Regan… Aunt Penny…”

Li Wen’s eyes narrowed.

Those names were familiar.

“This Uncle Regan—what’s his full name? And is your village called Goldenstone?”

The girl nodded blankly.

Li Wen’s chest tightened.

She remembered first meeting the Regan couple when she entered the game—how they had been so warm and generous, offering food and shelter to a complete stranger.

She remembered Mrs. Regan’s cheerful invitation to visit again, promising to bake her an oatmeal cake.

Now, all of that was gone.

Not every kindness was rewarded.

More often than not, reality tore hope to pieces without mercy.

Li Wen drew a steadying breath.

She pulled the girl to her feet, her voice calm but leaving no room for refusal.

“Tell me everything you saw—word for word.”

***

The girl’s name was Maki, the eldest daughter of the village hunter.

That day, she had been helping with chores at home when she heard shouts and cries outside.

Curious and uneasy, she stepped out—and saw the village chief, who had always treated her like family, lying dead in a pool of blood.

Her father, a seasoned hunter proud of having once killed a grizzly, was now skewered to the ground by a sword, barely clinging to life, his eyes begging her to run.

“They were cold-blooded demons!”

Maki’s voice shook.

“They killed for fun. They didn’t take any money or goods—they just slaughtered every living person they saw…”

According to Maki, the attackers wore heavy plate and chainmail, armed with swords, bows, crossbows, and spears—better equipped than the guards in the nearby towns.

She had never seen the lord’s army, but perhaps they looked like this.

Yet these people were more savage and terrifying than any bandit or goblin.

“Mercenaries,” Li Wen said coldly.