By the time Gaston reached the village gate, the way the guards were looking at him had changed. Their previous guard against him had disappeared, now they were just faintly vigilant, but more than that there was a look of gratitude in their eyes.
The man that Gaston had identified to be in the Bone Refining stage was the first one to step towards him and extend his hand for a handshake, "Thank you for saving our dear Erni, Viscount Gaston, we are eternally grateful."
Gaston shook the man's hand with a relaxed smile on his face, but internally he was surprised to hear and learn something new, 'Viscount? Is that what Qi Refining cultivators are called or has he mistaken me for a nearby noble?'
On the outside however, he let nothing show as he shook the man's hand.
"Lord Gaston, my name is Amery Cowden, the people here have appointed me as their leader. We would like to welcome you into our humble settlement and show our gratitude."
As Gaston had expected, the little girl had indeed turned out to be quite the helping hand in getting him inside of the village. "You can simply call me by my name, Mr. Cowden, I'm not one for pleasantries.
"And there's no need to thank me for anything, I did nothing that anyone else wouldn't have done under those circumstances. I must say, the Blue Apes are quite bold to appear this close to our borders. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to teach them a lesson."
Amery looked flattered by his words, quickly shaking his head in refusal as the two walked side by side into the village.
"I wouldn't dare, Lord Gaston. You're being far too humble, taking out three Stage 1 Blue Apes is a feat that few Stage 1 humans could accomplish on their own. In your circumstances, I'm afraid most Viscounts would have turned around and ran away."
Gaston showed a genuine smile, which Amery mistook for humility, whilst only he himself knew it came from all the new information he was getting fed.
He already had an idea and a rough plan of what his next steps moving forward were going to be, but getting more information greatly helped him in determining whether or not his ideas were feasible.
"You flatter me Mr. Cowden. I do mean it however, there is no need to celebrate anything. I would like to spend the night quietly in my bed, recovering from the day's events.
"Besides, you have quite the task in front of you now Amery. You've done well to try not to stare, but there's no need to shy away from it. The corpse on my shoulder used to be the little one's mother."
Amery scratched the back of his head in embarrassment at having his thoughts exposed, but he also looked a little relieved.
Gaston couldn't quite figure out just what Amery Cowden had been worried about in the first place. Were there nobles here that took special interest in female corpses?
Focusing back on the conversation at hand, Gaston continued, "When I arrived on the scene, Erni looked completely broken. I had to persuade her by using her mother in order to get her to come with me. I'm not aware of how you bury your lost ones here, but I'd like to ask that however which way you do it, you do it today, since that is what I promised the little one."
A look of realization appeared on the man's face, and after taking a good look at the corpses face, he identified her as Erni Hoover's mother.
"Of course, that's the least we can do for both you and Erni. We will hold the ceremony at midnight, after everyone is done with their work."
Smiling, Gaston gave him a small nod, "That will do, thank you Mr. Cowden. I would advise against extending it for too long of a period however, you need to prepare your people for what might come next. Having lost four of their kin, I suspect the Blue Apes won't retreat so easily."
After all, the Blue Apes weren't some tribe of animals. They were a civilization that was strong enough to survive on a human civilization's borders. Gaston doubted that they would back down at the first sign of contact.
Either way however, it wouldn't matter to Gaston.
"Thank you for your reminder Lord Gaston, I will make sure we are as ready as we can be when the time comes."
Whilst chatting with Amery, the two of them eventually reached a relatively larger looking house, at least in comparison to the rest of the homes. In size, it looked large enough to house a family of eight, even if it only had one floor. Which spoke to how expansive it truly was if anything.
After arriving in front of the house, Cowden said to him, "This is where my great grandfather used to go when he wanted to be alone and cultivate. I hope it's to your liking, Lord Gaston."
Looking at the house, it was far from what he would describe as his ideal home, but it was a roof over his head and that's far more than he had two days ago. He couldn't complain much, especially when it would hardly change anything, since this was likely the best they had to offer him.
"Thank you Mr. Cowden, it'll do. I won't take up any more of your time now, I'll get some rest. I have a hunch you'll be plenty busy now yourself."
"Never too busy for you Lord Gaston. Should you need anything, I'll be available, just tell one of the guards. Have a good night my Lord."
After finally getting rid of Cowden, and looking forward to grabbing some rest ahead of the night's activities he had planned, Gaston stepped toward the door.
Before he could get in however, he heard Cowden's voice again come from not too far behind him, "Oh, my lord, I almost forgot to mention. A little over a month ago, four Viscounts such as yourself arrived here, one of which was heavily injured.
"They've been staying here and waiting for their friend to recuperate before continuing their journey. If you would like to chat with them, one of the guards could point you to where they're staying. It's not too far from here."
Gaston had already turned his back towards Cowden, so when a smile naturally appeared on his face after receiving the good news he had been hoping for, he didn't bother to restrain himself.
