The Record of Unusual Creatures

When the sun rose, the old and bloated medieval city seemingly regained a brief vitality. The streets hummed with animals and carriages. The morning sun shone on city walls and towers, illuminating the glass panes on the bell tower as well as coating the steeples of the church and castles with a golden glow. The warm sunlight finally fell into the dirty slum, as though it was about to bake and dry the smelly ditches in Rue Truite and its surrounding dark neighborhood.

Gates around the city began to open. Soldiers in blue and white stood in front of the inner city gate known as Porte du Berger as they watched respectful, hunched residents of the outer city pass through the gate to make a living in the inner city market and juggler square. Occasionally, over-sized caravans could be seen passing by with gypsy women in colorful dresses sitting on top of the carriages. The soldiers would harass the caravans by demanding a few coins, or cheaply taking advantage of those gypsy girls. No one would bat an eye at the soldiers’ actions because even the beggars in Rue Truite knew that those Gypsies were barbaric creatures outside civilized society. Allowing their caravans into the city was the greatest kindness the archbishop and seigneurs could show the Gypsies. Had they not paid the protection money, those Gypsies would be arrested under the pretext of being minions of black magic, then hanged outside the city.

The harassment the Gypsies received in the city was also part of their protection money.

Lily and Hao Ren had wormed their way into the crowd. With their hoods on, they lowered their heads and disguised themselves as farmers to cover up their apparent oriental faces. Their disguise was a little too rudimentary; any soldier who cared to take a closer look would blow their cover. But the guards at the city gate were slackers. They just stood there pretending to guard the city gate. They were mainly there to show off the power of the city’s lord and extort foreigners as well as small merchants.

The inner city was much more prosperous than the outer city, thus the buildings there were more organized and well-planned. But in Hao Ren’s eyes, the evolution was rather trivial, especially when Hao Ren had seen modern cities and the Otherworld. No human architecture from that era could amaze him anymore.

Hao Ren kept his eyes opened. Together with Lily’s hypersensitive hearing ability, the two of them gathered as much information as they wanted in the unfamiliar city without displaying any of the nervousness that outsiders would typically have. Not long after, they found their target: a small square at the edge of the inner city.

The square was not a rallying place. Several yawning soldiers were standing guard there to prevent people from coming close. They were guarding something at the center of the square: a scaffold and two stone pillars, which had been blackened by smoke, with buckles used to fix the ropes in position. It was a public place of execution by fire.

There were no more ashes around the fire column; it had probably been cleaned up. But there was a male body still hanging on the gallows. The body dangled in the air with ragged linen wrapped around its dried limbs. It seemed that the person had died quite some time ago.

“Gosh, no wonder there’s a plague every now and then during this era,” Lily stuck her tongue out and said in a whisper. “Germs spring up like mushrooms on the corpse when it’s hung in the open like that.”

“It’s how the ruler maintains public order, at least in this era. They hang a prisoner for a dozen days until the rope snaps by itself—but they usually don’t carry this out in the city.”

“I know of this. After all, I am a four-time Peking University graduate.” Lily twitched her lips. She pretended to tidy her clothes while her eyes darted around. “Mr. Landlord, do you think there will be traces left behind by the witches in the vicinity?”

“Most likely.”

“Did Madam Marie not say that there was no witch arrested? The so-called rescue operation was a smokescreen.”

“Hasse told me not believe in anything the otherworldlings say. Honesty and trust have died in their guts,” Hao Ren whispered. “The demon hunters will be much more honest and reliable.”

“Oh, oh…” Lily replied.

Hao Ren glanced at the husky. “Hasse has also given me the ‘Trust Ranking’ of different races in the Dark Ages. I can use it to judge who isn’t trustworthy, who I can trust conditionally, and who’s the most trustworthy. Do you want to hear it?”

“Mr. Landlord, where do the werewolf’s rank?” The husky maiden had been hooked as expected.

