After getting closer to the village, Elena was able to see the front gates. Two men were standing on guard before them. One of the men had a crow-like head and a body filled with black feathers. He also had a pair of black wings on his back. This man was part of a demonic race called the Ravens. Not all Ravens had wings on their back but those that had wings were all quite strong.

The other man with his had a small horn on the top of his head and only one large eye with a green pupil. He was from a demon race called the Cyclopes. Actually all the demon species with one eye were called Cyclopes in general, so to be exact, he was a Green eyed Cyclopes.

Other than the Cyclopes and the Ravens, one more race of demons should be living in this village. Elena was sure that she would be able to individuals from this race just inside. So she immediately showed herself to the guards.

As soon as the guards saw Elena, they held their weapon tightly and became ready for a fight. From their behaviour it was clear that they were very tense.

The Cyclopes guard then asked Elena to identify herself in a hoarse voice. Elena did not do anything suspicious and just handed her adventurer guild card to them. Seeing the guild card and finding that Elena was a S rank adventurer, the look on the guards' eyes changed and they became respectful.

The raven guard then asked if Elena was here to investigate the situation on behalf of the adventurer guild. After Elena nodded her head in agreement both of the guards became extremely happy and welcomed Elena in. Getting very enthusiastic after seeing a S ranker was a common reaction, so this was completely natural.

The Cyclopes guard stayed in the gate while the Raven guard started to escort Elena inside the village. He was taking her to the village chief. Just as Elena had expected, after entering the village, she was able to see the third species of demon who were also living in this village.

These demons all had very long hair on their body and extremely thin hands and feet. They all looked malnourished but that was actually not the case. This species of demon was called Hecteroth and all the members of the species looked like that.

They were very weak in physical or magical might amongst various demon species but this race had a very high dexterity. They were incredible craftspeople and were the main source of this village's income. The chief of the village also turned out to be from this race.

He also grandly welcomed Elena and fawned all over her. He took out expensive old wine and served various dishes to welcome her. Elena did not reject any of them and tasted them out even though she was able to feel the unsettling atmosphere of the village even more clearly after entering it.

While having this feast, Elena started to ask the chief about the weird incidents happening in the village. She had seen a little bit about it in the mission description but the mention of it was very brief. So Elena was hoping that the chief would be able to give her more information.

After hearing Elena's questions, the chief started to answer her. He told her about quite a few incidents where people from his village had gone missing and some of the houses were hit with sudden disasters out of nowhere. After learning about these incidents, Elena asked him about the A rank adventurer team that had come to the village.

According to the village chief, the A rank team was also welcomed in the village just like Elena and were given all the relevant information available at that time. Then they did a group discussion in an empty house of the village and two of them members were out to search the nearby forest while three remaining members stayed inside the village.

But even after a whole day had passed, the two adventurers who went out did not return back to the village. So the three worried remaining adventurers started searching for them everywhere but got no result. So at night, all of them returned back to the village disheartened.

But the next day, the village saw that the house where they were staying had turned out ice overnight. None of the villages even the ones who lived very close to this house, heard anything that night. So the villagers used the help of a fire made to melt the ice and went inside the house but found it to be completely empty. Not only then people who were inside the house but also all the items that they had with them had disappeared.

After hearing this story, Elena asked the village chief if that house was still intact and if she could see it. The chief replied that the house was still standing even though it was in a bad shape and took Elena to it.

...

While going toward the previously frozen house, Elena noticed that there were very few out on the street. Even though there was a small market-like area in the village where the village could exchange items, no one was there. She had already noticed this when she had first entered the village but after seeing the deserted market area, the emptiness of the whole village became even more apparent.

Elena decided to ask the village chief about it and in answer what he said made perfect sense. After people of the village had started to suddenly disappear, all the people were scared of their own well being and avoided going out as much as they could. This answer seemingly had no fault so Elena did not press any further.

Soon she was able to reach the house from where a powerful A rank adventurer team had disappeared. There were a few burnt marks on the house most probably from the time when the frost of the house was removed. And it also looked super brittle.

Elena observed the house very thoroughly but was unable to find anything suspicious. The inside of the house was devoid of all things. After some time, Elena thanked the chief and separated from him. She told her that she was planning to walk around the village by herself to see if she could find some other clues.

Then Elena started to wander around the village aimlessly. Anyone seeing her would think so. But actually while walking all around the village, Elena was setting up a few traps that she would need to bring an interesting conclusion to this problem. As for what the problem was, Elena was already found out about it.

Actually for anyone with a certain amount of intelligence and power level, seeing through the weirdness of the village was not a big deal. So she was planning to put an end to this mission tonight. Then she could return back to the city the next day with a solved mystery and the missing adventurer group.

So what was the mystery of this village and what was Elena planning ?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.