Chapter 637: Shepherd Village

The warm sunlight poured down, gilding the grass on the hills a golden hue.

By the time Rod arrived at the main stream of the Hansen River, the elf Lady Kali had already brought Rat Girl Thirteen along and was in the middle of conducting tests.

River water, side-wall mud, and bottom mud were drawn separately as samples.

They were placed into a small, sealed testing instrument.

Thirteen was hugging a pile of bottles and jars.

Freeing her hands, she waved to him from afar; her slender, well-proportioned frame, over 1.8 meters tall, made even Lady Kali look petite beside her.

Rod landed, patted her on the head, and turned to Lady Kali.

"Thirteen doesn't have to go train with Hera today?"

As a newborn, Thirteen's instinctive combat and beastly intuition were both very strong.

But then again, this also caused her fighting style to be overly straightforward.

Rod had seen Hera's fighting method; it should be the same type as Thirteen's.

And both liked using their tails to attack, so he had recommended her go.

"Today is a day off. You don't have to come every day. This is meticulous work; nothing will come of it in just a short week."

Lady Kali didn't even look up, her tone devoid of any emotion.

"I'm here to help."

Rod said shamelessly with a smile.

"Besides chatting and disturbing my work, what else have you done by coming over?" The elf Young Lady's hands never stopped working, and her words were equally blunt.

"It's just that I saw you here alone, couldn't rest easy, so I made a special trip to check on you."

A week had already passed since the water source retesting began.

As Lady Kali had said, whether the water source or the mud composition, everything was normal; the investigation was still ongoing.

Nothing major happened during this week.

The offshore route cooperation proposal from the pink-haired siren Reif received a response four days ago—naturally, the choice was to agree.

Early that morning, Reif had dragged an entire tribe of sirens to the shore to shout.

She gave the guards a huge fright; they thought some siren had gotten bold enough to make a move on Coral Bay, which belonged to my lord Rod.

After listening carefully, they realized she had come to discuss business, and only relaxed once Rod stepped forward.

However, because of this incident—

The major newspapers once again paid more attention to his romantic history and views on love.

"How's the situation over the ocean? Is the potion effective?"

Lady Kali gave a cold snort; she had already built up a resistance to his sweet-talk.

She turned instead to ask about the potion's effects, which she was more concerned about.

"Very good. We encountered two more aberrant sirens afterward. Sharon and Tally cleared the polluted domains quickly after taking the potion. Though Sharon seems a bit enchanted—after taking the medicine, she's become clingier with me, always wanting kisses."

Tally, on the other hand, did not.

The Desire-Quelling Pill also made her less susceptible to enchantment.

Previously, Lady Kali had suggested Rod use bedroom matters to stimulate her, but it didn't go smoothly either.

There was one time Rod finally managed to coax her into bed.

But the moment clothes came off, before even the underwear could be removed, before he could even hold her—

The succubus flushed crimson, steam rising to her head, and in an instant died of shyness on the spot.

"Kisses. You don't have to tell me about that kind of thing. I'll adjust the ratio a bit. I heard Lily went too."

"Lily is warm-hearted, but after learning the potion's composition later, she didn't go again."

Rod was caught between laughter and tears.

He had been there that day too, and still remembered the halfling girl's stunned expression after learning the potion's ingredients.

"I wonder whose fault that is."

The elf Young Lady gave a cold laugh.

As she spoke—

The two followed the Hansen River, passing a place called Shepherd's Slope.

It was a low, gentle grassy slope, with a small village beside it—mostly wooden houses—and sheep returning to their pens could be seen in the distance.

This kind of village used Hansen River water very frequently, making it a good reference point.

Lady Kali planned to go there to draw some blood and water samples.

However, just as they approached—

Two burly men holding pitchforks blocked the road.

They were both awestruck by the elf's beauty and, at the same time, sweating cold sweat in fear.

All because the presence of these three was far too commanding—completely not the sort of figures their little village should have.

"Mr., Miss, Shepherd Village is currently not open. Please come back after a while."

"My name is Rod. I don't know if you recognize me or not, but we need to investigate something."

Rod skipped the trouble and gave his name directly.

He was very well-known in the Dusk Hills region; even if Shepherd Village was a bit remote, they couldn't have not heard of him.

"R-Rod? Rod, the Warden of Windwall Forest?!"

"That is I, indeed."

The two burly men's expressions visibly stiffened; they exchanged glances, each seeing the terror in the other's eyes.

One of the burly men said through gritted teeth: "My lord Rod, it's not just that there's something going on in the village—we need to keep it sealed off for a while. Please don't blame us, my lord."

"I will not make things difficult for you. Have the village head come over."

"Oh, oh. Alright."

Having spoken, the burly man turned and ran back, holding his pitchfork.

At this moment, Lady Kali whispered, "There is a magical fluctuation. Someone in the village cast a spell not long ago."

A native mage in the village?

Highly unlikely.

Mages require resources; at the very least, a town-sized settlement is needed to sustain them. A small village cannot do it.

Not long after.

An old man, leaning on a cane but clearly vigorous and strong, walked over quickly.

Waving his cane, he cursed angrily, "Who is it? Don't you know today is Hero's Day? How dare you come to Shepherd Village and cause trouble!"

"Hero's Day?"

Rod was puzzled.

Lady Kali gave him a strange look. "It is the day the founding king of Aethelron passed away, used to commemorate the various founding heroes. You are an Aethelronian; how could you not know? Shepherd Village should be the hometown of some founding hero."

Rod shrugged openly. "My mind mostly remembers things about girls. It's normal that I don't remember."

"Hmph, men."

Just then, the burly man who had gone to fetch the person rushed over from behind the village head, hurriedly explaining the situation.

"Village Head, that is Ranger Rod!"

"Rod? Who!? What does that have to do with me!"

"He is the current ruler of Coral Bay!"

"Then he should respect Hero's Day even more! Get out of here quickly! You three! You have disturbed the Lord's heroes. I'll make sure you can't finish what you started!"

The burly man turned his face and smiled ingratiatingly at Rod.

He continued to explain for them. "They have an investigation to conduct. They will leave once it's over. It won't cause any trouble. We've let outsiders in before!"

"That was because he passed the trial!!"

"Then if these three pass the trial, they can come in too, right?"

"With skin that soft and tender, if they pass, there's a ghost in the room!"

"Try it, Village Head, try it!"

The village head frowned, thought for a moment, and then threw out a crystal sphere.

The burly man hurriedly picked it up, wiped the dust off it, and bowed humbly, presenting it to Rod.

"My Lord Rod, this is the custom of our Shepherd Village on Hero's Day. No one dares to disobey. Even when the Argyle family came to visit Coral Bay back in the day, they had to do this, hehe. As long as your spiritual energy lights it up, you may enter. Otherwise, I'm sorry."

Lady Kali whispered again, "This is a spiritual storage sphere. After a large amount of spiritual mana is transmitted, it triggers a freezing effect to preserve the spiritual mana inside. It can be sold for a good price on the market—a good price for them."

Rod took the crystal sphere.

He chuckled. "Playing the good cop and bad cop, huh?"

Without warning, the veins on his forearm suddenly bulged, and his five fingers clenched with sudden force.

With a bang, the crystal sphere immediately cracked with a massive fissure piercing through the sphere, then shattered into pieces.

Both the village head and the burly man stared at him in horror, as if seeing a ghost.

"My Lord Rod... you..."

"What are you doing! Anyone who doesn't follow the rules, get out!"

"Rules? On the Twilight Hills, my rules are the rules."

(End of this chapter)