Rain poured down, making it impossible to go outside.
Zhao Si and the others had no choice but to shelter in the house and read the case records-or, to put it more simply, the transcripts. The window rattled incessantly in the wind, and rainwater trickled through the gaps, dripping onto the ground. The house's "floor" was particularly rustic-the original earth had simply been tamped down.
Yes, this wooden house had no wooden floor. It had been built directly on compacted earth. The ground beneath their feet was therefore hardened soil, which also meant they could light a fire right inside. The warm campfire drove away the cold and damp, warming them all over.
Reading the case records fell to Zhao Si and Fia. Blaidd? had no interest in reading those crooked letters. He simply found the sudden rain irritating, as though the gods were hinting at something.
Blaidd? could hardly be blamed for being superstitious, since gods really did exist in the Lands Between.
He leaned against the doorframe, watching the rain soak the muddy ground. Not a soul was out in the village, and everything was quiet. When it rained, a particular smell rose from the soil-probably the fragrance of earth.
Blaidd? asked, "Does it often get windy and rainy here in Windmill Village?"
Yage, the village chief who was attending to him cautiously, chuckled and said, "Not really. It just feels like we've had particularly heavy rainfall this year. Wind is common, though. Otherwise, we wouldn't have so many windmills."
"Was it raining when people died?" Blaidd? asked out of nowhere.
"Uh, no." Yage was still smiling.
"Why haven't you taken the corpses down?" Blaidd? meant the bodies hanging at the village entrance.
Yage's smile faded. "They serve as a deterrent. It isn't time to take them down