Chapter 68: 65

Chapter 65

Sylvia widened her eyes at the sudden sound.

The alarm system was activated late near the jujube tree that Limbo touched. It was because it had tampered with the alarm system while picking the fruits. The group covered their ears with their hands at the deafening warning noise and ran around in confusion.

“Ugh, shut up. Mr. Noel, what is this?”

“Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s something good. Maybe it’s a protective spell to catch fruit thieves?”

“Limbo, you horse bastard. I knew you were going to do something!”

The alarm ceased, but the owner of the tree was soon to come. Sevis pricked up his ears, closed his eyes, made a trumpet with his hands, and focused on his hearing. Seeing that, Limbo also pricked up its ears. The two beasts with good hearing had already sensed that someone was coming from afar.

“Someone is coming on a horse. Their pace is very fast. They’ll be here in five minutes.”

“What do we do? We don’t have time to set up the tent.”

“We were going to kill them anyway, so it’s good that they came to us. Let’s hide behind a rock for now and wait to see what’s going on.”

‘Suddenly like this? I thought we were going to start raiding tomorrow…’

Sylvia gulped in tension as she felt the cold sweat running down her back. It was a relief that she didn’t wash her face with a quick judgement and observed the area near the oasis. It would be easier to deceive high-level monsters as if they were the same race if they were disguised in green.

‘We would have been in trouble if we had washed our faces.’

Sevis hurriedly said that the sound of horses’ hooves was approaching them.

Sylvia judged that because they were near the oasis, the water on their feet could leave footprints, so she told them to walk backwards while erasing their footprints and hide. Limbo and the group did so, hiding behind the rocks.

Moments later, a group riding camels arrived at the oasis, raising dust. They had the face of a desert fox, but they were walking upright, as if they were human beings. Looking at their hands, it seemed their whole body was covered with fur.

‘It’s hard to call them shapeshifters like Sevis. I guess they’re like a nine-tailed fox?’

As they were hiding behind a rock and staring at them, a message appeared in front of Sylvia’s eyes.

[Contaminated Desert Fox]

The group gulped at the sight of the foxes scrutinizing their surroundings with vicious expressions.

‘They look a lot fiercer than the orcs.’

Sylvia was sweating and secretly watching them, and she heard a small sigh as if the rest of the group had thought the same.

As they got off the camels, they talked among themselves as they saw the jujube tree with traces of Limbo tearing them apart, then looked at the traces of the campfire and the tents left in the empty area.

The desert fox that appeared to be the captain, wearing a red cape, tilted his head as he saw the branches of the jujube tree where all the fruit had been torn. The savage-looking desert fox next to him opened his mouth.

“It’s not a human being, but an animal bite.”

“It was an animal that the humans had with them. The intruders must be around here. All the green orcs that were resting in the oasis have been killed.”

“They were just resting in the oasis after working so hard, what bothered them so much? They are evil people!”

Sylvia flinched at the furious words of the subordinate desert fox and covered her mouth with her hands. The rest of the group also fell silent, looking gloomy. Hearing the fox’s words, they felt like they had become scoundrels.

‘In any case, seeing that they’re speaking in a language we understand, they’re high-level monsters.’

As Sylvia narrowed her eyes and focused, the message over their heads became more detailed.

[Level 40 Captain Desert Fox]

‘Level 40??’

Level 40… They were 10 levels higher than her. And on top of that, not just one, but a total of five of them were at least level 30 or higher. By contrast, Sylvia was level 30, and she couldn’t figure out what level the other two people and one animal were, so she couldn’t compare their power.

‘Usually, if the monsters in a dungeon are above the player’s level, it’s not possible to attack them.’

Sevis and Noel whispered next to Sylvia, who was so shocked that she could not speak.

“Miss Sylvia, they look like monsters too, so let’s beat them up.”

“… No.”

Perhaps recognizing Sylvia’s pale complexion, a message popped up again.

———————————————

[You ran into high-level monsters. Seeing that you can understand what they are saying, it looks like a conversation is possible! What is Sylvia’s choice?

1. Life is precious, but first, do your best to fight a losing battle.

2. Gather your hands politely and approach them to talk to them.]

———————————————

‘Anyone can see that option no. 1 is a warning that you will die if you choose it. Of course I have to talk to them.’

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Sylvia, who chose option no. 2, told the group that since they seemed to be talking, they should try to have a conversation. Sylvia, who had gathered her hands politely, tried to step forward, but Noel stopped her.