He opened the door and simply lifted his left arm to wave to Cowden, "I'll make sure to greet them properly tomorrow Mr. Cowden. Enjoy the rest of your night."
They said their goodbyes, and Gaston was finally left alone. Unlike him, who could rest if he wanted to, Amery Cowden had no such luxury and was sure to be busy long after midnight.
As tired as he was, both physically and mentally after the last few days that he had, and as enticing as the shoddy looking wooden bed looked, Gaston knew that he would have to push through it all today. There was a time and a place for everything, and when it came to what he had planned for tonight, rest was not an option.
He briefly spent a few minutes exploring his new home, both as a way to pass the time and to make sure that Amery's great grandfather hadn't left behind some inheritance that only a cultivator could find. After all, things that could be considered valuable amongst cultivators had no place being put in the hands of weak beings below the Qi Refining stage.
If Amery's great grandfather was a smart man and he had something valuable to leave behind, he would do well not to hand it over to his descendants before they were strong enough to possess such objects. Otherwise, he wouldn't be helping his family, but getting them eradicated instead.
The cultivation world was a brutal one, so much so that their reputation had even spread to the Poisoned Continent that hadn't seen visitors for over 100,000 years. It wouldn't be beneath someone from such an environment to massacre weaker beings in order to obtain a treasure.
Far from it actually, Gaston was willing to bet that most cultivators would find it to be preferable. Between putting one's life at risk in order to fight against someone of equal strength or even stronger in order to obtain a treasure, and simply eradicating some civilians?
If the Poisoned Continent ancestors weren't lying in their ancient records, Gaston had no doubt in his mind what choice would come more natural to the majority of the beings in this place. Frankly, what would come natural even to someone like him, that would stop at nothing to accomplish his goals.
He hadn't let his morals drag him down or limit him in either world he had been in so far, and although the "cultivation world" was technically just a different continent, it might as well be its own world considering just how drastically different it was from the Poisoned Continent.
Now that he was here, where there were a lot more people that shared his mindset, he was definitely not going to change his ways and become a different person.
After some time had passed, unfortunately, as he had expected, even after searching every nook and cranny inside the house, Gaston found nothing of value.
The disappointment was very slight however, as he hadn't been expecting anything in the first place. Amery's great grandfather was an exiled little noble after all, Gaston doubted that he would be left with anything of value after being sent here. Searching the house was simply him trying his luck whilst he was waiting for Amery Cowden to get far enough away and stop paying attention to him.
After about an hour, when he was sure that this was the case and when the sun was beginning to set, Gaston left the house and set out to search for his crew members.
The village was impressive looking and had exceeded his expectations by a lot, both in terms of size and military strength, but it was far from being capable of keeping Gaston under watch.
Not that they intended to in the first place, as judging by the way Cowden acted and treated him after he made his mind up that he was a Viscount, Gaston was sure that he wouldn't dare to place him under surveillance even if he was given nine extra lives.
Even if he did however, it wouldn't matter.
Relying on his experience from Earth from his time spent serving in the military as a special forces operator of the highest caliber, as a member of the U.S. military's DEVGRU, Gaston was confident in his ability to avoid detection. Especially when the beings he was supposed to be hiding from weren't even his equals.
As their leader, Gaston assumed that Amery Cowden was the strongest human amongst them. As someone in the Bone Refining stage and even close to it's peak, he was quite impressive in comparison to his peers.
But the world of cultivation was very specific in determining who they considered their equals, and humans that were still in Stage 0, were simply not qualified to stand on equal footing with official cultivators that had broken through to the first stage.
This distinction was strictly enforced, even going so far as to officially refer to them as Stage 0 Knights instead of cultivators in order to express their superiority.
In the cultivation world, the three main stages that made up Stage 0, along with the Organ Refining stage which was seen as optional, had very different names compared to the ones given by the humans in the Poisoned Continent.
Gone were the respectable sounding Skin Tempering, Blood Purification, Bone Refining and Organ Refining stages. In their place, came the Entry Knight, Junior Knight, Senior Knight and Perfect Knight titles, which fit their demeaning outlook on Stage 0 beings, referring to them as knights rather than cultivators.
And aside from those stuck in the Qi Refining stage making themselves feel better, this way of looking at them was not completely unreasonable either, despite it's demeaning nature.
There were three major Realms in the cultivation path. The Noble Realm, consisting of cultivators in the first three stages of cultivation, the Ruler Realm which consisted of the beings in the 4th, 5th and 6th stages respectively, and the God Realm, which made up of beings in the last three stages.
Even in the makeup of the three major realms, beings in Stage 0 had no place, as they weren't seen as their equals. From how easily Gaston travelled through the village in what was pretty much still broad daylight, without the use of any magic techniques, he couldn't say he disagreed with the sentiment either.
Humans in Stage 0 had risen above civilians in the food chain, but they were still seen as pretty much nothing but by those above them.
Because Gaston didn't know exactly where the four members of his crew were, he spent a little while searching for them before he successfully located a house that looked not too different from his own.