She suddenly remembered that she hadn't asked them about the hat.
So she turned around and said, "I don't know if you guys..."
But she only saw a flash of cold light.
And the sentence that goes deep into the bone marrow——
"die!!!"
boom--
"..."
"..."
Ashley opened her mouth and stared blankly at the man who was about to rush in front of her when he suddenly fell down.
Then there were a few more gunshots, mixed with the barking of dogs, and those dark shadows all fell to the ground, either motionless or holding onto something and groaning in pain.
The sound of rustling footsteps could be heard one after another. Ashley nervously clenched the stick and saw a girl in a black dress walking out of the darkness in front.
"Heath!"
Eyes widened.
"How did you come?"
"If I hadn't come, you would have died at the hands of a bunch of scum."
Hitzfeld looked at her coldly, White Whale pistol in hand.
By chance, she caught up.
But before she could figure out how to praise Ashley's skills, her subsequent response almost made her angry.
I believe whatever anyone says...
As expected, I still lack experience in getting along with people...
"Heath—"
No matter how slow Ashley was, she knew she had done something wrong again, and she stammered as she tried to explain.
"Well, I just wanted to help you find your hat, and I looked at my notes..."
"Shut up."
But all he got was a cold rebuke.
She shut up immediately.
Including Lily, the man and the dog stood there, not daring to make a sound.
Hitzfeld first checked the fallen village thugs to make sure that they were not seriously injured.
Then she stood up, looked at Ashley for a while, and suddenly said:
"Come with me to the village."
"That's right, I have something to ask them."
Chapter 19: Sind Village
The information Hitzfeld obtained was much more comprehensive than Ashley's. She knew there was a village nearby called Sind Village.
As for why it was called this name, she didn't want to know, but if her guess was correct, the person who named it should be one of the village ruffians lying behind.
The villagers of Xinde Village are still very wary of outsiders.
Two people and a dog entered the village from the entrance and walked on a narrow road similar to a market street. With the help of the kerosene lamps hanging from the eaves, they could vaguely see the suspicion and hostility on people's faces.
A village located on the outskirts of Kuroki City, a few hundred meters to the south is the urban area, and to the northeast is the royal capital. The villagers here are not supposed to be so nervous.
As soon as Hitzfeld saw their reaction, he could guess that they must have been harassed by outsiders for a long time and had almost no channels to apply for help.
So she thought about it and decided that it would save time to just say it directly.
"Cinde and his men tried to attack us, but he failed."
After picking the brightest butcher stall, Hitzfeld stepped forward and stared at the butcher with a knife, "If you still want to continue your previous life, you can go and treat them... It's not far from here, just on the ridge to the west."
"What is she saying……"
"Old Cinder flipped over?"
"She's talking nonsense. Even if Old Sind fails, it's impossible for him to fail at the hands of two girls..."
"And there's a dog..."
"What good is that dog..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a discussion broke out around him.
The villagers used cover to look at them, whispering to each other and discussing the possibility that they were cheating.
"What she said is true." A tremor was mixed in.
Everyone turned around and caught a glimpse of a dirty boy standing behind them, who seemed to have followed the two of them.
"I saw it all... Old Sind was shot dead by her... The others were also knocked down... She had a gun in her hand..."
After briefly digesting this information, the villagers looked at the two people differently.
"My name is Wood." The butcher was the first to speak to them. "You are a little late... because the old village chief just passed away the day before yesterday. The reason was that he refused to pay a fee and was tampered with. You know who the perpetrator was."
"I just want to ask, can we really trust you?"
"Here are my ID cards." Hitzfeld took out two small notebooks and showed them to the butcher.
One was her detective agency's business license, and the other was her honorary membership card of the library.
She had no intention of actually showing the notebook to the butcher, because his hands were covered in oil and she didn't want to dirty the notebook.
"My name is Aisuen Hitzfeld, and I'm a detective. I know Sheriff Rand of Blackwood City. You can tell me what you want next."
The villagers might not understand the importance of the two small notebooks, but they knew Rand-Ann, and when they heard her say that, they immediately believed her, and a group of people gathered to look for her on the ridge of the field.
As for whether the person can be found, or whether the person is alive or dead after being found, Hitzfeld doesn't want to care.
She knew that this was the fault of the imperfect legal system. She could imagine that - in the process of being harassed by village thugs, they must have tried many ways to seek external help. However, they were restricted by traffic blockades, and the roads into the city might be controlled by village thugs. On the other hand, their cognitive level was insufficient, and they couldn't even think of hanging banners for the trains to see. Such a big village was blocked and almost isolated from the outside world. It was simply a crime paradise for a few people.
