When Ed spoke, the limping old village chief initially didn't understand. It wasn't until he saw the suspicion in Ed's gaze that he grew flustered and quickly said, "Hunter, what do you mean by that? These gold coins are my savings, not some questionable money."

Ed, still confused, asked again, "Did I say these gold coins were from dubious sources?"

The old village chief didn't know what to say. His face stiffened into an awkward smile, and he replied, "N-no, these gold coins are all my hard-earned savings. Every one of them was earned with great effort."

Ed didn't waste time with further words. He took a gold coin out of his pocket and motioned for the old village chief to examine it closely.

The old village chief looked at the coin for a while but couldn't see anything wrong with it. It was just a little dirty, stained with some smudges, but otherwise it seemed real—definitely not fake!

However, Toronto immediately noticed something off. He frowned and turned his gaze toward the old village chief with a questioning look.

Under the scrutiny of two Hunters, the old village chief started to feel uneasy. He didn't know what exactly had gone wrong!

Ed spoke slowly, "This coin isn't one issued by the Holy City. And with the stains on it, it looks like it's been buried underground for a long time."

"Where exactly did you get these coins?"

The old village chief's anxiety increased, and he stammered, unable to explain himself.

At that moment, Ed stopped walking. When he had first received the coins, he had found it strange that they were all gold coins—there wasn't a single silver or copper coin among them. At the time, he didn't think much of it, but as they were on the road, he had taken out one of the coins to inspect it more carefully and had noticed something odd.

This couldn't be what the old village chief had claimed—that these were the gold coins he had painstakingly saved up!

There was definitely something being hidden here, something not being told to them, and it might even be related to the monsters that appeared in the village!

Thinking this, Ed could no longer hold back. He drew his steel sword from his back and pointed it at the old village chief, demanding, "Tell me the truth. What are you hiding? The monsters in the village are dead, but that doesn't mean this is over!"

The old village chief, afraid, stared at the steel sword in Ed's hand. He knew that it was this very sword that had slain the monsters that had terrorized the village, and he had no desire to experience the power of the Hunter's blade firsthand.

Thus, the old village chief had no choice but to reveal the story behind the gold coins.

It turned out that the coins weren't really his hard-earned savings, but rather something he had found in a hidden ruin located in a cave behind the village.

Not long ago, there had been a small earthquake near the village. The mountain behind the village shook a few times, but nothing else seemed unusual.

A few days later, a young man went up the mountain to gather herbs and stumbled upon the cave. Inside, he discovered a hidden passage leading underground, where he found a ruin that no one knew had been there for an unknown amount of time!

The young man was the old village chief's grandson. Because the harvest had been poor this year, many villagers were starving, so the old village chief had sent some villagers to explore the ruin, hoping they might find something valuable.

Just as the old village chief had hoped, they did find quite a bit of gold. But just as everyone thought they were about to strike it rich, an unexpected event occurred.

The old village chief spoke quietly, "Three people left the group. Two of them died under unknown circumstances, and only one remained alive. The exploration of the ruin had to be stopped. We brought the bodies of the two dead back to the village and stored them in the warehouse, but the next day, the bodies had disappeared."

"Then the Hunter found ghoul footprints in the forest. During that time, I ordered everyone else in the village to stop going near the ruin, but villagers started disappearing one after another."

"With no other options, I had to issue a bounty mission to the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association."

"And that's how things happened."

After finishing his story, the old village chief seemed deflated. He stared at the steel sword in Ed's hand, silent.

Ford, having heard everything, spoke up, "Well, you certainly have guts. The ruin was full of dangers. Only two people died, so you must've had extremely good luck!"

Ruins were often ancient burial sites, some hundreds or even thousands of years old, where powerful individuals were buried, or special places like sites for evil cult rituals, or perhaps areas where ancient powerful forces buried treasures. It was also possible they were places where powerful monsters were sealed away.

Regardless of what kind of ruin it was, it meant both opportunity and danger, far beyond what an ordinary person could handle.

The old village chief and his group went into the ruin, and only two people died—yes, they had been extremely lucky.

