As soon as the carriage stopped steadily, Tike, who looked ashen a moment ago, instantly revived to full health. He jumped off the carriage nimbly, caught Wendy steadily as she came down, and then waved goodbye to the coachman sitting at the front.
"Uncle Coachman, goodbye!"
"Need me to wait for you here?" the coachman asked kindly.
"No need!"
After declining decisively, Tike picked up Alice, beckoned Wendy, and walked into this village named Sunflower.
They found the village chief's house. After explaining their purpose to the village chief, the old chief with slightly greying hair and beard sized up the two half-grown children before him, unreservedly revealing deep doubts on his face.
Tike was long accustomed to this. In the past two years, there were plenty of people who thought he couldn't get things done because of his young age.
Rather than wasting breath explaining, it was more effective to demonstrate strength directly.
The boy glanced at the earthen wall beside him, simply threw a punch to blast the entire wall apart, then withdrew his fist unhurriedly and clapped his hands casually.
"Is this enough to prove our strength? If not, I don't mind dismantling a few more houses."
The village chief was first shocked, then excited, then serious: "The repair cost for the house will be deducted from your reward for completing the request, no problem, right?"
"Of course, no problem!"
Tike agreed readily, completely unconcerned about this "small" loss.
Seeing Tike solve the trust issue so "efficiently," Wendy hurriedly took out a pen and paper from her small bag, starting to take notes seriously with a face full of earnestness, murmuring: "When working, to demonstrate strength, dismantle the client's wall first..."
"Wendy, you can't learn this!" Alice covered her face with her paws helplessly in Tike's arms. "Tike's method doesn't suit you!"
Alice knew she wasn't smart, but she could also see that Tike's violent method didn't match Wendy's gentle personality at all.
Probably... right?
(Nothing wrong with this either, right?)
Tike didn't plan to dwell on this here but continued to exchange intelligence with the old village chief.
"Briefly explain the situation?"
The old village chief began to recount the trouble the village encountered with a frowning face.
"Sigh, it's all caused by that magical beast! The first to suffer was the neighboring village. Perfectly good big watermelons turned into green peppers overnight! Our village heard about this and stepped up precautions, but who would have thought that magical beast still snuck in under the cover of night and ruined more than half of our tomato fields into these things!"
Saying this, the old village chief picked up a green pepper with a somewhat weird color from the basket nearby with an angry face.
Tike took the green pepper, brought it close to his nose, and sniffed carefully.
(Not poisonous, but this spiciness... tsk, quite potent.)
He pocketed that green pepper, planning to find a chance later to stuff it into Lucia's mouth to prank her, then proposed to the old village chief: "I smell this green pepper is quite good. How about you just switch to selling green peppers this year?"
Hearing this, the old village chief immediately emphasized excitedly that "ancestral laws cannot be changed," saying their village had relied on planting tomatoes for generations and would absolutely not switch to planting green peppers!
Tike raised his eyebrows, pointed to the village's name, and asked back: "Then I find it strange. Since your village relies on planting tomatoes, why not call it Tomato Village, but call it Sunflower Village instead?"
"This is a long story. According to records from a very long time ago in our village..."
"Enough, enough." Tike had no patience to listen to village chronicles and interrupted the village chief directly. "Take us to the scene to see the situation. I'll try to see if I can find traces of that Green Pepper Beast based on the scent."
"Ah... okay, follow me."
The village chief stopped talking somewhat regretfully and led Tike and Wendy toward the fields outside the village.
The moment they truly stepped into the fields, a rich, almost pungent smell of green peppers rushed over them.
Wendy sniffled, her small face wrinkled into a bun, saying somewhat helplessly: "This smell... too strong, can't distinguish the magical beast's aura at all."
Looking at the messy fields and the pervasive strange smell before him, the worry on the old village chief's face deepened. He looked at the two with a trace of expectation: "Little wizard lords, what do you plan to do next?"
Tike stroked his chin and turned to confirm with the old village chief: "Does that Green Pepper Beast come here every night?"
"Yes, comes every night without fail." The village chief sighed. "To protect the last tomato field in the village, the young people in the village have been taking turns keeping watch at night. But that thing is too cunning; we can't catch it at all, let alone subdue it. We really had no choice but to ask the wizard guild for help."
"Since it comes every night, that makes it easy." Tike had an idea on the spot. "Wendy, let's find a place to sleep first, and tonight we'll wait for the 'pepper' by the stump!"
---
Night fell low, and sparse moonlight sprinkled on the field ridges, elongating the shadows of crops.
Using local materials, Tike and Wendy draped green grass and vines over themselves, blending into the environment as much as possible, holding their breath and lurking at the edge of the remaining tomato field.
After just a moment, Wendy's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. Her small face, originally flushed with some nervousness, gradually lost color, revealing a trace of unnatural paleness.
Although her sense of smell wasn't as sensitive as Tike's, as the successor of the Sky Dragon Grandeeney, her perception of scents still far exceeded ordinary people.
(The sour smell of tomatoes... really too uncomfortable...)
Wendy pursed her lips uncomfortably. She only felt waves of churning in her stomach, almost unable to hold back retching.
Sensing her discomfort, Tike lowered his voice and said to her: "Wendy, if you feel uncomfortable, go wait outside the field with Alice first. I can handle this alone."
Wendy bit her lower lip. She really wanted to persist fighting alongside Tike, but the physical discomfort became increasingly intense, making it unbearable for her. Finally, with a trace of apology, she whispered: "Sorry, Brother Tike, I... I'd better go wait for you outside first."
With that, she covered her small mouth, quickly retreated from the tomato field, reached the periphery of the field, and rejoined Alice, who had been watching her worriedly.
Confirming she had retreated safely to a distance, Tike readjusted his posture, hiding his body deeper in the grass, waiting patiently for the target to appear.
After an unknown amount of time, a pungent smell even stronger than during the day suddenly drifted in the air, instantly drowning out the originally rich sour smell of tomatoes.
Immediately after, an indistinct voice sounded in the night, repeating monotonous syllables with a tone almost like sleep-talking:
"Green pepper... Green pepper..."
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