Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

When the village chief asked, Seol responded.

"You said you requested help from the Beast Palace? I’d like to hear more about that. I was on my way back from an errand in the Central Plains, so I don’t know the details.

I had some business at Tengchong Volcano, so I planned to stay here for a few days."

Hearing her response, the villagers’ faces darkened.

The village chief, looking somewhat flustered, replied.

"Ah… I see. In that case, please come inside."

Following the village chief into the village, we saw that it was built on volcanic rock. Here and there, protruding black basalt stood out.

The village reminded me of Jeju Island. As I was looking around, recalling old memories, Seol’s voice reached me through telepathic transmission.

[So-ryong, while we’re looking for Hyang, we should also help this village. As someone from the Beast Palace, I can’t just ignore it. Listen to their story for a bit, then step in and offer to help. This will also help introduce you to the tribe.]

We weren’t the reinforcements sent from the Beast Palace, but since we planned to stay in the village for a while, we couldn’t just turn a blind eye.

The situation felt oddly familiar, and given that both Seol and I were from the Beast Palace, it was only natural for us to offer assistance.

In Yunnan, the Beast Palace was like the elder sibling to the various ethnic minorities scattered across the subtropical jungle.

Moreover, in this era, being a guest meant the hosts provided lodging, food, and even laundry services. At the very least, we had to repay their hospitality.

I nodded at Seol’s words.

"Okay, I get what you mean."

Following the village chief into his house, we sat down as he served tea and a few snacks. Then, he began to speak.

"Where should I start? Ah, right. It was about a month or two ago. At first, some villagers reported seeing packs of Seo (鼠) leaving the village at night."

"Seo were leaving?"

"Yes, as if they were fleeing from something."

Seo—rats—running away meant that something had frightened them enough to make them abandon the village.

It was exactly as I had expected when I heard the story from the Lord of Sichuan.

"So, the rats really did flee, huh?"

When the Lord of Sichuan mentioned that the rats had vanished, I had assumed they had run away. But here, there were actual witnesses who had seen it happen.

As I nodded, the village chief continued.

"And after that, livestock started disappearing—one by one, every night. Our village mainly raises pigs, but when nearly half of them vanished, we hurriedly sent someone to the Beast Palace for help."

"Hmm… I see."

"Yes. Because of the nearby volcano, we can’t do much farming aside from small-scale cultivation. That’s why we primarily rely on pigs for food, but now half of them are gone…"

As the village chief finished speaking, Hwa-eun’s telepathic voice reached me.

[So-ryong, doesn’t this sound a lot like what the Lord of Sichuan told you?]

Hwa-eun seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion as me.

I gave a small nod in response before cutting into the conversation between Seol and the village chief.

"Since we’ll be staying in the village for a few days anyway, we’ll help out. Right, Seol?"