Auriel was standing in front of a close to hundred feral-looking people. All of them were in terrible shape, with black circles under their bloodshot eyes that shined with poisonous hope and yearned for salvation.
In front of these villagers, Auriel had only a single thought in his mind. 'I fucked up… I hope they won't eat me alive.'
He didn't think villagers would be in this state. He wanted to dismiss them away and just do his job, but unfortunately, he couldn't do that. These villagers were too desperate that they would hinder his job. He needed to provide them with more hope to throw them his way.
Taking on an authoritative stance, Auriel called out with a strong voice, addressing the crowd. "Calm down, fellow men and women of faith! Everything is under control, and you can confirm with the village head." He turned to the middle-aged man beside him. "There were no disappearances last night, right, village head?"
The village head smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, there were no disappearances. Can you believe it? The mere presence of the respectable clergy is enough to scare away those despicable creatures! Now, return to your homes and wait patiently. The respectable clergymen need some peace and space to inspect the village and find the culprit."
A few of the villagers smiled lightly after hearing the village head while the rest of them looked doubtfully. Nonetheless, they still listened to the village head's advice and returned to their home because what the village head said was true, no one disappeared after Auriel, Elise, and Asher arrived at this village.
Auriel looked at the village head and thought with slight recognition. 'He knows this stuff, maybe I can learn something from him…'
***********
After the villagers dispersed, Auriel went to one of the empty houses with Elise, Asher, and the Village head at his side.
"So, this is the first victim's house, huh? It is pretty organized. Did the victim have any relatives?" Auriel asked as he inspected the house of the first victim.
It was a pretty strange sight as the house appeared to have been abruptly abandoned without any signs of a fight in it. Even the furniture was in perfect shape.
Auriel even pondered if the owner of the house disintegrated or was summoned to another world, but he threw these thoughts from his mind and continued to search.
"Yeah, the first victim was my brother." The village head said with a low tone and slightly lowered his head.
"I see. Then he must have been a devout believer like yourself and has now met our Lord and eternal savior, Afterlife," Auriel acted like a real clergyman while hitting the floors as he did to his room to find a secret room, unfortunately, he was once again unsuccessful.
"Did he have something unique like an artifact on him? Or did you notice some strangeness in him? Was he feeling hollow or depressed, or maybe unnaturally more joyful than before?" Auriel probed, kneeling down and carefully inspecting a single strand of white hair on the floor.
"No, he didn't have any artifact on him, sir. We are merely miners, we can't buy something like an artifact." the village head replied somberly, pausing for a moment before adding, "But he had a slight smile on his face before the day he disappeared, he wasn't someone who smiles very often, so it stuck in my memory."
"Then he went away happily I guess," Auriel murmured to himself and asked the village head. "Did the people who disappeared after him have sudden emotional changes like him? While you are speaking, tell me if your brother had any white hair on his head."
The village head blinked in confusion because of the last question but he still answered anyway. "I don't know every member of this village, sir. It would be a lie for me to answer these questions but according to their relatives whom I questioned before, they were normal. They didn't have any drastic changes and lived their daily life until they vanished without ever being seen again." The village head said and added with sadness evident in his tone."As for my brother, he wasn't old, he was in his late twenties but he had a little white and gray hair caused by stress from his wife's nagging…He must be happy now in the afterlife."
"May God bless him." Auriel prayed. "He must have lived a hellish life with his wife to have white hair at such a young age. Perhaps this is God's way of relieving him from that stress. May his soul find peace."
"God bless him," The village head and Archpaladin Asher said with zeal while Elise stuttered with reluctance.
Auriel just looked at them with a calm face but in his mind, he was laughing his ass off. He wasn't a serious person but being under the gods made him semı-serious to preserve his life, but at last, his suppressed humor was coming out.
"Ahem!" Auriel coughed into his hand. "Let's look at the houses of the other victims, it is not enough for us to find the culprit. All I can think of right now is a Dream fiend or a Mindbender fiend, maybe even a Hybrid fiend. All I can do is hope that it isn't Hybrid, or else we will be in grave danger."
The village head swallowed hard, and even Archpaladin Asher looked a bit uncomfortable after hearing this while Elise turned to Auriel, her face filled with confusion. She tugged on his sleeve and whispered, "Are these fiends truly that dangerous? I only know their names."
Auriel expected Elise's lack of knowledge as she had just become an adult by this world's standards and recently became Awakened.
Auriel didn't mind Elise's question and saw it as an opportunity and decided to shoo the village head and Archpaladin away with the excuse of explaining to Elise about fiends. Then use her ability to search the house once again.
"For now, can you leave us alone? I would like to search more about this house, and while I am at it, I will explain the different fiend classes to Elise."