Lily had long accepted the fact that she was a husky, but she could not help but be curious about things related to werewolves.

“Werewolves are the most trustworthy because these honest guys won’t play tricks on you. Usually, they’re very frank with their displeasure with you. The descendants of the vampires and Olympians are relatively trustworthy because they care for their faces and familial honor. As long as you see things from their point of view, you’ll figure out how to deal with them. The witches, who once occupied the lowest social hierarchy during the Mythological Era, are the least trustworthy.”

While he spoke, Hao Ren’s eyes fell on an inconspicuous floor tile in the corner of the square.

“Because the witches were vulnerable, they became more unscrupulous. When the control that restrained them disappeared, they went to the extreme in everything they did. It’s hard for them to survive in the Dark Ages. Those who have survived must not be underestimated.”

There was a blurry imprint on that inconspicuous floor tile. It was only a cracked tile in the eyes of ordinary people, but Hao Ren recognized what it was.

A Letta rune.

A single Letta rune did not have any power. So there had to be more runes, probably hidden around the place of execution.

However, Hao Ren was not interested in the symbols. He just needed to confirm the existence of the runes.

“Mr. Landlord, what have you found?” Lily looked at Hao Ren curiously.

“A Letta rune. The witches were here. They could have been planning to save their company but weren’t sure when the execution would be. So they laid down the Letta runes in advance. The arrested witch must be someone important in their organization, or maybe even a leader. Otherwise, the witches in this era would not take the risk to save their companion.”

“There seems to be a wizard helping them. What does a wizard have to do with a bunch of witches?” Lily blinked.

“The number of wizards is less than that of the witches. During the Mythological Era, wizards were sent to the frontline as cannon fodder by their masters. In contrast, the witches, who were deemed less effective in combat, stayed away from the battlefield. As a result, witches have become mainstream during the Dark Ages,” Hao Ren explained. “The inheritance systems of wizards and witches are different. The otherworldling gods designed different teaching schemes for different human physiques while they raised the wizards. It was basically human trial and error. Under normal circumstances, wizards and witches did not interact, but they had no conflict between them. After the end of the Mythological Era, they stayed that way. But they did communicate when there was a need. After all, they all originated from the same ‘school.’ So I guess this is what happened: Vivian’s hibernation place has a strong energy field, which attracted a group of witches who may be planning to take advantage of the place. Somehow, their movements were exposed, and one of them was arrested. The wizard could be outside help, whom the witches have invited. Or, the wizard just happened to pass by and accepted the witches’ invitation. But no matter what the circumstance is, the wizard and witches would have known each other before. In this day and age, no underground organization would want to accept strangers.”

“How did the ordinary people in this era catch the witch?” Lily asked curiously.

“Ordinary people are obviously weaker than wizards who are masters of magic. But they’re not completely defenseless. After all, humans have been dealing with the otherworldlings since ancient times. They must have something up their sleeves. Those who master the means are usually the medieval church and reclusive sorcerers, who are mostly former members of the resistance in the Mythological Era. Some of them may have received skills and even resource aid from the demon hunters. Even in the twenty-first century, some reclusive organizations are still operating in secret and monitoring the supernatural forces in the world. But as time goes by and humans will become more powerful. The decline of these organizations is inevitable.”

As he shared the knowledge he had learned from Hasse and his own experience, Hao Ren brought Lily out of the square unnoticed.

The guards in the square swept across the crowd in front of them. Their eyes landed on Hao Ren and Lily for two seconds, but they figured that there was nothing they could profit off from the two peasants. So, they looked away.

The soldiers turned to discuss the prisoner hanging on the gallows and the recent rumors about black magic.

Hao Ren and Lily wandered the city throughout the day. Sometimes they followed the crowd to the open spaces, sometimes they used their superhuman skills to sneak into places where civilians were prohibited from entering to collect information. They roamed around like that until it was nightfall.

Camouflaged, the two of them scaled the wall in the dark to meet the mysterious witches.