Wendy's small village.
The once quiet, peaceful village now echoed with weeping from every household.
Wendy returned in silence with the militia fighters, but they brought back terrible news.
Not only had they failed to rescue anyone, they had also gotten the village's guardian deity—the powerful barbarian warrior—killed, along with a mage!
Aaron was likewise somewhat silent when he arrived at the village.
He could sense that many people in the village had Kimo blood.
And his faith had spread here as well.
The crooked banyan tree symbols on the walls were proof enough!
"What are you planning to do?"
He looked at Wendy.
After the barbarian's death, Wendy had been chosen by a group of young people as their new leader, despite being young himself.
"We're planning to abandon this place!"
Wendy replied, "This place is simply too close to Kahn City. Demons seep through from the Icebound Great Rift defense line from time to time... Nobody wants to keep living like this. Otherwise, the tragedy from before could happen again at any moment."
He took a deep breath and looked north. "We plan to migrate north, into the Far North Wasteland, where there are fewer demons and far from the chaos of war... The ancestral homeland of the Kimo people lies there. An ancient map has been passed down in our village, and it can guide us there!"
All right, everyone likes running north.
Aaron grumbled inwardly, then turned to check on Master Shadow.
He was badly injured and had only been carried back after Wendy organized people to bring him home. Louisa was tending to him nearby.
Aaron explained the village's situation, then said to Louisa, "Let's go back and turn in the mission first. We can also send Master Shadow back to the city... Afterward, I