The next day, Fíliya's party finally walked—keeping their 'feet on the ground'—to a human village.
Fíliya gazed toward the village from a distance. It was a very small village, with at most a dozen households.
Judging by the uncleared weeds in the fields and the sparse wisps of cooking smoke despite it being mealtime, this village was on the verge of abandonment.
"Mmm, anyway, let's go take a look. I don't really want to sleep on the ground anymore; having a bed to sleep in is better after all."
Fíliya turned her head and proposed.
"I think that works."
Aura chimed in repeatedly in agreement.
Only Solitär's face still bore a trace of hesitation, so Fíliya hurriedly grasped her hand.
"What? Getting cold feet at the last minute?"
Fíliya looked at Solitär with a provocative look in her eyes.
"I just... haven't... mentally prepared myself yet."
"Then I'll give you a bit more time. Come, deep breath."
As Fíliya spoke, she demonstrated it directly for Solitär.
Thus, Solitär really stopped where she was, closed her eyes, and took several deep breaths in succession.
"Better?"
"Mn... a little bit."
Solitär finally revealed a smile.
"Then no problem, let's go."
Saying this, Fíliya directly dragged her by the hand and charged all the way toward that small village.
Aura and Linie also hurriedly chased after them.
"You are..."
Just as they entered the village's perimeter, Fíliya's group saw an old woman. Judging by her stooped posture, this elderly woman had to be at least seventy years old.
"We are adventurers passing through this place. We would like to stay the night in this village, if it is convenient for you."
Fíliya immediately stepped forward to respond.
"Oh... adventurers, is it? Of course you can... I am the village chief of this village. Anyway, we have plenty of empty houses here; you can choose any one you like to stay in."
Upon hearing Fíliya introduce herself as an [Adventurer], the old woman's eyes instantly lit up; she seemed to hold an inexplicable fondness for the identity of [Adventurer].
Fíliya was very curious about this, wondering why she became enthusiastic the moment she heard they were adventurers, but she chose not to press for answers at such a time. She simply continued speaking with a smile on her face.
"Then many thanks to you."
Saying this, Fíliya also bowed slightly, expressing her gratitude to this village chief.
"Oh my, don't mention it... If you don't mind, come stay at my house for a while first. This old woman will treat you to tea."
Just as the old woman was extending her warm invitation, a figure slowly leaned in behind Fíliya. Fíliya didn't need to turn her head to know it was definitely that fellow Aura.
"Let's not go. Tea is really nasty stuff, and this place looks so shabby and poor, there definitely won't be any good tea."
Aura mumbled in a low voice at Fíliya's ear, only to be glared at directly by Fíliya with cold eyes.
"...Ugh, then you decide, I'll shut up..."
Seeing this, Aura shrank back, looking aggrieved.
After glaring at Aura, Fíliya immediately turned back and nodded to the old woman with a smile.
"Of course, then we will impose on you."
...Thus, Fíliya led the other three slowly behind the old woman, deliberately slowing their pace to match hers.
It wasn't until they reached the front of the old woman's house that Fíliya—having observed the village for quite some time—realized the population was indeed pitifully small. Along the way, she had only seen a scant few people, all elderly, with no sign of any young people.
Walking into the old woman's home, Fíliya's group sat around the fireplace at the old woman's beckoning.
Seeing that Fíliya showed no signs of disdain, the old woman appeared pleasantly surprised. She immediately brewed tea and then returned carrying a few plates of slightly dry and hard pastries.
"Sorry about this, this old woman doesn't have anything good at home, please don't be disgusted."
The old woman smiled and placed the pastries in front of Fíliya.
"What are you saying?"
Fíliya chuckled softly, took a biscuit from the plate, and ate it directly with the tea. As if one wasn't enough after finishing it, she directly took another.
Solitär, who was observing this scene silently, felt it was quite incredible. It was as if she was seeing a brand-new side of Fíliya again.
In her impression, Fíliya was quite [Picky about Food]. Even the pastries she made herself couldn't satisfy this fellow every time; occasionally, this fellow would leave a lot of leftovers, then nitpick saying "this tastes bad, that is lacking a bit".
Yet this very same picky and willful fellow was actually eating these low-quality pastries with relish.
Could it be... was this a [Performance] Fíliya was putting on to gain this human's trust? But that didn't seem right; that expression was clearly from the heart.
This was truly very strange.
In short, Fíliya's behavior made Solitär feel very strange.
"Cough, cough... Elder, do you... cough, cough... is there anything here that needs help?... Cough, we can't just stay in your house for free."
Suddenly, Fíliya issued a proposal to the old woman while coughing.
Fíliya knew very well that such extremely remote small villages basically relied purely on self-sufficiency to sustain life, so money was actually something they didn't need.
Since that was the case, doing something to help them wouldn't be bad.
"Oh my, you child, eat slowly... don't speak for now, don't choke."
Seeing Fíliya's violently coughing appearance, the old woman directly ignored Fíliya's offer to help, turning instead to gently pat Fíliya's back.
Such a scene was quite impactful for the three demons who were [Unversed in Worldly Affairs], so the three of them chose to observe silently in tacit understanding, none making any further moves.
"Cough... thank you..."
After Fíliya took a minute to recover, she first thanked the old woman, then immediately repeated her proposal from just now.
"Help, is it?... Sigh, this old woman is really lucky."
The old woman suddenly lamented with such a phrase.
"Hmm?"
Fíliya immediately revealed a curious expression.
"About a month ago, a team of adventurers also came and stayed in the village. Mn... that group was much livelier than you all..."
The old woman wore a smile, revealing a reminiscent expression.
"Mn... at that time, they said the same thing, insisting on helping us. We couldn't out-stubborn them, so all the trivial matters in the village were finished by them... I remember there was a red-haired young lad in there; that child was truly full of strength. He finished all the labor the village could offer in a single day."
Under the old woman's narration, the expression on Fíliya's face instantly became somewhat subtle.
Even the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly. After all, when she heard about that [Red-Haired] young lad from the old woman's mouth, she was already certain: the group the old woman spoke of was definitely Frieren's party.
____
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