Jared and his colleague made their way to the gate of Ravana Village.

They had to ride their carriage all the way to the checkpoint. It took them quite a long time to reach the frontline.

A large crowd had gathered, all looking to enter the village. They appeared to be from different regions—some there for sightseeing, but most for business.

Jared, now, seeing how things were from the outside, understood why the security was so tight.

Upon reaching the checkpoint, one of the soldiers approached their carriage.

The soldier wore a green uniform—shirt and trousers—along with a green helmet that concealed most of their face, leaving only a narrow opening for the eyes.

Holding a long spear in one hand, the soldier began:

"Step down for inspection."

Since the checkpoint for pedestrians was separate from that for carriages and wagons, a different officer came forward to handle Jared's inspection.

This meant there was no need to rush.

However, Jared couldn't help but notice that only two officers were assigned to the carriage checkpoint, while over five were stationed on the pedestrian side.

He realized it would only take silently taking out the two guards to slip past security and gain entry.

Fortunately, he wasn't looking for a fight.

"Come on, let's step down so they can do their jobs," he said.

As soon as he stepped down, Lucy followed.

Paimon was in her astral form, making her invisible to everyone.

Moving to the side, Jared watched as the soldier began inspecting the carriage.

Was it disgust? Disappointment? Or perhaps his expectations had gotten too high after seeing how impressive the village was and the people lining up to visit.

The guard searching his carriage in question was only searching from the outside and not once got inside.

Was he a rookie?

Suddenly, the second male guard, who wasn't wearing a helmet, raised a question:

"Do you have the money to pay for entry? If you do, please step over here so we can settle it."

'Oh? So they pay money for entry? Extortion… I'm impressed.'

Jared turned to Lucy. "Wait here. I'll go settle that."

"Are you sure? I didn't bring any money, my lord."

Jared turned around. "I told you, I'll handle it."

After he made his way to the grumpy-looking officer, Jared reached into his pocket, as if about to pull out whatever money the officer would ask for—he had no money.

"So, how much was it, officer?"

"5 bronze."

'5 bronze? That should be 600 sp.'

[You have exchanged 600 sp for 6 bronze eres.]

Jared pulled out all 6 bronze eres from his pocket and then separated one to hand five over to the officer.

"…Here you go, five bronze."

The officer took it from him and then tilted his head a bit.

"What about your pretty girlfriend over there? Is she not going in with you?"

"It's 5 bronze per person?"

"Yeah, did I stutter the first time?"

Jared figured he was probably being scammed, but there was so little he could do since he wasn't sure and definitely couldn't prove it.

With visible disgust, Jared reached into his pocket and did the same thing he did earlier.

"There, 5 bronze eres for the lady."

Grinning ear to ear, the officer took the money from him and then threw it right into his own pockets.

"Let them pass; they have paid their fees."

Jared shook his head before walking away. On the way, he grabbed Lucy by the hand and got back on the carriage.

The moment the gate was open, Jared strode right in.

"Come again!" yelled the officer as he waved.

'I should have killed him.' Jared kept riding and didn't look back.

[Some of the gods hate the system of this village.]

[A few gods wish for you to rule over this village.]

'Yeah, that's easy to say.'

…

It was nightfall, and Jared had already found somewhere he was going to be spending the night.

Since he arrived at Ravana during sunset, it didn't come as a surprise that nighttime caught up to them.

Luckily, they found a small apartment not too far from the entrance to the village. A random girl had just walked up to them and offered a place to stay for 35 bronze eres per night.

Apparently, she could tell they were outsiders from how they were walking around the place like lost puppies.

The room they rented in question was quite big, each space for cross-ventilation since there were two windows. A single bed lay at the center of the room, and a small rug in front of the entrance.

The pictures on the wall were all drawings of one single man. He had a long brown beard and also braided brown hair; he was wearing a suit and seated on a stool with his legs crossed.

If it was a single picture, Jared wouldn't have cared all that much, but there were multiple of them, which just made it creepy.

Still standing at the entrance of the single room, Jared allowed Lucy to make her way into the room by herself.

To his surprise, Lucy's first instinct was to start searching every corner of the room for any sign of danger. Hell, she was doing a better job than the officers that searched their carriage.

"My lord, this room doesn't look to have anything that can harm us. We can spend the night here without worry," said Lucy, standing at the side of the room.

Almost immediately—

Poof!

Paimon appeared out of thin air and landed on the bed.

"Yappaaa~ I can finally take my human form! Ahh, it was getting exhausting."

Her back pressed on the bed as she stretched every bone in her body while making weird sounds.

Seeing her, Lucy frowned. "Can you not act like an animal outside our village? Don't disgrace Lord Jared."

Paimon flinched a bit; she wasn't expecting Lucy to say something like that.

Sitting upright, she pointed. "I dare you to say that one more time."

"Say what?"

"That I am embarrassing Master…"

"Yeah, I'm glad you know."

"What?! That's not what—"

"Enough already."

Jared finally chimed in as he moved toward the bed to sit down.

Part of him would rather not intervene; Lucy and Paimon don't like each other, and nothing he says or does would change that.

Now seated on the bed, he asked Paimon a question:

"Do you know where the chief of this village is?"

"No, I don't. I thought you wanted to find a blacksmith here. Do you also want to speak to Ravana's chief now?"

"No reason I can't kill two birds with one stone."

Lucy, now kneeling in front of him and pulling his shoes off, uttered calmly, "Do you need us to help you find him?"

Jared thought for a while. Sure, his main reason for coming to Ravana was to hire a blacksmith to help around the village, but since he also wanted to meet the chief of the village, there was a change in his priorities.

Finding a blacksmith was easy; he could just ask the locals, and they would most likely direct him to where their shops are.

That was the same for the other reason, which was meeting the village head.

Just knowing where the village leader was wasn't enough; he also wanted to know what type of person he was. Does he have any secrets? Was he the type that is both power- and money-hungry? These were things Jared wanted to acquire before any meeting.

And the only sure way to do that was to send a spy.

Paimon and her astral form were the best choice to go for.

He finally replied,

"No, there's no reason for you to go. You and I will go scouting for the blacksmiths tomorrow. Paimon, on the other hand, I have a different task for you."

Paimon leaned forward to listen.

"I want you to use your astral form to find where the chief's house is, and once you do, keep a close eye on him until the sun sets again.

Make sure you report anything that seems out of the ordinary, no matter how small it is."

Paimon gave Jared a suspicious look, like she could already tell he was planning something disturbing.

"Report anything suspicious, got it," she said slowly, levitating. "Once the sun sets tomorrow, then I can return?"

Jared replied, "Yes."

"Okay, Master, I guess I'll be going now. Don't miss me too much."

And with that, she was gone, disappearing into the atmosphere while leaving behind only remnants of her mana.

Not even a second later—

"Excuse me."

Lucy pounced on Jared, pushing him back-first to the bed before sitting on top of him, her face close to his.

Jared could feel her warm breath on his face. Pineapple—her breath smelled amazing. No doubt, if he were to kiss her, it would feel good.

"What are you doing?"

"Begging for a request," she replied.

"And what would that be?"

"Can we sleep naked together?"

Jared paused for a while.

And then he sighed.

"You should have just said that from the start. Sure."

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