Liliana’s fingers tapped a fast tempo against her thigh as she stared out the window in the carriage, watching the scenery pass by in a blur. They were finally going to arrive in Timberborn today, and she wasn’t sure she was ready. She’d hardly slept the last two nights. She’d been far too keyed up. Thinking of every possibility and everything that could go wrong. It didn’t help that she was dressed like a noble lady once more, stripped of her armor, and instead dressed in silks and lace.

She had to give a proper impression to the people of Timberborn as a child of the Rosengarde duchy. At least she wasn’t alone in being forced into formal wear. Alistair and Emyr were both sitting stiffly in the carriage, dressed in finery. Alistair’s outfit followed his gold and white theme, and Emyr stuck to black and silver. Liliana envied his ability to merge with shadows now more than ever. The last thing she wanted was to be paraded in front of an entire village of people, people she may very well have to see killed for their crimes.

The carriage lurched to a stop and Liliana’s hand immediately flew up to her neck to grab at the pendant that wasn’t there anymore. She winced at the habit that had somehow become ingrained in her during such a short time. She didn’t like that the pendant had become something of a comfort item for her, something as dark and depraved as it was shouldn’t be something she sought comfort from. Her hand trailed a little lower and grabbed onto the summoning stone, holding Lelantos in stasis. It was warm, as it always was, and she could feel a bit of his magic on it. That comforted her a small bit.

Jason straightened and exited the carriage first, closing the door behind him. The three nobles waited for an all clear to exit. While the scouts had already checked the village and said it was safe, they still had to be cautious. This was a village that had killed an entire garden of flowered serpents. There was no telling what they might do when the consequences of their actions finally came.

“Clear,” Jason called back as he opened the door once more. Liliana started to get up to get out when a hand on her arm stalled her. She looked over and saw Emyr, who shook his head. Alistair stood and walked out first. Emyr released her arm and walked next. Liliana looked after them, bemused. Was that proper etiquette or were they being over protective?

Liliana slowly stepped out of the carriage, taking Jason’s offered hand as she did. Her Dexterity might be high, but wearing gowns always made her feel clumsy. So much fabric, so many chances to trip and fall. Looking around, she took in the village and was slightly surprised it didn’t look more ominous. There were no heads of killed serpents on stakes, no blood stained cobblestones, no ravens crowing along the eaves as a foretelling of darkness to come. It looked… normal. The houses were simple things, made mostly with wood and thatch. There were gardens behind and around the houses, the roads were stone, but they were the only thing. Unlike Ariowood, Liliana thought this might be a result of a lack of funds rather than a stylistic choice. Even the walls she could see were made of wood instead of stone.

She could see chickens wandering around, could hear pigs and goats, but couldn’t yet see them. What hit her as odd after a few moments was the lack of children she saw playing. In the cities, she’d seen children everywhere, but here there wasn’t a single one. No sound of laughter or childish screams of delight. It was as if this village had no children, or that they’d hidden them all from view.

Liliana looked over as she finished her perusing of the small village and thought it likely to be the second option as who she assumed to be the headman of this village was standing in the middle of the road, glaring at Amelia. Behind him were several sturdy villagers, all of them covered in muscles and standing tall as trees. They held gardening and farming implements easily, but the threat was clear. However, what they thought they could do with farming implements against trained guards, Liliana wasn’t sure. Checking their levels, she revised her statement.

Reed Brewer

Age: 46

Level: 197

Rank: 4

Class: Homegrown Poacher

William Browne

Age: 56

Level: 224

Rank: 4

Class: Rage Rioter

Richard Hill

Age: 43

Level: 183

Rank: 5

Class: Vicious Poacher

Henry Maddock

Age: 59

Level: 154

Rank: 5

Class: Righteous Headman

She didn’t need to wonder where they got such high levels from, though from what she’d been taught, those that lived in villages far from cities and adventuring guild posts tended to be higher leveled. Monsters and beasts didn’t care if you were just a farmer, they’d attack you. So they had to level high just to survive far from the protective walls of cities. Rank 5 and 4 were considered high for most non-noble or non-adventurers. Higher ranks than that would require active dungeon delving to get the necessary experience to level higher. Something most villagers wouldn’t have the time to devote to.

She was certain they’d all gotten a substantial boost to their levels from killing the flowered serpents, though if they had created a mob it would mean individually they wouldn’t have received too much experience. Thankfully, as Liliana didn’t know what they’d do if the villagers were on average the same or higher leveled than her guards. However, the ones they saw here meant if it came down to a fight, there would be casualties if everyone shared similar ranks and levels.

“It’s a ruse. These three will be the highest levels in the village. It’s a show of force. They’re hoping it’ll spook us and make us stand down,” Emyr whispered. Liliana jolted, startled by the sudden proximity and words. She’d have sworn she just saw Emyr closer to the front with Alistair. Alistair was just now going to stand next to Sergeant Amelia, and Liliana was trying to stay back. She wasn’t versed well in politics and knew she’d make a mess if she tried to interject in this.

“Don’t they know we’ll just call for reinforcements, if that was the case?” Liliana asked Emyr, her curiosity overriding her paranoid need to keep herself at arm’s length from her friend.

“They likely haven’t thought that far. Killing the serpents likely wasn’t planned, and now they’re scrambling to find a solution. They're probably only thinking of right now, rather than of tomorrow,” Emyr answered her, and Liliana mulled it over. The class on one of the villagers implied that the hunt for the flowered serpents had been in a fit of rage. Likely a result of the plague that the merchant had told them of. Many villagers must have lost someone dear to them, and in grief, had blamed it on the serpents and formed a mob.

