The death of Ailiruila the Banshee plunged all of Ice Tree Village into grief and silence.
Even the children who usually played on the village's dirt roads sensed the sorrow hanging in the air. They stayed home instead of going out to play.
The beautiful Elf from the distant northern Snow Plains had won over the villagers with her kindness and warmth. They had come to see her as one of their own.
Then she had sacrificed herself, using a mysterious ritual from her Elf tribe to draw into her own body the terrible plague that would have left the village deserted. She had paid for it dearly: denied even the eternal peace of death, she had been forced to become a Banshee.
Ailiruila had become the savior of Ice Tree Village.
"I'm willing to accept punishment, Lord Xia Nan."
Inside the guest cottage at the center of the village, the elderly, exhausted village chief spoke earnestly to the Black-haired Adventurer seated before him, who was brushing his Winter Wolf companion's fur.
The adventuring party that had passed through half a month earlier had caused irreparable harm to Ice Tree Village.
The villagers had not fought back at the time.
But after learning that Ailiruila had wiped out the party, they had worried someone might come to investigate. Before Xia Nan and his companions arrived, the villagers had agreed on a story, hoping they could conceal Ailiruila's existence
and smooth the whole thing over.
Truthfully, if the Banshee had still been in her right mind and had not gone to the Goblin Nest to attack Xia Nan's group,
the villagers might actually have gotten away with it.
Time was limited, after all. If the mission stalled and they found no trace of the Banshee, Xia Nan and the others could