There were many other villages like this, and it was common for a few people to die in a fight. Hitzfeld was a detective, not a messenger of justice, and it was impossible for her to stop the holy revenge of ordinary people.
This ambiguous yet inclusive attitude undoubtedly helped her win the favor of the villagers.
Gradually, people came to her to express their gratitude. Some elders urged the children to kneel down before her, and some even wanted to reach out and touch her shoulders, just like touching a messenger of God, to express their piety to her.
Hitzfeld dealt with these good intentions one by one, and led Ashley to follow the butcher named Wood to the back of the village, where he led her into a thatched wooden house.
"It's too late now. It wouldn't be easy for you to find another place to stay for the night. Why don't you stay here first?" Wood said.
He held an oil lamp in his hand and a torch in his other hand. He pushed open the door of the wooden house and lit several candlesticks with the torch. The warm orange light immediately illuminated the layout of the house.
It was not a thatched house or a feed house, but an elegant wooden house with a wooden table, a bed, and a simple bookcase.
Hitzfeld even saw two pots of lush orchids on the windowsill. She immediately asked, "Is this the home of your village chief?"
"I believe you are a detective now." Wood raised his eyebrows and looked at her, tapping his chin. "Yes... that's right. He lived here before he died. Don't worry about it being dirty. We have cleaned everything including the bed board."
"I am surprised," the girl said, "that you would bring me to a place like this."
The contours of her face were surprisingly soft against the orange light, and her black eye mask was hidden by the shadows between her hair. She looked like a normal, gentle aristocratic girl.
"After all, you are..." Wood didn't dare to look at her. "There are men in other houses, including my house. I thought it might not be convenient, so..."
"You are so thoughtful." Hitzfeld smiled at her, "Thank you, Mr. Wood."
"You're welcome--"
Wood ran out holding a torch, "Someone will bring bedding and food later, and they are all clean."
"Anyway, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone - thanks to you for killing old Sind's gang, otherwise my family might be the next one..."
He left in a hurry, not forgetting to close the door for them.
Hitzfeld stood there for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around.
"I'm really curious about what you think."
"Ah!" Ashley, who had been in a daze, finally came back to her senses, "This... this..."
She hadn't mentioned her problem along the way, and she thought Heath didn't want to pursue the matter anymore...
"Why do you think they are telling the truth?"
Ok?
Ashley looked up, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Do you think I would hold you responsible for running away first?" Hitzfeld had already walked in front of her, looking up and sternly staring into her eyes. "But what I cannot accept is that you actually lost in a place like this... And you still plan to be a Flintstone Knight?"
"I didn't expect..." Ashley tried to justify her behavior.
"What did you not expect? Think back to how you questioned me at the beginning. Where did your vigilance go?"
"I didn't expect people in civilized society to be so cunning..."
The tall girl turned her head away and slumped her shoulders.
The reason why he questioned Heath was because she was an outsider. To a native like himself, they were actually two different species, so it was natural to be wary of Heath.
As for why it degraded...
Ashley wanted to say that she confused the concepts of "civilized people" and "savages", thinking that even if conflicts broke out, they would stop after the weaker party surrendered.
But she also knew how embarrassing it was and was too embarrassed to continue speaking.
"Wang!"
Seeing Ashley being scolded, Lily was anxious and walked around.
He would yell from time to time, and tried several times to sneak attack and knock the girl down, and then lick her face.
"Lily, stop it."
Hitzfeld dodged the attack again and squinted at it. "You didn't even wake me up before doing this. I haven't settled the score yet."
"Wow..."
After hearing what she said, the big white dog immediately dropped its ears, lay down on the floor and started pretending to be dead.
"...Don't be so impulsive next time, okay?"
Cutting back to the topic here, Hitzfeld leaned over and touched the girl's face.
"You almost died today."
"I can't imagine how I would face other people and your mother's spirit if it really happened..."
"But I would rather take risks than be protected by you all the time!" Ashley suddenly looked up, "I know...Bressworm...that's the evil god!"
"The evil god was created by... those people... Nirikui!"
"Mom had to die because of those people!"
“I want to do something too!”
"I can't live like this, Heath!"
"Ashley..."
Hitzfeld opened his mouth slightly.
Everything is clear.
It turned out to be the case.
It's not rebellion.
It's not that I'm ignorant.
It's just that an ignorant child gradually understood what hatred is and wanted to practice it in his own way.
"...I overlooked it." She said angrily, her voice sounding much softer than before.
"I was so busy giving you that knowledge that I didn't notice how you would change after absorbing it."
