He wanted to pick some to stew.
Mira, hanging onto his arm, strolled around the village under the guise of vigilance, "You seem quite happy."
"Even though I didn't farm, I feel the joy of a harvest." Rhode said with a smile, "Compared to the simple celebrations in the city, this feels more like a real harvest festival."
As they spoke, three or five children ran noisily past them, holding stripped corn stalks, still green and not yet dry.
They chased and played, mimicking stories of knights and mages battling bandits that they heard from who knows where.
That girl named Tiffany from yesterday was among them, but she was empty-handed, playing the role of the mage.
Actually, in the past, when children played mages, they would hold a stick as a magic staff.
But since Rhode and Mira visited last time, the children playing mages have no longer used magic staffs.
Unintentionally, they ruined the children's imagination.
Mira looked at the children's backs and couldn't help but laugh, as she was both infected by their joy and thought of how lively their future children would be.
Rhode looked at the children's backs and also laughed, but he more so wanted to grab a stick from the children to play with, his hands itching.
Forcing out the thought of 'grabbing toys from kids,' Rhode looked at the attractive vegetables hanging in other people's yards and suggested:
"Let's buy some eggplant, corn, potatoes, and such on the way back to stew and eat?"
Mira blinked and asked, "Are you going to cook?"
"..." Rhode thought for a moment and asked back, "Would you dare to eat it if I dare to cook?"
Mira sweetly smiled: "As long as it's made by you for me, I can eat it."
Touched.
However, she added: "Anyway, toxins have no effect on demons."
No longer touched.
Rhode said fiercely: "Just wait, see me putting half a pot of sleeping powder to knock you out, then do this and that to you!"
"But have you thought about one thing," Mira said, smiling, "I make your breakfast every day now."
"..."
Mira pressed on: "What do you mean by 'this and that'?"
Rhode was silent for a while, then said: "…Maybe like massaging legs or shoulders or something?"
"Really?"
"Yes… there's a situation." Rhode put away his playful demeanor, "I will leave the Stone Beetle and Shadow Wolf, you take them to watch over the village while I go out and check."
"Okay, be careful."
"Receive·Beaked Bird!" Rhode's arms grew red feathers turning into wings, flapping a few times, and flew up into the sky, swiftly heading southeast.
—That's the direction where the Beaked Bird returned to the valley, he needed to personally confirm the situation.
Mira watched Rhode ascend into the sky and assigned tasks to the wild monsters.
Six Shadow Wolves and four Stone Beetles nodded obediently, scattered around and hid as the boss lady instructed.
Mira herself ran toward the village center, where the main hall was, the most crowded spot that needed good protection.
"Miss Mira, I was just about to send someone to invite you, the ceremony is about to start…" Jasper looked around, "Where is Mr. Rhode?"
Mira said: "He discovered something and went out to confirm, there's no need to wait for him, just proceed with the ceremony as usual."
Jasper instantly tensed up: "Did someone really come to cause trouble? I… I originally just… just in case…"
Mira reassured: "The situation is not yet certain, we have to wait until Rhode checks, but don't worry, we will resolve it."
"Ah, yes."
Though he agreed, concerning the village's safety, how could he really not be worried?
Jasper asked: "Should I organize the young people in the village to help?"
Mira smiled and said: "How many young people are there in the village, are there more than Rhode's 'army'?"
"…" Thinking back to that surge of blue and purple army, Jasper suddenly wasn't worried.
At this thought, Jasper just wanted to condemn those media people now. Some lousy magazine recently claimed that Mr. Rhode's strongest were a few wolves, pure fabrication!
The reporter must have never been bitten by a bug to say that.
"Then… should we continue the festival?"
"Please continue."
Having received confirmation, Jasper confidently continued to gather the villagers. As people gathered, he ascended the platform and began speaking.
He talked about this year's hardships and gains, thanked everyone's hard work, the help of the mage, and even the gifts of nature and heaven.
After finishing this speech, Jasper raised a glass, and those at the front row near the platform mimicked the gesture.
They dipped their fingers in the wine glass, flicked three times high and low, splattering the remaining wine on the ground at their feet.
Then the entire village crossed their hands over their chests in a gesture of prayer, giving thanks for this year's harvest and praying for favorable weather in the coming year.
Meanwhile, Rhode also found those heading toward the village.
These people wore similarly styled clothing, black suits, white shirts, checkered pants, their hairstyles casual and disheveled, some purposefully styling a 'horn' on top of their heads.
There were about 40 of them, some empty-handed, some with weapons, and from a distance, Rhode couldn't see if they had any guild symbols on them.
Judging by the current situation, they seemed to have ill intentions.
But to avoid accidental harm, Rhode decided to confirm this first.
Besides, the Void Nest Insects had already been placed near the village to breed, and by the time these people reached the village, there would probably be hundreds of them, just right to test their strength.
For now…
Rhode circled above, landed at a distance behind the opposing group, summoned the River Crab to temporarily work overtime, and decided to first see who these people were.
The terrain around the village was too flat, and the nearby grass and trees had already turned yellow, so the two green River Crabs could only pretend to be wild giant crabs, heading straight for them.
Fortunately, attacking from the rear didn't attract too much attention, only when nearby did they hear the noise.
Only Rhode by then was already using the River Crab's perspective to see their symbols.
All of these people had a letter B on their jackets, most of the symbols were obscured by clothing, but two people had a black letter tattooed on their face and neck.
Dark Guild—Black Unicorn!
No need to hold back then.
Rhode remembered, during the last regular meeting, the task of exterminating this guild was assigned to the Four-headed Hound, looks like they hadn't found them yet, so no action was taken.
What a pity this was a rigid task rather than a flexible bounty task, destined for unpaid work today.
No, the reward can be earned, just not getting paid twice as much.
Fine, be content.
Through the River Crab's vision, the mages of the Black Unicorn had already spotted the crabs.
Maybe because they had never seen such large crabs, two people wielding great sabers had tears of fear streaming down their faces.
The two River Crabs ran around them, a guy wielding a magic staff shot a magic bullet, breaking a crab's leg.
The two River Crabs ran even faster.
Some wanted to chase and satisfy their craving, but were stopped by the leader. They had more important matters to attend, and couldn't waste time here.
As long as they didn't scare them away, Rhode was relieved.
He flew back near the village, watching the ever-increasing worms, waiting for the guests' arrival.
By the time they saw them, the worms had increased to four or five hundred. Rhode waved his hand, and three Nest Insects roared in unison, sending the worms jumping forward.
The mages of the Black Unicorn were slightly panicked, originally heard it was just an ordinary village, how could there be so many disgusting bugs?
And that person behind the bugs seemed a bit familiar…