Toronto spoke up, "So, if that's the case, the monsters might have always lived in the ruin? No wonder we hadn't seen them before."

In response to Toronto's guess, Ed didn't quite agree. Those monsters showed a high level of intelligence, unlike creatures that had lived for a long time in a closed-off ruin.

Ford, on the other hand, was full of excitement. If the discovery of the ruin was reported to the Association, it would be a huge achievement!

The most powerful Hunter association in Dorey City was the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association. As long as the information about the ruin didn't leak elsewhere, the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association would have an absolute advantage in the exploration of the ruin, and the person who reported it would definitely receive significant rewards!

Thinking about this, Ford looked at Ed and Toronto, his expression conflicted. After a moment, he sighed and, somewhat regretfully, said to Ed, "You're the team leader, so you should report the ruin to the Association."

Ed was slightly surprised, looking at Ford. He hadn't expected Ford to say that.

Ford gave a small laugh and said, "I'm not that greedy. I still owe you my life, after all."

Ed nodded. Of the team, aside from Anthony, who chose to leave, the other two—Ford and Toronto—had been quite reliable. Ford's earlier challenge had been because, as a young man, he'd thought of himself as the strongest and was perhaps a bit impulsive.

Toronto also looked at Ford in surprise, clearly as surprised as Ed. Neither of them had expected Ford to say that.

Apart from the old village chief, the three members of the team decided that Ford and Toronto would head back to report the ruin to the Association, leaving Ed still frowning.

Ed took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recalled everything that had happened that day. Slowly, he opened his eyes again and asked a question that no one had expected.

"You said three people left the group, two died, and one survived. Was that person Alice's father?"

The old village chief's eyes instantly widened in disbelief as he stared at Ed and exclaimed, "How did you know?"

This time, the old village chief didn't refer to Ed as "Hunter."

Toronto and Ford were also shocked by Ed's question, though they were more puzzled, unsure why Ed would ask such a thing.

It was Toronto, who thought for a moment, who then speculated, "Do you think Alice's father is involved, Captain Ed?"

Based on Ed's previous guess, Alice's transformation had likely been caused by witnessing something terrifying, perhaps the sight of those monsters.

As Alice had once again encountered the monster that had terrified her to the point of collapse, it was certain that she would be triggered once more.

However, when Ed had fought the monster, Alice hadn't shown any signs of abnormality.

After the monsters died, Alice seemed like she wanted to say something to Ed, but it was then that Alice's father had appeared.

And then there was Alice's statement: "You'll come back, right?"

It wasn't phrased as a question, but more like a plea!

Ed kept replaying every detail in his mind and then voiced a hypothesis: "If Alice's father had also turned into a monster like Fidel, then before the villagers saw any of the monsters, whatever Alice said would have been hard for them to believe."

"Is it possible that when Alice saw the monster near the warehouse, it was actually her father?"

"Her own father turned into a monster and threatened Alice, telling her that if she spoke out, he would kill her mother."

"It was then that Alice fell into pain and despair, completely closing herself off and retreating into the iron cage."

There was another key factor that made Ed's theory even more plausible: when the monster realized that Ed had killed its companion, it clearly seemed to want to retreat!

Ed had thought of something else—something like a gecko's tail detaching to survive. The two monsters could have been used as a distraction, like the severed tail of a gecko, to make Ed and the others believe that all the monsters were dead, and that the situation was completely resolved!

The old village chief, upon hearing Ed's speculation, wasn't entirely convinced. He replied, "Hunter, could this all just be a coincidence? The monsters are all dead now."

Ed took a deep breath. Whether it was a coincidence or not, they only needed to go back once more to find out.

Toronto had no objections, but Ford hesitated. He thought it was more important to first report the discovery of the ruin to the Association. They could follow up with this later when the old village chief returned tomorrow.

Ed didn't agree with that. He felt that things might take too long, and that there might be unforeseen complications.

After a brief discussion, Toronto and Ford both agreed to return to the village.

The group turned around and prepared to head back, but just then, Ed suddenly drew his steel sword again and swung it toward the old village chief's body!

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