Chapter 112: The Crones' Warning

The tracks on the ground were very clear. The three of Wayne didn't care about the burning village anymore and soon followed the tracks into the swamp forest.

Upon learning that Wayne had no experience in swamp area operations, George took the lead, following the tracks while teaching him how to survive in the swamp, such as how to avoid poisonous snakes, how to find water sources, and how to judge where the mud traps were and where the solid ground was that could be stepped on.

The group walked and stopped along the way. George was indeed a legendary Witcher who had been active for over a hundred years and could single-handedly fight a green dragon. This practical teaching along the way allowed Wayne to learn a lot of useful knowledge.

Although the tracks in the swamp area were difficult to find, the Witcher's senses exceeded those of ordinary people, and they could always find the correct path through clues.

It took about twenty minutes or so before a ruin paved with hard stone slabs appeared before the three.

"Elven ruins!"

Through the architectural style and some broken Elven characters, Wayne immediately identified the origin of these ruins.

However, there was nothing worth being surprised about. In this world, one could see Elven ruins anywhere. That prosperous civilization had once spread its footprints all over the world.

Although their civilization had almost perished, one could always find their heritage in places humans had not yet stepped foot in.

The three didn't stay outside the ruins and soon found a gateway passage to the underground ruins along the dried mud tracks.

Before entering the underground ruins, Wayne's keen Witcher hearing heard the noisy human voices coming from below the ruins.

"Quick, light the fire."

"The humidity in the swamp is too heavy. Running over overnight, the children and old people are almost frozen stiff."

"I'm hungry, Mom. I'm hungry, Dad, where are you?"

"Stop arguing, you guys. That monster just flew away. Be careful not to attract it back again."

Listening to these noisy voices, Wayne also exchanged glances with the other two and walked down first.

Just walking down the stairs, he indeed saw over a hundred civilians in simple clothing crowding into the damp underground ruins.

And in the center of the crowd, under the command of a middle-aged strong man, some young and strong men were holding piles of things that looked like ancient books and adding them to the fire as firewood.

Wayne was stunned at first and couldn't help but walk up to look carefully, and their appearance immediately attracted the attention of others.

A middle-aged man who seemed to have some status among the civilians walked out of the crowd, wanting to ask something.

Wayne suddenly seemed to have discovered something and shouted to those who were about to throw more books into the fire:

"Put down what's in your hands, don't burn them."

The other few young men stopped upon hearing this, but the middle-aged strong man ignored Wayne, holding a pile of books, and was about to throw them into the fire.

Wayne didn't stand on ceremony with him, reached out and grabbed his collar, lifting the strong man who was about 1.8 meters tall like a chick. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't pry Wayne's arm open.

"Did you hear me? I said don't burn them. These books are quite valuable; they are not for you to burn as firewood."

Wayne's voice was stern, and his figure was tall and majestic, quickly scaring the surrounding villagers and making them all involuntarily back away from the center position.

After multiple upgrades, the strengthening of holy water, and the strengthening of genetic mutations, Wayne's current physical strength might not be considered the top among Witchers, but it definitely ranked in the top three.

Whether it was strength, speed, or physique, it had far exceeded ordinary humans, probably about four to five times theirs.

Without using weapons, even if he was bare-handed, he could knock down dozens of poor people.

Some timid villagers saw this and immediately put the books in their hands on the ground, shrinking back into the crowd. The leading middle-aged man first looked at the armor and weapons on Wayne and George, then hesitated for a few seconds before asking carefully: "This gentleman, we are all villagers of Downwalen village who fled here. We have no money and no food. Please don't hurt us."

Wayne looked at the strong man who was lifted by him with one hand and was already flushed red, then looked at the fearful or worried eyes of the surrounding civilians, and didn't continue to make things difficult for them. He pushed lightly with his right hand and threw the middle-aged strong man two or three meters away, making him fall to the ground.

George leaned toward Wayne with a frown and asked softly:

"What's wrong? Wayne, has something happened?"

