Wayne had no such concerns. He said to Borch in a joking tone, "Humans are divided into classes. Borch, powerful people like them have received education since childhood and have sufficient connections. They have many ways to deal with things, so they appear to be polite. Even if they are enemies, they will not lose their manners when they meet each other."

"But the lives of the lower classes are very hard. Not to mention being able to read and write, many people can't even get enough to eat. In order to survive, they don't have any principles to uphold. Principles, ideals, kindness, and justice are not what they can expect."

"The poorer the place, the more it relies on barbarism and violence. I once heard a saying that poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people. That's pretty much what it means."

Borch nodded thoughtfully. He was born with a golden key in his mouth and was worshipped by the Zerekan tribe when he was a young dragon. He had always been dressed in fine clothes and fed with delicious food, with a large number of servants and maids. He didn't know much about the lives of the lower class people, and couldn't imagine their lives.

The three of them chatted about this matter for a few more sentences before turning the topic back to the green dragon.

George didn't seem to be able to drink very well. Perhaps he was in a depressed mood. After drinking only two bottles of mead, his eyes were already a little vague.

He burped, and with a frustrated tone, he said, "I have traveled across half of Velen and visited six or seven villages, but now I only know one piece of news."

"That dragon really exists, and it's a green dragon with gray skin. Just the morning before yesterday, it ate a farmer's cow. Now it should be flying towards the swamps of Lower Valen."

"But in order to meet up with you, I didn't chase it immediately, but returned to the Crow's Nest."

Going to Valencia?

When the name was mentioned, the first thing that came to Wayne's mind was the Lady of the Woods and the soul trapped in the heart of the tree.

I just don't know whether the dragon flew towards Valen intentionally or unintentionally.

But no matter what, it was already too late, they were unfamiliar with the area, and it was impossible for them to chase the green dragon at night.

So, after having a good meal with his two friends, Wayne called Lisa over, paid for the drinks and meal first, and then asked:

"Lisa, are there any rooms here? Can you give me three rooms?"

Upon hearing this, the young widow said with some embarrassment:

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't have many travelers here, so we only have two single rooms with two beds."

Wayne was not angry when he heard this. He looked at George, who seemed to be drunk and reeked of alcohol, and then looked at Borch, who was fat and also reeked of alcohol.

After thinking about it, I decided that with a demon hunter's physical strength, it wouldn't matter even if he didn't sleep for a few nights.

So he nodded and said, "Then rent both rooms to us. I'll take my friend back to his room first."

He stood up and was about to help George up when Lisa pulled his wrist and whispered:

"However, if you don't mind, there are two beds in my bedroom. You can stay there for one night."

Hearing this, Wayne looked at Lisa in surprise, then looked at her son, who was only five or six years old and was sitting on a chair playing with building blocks, and nodded thoughtfully.

………………

The next morning, it was just dawn.

They left George's mount in Lisa's tavern, and George also went to meet with the baron there to report on the progress of the dragon hunting mission.

The three of them took their weapons and equipment and left the Crow's Nest.

He walked along the path until he could no longer see the village surrounded by wooden walls. Then, Borch restored his true form as a golden dragon in a secret place.

The two demon hunters did not delay and immediately rode on the back of the golden dragon. Following George's instructions, they flew to the village of Lower Valen in the Velen Swamp.

This is a slightly strange village. According to the information George had obtained, Lower Varennes Village is famous for the manufacture and processing of lace clothing.

Unlike other villages that were devastated by the wild beasts and monsters that filled Velen, this village seemed to be protected by some force. Although it was located in the swamp area with the largest number of monsters, it lived a more peaceful life than other villages.

Although George didn't know the specific truth, Wayne, who had played the game, knew that this village was actually believers of the Lady of the Woods to some extent.

There is a saying that the Lady of the Woods is the actual ruler of Velen, and they have ruled this area longer than the nobles of the Kingdom of Temeria.

If the nobles ruled this area with soldiers and laws, then the Lady of the Woods ruled Velen with fear and faith.

Their presence can be seen everywhere in this desolate area. Many monsters and beasts are driven by them. They are deeply rooted in this area and can be regarded as the strongest local snakes in Velen.

All villages living in Velen must make sacrifices to the Lady of the Woods, and the Lady of the Woods will indeed help these villages to live better during difficult times. Of course, this help comes at a price, and it is a very high price.

The only thing that is certain is that the ladies of the woods are man-eating monsters, and over the thousands of years they have eaten tens of thousands of humans.

Wayne was thinking about the information he got from the game, but he didn't say it out loud, and he couldn't explain the source of his information.

Borch was flying very fast, and it took him only about an hour to reach the vicinity of the village of Lower Valen.

However, the scene before them made the three of them realize that they were still late.

From afar, a not-so-large village was burning fiercely, and the flames rising into the sky illuminated the nearby fields and wilderness.

About one-third of the houses have been engulfed by flames. The wooden houses are like burning torches, making the entire Lower Valen Village radiate high temperature and flames.

Unfortunately, although they speculated that the green dragon was most likely responsible, they did not see the green dragon flying in the air, and they did not know whether it had already left or was still chasing the residents of the village.

"Let's go to the village first and see if there's anyone else who needs help."

Upon hearing this, Borch did not answer, but let out a clear dragon roar, then adjusted the angle of flight, descended to a few dozen meters above the ground, and flew over Lower Valen.

Wayne squinted his eyes and quickly observed the situation in the village. The result surprised him a little, neither good nor bad.

In the entire village, there were no cries or screams from people being burned or fighting fires, no noisy sounds of fighting, and not even any corpses were seen.

It seemed that everyone in the village had already evacuated.

He patted Borch on the back and said loudly, "Then let's go down. There are no living people here. We need to find the whereabouts of those villagers based on the clues on the ground."

"Maybe we can learn from them where the green dragon went."

Borch didn't say much. He immediately found an open space that was not affected by the fire and landed on the ground.

When he turned back into human form, Wayne noticed that George had an ugly expression. He immediately guessed what he was thinking, so he patted him on the shoulder and said:

"Don't think too much, George. Even if you rode here yesterday, you wouldn't necessarily be faster than us flying here now. On the contrary, you might get lost and encounter more accidents."

After hearing Wayne's advice, George quickly figured it out, nodded and asked him:

"What now? Wayne, you're the employer, you decide."

Wayne carefully distinguished the sounds in the village. After he did not hear any human calls, he thought for a moment and said to George:

"There are no bodies here, and no sounds are heard. The villagers should have evacuated in advance."

"There are so many of them. If we look for them, it should be easy to find their footprints."

"We just need to follow the trail and find them."

George nodded, and he and Wayne separated to look for footprints on the ground. As expected, they soon made a discovery.

It was indeed as Wayne said, the number of people evacuated was not small, including the elderly and children. Such clues were quite obvious to the demon hunter.

(End of this chapter)