Augus who noticed the current tense state, made a suggestion, "Just from walking around the village, we can't possibly find out anything strange right away. So for now, it's better for us to split up and investigate this village thoroughly. From the inside and outside…"
Lana thought about it for a moment, and nodded her head in agreement. Meanwhile, Allura also nodded her head, agreeing. Now, only Christopher has yet to make up his mind. Immediately, the gazes of the three people fell onto Christopher at the same time.
Christopher stared intently at his enemy, Augus, then said in a tone that sounded irritated, "As you wish." Which can be interpreted as an agreement.
Allura stared at Christopher for a moment, then said, "I suggest we split into two groups. However, we don't know if there is any hidden danger in this village. And, of course, each group will also be divided into their investigation tasks, making it more efficient."
Listening to Allura's suggestion, no one refused. Then, they were divided into two groups. Of course, Augus was with Lana, while the fairy, Allura was with Christopher.
However, if Christopher and Augus were placed into one group, there would be no telling what kind of disaster would occur. Then, it was decided that Lana and Augus would investigate the houses in the village, meanwhile, Allura and Christopher would investigate the outside of the house.
After dividing the groups and tasks, the four people immediately dispersed according to their respective groups. Augus and Lana made a deal to investigate the village head's house, Thomas, first. They snuck in and watched their surroundings warily, and managed to reach Thomas's house unnoticed.
'Fortunately our clothes aren't very flashy..' Augus said to himself while heaving a sigh of relief.
Then, they also found a window that was quite large, and entered Thomas' house unnoticed without making the slightest sound. Not long after, Thomas' voice was heard talking to someone, it seemed that it was one of his villagers who was consulting about his farm. Augus and Lana didn't pay attention to Thomas' conversation, but observed where they were now.
They were in Thomas' kitchen, which they had never been in before of course. To their left was a door leading to the outside, while to their right was a staircase leading to the second floor.
'If there was a door, why did we bother entering through the window...' Augus thought as he lets out a deep sigh.
In front of them, there was a not very long passage, and on the left side of the passage, there was a room whose contents were unknown. Thomas' living room was at the far right after the hallway, which meant that if Thomas hadn't gone to the kitchen, he wouldn't have noticed Luna and Augus.
After making a layout of Thomas' house in his head, Augus began to pay attention to the kitchen where they were currently 'hiding'. Thomas' kitchen was not empty, there was a fragrant stew dish that was being cooked.
Lana watched the soup closely, while Augus was still thinking the layout of Thomas' house. Thomas' house couldn't be said to be very big, so after Thomas' guests finished visiting, the chances of them being caught were very high.
Therefore, Augus wanted to tell Lana that they didn't have much time. However, Lana had called him first, and said, "This soup meat is poisonous."
Augus immediately turned his attention to the meat in the soup. Augus narrowed his eyes, took a wooden spoon, then scooped the soup, along with the still hot meat into his mouth.
Augus swallowed it, then nodded his head, and looked at Lana with a look of admiration. However, Lana, who was actually an expert at reading people's expressions, immediately realized Augus' suspicions of her.
'How did she know there was poison in it? This girl is very interesting...' Augus thought with a mysterious smile.
'But, more than that, how can this soup meat have poison?' Augus' thoughts immediately shifted, and drifted to Bram, whom he only just met today.
Meanwhile, Lana, who felt she didn't have to explain anything, immediately turned around and climbed the stairs like a ghost, without making the slightest of sounds. Augus who was left to investigate the first floor, immediately headed to the room which was only a few meters away from him, then opened the door of the room silently.
The room had a mattress that looked hard and not very comfortable, with an old man lying on it. Augus suspected that he was a member of the Thomas' family. Since the old geezer in the room wasn't aware of Augus's existence, Augus was happy because he didn't have to bother erasing someone's memory.
Then, Augus started to search the room. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything except for a bowl of soup which Augus thought was the same soup as the soup in the kitchen.
While Lana was upstairs, she didn't find anything special. The top floor of Thomas' house was filled with nothing but a few second-hand items that seemed to have fallen out of use. Not only that, the floor is also dusty and feels if it was rarely cleaned. Luckily, Lana was very good at hiding the sound of her footsteps, and the wood upstairs were sturdy enough too, so there weren't any creaking sounds being made.
Lana rummaged through the dusty stuff on the second floor, and found nothing that looked useful. Just as she was about to leave, a very dull and shabby-looking book fell from the box she had just searched. Lana looked at the book, and assumed it was glued to the top of the box, but the adhesive was not so strong that it fell.
Because it was very dark on the second floor and Lana didn't pay much attention to the top of the box, Lana didn't notice the book immediately.
She did not see the contents of the book, and only patted the book lightly to clean the dust. Then she kept it, and brought it down with her.
Meanwhile, in another part of the Cursed Village, a small child managed to capture the small body of Allura, the fairy. Allura, who was suddenly held tightly from behind, panicked and tried to free herself. However, the little boy put his index finger in front of his mouth and made a 'Shh' sound, so that Allura would stop rebelling.
Then, the little boy said in a small and excited tone, "You must be the fairy in those fairy tales right!? You are so cute, and funny! I never thought that I would be able to see a fairy in my life! But..., it would be better if you and your friends leave from here..., soon the festival will be held, you better leave quickly if you don't want to be-"
Before the little boy could finish his words, an old woman's voice called out, "HanHan! HanHan!"
The child immediately let go of the fairy who didn't have time to react to how quickly things were happening, and fled towards his mother who was anxiously looking for him in the middle of the night. He looked afraid of being scolded. Meanwhile, Allura who was left behind, screamed in her heart after processing what had happened, 'don't wanna be- what???'
Allura, who didn't have time to vent her frustration out of curiosity, had to interact with Christopher who had just returned from his 'patrol around the village'. Allura looked at Christopher who looked ferocious, and swallowed her frustration. Then, Allura said, "Did you manage to find anything?"
Christopher looked at Allura, then shook his head, and said, "I didn't find anything strange. Everything seems normal."
'Unless...' Christopher thought as he continued remembering what he saw earlier. However, Christopher felt it had little to do with what they were investigating, so he just kept it to himself.