Mithra and Nie Hong casually walked out of the small church.
Nie Hong was about to comment on how reckless this was when he saw a window suddenly close in a nearby building. A figure quickly disappeared behind the window.
He was about to warn Mithra when he saw her dash towards the building.
With a swing of her hammer, she shattered the door, just in time to see a slender figure rushing down the stairs.
The figure froze, clearly not expecting such a quick reaction.
Red light glowed in Mithra's left hand.
The figure immediately fell to its knees on the stairs. "Mercy! Mercy! Please spare me, believer! I shouldn't have looked! Don't take my eyes!"
The hammer, already mid-swing, was retracted. Nie Hong arrived at almost the same time, hearing the pleas for mercy as soon as he entered.
"Close the door," Mithra said to him.
Nie Hong pointed at the broken door. "Can this even be closed?"
"Then block it."
"Alright." Nie Hong used Control Object to pull some furniture over, closing the door as much as possible and blocking it.
Mithra looked at the person and cleared her throat, feeling that she should slow down her speech to calm the victim.
"We're not suspicious people," she said, her face expressionless and her voice monotone. To prove her point, she extended her hands, intending to show she meant no harm, but she was still holding the hammer and accidentally knocked over an old wooden table.
The townsperson and Nie Hong were speechless.
"Clearly, it was the table's fault," Mithra muttered, rubbing the hammer and then quickly storing it inside her body to prevent further accidents.
Nie Hong was somewhat used to Mithra casually storing weapons in her body, but the townsperson wasn't.
Their eyes widened, their back pressed against the wall, their mouth open but unable to speak, their finger trembling as they pointed at Mithra.
"Monster! Monster!"
Nie Hong stepped forward cautiously. "Um... should I handle this?"
Mithra narrowed her eyes, seeming displeased. "Fine."
...
Nie Hong, with his youthful and ordinary appearance, managed to calm the terrified townsperson.
Mithra went upstairs to the window and observed the town. She noticed something unusual. Just like that morning, there was still hardly anyone around. After going back downstairs and seeing that the townsperson had calmed down somewhat, she looked at Nie Hong.
Nie Hong nodded and said to the townsperson in Dreamland lingua franca, "It's alright. You're an ordinary person; we won't hurt you. We're not with the cult. We won't take your eyes. We just want to ask some questions."
The townsperson relaxed considerably, their ability to think clearly returning, but they still looked at Mithra with fear, shaking their head.
Then they said, "Are you from out of town?"
Nie Hong replied, "Yes, we came from outside. But this town seems a bit strange. Many of the residents seem unfriendly. Do you know what's happening?"
The townsperson sighed. "You came from the secret passage. I thought you were with them. It was originally a tunnel created by some people who wanted to secretly mine the ruins that had been forbidden. After those cultists arrived, they used it as a shortcut."
"A shortcut? Do they frequently use it?"
"They were originally working at the normal tunnel entrance, but one day, some strangers suddenly arrived. They had us try to poison those strangers, but those strangers still made it into the tunnels."
The townsperson's eyes showed fear. "The cultists followed into the mine. No one in town knows what happened after that. But one day, the whole mountain shook. In the end, those strangers didn't come out; they must have died in the tunnels. But many cultists also didn't return. I guess there was a big battle."
"After that, the cultists said the tunnel entrance on the mountain couldn't be used anymore, and they needed to find another route. That's when someone opened up that secret passage. For a long time, they used that passage. They even modified the statue in that church, hoping for protection, but it was useless. There were heavy casualties."
The townsperson couldn't help but laugh, seemingly mockingly.
"Heavy casualties? Do you know what they were doing in the tunnels?"
"They wanted something from the ruins in the tunnels. They were preparing a ritual, collecting eyes, all to gain some hidden power in the mine. Everyone in this town was blinded by greed. For a bit of money, they abandoned their morals, their dignity, even their eyes! In the end, they paid with their lives, the lives of the whole town!"
The townsperson's emotions surged as they spoke, their frail body trembling slightly. After saying so much, they couldn't help but gasp for breath.
Nie Hong looked at Mithra, who was pacing around the room, seemingly unconcerned.
But after the townsperson finished speaking and paused for breath, Mithra suddenly asked, "They got what they wanted in the end?"
"...Yes, they did, not long ago," the townsperson said sadly. "After so many years, they finally succeeded. This town...will probably be abandoned. If they just leave, that would be fine. But what if they choose to silence us?"
Nie Hong, looking at the townsperson's sorrowful eyes, didn't know what to say.
"What did they take? A tooth?" Mithra, ignoring the townsperson's concerns, continued to ask.
The townsperson quickly nodded. "Yes! I was peeking from upstairs. They took out a tooth... bigger than all my fingers put together!"
Nie Hong looked at Mithra curiously. "How did you know?"
"The wolf told me."
"Huh?"
Mithra had asked the wolf guarding the tunnel what the cultists had been doing in the mine.
The wolf had told her that they finally performed a miracle ritual using a large number of eyes and human corpses to disperse the curse's concentration. After many years, they finally succeeded in removing a beast tooth from the central table in the ruins.
But they weren't happy. Many things hadn't gone according to plan. The wolf had heard them say that there should have been a weapon on the weapon rack next to the table, and that was what the Night Hunters church truly desired.
Unfortunately, the weapon had already disappeared when they entered the ruins.
Now, based on this townsperson's account, it seemed that the wolf hadn't been lying.
It seemed a physical exchange truly established trust easily.
"So after they obtained the tooth, their demand for eyes increased?" Mithra continued.
The townsperson said, "You're right. It was terrifying. When they took the tooth, the monsters in the mines went crazy. They seemed to want the tooth back. But the monsters didn't care who had it. So many people died... It was a riot."
A riot...
Mithra suddenly remembered when she had first arrived in this world.
After dealing with one cursed creature, she had been attacked by a horde of them.
Safin had said the cursed creatures in the shallow tunnels were weak and timid, unlikely to gather in groups, and their attacks weren't usually that aggressive.
But Mithra's encounter was real.
It seemed that she had finally found the answer.