Chapter 72: Malong Village (updated)

They moved with practiced agility through the forest, and soon they saw the first village.

The Malong village.

The Malong village sat right at the base of the alpine forest mountain.

It was a small settlement made of rough wooden huts and mud-brick fences. The air smelled of wood smoke, old hay, and wet earth.

Moon adjusted his hair and put on the bamboo hat that Nox had made for him before to hide half of his face in shadow.

Axe, Ugo, and Nox had already altered their faces with the witch’s elixir; still, they each made some adjustments.

For example, Axe simply masked his face with a dark brown handkerchief.

Nox had found a mask from somewhere before and just wore it, while Ugo followed Moon’s suit and wore a bamboo hat.

Oshan Dew didn’t do anything, since he was not really a fugitive like them.

Instead, he was very proactive after coming down from the mountain. Here in this Malong village, many people knew him, as it was a settlement for ordinary folk, all kinds of outcasts, and rogues who didn’t have any pack to settle with.

There were also war slaves and people who were freed later on.

In a word, Malong Village was a place of mixed breeds, and it was a highly unsettled one, too.

Even though this village was the gateway to the Malong city, people who couldn’t afford to live inside the city would come here to live.

It was also a place where many merchants would find some barns to make into their storerooms.

Many criminals also fled here from time to time. This place was filled with rogues and wolfless wanderers.

So the group was not that eye-catching when they entered together. Moon kept his eyes low as they entered the dirt pathway between the huts.

A few villagers looked up from their work, but seeing their rugged clothes and Oshan’s massive elk meat, they didn’t ask questions.

Moon’s divine sense swept through the small area, looking for any sign of a wolf pack scent or a familiar energy trace. But he found nothing.

He exhaled a sigh of relief. So, maybe the Vaelis didn’t send any guards here.

But Oshan was not so sure.

He shook his head and said in a low, deep voice, "Don’t be so relieved, little friend. I also don’t have the pack scent or mark."

Moon understood his meaning. Even though there was no pack guard, there could still be hidden spies or guards. If the Alpha was very concerned, he might have sent his Phantom Shadow Guard team.

Moon found it hilarious and unbelievable to think.

He wasn’t really that dangerous or important enough to dispatch shadow guards. Was he?

After roaming for a while, his gaze finally landed on a small stone house at the very edge of the village, right next to a dry well.

A young girl with dark hair was sitting on a wooden stool, her hands busy skinning a small wild rabbit.

Moon walked closer, his boots crunching on the gravel.

Hearing the footsteps, the girl was startled at first, but then started skinning the rabbit again.

After a few moments, she lifted her face and looked at Moon through the shadow of his hat.

She had Vadira’s same sharp eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked in confusion, seeing the group stop near the well.

"Do you want water? You can’t drink from it," she said as she pushed back her two little rough braids on the back of her hand.

She then gripped her small bone knife.

These past few days had not been very peaceful for her, either. She had been sent out of the pack territory just a few days after Moon was locked in the Last Hole.

Her mother worked in Malong City, so she could live there, too. But her father had insisted she live in the village, in this dilapidated house. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Just after she came here, a group of guards ran a thorough search all around the village twice.

She was scared whenever someone asked her name. Her father had strictly told her not to say her name. He even went far as to make a disguise for her.

So when Moon and his group stopped near the well, she could not rest assured.

Moon stopped three steps away. "Marina, it’s me... The witch from the second floor," Moon said softly.

The girl froze.

The knife slipped slightly in her palm. Her eyes welled with sudden tears, and her lips trembled. She was just a nine-year-old child, and she still found it hard to live here alone with the harsh caretaker.

So, after seeing a familiar person, her emotions stirred up. "You... you got out?" she whispered.

"Yes, we fled," Moon replied smoothly. "Vadira told me you were waiting here." Saying that, Moon crouched down on his knees.

He patted the girl’s cheek softly. "There, there, don’t cry. We have come to take you back," Moon said again.

Marina’s lips trembled slightly.

In the next second, her rabbit fell to the ground, and she hugged Moon tightly as her tears fell. "I don’t want to stay here. Master Fang always scolds me. The well water is so cold. I want to go back to the pack!" she cried.

Moon sighed softly as he lifted Marina’s face. "We are going to find your mother," he said.

He still hadn’t figured out what Vadira’s intention was.

He still had the Sikimon pouch Vadira had given him; he hadn’t opened it yet. Maybe there was something inside.

He needed to figure out so many things. It was giving him a headache every day.

Moon really was helpless as to how he should comfort a little girl. He patted her back and stood up, then helped her tidy up the rabbit.

Axe and Oshan went to find Master Fang, the caretaker of this quarter. It was a part of a mercenary group that usually bought and sold grain and raw meat.

