Goblin Dependency
Chapter 101 - 76 Mushrooms

Chapter 101: Chapter 76 Mushrooms

Kalanfor, outskirts.

The robin is circling above the sky, its silver-white feathers seemingly merging with the dappled light in the air.

"Is it here?"

Xia Nan looked at the somewhat dilapidated wooden cabin in front of him and asked.

Behind him, the accompanying guard nodded to confirm:

"Yes, sir."

At this moment, he and the half orc had left the graveyard, bringing a team of guards, to the residence of the individual described in Ingram’s poem.

As for our dedicated sheriff, he is escorting the Tomb Guardian to the church—

With the Priest’s protection and under the gaze of the Divine, it is nearly the safest place in all of Kalanfor.

After delivering the Tomb Guardian for detention, he would immediately come to meet the two of them.

There was nothing unusual.

Unlike the Guardian’s house in the cemetery before, the wooden cabin in front looked just as worn, but was overall kept very clean.

The small flower bed in front of the door was lush, adorned with various brightly colored flowers, full of vitality.

In an inconspicuous spot at the corner of the wall, a cluster of brown mushrooms stubbornly squeezed in.

After all, it had rained heavily yesterday, and now it was the humid and hot season.

Xia Nan didn’t think much of it, following the half orc to the door.

"Knock knock knock."

The door was gently knocked on.

"I’m coming..."

A hoarse and low voice, accompanied by slow, muffled footsteps, came from behind the door.

Cre-eak—

The dark wooden door gently opened with the creaking of rusty hinges.

In sight was a dry and thin old man.

He was clearly much older than the Tomb Guardian, seeming as if his frame had bent under the heavy weight of time, hunched and stooped.

It was said when he was young, he was not a well-known adventurer, until during a mission, a mad ax-beaked bird pecked out his left eye.

He then stayed in Kalanfor, becoming one of the few Grave Diggers in town, responsible for transporting corpses and digging graves.

"Old Blind Eye,"

That’s what people call him now.

"What do you want?" the old man slowly asked, looking at the two before him.

His dull eyes lingered, landing on Xia Nan.

For some reason, even though the sunlight behind was intense, and the light inside the house wasn’t dim,

when the other pushed open the door, Xia Nan inexplicably felt a cold wind, carrying some strange and unpleasant smell, surge from inside.

The wrinkles across the man’s face and the dark age spots filled with a dense aura of twilight, made him feel like the coarse, dim bark of oak trees deep within Mist Forest, shrouded under mist;

the gray-white eyes marred by a ghastly scar, filled with death and like a black hole, seemed to swallow all of Xia Nan’s consciousness.

A bizarre and grotesque sensation grew wildly in his heart like weeds.

At this moment, he suddenly felt as if he were that mushroom growing at the edge of the wall.

Light and tiny spores germinating in the moist soil, mycelium tangling and intertwining, condensing into an entity that stretched outward, eventually breaking through the surface, becoming...

"Xia Nan, Xia Nan?"

A shaking force came from his arm, as if through water, a blurred cry called Xia Nan back to reality.

Consciousness returned to his body.

He suddenly startled.

Unbeknownst to him, he had actually walked into the cabin.

At this moment, he was sitting on the soft sofa by the fireplace with the half orc.

On the table in front of him were two steaming cups of tea.

"What’s the matter, why have you been absent-minded since just now?"

Beside him, Alton looked at him suspiciously.

Xia Nan did not answer, eyes locked straight on the opposite side, at the hunched old man also looking at him with confusion.

One second, two seconds...

He suddenly shook his head, rubbing his cheeks hard.

"It’s nothing, just a bit lost in thought."

Is it an illusion?

Xia Nan wasn’t sure.

But in any case, here, or rather the old Blind Eye opposite, definitely had a problem!

"How long has it been since we came in?"

"Two hours maybe? What’s wrong with you, truly muddleheaded?"

The half orc’s answer made him even more uneasy.

Suddenly standing up, he grabbed Alton lying leisurely on the sofa.

"Why hasn’t Ingram arrived yet, is there something wrong?"

"I think we should check the church."

"What do you mean?" The half orc sensed something strange, "You hardly said a word before, why so sudden?"

But seeing him unusually determined, there was no resistance, lightly jumping up from the sofa, landing lightly.

The hot water in the teacup on the table and Xia Nan’s heart trembled simultaneously twice.

"This ’Old Blind Eye’ is quite nice, he shared many stories I haven’t even heard of, wonder where he adventured in his younger days."

"Let’s come back in a few days..."

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

The half orc looked at Xia Nan, who had a stiff posture beside him, with some complaint in his tone.

"Let’s get out, get out first."

Xia Nan’s pace involuntarily quickened, almost dragging the other towards the door.

"What’s wrong with you today, acting weird?"

"I..."

Before he could speak, Xia Nan felt a sudden surge of heat from the wooden sword behind him.

Almost at the same time, a loud commotion sounded outside the door.

It was the cries of pain and roars of anger from the guards on duty outside.

Without further ado, the two of them rushed out the door at once.

The warm air inside the house vanished in an instant.

Replaced by a chilling cold wind laced with negative energy.

The fingers that fell to the ground twitched weakly, the surface of the broken rusty sword silently dripping with bright red blood.

The pale, bluish skin, the dead gray eyes filled with fully white pupils, were dim.

Tim stood on the muddy ground at the door, quietly watching the two who rushed out of the cabin.

The center of his worn scale armor still faintly showed the previous mark pierced by the Wooden Sword, but the injury inside had already healed, revealing the dry, rough skin beneath.

Below his feet lay several guards’ bodies.

"How could it be so quick? I didn’t hear a thing inside?"

Alton swiftly picked up his lute, face astonished.

But Xia Nan had already charged towards Tim with his sword.

Oddly enough, though, even with the enemy right before him, he didn’t feel the usual boiling fighting spirit.

Just distancing from the wooden cabin, unknowingly feeling relieved.

Behind him, the intense sound of the lute began.

Tim, who was standing still suddenly sheathed his sword and turned to flee.

Compared to the previous ghostly form blending into the night, during this daylight, though faster than ordinary people, his speed was fully within Xia Nan and Alton’s reach.

Swish—

Three figures rapidly vanished at the end of the road.

Inside the cabin,

The teacup sat quietly on the table, warm steam swirling upwards.

A withered and thin hand grasped the cup handle.

Raise the cup, blow on it.

Take a light sip.