[Vol. 7] Chapter 86: The Jumping Date
Violet's decision was completely reasonable. She didn’t specify exactly what kind of buff she had applied, but since she explained the general idea, Enrique and Sophie didn’t see any reason to refuse. After that, the three of them picked an empty room and settled in, planning to observe the situation for a while longer.
Before that, [Tree Bow] briefly left the village alone to check in with their companions outside. He updated them on the situation and the plan before quickly returning to regroup.
With Enrique’s skills as a seasoned legendary adventurer, combined with the cover of night, there was no way the village militia could detect him. Even if all of them were as experienced as Marcelo, it would have made no difference.
To stay cautious, they decided not to split up. Violet and Sophie, being the two girls, slept in the inner room without changing out of their clothes, while Enrique remained in the outer room, sitting in silent meditation.
Their weapons were kept within reach, ready for any unexpected situation. As top-tier elite adventurers, such understanding between them didn’t need to be discussed.
The night passed without incident. No one disturbed them, and soon, morning arrived.
Lying on the simple flat bed, which had nothing but a thin cotton mat, Violet opened her eyes just as the first rays of sunlight entered the room.
Then—
"What the—?!"
Enrique’s shocked voice rang out from the outer room.
Sophie, who had been sleeping lightly with her back toward the priestess, sprang up instantly. Without hesitation, she grabbed her weapon, leapt straight out the window like a startled rabbit, and landed gracefully outside!
Violet watched, muttering to herself with amusement.
"Long ears really are something… Even though they must be a pain to deal with, she still manages to be ridiculously quick and nimble…"
Violet let out a small sigh, half amused and half helpless, before getting out of bed and slipping on her shoes.
Of course, she used the door like a normal person instead of jumping out the window.
By the time she stepped outside, [Tree Bow] and [Tree Wall] were already on high alert, scanning their surroundings with both surprise and caution. Seeing her arrive so leisurely, they quickly moved toward her.
"Miss Violet, did you see this…?"
"Yeah."
The black-haired girl gave a slight nod. Her expression showed a mix of mild surprise and something closer to understanding, like she had already expected this outcome.
The cluster of buildings surrounding the village watchtower was reserved for the village militia, led by Marcelo. About twenty soldiers lived here, taking turns on duty and patrolling.
Yesterday, when Violet and her team arrived, they had already seen some of these guards stationed at the village entrance and patrolling the watchtower. Even Marcelo himself, who lived near the watchtower, had confirmed that this was a fully functioning, well-organized unit.
But now, just one night later. It was completely empty.
And that wasn’t an exaggeration. It was literally empty.
The watchtower, which was the village’s only line of defense, should have had guards stationed there around the clock. Whether day or night, there should have been someone on duty at all times. But right now, it was deserted. Not a single person in sight.
Last night, it had made sense that most of the militia were resting, so they hadn't seen many people around. But now, in broad daylight, during what should have been the soldiers’ morning training session, the eerily silent surroundings were definitely not normal.
"By the way, Enrique, did you check the surrounding rooms yet?"
"I only had time to check a few of the nearest rooms. They're all empty, and it looks like no one has lived in them for a long time. It's really strange... I could’ve sworn I sensed life in there last night..."
Violet nodded slightly without showing any emotion, then raised her hand and pointed toward a central building near the watchtower.
"Let's go. We should check Marcelo’s place first."
"Yeah... Be careful, Sophie."
"Leave it to me."
[Tree Wall] lifted her signature weapon. A massive wooden shield, almost large enough to cover her entire body, its surface entwined with strange vines. With strength that didn’t match her slender frame, she positioned herself at the front like a moving wall, ready to handle any sudden attacks.
In truth, despite being the youngest, she was the main front-line fighter of their legendary adventurer team. A rare kind of shield warrior, similar to Lester, the captain of the Black Knight Mercenary Group in Demon Suppression City.
[Tree Bow], Enrique, as his title suggested, was an agile ranger specializing in archery, while Violet, a priest, completed the team. For a trio, their setup was quite balanced.
Before long, they arrived at the house where they had met Marcelo the night before.
The door wasn’t locked but left slightly ajar. Sophie stepped forward and examined it for a moment before giving a professional assessment.
"The lock was broken. Judging by the damage, it looks like it was picked using common adventurer or thief tools. But... this wasn’t done recently. The marks suggest it’s been at least a month."
With that, she pushed the door open and cautiously stepped inside, shield raised at the front.
The room was completely empty.
Not only was Marcelo nowhere to be found, but anything valuable had long been removed. Cobwebs stretched across corners, and a thin layer of dust covered the table, clear signs that no one had been here for a long time.
Even so, they were still able to find a lot of useful information.
"It looks like this place was looted by mountain bandits or roaming thieves. The room is messy, but there are no signs of a struggle or bloodstains, which means the thieves struck while Captain Marcelo was away. This fits the usual pattern of bandits in the Austre Empire. They steal, but they don’t fight or kill. If they did, they’d risk getting wiped out by the imperial army."
Enrique carefully inspected the surroundings. Eventually, he walked over to the corner where Marcelo had hung his greatsword and mechanical arm the night before. After crouching down and examining the area for a moment, he frowned slightly.
"Strange... There’s no trace of cobwebs here at all. Did someone clean this spot? But that doesn’t make sense. If adventurers came to investigate and tidy up, why would they only focus on this one small area?"
Sophie sighed and shook her head.
"Brother, does it really matter who cleaned the room? The real issue is why everyone suddenly disappeared overnight. I barely slept last night, and if anything had happened, I definitely would’ve heard something. And what’s with this sudden buildup of dust?"
Enrique glanced at Violet, who was also scanning the room but hadn’t rushed to comment. Deep in thought, he muttered,
"Remember what Marcelo said last night? He gave us the date as August 21st, Imperial Year 125. If that was really the date last night, and now we've somehow jumped two months forward to the present… then everything would make sense. But… how is that even possible?"
Violet turned to correct him.
"It’s too early to say what’s possible or to jump to conclusions. Let’s keep looking around outside."
With that, the three adventurers left the now-deserted watchtower area and began a thorough search of Adelaide Village 192.
Every part of the village was just like the area they had seen earlier, completely abandoned. There were no signs of recent human activity, and many of the buildings had been broken into by bandits at some point, with most valuables already stolen.
Just as the Adventurers' Guild report had stated, this small mountain village had been deserted for a long time.
It was nothing more than a ghost town.