Something's Not Right With You

Noronos's intelligence was not high, but that was only by human standards.

Its intelligence was roughly equivalent to that of a ten-year-old child, and being naturally sharp-witted, it required no direction from Anse at all.

Anse was happy to enjoy the peace and quiet, silently pulling up Noronos's Character Sheet.

This was the most unique thing about Noronos: it had its own independent Character Sheet on the dice!

It has experience and levels, so does that mean it can level up? He stroked the stubble on his chin, lost in thought.

He tried to allocate a bit of experience to Noronos, but the Character Sheet remained completely unmoved.

There must be something different about it.

After several failed attempts, he remained clueless and had to give up for the time being, focusing instead on the journey.

The weather was sweltering and the road difficult to traverse, so he stopped to rest many times, fearing Noronos would tire out.

He even used Freezing Ray to create some ice cubes, wrapping them in waterproof cloth to help everyone cool down.

Noronos was a fairy, capable of drawing energy from magic or natural spirits, so it didn't have high requirements for food, but it still got tired and needed proper rest and nourishment.

At lunch, it fell in love with raw crab meat, devouring over ten pounds on its own, and its gaze toward Finn became much more affectionate.

After Anse fed it its first ice cube, it fell in love with those as well.

While traveling, Anse had to feed it a few cubes every so often.

The interaction between man and horse was so engaging that neither felt tired, and time flew by.

The wilderness was vast; at first, they could still see waves of refugees and scattered corpses, but as they traveled further, the people thinned out until, by the afternoon, they were nowhere to be seen.

After a long day, Brat and his companion were exhausted and dispirited, while only Anse and Noronos remained full of energy.

Anse was riding a horse, so he naturally wasn't tired, and having escaped a life-or-death crisis, he found everything interesting.

The plants and flowers he had never seen before, the unfamiliar beasts and birds, the peculiar natural landscapes...

He had only transmigrated a few days ago, so he was full of novelty and didn't feel bored in the slightest.

Brat looked at the sun, which was no longer so glaring, and asked listlessly, "How much further to the West Coast?"

"We're more than halfway there, twenty li at most," Anse estimated.

The "li" he spoke of was a unit of distance in Faerun, with twenty li being roughly thirty-two kilometers.

Baldur's Gate was a natural bay about sixty or seventy kilometers from the estuary, a journey that took over ten hours even by medium-sized sailboat.

Brat pointed to a patch of greenery to the south and asked, "Did we go off course? Is that the Cloakwood Forest?"

"It might be an extension of the Cloakwood Forest." Anse pulled out a map, not entirely sure.

"I should have known to stay at the village back there." Brat felt a pang of regret; they had seen two villages in the distance along the way but hadn't stopped at either.

"There's a village ahead called... Giant Red Deer Village," Anse said, pointing at the map.

"Mm." Finn nodded, and the Gray Hawk saw it too.

"How far?" Brat perked up.

"Just past that woodland."

"Let's go."

Following the Gray Hawk's guidance, the group headed southwest for ten minutes. After passing through a sparse woodland, a village appeared ahead, consisting of a few dozen households.

"The terrain is good," Brat remarked.

The area was flat and dry with no standing water, and the ground had clearly been hardened, making it well-suited for a rest.

"Why is there no one here?" Anse frowned slightly; the place was excessively quiet.

"Is this an abandoned village?" Brat scrutinized the dilapidated and collapsed buildings.

"Look." Anse shook his head, pointing to the messy footprints and cart tracks scattered about. "It might be abandoned, but many people have definitely been here."

Finn crouched on the ground to observe for a moment and confirmed, "There are both old and new ones, including some from today."

"Probably refugees," Brat speculated. "After all, this village is on the map."

Anse looked at Finn beside him. "Are there any monsters or wild beasts nearby?"

"No monsters, no large beasts," Finn shook his head.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Anse and the others braced themselves, entering the abandoned village in a combat formation.

However, aside from the clutter everywhere and the thick layer of dust, there were no corpses or chaotic signs of struggle.

Yet, for some reason, Anse felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

Just as they ventured deeper into the village, a dark head poked out from the window of a wooden house in the distance—a long snout, curved horns, black scales...

The group was startled, each instinctively adopting a combat stance.

"It looks like a Dragonborn," Brat warned.

There are quite a few Dragonborn in Baldur's Gate, and everyone has seen them before, but their appearance is so vastly different from humans that their sudden appearance is indeed startling.

At this moment, the door of the wooden cabin opened, and several people walked out. Apart from the Dragonborn, the others were all human.

These people were all armed and wearing armor, primarily Studded Leather Armor. The colors and styles were similar, but there didn't seem to be any spellcasters among them.

The Holy Symbol hidden in Anse's bosom suddenly became scorching hot. His heart tightened, and he immediately signaled the other two to be careful.

Perhaps fearing a misunderstanding, the Dragonborn walked over empty-handed, while the others remained where they were.

"Greetings." The Dragonborn's voice was like clashing metal, low and powerful, with a tail end like rolling thunder.

He looked Anse and Noronos up and down, his eyes filled with surprise: "We are from Aralon and are heading to Baldur's Gate, stopping here to rest for a while. Did you come from Baldur's Gate? I heard something happened there; how is it now?"

Aralon is the largest island in the Moonshadow Isles, separated from Baldur's Gate by the sea.

Anse's expression remained calm: "The estuary levee broke last night and the Livington District flooded. We left in a hurry and don't know what the situation is like now."

"I see." The Dragonborn's eyes rolled; it was difficult to read any expression on his lizard-like face. "I heard that the city of Baldur's Gate collapsed and a large number of Underdark Creatures appeared. Is that true?"

"I've heard that too, but I haven't seen it myself, so I wouldn't dare to speak nonsense." Anse smiled faintly, continuing to play dumb.

In the gap of the conversation, he had already seen through the other party's information:

[Amn **Elite, Dragonborn, Level 3 Barbarian (Berserker)]

Clearly, the other party was lying!

The Dragonborn had been rebuffed by Anse repeatedly, and although he knew Anse was deliberately withholding information, there was nothing he could do.

He pretended to scan the area casually and pointed to the house behind him: "We are staying in this wooden cabin. The other houses are empty; you can choose one for yourselves."

With that, he waved his hand and turned to leave.

Anse narrowed his eyes. He had wanted to check the information of the others, but he hadn't expected the other party to leave so quickly and decisively.

"Let's go too." Anse waved his hand, and Noronos strode off, turning toward another village path.

The group walked hurriedly, crossing the village without stopping.

"That Dragonborn's accent is off; it sounds like an accent from Amn," Brat mused.

"How did you determine that?" Anse slowed his pace. He knew Brat's hometown was on the Dragon Coast, which was not particularly close to Amn.

"I've been there. Amn is wealthy, but unfortunately, they are obsessed with money for everything," Brat shook his head regretfully.

"You are very sharp," Anse praised. "Both the people and the place are wrong. We won't camp here."

"That's what I was thinking too," Brat replied.

"Mm," Finn agreed as well.

After leaving the village, they were met with a small lake. The water shimmered, the surrounding vegetation was lush, and the scenery was quite pleasant.

Anse noticed that the land around the lake showed clear signs of cultivation, though for some reason, it had been abandoned.

The group walked along the north shore of the lake, crossing a high grassy slope, when a temporary camp suddenly appeared before their eyes.

Twenty or thirty tents were scattered in an orderly fashion along the lakeside. Dozens of people were busy at work; some were clearing land, some were fishing, and children and the elderly were playing.