So, all year round, this merchant guild recruited many people to work.

When Oshan talked to Master Fang, the man came to meet Moon and took out a paper. He took Moon’s fingerprint as proof of the handover, and let them go.

Moon guessed Axe might have already had some contact with this village and Vadira, so he wasn’t too worried.

Marina had already calmed down by the time Axe came back with Master Fang. So, when the group settled all the paperwork, she was waiting at the village outskirts with some girls her own age.

As Moon got closer, her eyes were cheerful at the prospect of meeting her mother and getting away from this place of hard work.

Upon reaching the edge, Moon bid farewell to the group of children and Master Fang, and headed to Malong City.

Marina was hopping on the road as she sang a song with a strange tune Moon didn’t understand.

He called her back and asked softly, "Marina, we need to head into the city first to sell our goods. Will you come with us, or do you want to meet your mother first?"

Marina stopped and thought for a moment as if it were a very hard decision. Then, she lowered her voice. "Let’s meet Mother first. She is in the hall of the mercenary guild. She can give you information."

Moon was surprised to hear her tone.

He looked at the pure yet serious little face, and his heart became warm. Such a little girl, yet she knew what needed to be done.

Moon nodded and ruffled her hair.

Nox huffed from behind. "Why do you keep touching her hair? She is not what she looks like, okay? She can even hunt in the forest. She basically was another monkey in the Skerrow Brake Forest when she was in the pack."

Hearing Nox’s irritation, Marina looked back as she giggled, making a face at him.

Nox grumbled, "See, see? She is really an ugly monster."

"Nox, she is just a little girl. You just can’t bear the defeat that she is better at catching flies than you," Ugo reprimanded him.

The group talked and laughed as they went ahead.

Moon put a veil on Marina’s head to hide her face. Though it didn’t go well with her worn-out dress, it still served its purpose.

Malong City came into view after another hour of walking.

Unlike the grand capital cities of the big packs, this city had simple, crumbling gray stone walls. The heavy iron gates stood wide open to accommodate the pack of merchants and lone wolves.

At the entrance, a line of city guards dressed in faded leather armor stood around, leaning lazily against their spears.

They were simple guards, mostly low-level wolves or wolfless humans hired to keep basic order.

When Moon’s group approached, one guard with a sleepy face stepped forward. His eyes were only caught by Oshan’s large elk meat.

"Entry fee is two siki per person, or you can give a small chunk of that fresh meat," the guard said, yawning.

Oshan didn’t argue.

He cut a clean, thick part of the elk meat and tossed it directly into the guard’s waiting hands.

It was nothing new here. As most were just random people from everywhere, and many of them were poor, the guards were also lenient.

The guard grinned, completely satisfied with the trade. He waved his hand toward the gate without even checking their tokens or asking for their names. "Go on in. Don’t start any fights in the market."

They entered the city gates without any trouble.

But Moon knew this was not so simple, as his mage’s intuition and senses clearly told him there were more people somewhere behind the scenes, checking every person entering.

They could be from Alpha Vaelis’s pack, or they could also be from another pack looking for other fugitives like them.

Moon didn’t care much. They were disguised, Oshan was a familiar person here, and there were two men missing from their group.

Alpha Vaelis didn’t know about their transformation into a pups and not being able to shift, and he was probably still looking for a group of six men.

The market was loud, chaotic, and crowded.

The stone pathways and colorful canvas stalls were glaring, yet proof of how cheap the place was.

Oshan went straight to a crowded trading plaza where hunters and foragers gathered.

Oshan found a meat merchant who immediately bought the remaining fresh elk meat for forty siki, pleased with the meat’s freshness and quality.

Meanwhile, Moon and his group searched around and found the merchant guild hall.

As they waited on a wooden bench beside the counter, a woman around thirty years of age came forward. Her dress was a simple skirt and top with a long shawl draping over her shoulder, but clean, and she carried a respectable aura.

Her gaze lingered on the veiled girl for a moment before settling on Moon.

"What does this customer want? We only trade in bulk—no single purchases," she said as she led them inside.

Moon entered a dimly lit small room, and the woman shut the door after everyone was inside.

Just as she turned around, Marina crashed into her embrace. "Mother, I missed you!"

The woman hugged her tightly as she looked at the group helplessly.

Moon and the others kept silent, giving them some time to catch up.

They sat on the stools inside and watched the mother and daughter whispering to each other, hugging and kissing on the forehead.

Moon noticed that while Marina’s mother was filled with warmth, she was not as vulnerable as a mother should be after not seeing her daughter for a long time.

She stood up, sat Marina down on the side, and nodded at them. "I am Margarita Vance. You can call me Maggi. I already know you must be the Witch Moon."

Moon chuckled at her words.