Wayne pointed to the books on the ground and the residue already burned to ashes in the fire, shook his head lightly, and said: "It's not a big deal, but these manuscripts should all be left by the Elves. I just seemed to see the Griffin School's diagrams."

"If they are burned by them, it's really too wasteful."

George was startled upon hearing this. After hearing about the Griffin School's diagrams, he couldn't care about asking Wayne anymore and began to collect those somewhat dilapidated and damaged manuscripts.

Wayne's appearance at this time was a disguised human look. He wore fine armor, carried a gleaming sword at his waist, was tall and handsome, and was followed by two figures who looked like bodyguards, so these villagers subconsciously thought he might be a young noble from somewhere, and none of them dared to be presumptuous.

Seeing that the villagers were all silent, Wayne looked at the leading middle-aged man, frowned, and asked with dignity:

"We saw a green dragon attacking the village and came here specifically to deal with that green dragon."

"However, after we arrived at the village, the green dragon was nowhere to be found, and you villagers seemed to have evacuated in advance, which is why we found our way here."

Hearing that they were warriors who came specifically to deal with the green dragon, not robbers or villains, the leading middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile:

"This lord, I am Jeff, the village head of Downwalen village. I don't know what I can do for you."

Wayne raised his head somewhat arrogantly, without any expression on his face. He knew that the folk customs in Velen were simple and honest, and he couldn't be too gentle with these unruly peasants. Otherwise, these guys would push their luck and be quite ungrateful.

His voice was slightly raised, imitating the speaking habits of those nobles in Wyzima, and he said: "Tell me, civilians, how did you find this place? And how did you evacuate the village in advance?"

"Also, why did that green dragon attack you, and where is it now?"

Wayne's series of questions left the leading village head Jeff somewhat stunned. However, fearing that Wayne and others would be unfavorable to the villagers, village head Jeff opened his mouth with some entanglement: "We don't know what happened, and we don't know why that green dragon came to attack our village."

"After nightfall yesterday, the Crones' messenger suddenly ran to my house to notify me, telling us to make preparations for hiding in advance."

"We didn't dare not listen to the Crones' words, so we ran to this Elven ruin to hide overnight according to the address the Crones told us."

"As for the green dragon you mentioned, we only saw it burning our village from afar when we were fleeing."

"But when fleeing for our lives, who dared to look more? In the end, we only saw it flying toward the depths of the swamp."

Hearing that it was the Crones who notified these villagers to hide in advance, Wayne's frown deepened.

If this was really the case, then obviously, those three old monsters knew in advance that the green dragon would come to attack Downwalen village. Flies don't bite seamless eggs; the reason the green dragon attacked was very likely caused by those three old monsters.

However, since no one saw where the flying dragon flew specifically, the clues were broken here.

Wayne turned to look at George. The Griffin School Witcher had already collected the manuscripts and was holding a manuscript, looking at it with a somewhat excited expression. Obviously, he had already found the equipment diagram he had just seen.

He thought about it and said to the village head and George: "George, these villagers staying here, without water and food, and without heating supplies, will definitely live very hard."

"You let the village head send some people to return to the village with you. The green dragon there has already flown away and should not come back for the time being."

"After you bring back the necessary supplies, we will set off for the depths of the swamp to look for news of the green dragon."

George looked at Wayne upon hearing this, nodded, placed the collected manuscripts beside Wayne, and was about to take people to set off.

Borch suddenly gave Wayne a wink and said: "I'll go out too, Wayne."

"Waiting here is not a way. I'll go try to find that green dragon first. If I get news, I will come back to notify you."

Perhaps because they were both of the dragon race, Borch had an easier way to find that green dragon. Wayne thought so and agreed with Borch's idea.

He turned his head to look at village head Jeff and pretended to be very tough, saying:

"We have our own people to deal with the green dragon, but you must act according to our orders and cannot act rashly."

"Now, first let your people collect all the Elven books here for me. I want to take these things away."

(Thanks to Danshen Busui, Longtaowang, and Red Spider Lily for the tips.) (There is another chapter in the afternoon, mwah!)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 113 =====