“Miss Sylvia, it’s dangerous. I’ll go.”

“No, no. I’ll go.”

As Sylvia shook her head, Sevis, who was standing next to them, stopped them.

“Both of you stay still. I can turn into a wolf in a hurry, so I’ll go.”

“Neigh!”

As they were whispering and arguing with each other, they heard a voice from behind them.

“What are you guys doing, hiding here?”

Although they were whispering in a low voice, the desert foxes’ ears were as sensitive as Sevis’, so their secret conversation was heard right away. Sylvia looked at the desert fox awkwardly, hardened as a rock.

‘This is a game… And this is a choice inside the game… If you choose to talk, don’t they have to make sure you don’t get caught until you talk?’

Sylvia resented the ridiculous game system. The captain fox, who was looking at them, frowned and opened his mouth.

“All the green orcs in the vicinity were killed. Fortunately, it seems you survived.”

“What?”

“Why are you standing there blankly? Pack your things and go back to the village. It seems humans have invaded this place, so staying here for a long time is dangerous.”

He pushed them with a casual look on his face. Since they were wearing turbans and their skin was covered with green cream, the captain fox seemed to have mistaken them for the monsters in the oasis.

‘It’s nice that the makeup works, but is he saying that we look like those orcs? Wow…’

Looking closely at the captain fox, his unclear eyes also seemed slightly insane. He seemed to have finished judging the group to belong to the bunch of orcs that were in the oasis. Sylvia and her group packed up all their luggage and followed them to the village.

“Hey! The horse over there! Don’t wiggle around and go quickly.”

As they walked along with them, they arrived at the village. On top of the hill that rose in the middle of the village, there was a temple made of marble columns that did not match the desert. They were hesitant after arriving at the orcs’ lodgings, but after coming to their senses, they were assigned a room.

“I’m sorry to hear about the death of so many of your colleagues, but you won’t forget that there will be an important event soon, will you? Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

The captain desert fox threw them inside the shabby lodging, sighed for a moment, and then disappeared. The lodging was spacious, as if the orcs were used to living in groups, and the bedding was scattered all over the place.

Whether Sylvia’s makeup was too rigorous, or they were insane, they didn’t recognize Sylvia as a woman and left her in the same room as the group.

‘What is this, why did they leave me in the same room with the guys? Thank you very much.’

Sylvia deliberately put on a taciturn look on her face, hiding the corners of her lips that had risen, and Noel approached her with a serious expression.

“The building in the middle of the village is the temple I saw when I was a child. Since it turned into a desert, I thought everything would be different, but the building is the same.”

“Is that so? Why is that…”

At that moment, Limbo, who was crouching in the corner, cried out.

“Neigh!”

“I mean, why did they also leave Limbo in the room? I thought the foxes would take it to the stable.”

As Sylvia frowned, Sevis pondered and opened his mouth.

“Given my experience in the wolf kingdom, they have lost their intelligence because they became contaminated. Even though they look fine on the outside, everyone has gone a little crazy. That’s why they didn’t have any doubts even after seeing our clumsy disguises. Keep in mind what I said, and don’t be embarrassed even if the foxes say or do strange things. Just respond calmly.”

They were monsters that had gone insane, or, in short, they were cuckoos.

‘I need to get myself together. If they weren’t able to communicate, we would just beat them up. But they do, and they’re stronger than us, and on top of that, they’re crazy…’

While Sylvia was lost in thought, Sevis touched his face and made an agonized look.

“My face is stinging… I want to wash it.”

“It is no use if you wash your face and those insane bastards come in. Just wash your body and hang in there a little longer, Sevis.”

They went to the bathroom to wash their bodies. However, it was difficult to take a clean shower because rust came out in the shabby bathroom of the lodging.

‘Don’t those damn orcs even take a shower? Only rust is coming out…’

Having no other choice, the group picked up a lukewarm jug of water that had been rolling around the room, wetted a cloth, and roughly wiped the uncomfortable parts.

“I’d rather be in the oasis, not some pig cage… Only rust comes out, and it’s hot and dirty…”

“Exactly my words. I’m glad the bastard saw us as orcs, but…”

Sylvia and Sevis sighed, and Noel opened his mouth in a calm voice.

“What’s the big event coming up soon? We have deceived them with our disguises for now, but we don’t know if we can keep deceiving them, so we need to be careful.”

——

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