Chapter 207 The Missing Old Hunter

Clayton clapped his hands suddenly, breaking the silence:

"Okay, I don't say this to make people uncomfortable. We have to talk about what to do next."

The bad luck hanging above his head was lifted, but he still felt vaguely uneasy in his heart.

The shooting of Adelaide by Padre Louis was not a good sign. Although there was no change in the others, he also felt that the atmosphere in Gévaux was becoming more and more disharmonious. The town seemed to be vaguely rejecting outsiders like them.

After hearing Clayton's words, Donna raised her hand first: "I want to walk around. See the scenery."

Clayton glanced at Julius, and the wizard rarely agreed to her proposal and planned to see the countryside together.

After so many days of mental stress, they all wanted to relax.

If there were no leatherworkers in Gévaux in winter, there would be a peaceful atmosphere at the moment.

But because of the leatherworkers, the streets are still full of waste from burning wood, making the town look like it just experienced a fire.

To the east of Gewo are swamps and forests, and to the west are large fields. To the north is the river, and on the other side of the river is the endless forest.

Together with several watermen, they came to the water mill and regarded this as the beginning of their walk.

When they looked across the river, they could see some cabins poking out of the forest on the other side, the edge of Gevaux.

The people who live in the forest are either unpopular people who have committed crimes before, or hermits who like peace. There are also some hunters who live there. They only occasionally rowed a boat back to Gevaux to buy daily necessities, but other than that, they lived a solitary life.

They listened to the sound of the river flowing, the soft earth beneath their feet, and the distant forest swaying slightly in the wind as if it was breathing.

A short plank road was built into the water next to the water-powered mill to serve as a dock. The local boats were locked to the wooden posts under the plank road.

Donna was a South Bulligan who had never been on a boat. She looked at these boats curiously. With Clayton's encouragement, she stretched out one foot and stepped into the nearest boat. The shaking feeling she had never experienced made her scream. She screamed and almost fell down. She hurriedly took her feet back, but she looked excited.

"Clayton, why don't we take the boat back?"

"These boats are too small for our luggage," Clayton said, jumping onto the boat that Donna had stepped on, his body occupying almost half of the boat's capacity.

These boats are not used for long-distance travel. Their role is only to help local people cross to the other side, or to drop off their harvest when fishing.

The capacity of the boat is very small. Even if there is no luggage, the capacity of four adult men of average size is already the limit - they must still be seated.

"The direction from here to Sasha City is against the current. Taking a boat will not be faster than taking a carriage. And as time goes by, we have to consider the issue of keeping warm."

Spending a night on the river in winter is not something a few blankets can handle.

Werewolves don't mind the cold, but humans still can't overcome this dangerous environment. Diseases are sometimes more terrifying to them than blades.

With his explanation, Donna understood why the two men never considered returning to Sasha City by boat.

There are large fields and pastures to the west of Revo. The fields are in the lower areas and the pastures are on the higher slopes. Not only are the two separated by carefully repaired roads, but there are also high wooden fences on the edges of the pastures, which separate the white clouds. Like a flock of sheep imprisoned in it.

Several dogs squatted on a high slope overlooking them as they passed by, while the shepherd wrapped in a fur coat lay next to him and dozed off.

This kind of scene can't help but make Clayton and Donna feel nostalgic.

"See those plants?" Clayton said to his companions, pointing to the green in the field. "It's not wheat. The Ghevo people farm, but they don't always grow food. The food in Sasha City is basically transported by train. The specialties here are hops, tobacco and sheepskins."

Hops are the raw material for beer, and sheepskin is the raw material for parchment paper.

Sasha is a city of culture, with extraordinary demand for tobacco, alcohol and books.

Although plant-based paper has replaced vellum in communication applications, picky and conservative book collectors still believe that vellum is the best writing material, so the demand for lambskin has never stopped.

Clayton walked and explained all the way. Although it was his first time in Gevaux, he was already a qualified guide.

Even Julius became interested.

"It's been really cold this year. I wonder if these tobaccos can survive?"

"I don't know, I only smoke the Nambuliga brand." Clayton said naturally: "Only when it grows in a warm place, the smell of tobacco will be mellow. Growing tobacco here is against natural habits, even if it dies. It’s also normal.”

"But it's really cold this year." Countryman Clayton Bello also noticed this.

Sasha City belongs to the Oubik region in the middle of the Kingdom. In previous winters, it only started snowing at this time, with heavy snowfall in mid-December. However, this year's heavy snowfall arrived almost a week ago, and it is only November now.

He suddenly slapped his forehead.

"What's wrong?" Donna asked.

"I have to write back and ask the ranch workers to keep the animals warm."

Clayton became angry again mid-sentence. Tritis should have handled this matter, but she was not at home.

