Perhaps because people traveled it often, the road between Upperstream Village and Midstream Village was quite safe. Ed followed the river downstream just like that, passing Midstream Village at noon and catching sight of Dragonborn Village that afternoon.
He was especially cautious along the way, and Little Green stayed on alert throughout, but not a single member of the Tree Worship Church appeared.
Judging by the name alone, the Tree Worship Church probably had no authority over Dragonborn Village's residents, which put Ed much more at ease.
While still some distance away, Ed spotted a low wall of rammed earth as tall as a person. This Dragonborn Village looked much safer than the previous two villages, at least. Perhaps Dragonborn Fort would have been a more fitting name.
At the entrance to Dragonborn Village, Ed saw two villagers standing guard with short spears. Although their bodies still looked somewhat disproportionate, their physiques were at least much better than those fellows in Upperstream Village and Midstream Village with trees growing all over them.
Only when Ed approached did he discover that the mutations on those two were no less extensive than those of the earlier villagers.
Their faces bore ugly marks resembling scars left by fallen scales, and the sides of their heads were pointed, as though dragon horns were about to burst out. Their teeth were crooked but exceptionally sharp, looking capable of biting straight through metal. The backs of their trousers bulged, perhaps with tails tucked inside.
It was only because these mutations tended toward enhancement that Ed had mistakenly thought they were less mutated.
After a brief exchange with the two villagers guarding the entrance, out of respect for Ed-or rather, out of respect for two silver coins-he successfully obtained permission to enter the village and visit the blacksmith.
There was little need to describe the shopping itself. Thanks to Baron Tuer's bequest, Ed purchased clothing for five people, some farming tools, and common weapons such as spearheads, enough for him to lay the groundwork for his base with the help of souls from another world during the early stages.
As for what came afterward, Ed had not thought that far ahead yet. He would get through the immediate difficulties first.
By the time he finished his shopping, the sky was growing dark again.
Dragonborn Village was far larger than the previous two villages. There was even a shabby little inn.
Ed rented a room as an out-of-towner, then spent a little money to get quite a bit of information out of the innkeeper.
Several decades ago, this place had indeed been called Lower Reaches Village, but one day, a dragon had blessed its residents, granting them stronger constitutions and even allowing them to subsist on metal ores for short periods during famines.
While their powerful physiques brought them convenience, they also drew a measure of jealousy from the residents of other villages. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the villagers had eventually worked together to build a wall around the village.
As the price of the dragon's blessing, half the village's population worked in trades such as blacksmithing, spending most of their time processing precious metals for the money-loving dragon. When they had no assigned tasks, they could also make farming tools and weapons to earn money.
Pretending to know nothing, Ed asked about Baron Tuer, steering the conversation toward the ownerless old castle.
The innkeeper said that shortly after Baron Tuer's death, many people had wanted to inherit this ownerless territory. After all, quite a few subjects still lived on this land. Completing the secret pact would mean acquiring the population of three entire villages.
But those adventurers had either become lost in the chaotic force field or been turned into hand-pounded meatballs by the alchemical golems. With the Tree Worship Church and the dragon dividing the subjects between them as well, over time, the old castle and the vessel of the secret pact inside it had lost their value.
After all, a claim was never as convincing as actual control. Whoever collected taxes from the subjects here was the lord in practice.
As for the Tree Worship Church's background, the people of Dragonborn Village knew little. They only said that the Tree Worship Church had initially wanted to plant trees here too, but after they killed two missionaries, they had never seen those mysterious people again.
The next day, Ed finally returned to the old castle after two days and two nights away. Nothing here had changed. Even the four bodies he had pieced together were as fresh as ever.
Ed checked the current date. In the World of Disorder, it was now August 2, year 908 of the Royal Calendar, though he still did not know whether there was a king.
Good. It was time for his game to hold a technical test.
"Little Green, how many people have filled out our preregistration questionnaire so far?"
"After filtering out some bots and people who filled it out randomly, there are 272 valid questionnaires in total."
"So few? Don't people like our art style?"
Ed was a little surprised. Given the number of active internet users in the other world, there should not have been so few.
"The listing we slipped into the rankings without permission was reported and removed by the site admins~"
Ed was speechless for a moment. He felt Little Green's initiative really needed improvement.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? When did this happen?"
"While the two of us were being chased by the sheep."
"So it was only up for one night?"
"Yes."
"What reason did they give for reporting it?"
"It was in the wrong position on the rankings, so they reported it as a bug."
Ed felt a little pain in his heart, but nearly three hundred people had preregistered after just one night. That seemed to mean... quite a few people liked it after all.
At that thought, Ed's lofty ambitions immediately returned, and he said to Little Green with particular determination:
"Put that link back in there for me, still in the bottom slot on the second page. From now on, we're buying a house on that spot. World of Disorder will always be a new game!
"As for now, let me see their questionnaires and pick a few lucky ones."
Meanwhile, in another world, in a certain gaming group.
Do Some Farm Work: "@A Zhongde Dried Meat Wholesale Bro, that link you posted a couple days ago is dead. Did that World of Dementia or whatever take the money and run?"
Chief Shit Appraisal Master: "LMAO, bro, I just clicked through to check, and it really is gone. Looks like the site admins took it down. What do you think this scammer was even after? Zhongde, did you put your ID number and stuff in the questionnaire?"
A Pot of Pothos: "I remember the questionnaire didn't ask any of that. It was all questions about gaming habits, and the account it linked was the gaming website account. I've logged in every day these past two days, and I haven't noticed any account theft either."
Do Some Farm Work: "@A Pot of Pothos Uncle Pothos, you're still too serious. This is the internet. You've got to be aggressive. Whether that website was real or fake, now that it's done a runner, it's time to roast it. If the boomerang comes back one day, then he'll be perfectly justified in flaming me too. So why aren't you coming out to get flamed yet? @A Zhongde Dried Meat Wholesale."
Bombarded with everyone's messages, Zhou Jue took out his phone on his way back to the dorm after work and began crossing keyboards with his online friends to defend his cyber mom.
Just as the battle reached a fever pitch and Zhou Jue was about to take everyone down with him-
"Beep beep~"
A pop-up notification from the gaming platform's app appeared at the top of the screen:
[Hello, user A Zhongde Dried Meat Wholesale. Congratulations on qualifying for the World of Disorder technical test! Tap me to go straight to the relevant page~]