Alicia and the rest jumped down from the cart and looked around the village center. All the buildings were made from wood. There was only one road in and out of the village that was solid dirt. The village center had a large well that everyone got their water from. One could say that living in this village, one had to be very self sufficient. Alicia turned her gaze to the ruined fields. They were completely destroyed. Large holes could be seen where the earth wolves had been digging. The large fences that surrounded the village were also shattered to bits.
While Alicia was surveying the area an old man with a cane came walking up to them. "Clifford my Brown village has troubled you yet again..."
"Old Mo do not worry. The kingdom is supposed to help those in need. It is not your fault that the wolves are attacking." Clifford was very polite as he gave Old Mo a small bow.
Old Mo said a few more words to Clifford before turning his gaze to the three young ladies. "So you're from the Adventurers guild. I hope you are able to find some clues to what is going on. The last few groups always came up with nothing." Old Mo's voice was filled with distress.
Alicia smiled at Old Mo and replied: "We will do our best. But I have to ask a few questions before me and my companions can come up with a plan of action."
"Of course! Of course! Where are my manners? Come with me to my house." Old Mo waved his hand for the girls to follow.
Old Mo was the village chief so his house was the biggest. But at the same time, it was the most simple. He lived by himself so he did not need much in the way of living. He actually relied on the villagers for his food since he was not able to work the fields anymore. In return, he did his best to help the people of the village whenever an issue came up.
"I am sorry my place is not equipped to cater to many people." Old Mo said apologetically.
"It's fine we do not mind standing. I am just going to get straight to the point. There has never been an attack during the day?" Alicia asked.
"No. all the attacks happen around the same time when the moon is at its highest." Old Mo answered.
"Is there any signal when the attack will happen?" Alicia was asking basic questions but she really had nothing else to go on. Only after getting the basic information would she be able to get a better sense of what was going on.
"They do howl signaling their attack but other than that there is nothing. Once they attack they break through the repaired walls and destroy the farms and nothing else. But it's strange that they continue digging up the fields there is nothing left in the fields for them to even eat." Old Man explained.
Alicia frowned when she heard this. She could not understand what the point was of continuously digging the fields up. Alicia pondered for a moment and out of curiosity, she asked: "May I ask if you have seen any strangers around the village lately. Like maybe near the Lost Forest?"
Old Mo thought for a moment and started to shake his head. "No not that I know of… Wait! Flora said she had seen a young man walk into the Lost Forest about a week ago. She said she even called out to him trying to warn him not to enter the forest but the young man ignored her. Flora did not think too much about it but still reported it to me in case a missing person case came up. She figured he might be an adventurer or something that had a mission in the forest."
Hearing this, the looks on the three girls' faces quickly sank. They all had a feeling that this mission was not as it seemed one bit. "May we speak to this Flora?"
"Yes, of course, I will bring you to her now. She is usually in the fields at this time of day." Old Mo said as he got up out of his chair unsteadily, getting ready to escort the three girls to the fields.
"It's okay we can go down to the fields ourselves. Thank you for answering our questions." Alicia was not going to make an old man who could barely walk escort them down to the fields which were about a fifteen minute walk from the village chief's house.
After leaving the village chiefs house Alicia and the rest headed to fields to find Flora. When they got to the fields they saw about twenty people working trying to hurry and repair the field from the previous night's damage. Although it was highly likely that the fields would be destroyed again once night came it was still better to repair the fields then let them become even worse over time.
Alicia walked up to an older woman with a large straw hat on her head. "Excuse me can you direct me to someone named Flora?"
The woman who was kneeling down working did not look up as she said: "My name's Flora. How can I help you?"
"I heard from the village chief that you saw a young man walk into the Lost Forest about a week ago. I was wondering if you can describe him for me?" Alicia asked.
Flora stopped her hands and stood up. She patted the dirt off her knees and finally looked at Alicia with furrowed brows. "You're here about that young man? What about all the damage to the village those damn Earth Wolves have been causing?"
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