Because of his mood change, they accelerated their pace back. When they were about to arrive in the town, the sky began to darken. Because of its proximity, he once again noticed the hillside where the circus was stationed.

All the people in the circus were dead, but there was still a thorn in his heart.

Someone once stood here peeping at him with the evil eye. Julius thought that person was Gilda the fortune teller in the circus, but Clayton didn't think so. Even though they were far apart at the time, he could still feel that the figure standing there was a man.

He stopped, looked past the yawning Donna, and saw some figures flashing in the woods behind the slope, that was Detective Hook.

The Hook Detective Agency once joined forces with the Holy Grail Society to invade Sasha City, and even if they failed, they had one purpose that never changed - to establish a base here.

These armed men have been in the woods for several days, and even measuring the land cannot make sense. Because it's not common for armed men to do a geologist's job.

Clayton suspects that the Hook detectives are actually looking for something in Gervaux.

"What are we waiting for?" Julius also yawned.

"Nothing." Clayton sighed as he listened to the continuous yawning in his ears, and they entered Gevo through a crack in the wall behind the Gevo church.

It was already evening, but Creighton noticed that there were no patrols outside Gevaux, and there were no lights in the church, which seemed strange.

After returning to the hotel, Clayton ordered a few dishes and went back to the room alone to write a letter.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. He thought the meal was ready, so he walked over and opened the door, but there was a young hunter at the door.

"Mr. Bello, this is Hyde, are you free now?"

"Is there a problem?"

"I am Mr. Schmidt's apprentice, Hyde. He is missing now."

Clayton surprisingly found that he was not surprised, but rather used to this kind of unexpected situation.

"Wait a moment, I'll be right back." He closed the door, put on his coat and went out to listen to the hunter's story, but the story dispelled his suspicion.

"You think he's missing because he didn't show up to assign you patrol duties for more than an hour after the stipulation? I think he may just be busy with his own things. You are his apprentice. Don't tell me you don't know what he is busy with recently. What, of course he doesn’t want to be seen now.”

Hyde pressed one side of his forehead nervously: "I know, but the teacher is really missing this time. We can't find him anywhere, and the helpers he invited from the city don't know where he went, so we That’s why I thought something happened to him, and you were the last person to see him publicly.”

"But who in this town will deal with him?" Clayton asked rhetorically. He remembered that Schmidt's prestige in the town had always been very high and there were almost no opponents. This was why he was chosen as the hunter leader.

Hyde said matter-of-factly: "Of course it's that monster."

There is only one recognized monster in Gevo, and that is the leatherworker who attacked the animal pen.

Clayton was a little impatient. He held the door frame, ready to close the door at any time.

"You were also in the hotel that night. You should know that it was seriously injured. In its condition, it was impossible to drag the residents away quietly during the day."

"But my teacher isn't the only one missing. Danny, the son of jeweler Laurence, is also missing."

Hyde said uneasily: "His parents found his luggage at the door. It seems that he was originally going to leave town, but then gave up, but no one has seen him since yesterday. I think maybe the monster has eaten him , rely on this meat to recover from serious injuries.”

Now Clayton couldn't refute Hyde. He couldn't say that he fed Danny to Adelaide.

He could only let out a long sigh.

"Look, I don't know what's going on with Danny, but with Mr. Schmidt's skills, even that monster in its prime couldn't silence him. And it's dusk now, if he disappeared in the afternoon , then it cannot be done by a leatherworker. After all, it is so conspicuous that people will definitely see it on the street during the day.”

Hyde backed down: "Okay, I think the truth may be what you said. The teacher was not attacked by the monster, but what if someone deceived him with lies?"

His words made Clayton's heart skip a beat, but the young man did not blame him for another disappearance.

"Who would do that?" he asked, still remaining calm.

"I don't know, but the teacher kept telling us about those people before he disappeared." Hyde pointed to the room next to him. It was the new gunmen from the city who rented them: "Maybe it was them."

The door of the room he was pointing at suddenly opened, and a man carrying a rifle walked out with a sinister expression. Fortunately, Hyde's gestures became faster and he was not noticed by this man.

The man didn't care about the two people at the door. He quickly closed the door and turned right to go downstairs.

When Clayton went out to close the door, he saw that the rooms rented by the Salvation Army were empty. Everyone else had left at some point.

It seemed that these Salvation Army soldiers were finally leaving. Clayton breathed a sigh of relief and became more tolerant of Hyde.

"How about this? I'll go to Mr. Schmidt's house with you later to see what information he has left."

Hyde didn't understand his intention: "We have looked for it and found nothing."

"Then look for it again," Clayton told him.

I recommend a book called "The Immortal Eater". The author has a strong writing style and the text is very chivalrous.