As Leon listened to the compliments, his smile grew uncontrollable. He tilted his head slightly, casting a provocative glance at Ed.

Ed remained expressionless, but Melissa couldn't hold back her anger, exclaiming, "These people have no shame! It's clear that Ed...!"

Ed shook his head and calmly replied, "People like them are in the minority, and I didn't stop the crisis in Dorey City because of them."

"Remember what I said later—unless it's absolutely necessary, don't make a move. Focus on conserving your strength."

Melissa glanced at Ed, especially noticing the calmness on his face. She recalled the discussions she'd heard before, when Ed had said that he only stopped the crisis because he wanted to do what he felt was right.

Now, it really seemed like what Ed said was true!

Melissa had never met anyone like Ed before. She nodded, indicating that she would follow his advice.

Soon, the smiling Leon walked up to Finniel, about to say a few words to her, but he noticed that Finniel's gaze was fixed on something.

Leon followed Finniel's gaze and saw that she was watching Melissa and Ed.

Her eyes kept moving back and forth between Ed and Melissa, as if she was contemplating their relationship, her expression unreadable.

Leon's smile instantly vanished. Finniel hadn't noticed anything that had just happened. He had been trying hard to show off, but Finniel had been watching Ed the entire time.

This made Leon feel like a fool, almost as if he were a clown—absurd and laughable.

At that moment, Finniel took a deep breath and said to Eng, "Let's go."

She then quickly walked toward the luxurious carriage.

Eng, noticing Finniel's strange state, glanced at Ed before directing everyone to depart.

The group mounted their warhorses and slowly left Dorey City.

Once outside the city, they increased their speed and headed toward the distant barren mountain.

It was still daylight, so monsters were scarce. Even when a few unlucky monsters appeared, they were quickly dealt with by the Hunters in the group.

As time passed, the group got closer to the barren mountain.

By the time it was nearing evening, they found a village where they planned to rest for the night. They intended to set off as soon as the sun rose, which would put them near the barren mountain about two hours after sunrise.

However, strangely, the small village they planned to use as a resting stop was completely empty.

Ed stared at the deserted village, his brow furrowed tightly.

Eng and Leon slowly walked to the side, and Leon spoke first, "Strange, has this village been abandoned? Why is there no one here?"

Eng casually walked to the door of a house, running his hand over the steps. There wasn't much dust.

Even if the village had been abandoned, it couldn't have been for long.

Regardless, they would rest first. He planned to patrol the area a few times during the night to ensure nothing unexpected happened.

Just then, Ed suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Eng, I think it's better not to rush to the Underground Undead Cavern tomorrow. We should first investigate the situation in this village."

Leon immediately disagreed, speaking impatiently, "What's there to investigate? The villagers abandoned the village and moved somewhere more suitable. It's not that rare of a thing."

Ed glanced at Leon, then at Eng. These two from Holy City had overlooked one important detail: the crops outside the village!

For ordinary villagers, even if they were moving, they would typically wait until the crops in their fields had been harvested before starting the move.

The only exception would be if there was some kind of danger nearby that forced the villagers to leave as quickly as possible.

Ed voiced his thoughts, and Eng found them reasonable. He immediately ordered one of the Gold-level Hunter guards to take some other regular Hunters and carefully investigate the surrounding area of the village.

Soon, someone came running back and said, "Lord Eng, we found many graves to the north of the village!"

Eng directed the Gold-level Hunter guard to return to the village and join the other two Gold-level guards in guarding Finniel's side. Then, he led Ed, Leon, and the other Hunters toward the site.

Sure enough, to the north of the village, in an open area, there were dozens of graves!

Ed approached one of the graves, drew his Steel Sword, and jabbed it into the soil.

It was very loose, with no plant roots, indicating the graves were not very old and must have appeared recently.

He continued to investigate a dozen or more graves, and all of them showed the same condition.

This meant that the village, which they had chosen to rest in temporarily, had seen many deaths in a short period due to some kind of danger. The remaining villagers had abandoned their crops, which were close to ripening, and fled in a hurry!

The other Hunters present weren't fools and quickly realized that some kind of danger had occurred here. One by one, their faces grew serious.

Eng observed the faces of the Hunters around him. He knew he had to say something.

At that moment, Leon jumped in front of Eng and loudly said to Ed,

"Ed, if you're scared, you can quit the mission right now. It's just a few graves—why are you so worried?"

"For ordinary people, terrifying monsters are just bounties and rewards for us Hunters."

After Leon finished speaking, he glanced at the other Hunters, who all nodded in agreement, acknowledging his words.

Ed ignored Leon completely, his gaze focused on the weeds growing on the graves, deep in thought.

Eng slowly approached and, seeing the thoughtful expression on Ed's face, asked, "What's wrong? Have you found something?"

Ed asked a slightly odd question, "Except for the wealthy and the nobles, it seems that ordinary villagers don't have coffins after they die, right? They're just buried directly in the ground."

Ed hadn't been in Dorey City long, so he wasn't very familiar with this practice. He only knew that people in Dorey City generally preferred earth burials.

Especially among ordinary people, who believed that the earth provided them with food, and after death, they should be buried in the earth to give back to it.

One of the Hunters from Dorey City immediately replied, "That's true. In Dorey City, a coffin isn't cheap. Some good-quality coffins could even provide a farmer with a lifetime's worth of food and drink."

With this answer, Ed turned to Eng and said, "Get a few people to dig up these graves. There should be something inside."

Eng furrowed his brow and asked, "What are we supposed to find?"

Leon immediately shouted, "Ed! You're disturbing the dead!"

Ed shook his head and replied, "The dead you're talking about aren't here."

Leon sneered dismissively, as if he had just heard a joke. The dead weren't in the graves—where else could they be?

Although he didn't know why Ed wanted to open these graves, Leon knew for sure that Ed had made a mistake. This was an opportunity!

An opportunity to strip some of the heroism away from Ed!

At that moment, footsteps approached from the distance. It was Melissa, Finniel, and the other Hunters coming over.

Melissa walked straight up to Ed and asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

She didn't even notice that Finniel's gaze was fixed on her.

Before Ed could respond, Leon eagerly spoke up, "Ed has lost his mind. He wants to open these graves, claiming there might be clues inside."

"That's disturbing the dead. I think we should just rest and focus on the mission ahead. We still need to explore the Underground Undead Cavern tomorrow."

Immediately, the other Hunters began to murmur. Some thought that Ed must have his reasons for wanting to do this.

Others agreed with Leon, thinking it would be better not to disturb the dead and to prepare for tomorrow's task instead.

Finniel glanced at Ed, then at Melissa. She gave a barely noticeable sigh and said to Eng, "Let's do as Ed says."

Melissa then spoke, "If there's no clue, no discovery, I can perform some sort of ritual for the dead. It won't have much impact."

With Finniel and Melissa's agreement, Eng quickly arranged for people to start the task.

When the first grave was opened, everyone present was stunned.

There was nothing inside, just some worn-out clothes and miscellaneous items.

Ed took a deep breath and said to Eng, "There's no need to check the other graves. They're probably the same."

Everyone was extremely curious. Why was Ed so sure there would be a discovery, and why was he so confident that the other graves were empty?

Eng stared at the nearby grave for a moment, then remembered Ed's question. Suddenly, he realized something and turned to Ed, saying,

"Is it because of the weeds on these graves?"

Ed nodded and explained, "Exactly. Poor villagers couldn't afford coffins, so they had to bury the bodies directly in the ground. In that case, the weeds on and around the graves should be denser and more vigorous."

Hearing Ed's explanation, the others suddenly understood.

But one question remained: What had happened in this village?

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