It's So Hard to Think of a Title

Nuoqi Village.

A noble's carriage had stopped at the village entrance. Two servants were tending to a pair of tall, chestnut-red steeds, while several guards in silver armor stood around the splendid carriage.

Behind the noble's carriage was another carriage.

This carriage, however, was of much lower quality. The horses were all inferior country nags, and the carriage itself was extremely crude. It did not even have a roof, only a large, tattered cloth draped over it.

If one had to describe it, it looked more like a wagon for transporting goods.

That was exactly what it was.

Looking into the rear carriage, one could see several country girls curled up inside with their knees hugged to their chests.

They all had certain things in common. Their features carried the rustic air of villagers, but they were still quite pretty. Their bodies were gaunt from long-term malnutrition, yet their frames were well-shaped. They were all promising prospects for the future.

Of course, they also differed. Some girls had fear on their faces, some looked bewildered, while others wore expressions of longing.

"Master Robert, you're finally here!"

At the entrance to the Nuoqi Village chief's home, the elderly village chief immediately went up to greet a middle-aged man in a butler's uniform who had just stepped down from the noble's carriage, his face full of obsequiousness.

The village chief could naturally see that behind the noble's carriage was only a single wagon for transporting goods. The shrewd old man had even secretly glanced inside and discovered that it was nowhere near full—more than half of it was empty.

Thus—

"Master Robert, w-why did you only buy so few people this year? Why don't you choose a few more?"

"I'm not exaggerating, but the girls from our Nuoqi Village are much better than those from the other villages! Every one of them is clever and capable, and they're all hardworking. Once they enter the city, they'll definitely serve the noble masters well."

The village chief patted his chest and gave the butler across from him an emphatic guarantee.

However, the butler shook his head.

"Old Henry, it's not that I don't want to buy more people. It's just that Huodian City has recently... Ah, you wouldn't understand even if I explained it. In any case, outsiders are no longer allowed to enter or leave the city."

"If my young lady hadn't happened to reach school age and urgently needed a group of maids to accompany her to the academy, I probably wouldn't have come this year."

"I see. I-I understand."

The village chief looked somewhat disappointed. He did not care what had happened in Huodian City. He had simply hoped to send a few more girls from the village to the city.

Don't misunderstand.

At least in these poor and backward country villages, being able to sell one's daughter to the city was absolutely something worth celebrating.

As for whether the girls being sold felt the same way, that was another matter.

"All right, Old Henry. Quickly bring over that girl from before. I believe her name was Vivian, right? I'm in a hurry to get to the next village."

There were very few country girls whose names Robert remembered.

Vivian was one of them.

This butler from a major Huodian City family had a very good impression of the girl. After all, she had been able to support herself, her young brother, and her alcoholic, gambling-addicted father alone. That showed how capable she was, and her character could hardly be poor.

The girls selected and purchased from the other villages were basically brought over by the guards. Vivian of Nuoqi Village was the only one Robert had come out to deal with personally.

However—

The process did not seem to be going smoothly.

"This..." The old village chief's face filled with embarrassment, and he began to stammer.

"What's wrong?"

Butler Robert frowned. He valued Vivian highly and had intended to train the girl as the young lady's personal maid.

"Ah, master, you'd better go ask at Vivian's home yourself." The village chief shook his head and sighed regretfully.

When Robert arrived at Vivian's home, his face full of confusion, he saw her father Anlu's frantic and anxious expression at first glance. He immediately realized that something had probably happened to the girl.

"Anlu! Where is your daughter?"

"M-Master, Vivian, she... she..."

Seeing Anlu stammering, Robert slammed his hand against the table in anger.

"Speak!"

"Vivian... went to Claw Forest to gather medicine for her younger brother. She—she hasn't come back yet..." Anlu was so frightened that his voice trembled.

"She went alone? To Claw Forest? Don't you know that's no different from sending her to her death?"

Robert shot up from his chair. Furious, he pointed at Anlu's nose as the terrified man fell to his knees.

Clearly, Vivian held quite a significant place in this butler's heart.

After taking a deep breath, Robert asked with a final trace of hope:

"When did she leave?"

"Y-Yesterday..."

"You!" Robert now wanted to draw his sword and cut this bastard down in a single stroke.

"For the sake of your younger son, who was already beyond saving and about to die, you willingly agreed to let your daughter venture alone into a forest crawling with monsters!?"

"N-No, no, no! An... Andy can't die. He can't die. He... he's my only son, my son!" Anlu shook his head frantically.

"Andy is your son, but Vivian isn't your daughter?"

"It's different. Sob... sob, sob... It's different..." Perhaps Robert had struck a painful nerve. Anlu hugged his seriously ill younger son, who lay unconscious in bed, and began to wail.

Clearly, in Anlu's heart, ten Vivians probably could not compare to a single Andy. Or perhaps ten daughters could not compare to one son.

Robert stopped paying attention to this bastard of a father. After all, one could not expect a remote, backward village to produce people with much knowledge or culture.

In these rural settlements, girls were born to be overlooked.

Otherwise, they would not so readily send their daughters away year after year, practically begging for someone to buy them and take them into the city as servants.

Ignoring the sobbing Anlu, Robert turned toward the silent man in a Spellcaster's robe who had been following him the entire time.

"Mr. Lake, what do you think... if we sent people to search Claw Forest—"

Robert had only gotten halfway through his sentence when the Spellcaster shook his head.

"My men just asked around. This morning, two Outlanders accepted Anlu's commission to search Claw Forest for his daughter, but they still haven't returned."

"Outlanders? Them?" The butler clearly did not have a favorable attitude toward the "Outlanders" Lake mentioned.

"No, Lord Robert. The important point I want to make is that Claw Forest is probably far more dangerous now than we imagined."

The Spellcaster named "Lake" spoke with exceptional gravity.

"What do you mean?"

"Just a little while ago, I don't know whether it was my imagination, but I seemed to sense an extremely evil aura erupting from the direction of Claw Forest."

"If possible, Lord Robert, I suggest that you set off immediately and return to Huodian City."

"This..."

Butler Robert had just been about to ask whether the situation was really that serious when—

Suddenly!

A sharp, anguished scream came from outside the village entrance.

"Ah!!!"

"Th-they're eating people!"