“Why didn’t they leave? Run away?” Liliana asked Emyr, and the boy gave her an off look.

“Villagers never leave their villages, not by law, but because they become attached. Likely their roots here stretch back hundreds of years. Each of their families has probably lived on the same plot of land for as long as any of them can remember. It’s the same everywhere. We had a bad storm hit a few villages in my family’s territory years back. We knew it would come and tried to evacuate villagers, but many refused to leave even knowing the danger,” Emyr explained, and Liliana struggled to comprehend that.

Refusing to leave because of sentiment? That seemed ridiculous and foolhardy to her, but then again, she’d never grown particularly attached to a specific place before. Her family on earth could never say that the home they’d lived in had been in the family for generations. In this life she could say that about the manor, but truth be told, she’d be happy to never see it again.

Voices began to raise from where the villagers faced off against Sergeant Amelia and Alistair. Liliana and Emyr edged closer. Liliana could see several guards shifting into battle stances, hands tightening around hilts. As she and Emyr came to a stop behind Alistair, she could finally make out the words being thrown around.

“As soon as those damned serpents came here, the Withering Plague hit us!” Richard Hill shouted, his face red in anger.

Liliana bit back a gasp at the name of the plague. She had become far more informed of the different sicknesses in this world. It was surprisingly something she had to learn. Plagues and illnesses had a major impact on territories and knowing what afflicted a village, town or city could help the noble over the area respond quickly and efficiently. The Withering Plague was known as such because it fed on the persons Mana. It was especially dangerous for Unawakened children, as they could not regenerate Mana yet. If their Mana cores were depleted, it would try to regenerate by stealing from the rest of the body. As the plague continued to eat through their Mana, the core would continue to steal until the child withered away to nothing.

One would think simply Awakening the children would help, but if they were under thirteen, the damage to their Mana core from an early Awakening could kill the child as easily as the plague. Depending on the damage done to their core by the plague, Awakening a child after thirteen could also kill them, or severely disable their Mana core. That could mean something as simple as a smaller Mana core to something as awful as an inability to ever regenerate Mana or even use it.

The Withering Plague could be an issue as well for anyone with low Mana or low regeneration, so newly Awakened could also suffer from it. The plague lasted exactly seven days. No one knew why it had a strict timetable, but it did. It was theorized it was a man-made magical plague from days gone past, but it was unconfirmed. If someone managed to survive the seven days, their core could slowly heal. Healers would typically feed the afflicted extra Mana to rebuild their core or stores. There was no known cure for the plague as of yet. The only treatment was to feed the afflicted Mana and hope it was enough to keep the plague full.

If the plague had cost the village their children, then Liliana could understand why the villagers had become enraged. She didn’t forgive them their sin, but she could understand. Still, they should know no beast brought the plague. No one knew how exactly the plague transmitted as isolated areas could have an outbreak when they hadn’t seen a new soul in ages. It furthered the belief that it was a man-made construct working on the rules of magic rather than science.

“The Withering Plague is not transmitted through beasts. You should know this as the headman,” Alistair broke in, leveling a harsh look on the headman. The man glared right back, gathering himself up and towering over the younger noble. Alistair didn’t back off and held himself as easily as before, as if the man didn’t intimidate him. Liliana didn’t know how he could remain so calm. The man was almost a hundred levels above him.

“It came from those damned serpents. The same day they came here, young Emily came down with the Withering. You can’t tell me they didn’t cause it,” the headman replied stubbornly.

“Then you should’ve reached out to your lady about the issue. Someone would’ve been sent to investigate and healers would’ve been sent to your village,” Amelia answered the man this time, her voice cold and collected. Liliana could sense she had little sympathy for these people. Whatever their reasoning, they had broken the law.

“We sent four messengers to Baroness Burnington! She sent back that the flowered serpents couldn’t have caused it. The healers she sent were three days too late to save most of our children! She wouldn’t see justice done, so we had to!” The headman said, his face getting redder as he spoke. Liliana winced at the explanation. So the village had lost most of their children, the rest might well be disabled for life thanks to the plague.

“Then you specifically went against your lady’s word and attacked creatures that not only had nothing to do with the plague but also are a protected beast in this queendom?” Alistair asked, voice holding a bit of disbelief in it. Liliana shot her stepbrother a look. He still struggled to understand that commoners were people, too. With their own thoughts and free will. He still thought they would blindly follow the words of a noble without a second thought.

“The Baroness doesn’t give a rat’s ass about us. She just didn’t want to go through the effort of culling these cursed beasts. We took care of it. We protected our people as we should,” the headman responded, defiantly glaring at the gathered guards and nobles.

“So you freely admit to breaking the law. You disobeyed a noble, poached a protected species, killed young born monsters and destroyed eggs, along with inciting a riot. I’ll need a list of names, everyone who partook in the poaching.” Amelia spoke up, cutting off Alistair and whatever he’d been about to say. For the best, as Liliana could feel his anger from here.

“I won’t give you the names of my people so you can put them to death,” the headman practically snarled the words, spitting at the sergeant’s feet.

“Either you give me the names, or every resident of Timberborn over the age of sixteen will be put to the sword,” Amelia answered casually, as if threatening an entire village with death was an everyday thing for her. Liliana felt sick to her stomach. She didn’t support poaching, and she felt for the serpents that had been killed in cold blood. She agreed the village needed to be punished, but was killing all of them truly necessary?

“You have one week,” Amelia finished, and she turned sharply on her heel as the four men from the village stared at her, mouths open in shock. Amelia had called their bluff and upped the ante. Either they gave her names, or the entire village would be wiped off the map.