As they marched through the dense forest, the towering Valkyries led the way, their agile movements skillfully weaving through any branches and bushes that obstructed their path.

Todd followed behind them, watching the landscape unfold before him, as if by magic, a path leading deep into the Sacred Forest appeared.

Brunhilde turned her head, her silver hair swaying gently with her movement: "Chief of Twilight Town, I still don't understand why you, as a heretic, insist on entering the ruins of the gods?"

Todd nodded to the Valkyrie and said, half-jokingly, "It's half curiosity and half longing. By the way, your Common Tongue is really good."

"I have learned almost all the languages ​​spoken on the mainland."

Todd was taken aback for a moment, then said awkwardly, "You really love learning."

“No, it’s not what you think. I simply have a lot of time, more than you can imagine.” Brunhilde looked into the speaker’s eyes, turned away, and said nothing more.

Todd slowed his pace, his feet sinking into the soft, muddy ground, and whispered to Hudgens, "Did you bring the things?"

The latter shook the iron cage in his hand, giving Todd a reassuring look.

The group followed this hidden and long path into the depths of the dense forest for twenty minutes, gradually hearing the gurgling of water and the laughter of children.

Following the Valkyrie who led the way out of the forest, Todd found himself in a wide-open space amidst trees and rocks, with a spring constantly spouting clear water, turning the center of the open space into a small pond.

Four or five girls of varying ages were laughing and playing by the pond. When they saw Brunhilde appear, they ran towards her, grabbed her clothes, and loudly begged her to join their game. The Valkyries took out plush toys from their bags and handed them to the girls. Seeing the surprise and delight on the children's faces, they smiled, a rare sight indeed.

"Besides the ruins we protect, these children are our only family."

Upon hearing Brunhilde's words, Todd couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. The silver-haired woman was tall and slender, and judging from her young and beautiful face, she was no more than twenty years old, but her speech and actions always gave people the illusion of having experienced many hardships.

Todd shook his head vigorously, banishing the strange thought from his mind, and asked the Valkyrie, "I've heard that people suffering from supernatural abilities often come here from the North Island seeking a cure..."

Brunhilde glanced at him, stroked the plush toy in her hand, raised her chin, and pointed to the pond in the center of the clearing: "I know what you want to ask. See that spring? That's the Healing Spring in the Sacred Forest. Those people who drank from the spring were transformed from aliens into ordinary people."

Todd turned around and led Huggins to the pond in the center of the open space.

The pond wasn't large, no more than forty square meters in area. The water was clear, shimmering with a slight greenish light, and visibility was excellent. It was shallower at the edges and gradually deepened towards the center. In the very center, a spring was constantly bubbling up, completely black and colorless, like a bottomless abyss, inspiring awe and fear.

Todd winked at Huggins and whispered, "Go with the plan. Remember to take some samples. Also, be careful not to touch the water."

Huggins pulled out a tightly wrapped iron cage from behind him, pulled back the curtain, and inside was a dormouse infected with 'freezing' bacteria. He carefully filled a water jug ​​with spring water, poured out a little, and fed it to the dormouse. Several seconds later, the cold air on the test subject slowly disappeared, and it completely turned into an ordinary dormouse.

Brunhilde patted the girls on the head, gesturing for them to go play. Looking at the two standing by the pond, she said loudly, "Chief of Twilight Town, didn't you want to see the ruins of the gods?"

Todd stared blankly at the dormouse in the cage, and it took him a long time to react: "Okay...okay, I'm coming."

Following in the Valkyrie's footsteps, Todd and Hudgens crossed the clearing, turned a corner around a pile of stones, and entered a small town with a medieval atmosphere. In a simple blacksmith's shop, a blacksmith was repairing weapons, sweating profusely; in the square farmland, several tall women were planting summer wheat; on the flat ground in front of the houses, an old woman with a headscarf was leading a group of chattering girls, drying mushrooms and dried fruit.

The villagers looked at the two men who hadn't set foot here in a long time and began to whisper among themselves.

Todd roughly counted that this village belonging to the Valkyries actually had over a hundred people, but all of them were women.

Just as he was about to ask a question, a heart-wrenching cry drew the attention of the group.

Brunhilde looked in the direction the sound came from, her brow furrowed, and she changed direction.

Seeing this, Todd quickly followed.

A woman in her thirties, holding a baby girl of about one year old, knelt at the door of the thatched hut, pressing her face against the child's already bloodless face, and wept bitterly.

Brunhilde approached the woman, knelt on one knee, and examined the baby girl in her arms. After a moment, the Valkyrie lowered her head sadly and gently embraced the weeping woman.

Entrusting the task of comforting the other Valkyries accompanying her, Brunhilde took one last look at the lifeless infant before forcing herself to continue on her way, suppressing her grief.

Looking at the other person's expression, Todd hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, "That baby..."

Brunhilde continued walking, her tone devoid of any emotion: "As servants of the gods, we follow tradition and remain virgins. This means we cannot have children; the only joy we experience as mothers is waiting for baby girls to be sent to us from the outside world, to be adopted in order of age. However, everyone here desires a child, but the number of babies sent each year is very small, so every Valkyrie cherishes her child like a precious treasure when it is her turn..."

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