Fuka and Lyada were currently located in this village's general store - all villages had this type of store. It quite literally had everything the villagers could need and basically acted as a connection to anything not generated in the village itself. Many dealt with direct trading but money was of course always welcomed.

They actually didn’t have much reason to this place if they only wanted resources - Eel solved any problems involving food and water on account of being a literal hunter with water magic.

Instead they were here because it was the one place in the entire village that had any reason to connect to the outside world thus it was the only place to gather information. It was a simple trick really; just sell some ‘high quality’ pelts on the cheap (which were easy to gain since, once again, they had Eel). Just butter the guy up a bit.

In response he’d happily discuss with them the going ons in the surrounding areas as if they were long time friends. When they approached this one though he was… Unusually welcoming and Fuka being who she was could instantly see through his amatuer gaze.

“Welcome friends, where are you heading too?” <Store Clerk>

“Erm, we’re headin’ up ta {Moolesh Mountain Town} since we’re adventurous.” <Fuka>

“Well that is quite the dangerous plan there missy, why not stay around in this village for a few days first?” <Store Clerk>

“I think we’ll ‘ave to pass...” <Fuka>

“Are you sure, it’s dangerous for girls to be out and about in this world.” <Store Clerk>

One word came to Fuka’s mind at this, suspicious.

Afterall…

Which fucking local gives a shit about women in Orrid?!

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“We won’t let you escape justice and abuse those girls anymore you thug!” <’Decent’ Person>

“We don’t welcome your kind here bandit!” <Villager>

“Leave our village now!” <Villager>

“We’ll have your head!” <Villager>

“Damn pervert, release those girls” <Villager>

Tom was obviously quite surprised to say the least; not everyday you enter a village only to be shouted at for being a bandit. While it may be true many people have assumed him to be a bandit in these situations, villagers weren’t known for being brave warriors who fought against bandits. Maybe it’s the war sentiments of {Orrid} that have influenced these people to take up their own fate?

“How about we all calm down, there has clearly been a mis-” <Tom>

Before he could finish the thought or the ‘villagers’ could get more rowdy an unusually calm Eel softly spoke up. Her voice was soft and gentle as she glanced over to a sleeping Emily who seemed to be stirring softly; it was quite easy to see the reason her voice was gentle was because of Emily. Afterall her words were far from gentle.

“You all 60 seconds tops - if you don’t get lost in that time as well as continue making a racket I’ll show you what it means to have desire eying up this dragon's princess...” <Eel>

Eel’s eyes turned towards the apparent leader of these people - the young man with a decent face using the only actual equipment. To say they weren’t friendly towards the crowd would be a grave understatement as the bloodlust could quite literally be smelt in the air causing the villagers to tense up. Yet they didn’t run and instead held their weapons with tighter grips.

“E-Eel they are just friendly villagers with a mis-…” <Tom>

“Villagers don’t care if some random little girl becomes a slave - it’s quite common for them to sell their own daughters if they already have enough girls within the village - you yourself should know be this Tom. Not to mention they stink of blood and I dislike it. Thus if they don’t leave I’ll just kill them all in return.” <Eel>

“Well that makes sense... Except for the last part.” <>

“Hahaha what do you mean girl, I’m an adventurer and many of these people are hunt-” <’Decent’ Man>

“Don’t insult me when discussing my craft, I’ve never seen a hunter smell so much blood while having a pitchfork as a weapon. Also they aren’t holding their weapons in a position to stab at a beast or to deal with fields; they hold them as if ready to deal with a weapon. Not only that but that isn’t the smell of a beast's blood but that of a humans.” <Eel>

Eel had already delved quite a bit into her bloodline inheritance from the {Sword God Emperor} so it was fair to say she was decent enough with a sword. Being able to tell when someone is used to being attacked by a sword - the most common weapon for adventurers and for self defence.

In other words it was quite easy to tell what Eel was hinting at - the only reason she hadn’t killed them all already was she didn’t want to wake up Emily.

Before Tom could react a ‘villager’ thrust his pitchfork towards Elizabeth from behind; sneaking up while the group were talking and deciding to silence the girl out of anger for getting ‘too close’ to the truth. Tom only saw the man a second before he launched a sneak attack on Eel’s side within her ‘blindspot’.

“Don’t attack the merchandise you fo-!” <’Decent’ Man>

*PACHU-SPFFF~!*

A purple speared tail gave the man a piercing through his neck and spine. This tail of course was connected to the butt of Eel who quickly jabbed through the neck before pulling back out causing a torrent of blood to flood out. The look of shock, surprise and fear as Eel tilted her head back to look at his face brought her a pleasant smile to her face.

“W-what was that?!” <’Decent’ Man>

“Erm, her tail as a dragon? I mean she wasn’t very subtle about her race.” <Tom>

“Dragon!?” <Villagers>

With that they all quickly scarpered away - the leader was the fastest in that respect as some abandoned their weapons. Others stumbled and crawled across the ground. It only took a few moments for the area to be devoid of anyone but the three leaving Tom quite surprised. Soon after this whole event Fuka showed up with a relieved look on her face - of course Lyada was by her side as usual.

“Guys we don’t need to worry - we think this place is a den of villagers turned bandits with ties to the slave trade.” <Fuka>

“How is that not something to worry about?!” <Tom>