Night

Inside the quiet building, seeing Arthur's appearance, the three exchanged glances and let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

It had to be said, Arthur's looks carried a strong deceptive charm and approachability. Even though they knew full well that the person before them possessed the strength to battle the Terrifying Insect Beasts, the original unease and tension in their hearts had still eased considerably.

One of them, a middle-aged man who appeared the oldest, stepped forward, looking at Arthur respectfully. "Hello! We're people from nearby. May I ask who you are?"

He inquired cautiously, behaving very carefully, afraid of provoking the youth before him.

While he spoke, the other two remained quiet, simply watching Arthur in front of them, a hint of expectation in their eyes.

Since the Doomsday had descended, all kinds of monsters had emerged endlessly, causing heavy losses to the residents of the original kingdoms.

A powerful warrior like Arthur, who could fight those terrifying monsters barehanded, was the first they had ever seen.

If they could make contact and build a good relationship with him, their days ahead would surely be much easier.

Hearing their words, under their astonished gazes, Arthur did not reply, only shook his head.

He couldn't understand a word they said.

Language barrier—this was the biggest problem, and one he couldn't hide.

Seeing the confusion and tension on the faces of the three opposite him, Arthur made no attempt to conceal anything and directly spoke a few sentences.

The unfamiliar language reached their ears, and they immediately understood the reason, surprise flashing across their faces.

"Not the local language—someone from another kingdom?" the middle-aged man who had spoken earlier said in surprise.

"Could be a student sent here to study three years ago."

Standing behind him, a thin young man also spoke with some surprise: "I remember three years ago, a batch of noble descendants from foreign kingdoms came here to prepare for studies. This might be one of them."

"This kid should be a powerful knight. I've heard that the distant Aridou Kingdom has a strong Knight Order, and they sent quite a few people here three years ago too."

Among the three, a woman also spoke, her eyes flashing with sharp light as she looked at Arthur.

"So-called knights can't even stop a Firearm, let alone fight Insect Beasts head-on."

The young man beside her shook his head, saying this.

"Stop talking!" A light reprimand came from the front.

The middle-aged man who had spoken with Arthur earlier saw the two behind him whispering and immediately shot them a glare.

As the oldest here, his experience was richer than the other two's, and he understood clearly what needed to be done now.

That child opposite possessed terrifying combat power; his past identity must have been extremely remarkable, and he might not look kindly on such behavior.

Moreover, with the language barrier, their whispering would only heighten his vigilance.

Thinking this, the middle-aged man slowly stepped back, unhesitatingly pulled a dagger from his chest, then knelt on one knee, holding the dagger up and placing it before Arthur.

Seeing this gesture, Arthur was somewhat surprised.

The action seemed to be some kind of ritual in this world, and its meaning was quite clear.

Kneeling on one knee and handing over one's weapon—in any world, this signified respect and submission, indicating harmlessness.

With this thought, Arthur felt a hint of appreciation. He slowly extended his left hand, took the dagger offered to him, and placed it at his waist.

This gesture seemed to carry some significance. The moment Arthur accepted the dagger, the three opposite him visibly relaxed.

Silence fell for a time. They stood there for a long while, only starting to move when the sky outside had completely darkened.

"It's night outside. Should we keep going up?"

Among the three, the young man broke the stillness, speaking in a low voice.

"We can't go up anymore." The middle-aged man shook his head. "In some room above, a certain monster is said to be locked away. If we all go up together, strange things will likely happen at night."

"This building has that monster's scent. Ordinary monsters won't dare come here. We'll spend the night here and leave directly tomorrow."

Hearing this, the other two nodded silently, offering no objections.

As if thinking of something, the middle-aged man sighed quietly. When he turned to look at the distant staircase, a flicker of fear passed through his eyes.

While they spoke, Arthur silently moved to a corner, closing his eyes to rest.

In his mind, the Chip was rapidly parsing the language of the three opposite him.

But because he had only just been exposed to it and the basic data was too scarce, even with the Chip's full computing power allocated to this task, the time until parsing was complete remained very long.

After a while, under Arthur's watchful gaze, the middle-aged man slowly approached him, holding a piece of dried meat in his hand.

The man deliberately stopped at a certain distance from Arthur.

This distance was subtly chosen—close enough not to cause alarm, yet far enough to give Arthur time to easily draw his sword.

Standing there, the man first carefully tore off a piece of the meat and put it in his mouth, then held the dried meat out to Arthur.

Seeing this, Arthur nodded slightly, made no unnecessary moves, and directly took the item from the man's hand.

"Target food is non-toxic, safe to eat." The mechanical voice in his mind sounded, prompting Arthur.

Only then did Arthur hesitate no longer, trying to slowly eat the piece of meat.

··········

Time passed bit by bit. When the night was half over, a peculiar sensation jolted Arthur awake.

"Detection of an unknown force field!" The mechanical voice rang out in his mind.

This was a pre-set program, designed to jolt him awake the moment any anomaly appeared in the surroundings.

Throughout the night, Arthur had been startled awake several times, each instance passing without real danger.

But this time, the situation seemed different.

Arthur stood up quietly, his right hand silently drawing the long sword from his waist.

He walked softly to the door, peering through the crack at the outside.

A faint light flickered on the other side of the door, surrounded by boundless darkness.

Before Arthur could register what this was, his heart suddenly jolted, and an inexplicable sense of dread gripped him.

"What... is this? An eye?"

The thought flashed through his mind as he stared calmly at the door, looking through the gap to the outside.

There, that eerie pair of eyes still remained, their gaze burning with hatred and madness.