The village chief sighed and continued:
"Last month, the Tanaka boy from the edge of the village went up the mountain to pick matsutake mushrooms and never came back down.
"When the search party found him, he was buried beneath a landslide, covered in yellow mud, with several broken bones.
"After that, no one dared go up there. Even a small patch of fields at the foot of the mountain has gone to waste because no one dares tend it."
A young farmer crouching nearby sorting his tools looked up. There was no contempt in his voice, only agitation:
"It's not that I don't trust you, but that place really is dangerous. You all look barely into your teens. There's no need to take this risk."
Yu Haibara swallowed the protest on the tip of his tongue. His smile faded, and he nodded earnestly:
"Don't worry. Since we're here, we'll take care of it.
"Could you please tell us roughly which side of the school building that gentleman's accident happened on?"
Kento Nanami adjusted his glasses, his fingertips pausing briefly on the file-the mission request had made no mention of any deaths.
It only listed "missing livestock, disruptive noises." The discrepancy in the intelligence was even worse than expected.
He glanced sideways at Qingxiao and said quietly, "The intelligence contains false information."
Qingxiao walked at the rear, his right hand in his trouser pocket, his fingertips idly rubbing Xiqu.
He looked up toward the mountaintop. Even from several hundred meters away, he could sense a thick mass of cursed energy wrapped beneath the soil, mingled with a faint bloody scent. It did not feel like a Grade 2 curse.
Qingxiao grumbled inwardly:
*Those people at "Window" really screwed us over. Not only did they get the grade wrong, they didn't