Goblin Dependency-Chapter 679 - 341: Unknown Journey and Distant Hope

Chapter 679: Chapter 341: Unknown Journey and Distant Hope

Xia Nan can kill visible Demons, but he is powerless against the invisible monsters in the villagers’ hearts.

Facing the old village chief’s death and Aspen’s declaration about the end of the sacrifice ritual, the reaction from the villagers was something he never anticipated.

There was no anger over the leader’s death, nor was there joy from being freed from the shackles of the "sacrifice ritual."

Time seemed to freeze.

The crowd was packed together, like frightened sheep huddling together, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the elderly man who had served as village chief for decades, only to now convulse and lie in a pool of blood, and at the hunting team leader, revered in the village, experienced, and holding a Longbow.

First came a short gasp.

But after breaking the dead silence, there was a more suffocating, swamp-like thick panic.

Xia Nan could feel the villagers’ bewilderment and helplessness.

He clearly sensed their instinctual reactions once they eventually processed what happened:

The old woman jerked her bewildered granddaughter behind her, as if that could completely separate them from those on the scene;

The wiry middle-aged man tightened his grip on the farm tool he used as a weapon, his gaze wary, stepping back slightly to distance himself from Xia Nan and the others...

Murmurs and whispers quietly spread among the crowd:

"They... killed the village chief..."

"The ritual wasn’t completed, will calamity..."

"The outsiders... shouldn’t have..."

There was no cheering, nor was there gratitude.

Born from fear, the deeply ingrained, almost instinctual understanding of the sacrifice ritual passed down through generations was not something easily uprooted by a completely dead corpse or a reckless young man’s words.

To some extent, this could not even be called ignorance or evil.

Since childhood, Fog Lamp Village’s villagers had long linked "the risk of failed sacrifice ritual—calamity descending" with "the cost of sacrifice—the individual’s death."

Even though Dong Shu tried his best to explain that the supposed great existence in the canyon had been completely killed by passing adventurers, and the sacrifice ritual was a lie fabricated by the village chief to maintain control.

The villagers could not completely believe it.

The fear of the incomplete sacrifice ritual, the panic over the village chief dying under Aspen’s arrow, and the confusion about future life amidst huge changes constituted their current emotions.

Perhaps only as time passes, when they nervously refrain from sending girls into the canyon, gradually replace offerings with livestock, and discover no "calamity" descends, will they finally abandon those ignorant traditions filled with blood and tears.

Only then might the villagers realize the significance of everything happening before their eyes today.

Xia Nan watched the scene quietly, his face calm, devoid of any expression.

His heart was similarly unperturbed.

His willingness to help kill the Fog Lamp Monster and later the Druid was partly due to the Association’s task requirements to enter the canyon to collect Fog Lamp Grass;

And partly because it was his heart’s natural course.

From the beginning, he had never hoped to gain anyone’s approval or sought anyone’s gratitude, just aimed to let his thoughts flow smoothly.

Yet, seeing the scene before him, a difficult-to-express sentiment inevitably arose deep within his heart.

The sharpness of a sword blade might cut through hard rock, but it cannot sever the shackles in people’s hearts.

Many times, it seems like solving the source of the problem could end all the resulting tragedies.

But reality is often more cruel; the contaminated soil, wrong ideas and beliefs, and those fears are more stubborn and harder to eliminate than the "problem" itself.

Xia Nan was just an ordinary person, a traveler nurtured by modern society with a normal worldview, an adventurer who enjoyed goblin-slaying.

He had no right to teach the villagers what was right, nor the duty to help them escape ignorance.

Killing the Druid and resolving the source of it all, disclosing the truth to everyone, was all he could do from his heart.

As for what happens next... it’s entirely up to the villagers’ own choices.

At the forefront of the crowd.

Aspen’s fingers trembled as he lightly caressed the bow handle, his slightly reddened eyes fixated on the crooked writing, his lips moving as if whispering something.

Until the noise behind him grew too loud, pulling him back into reality.

Silently securing the bow behind him, he slowly raised his head. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As the second most influential figure in the village after the chief, after shooting the elderly man full of wrinkles in the face dead with one arrow, this weathered-looking middle-aged man was defaulted as Fog Lamp Village’s new leader.

He didn’t speak, but merely the action of stowing away the bow quieted the commotion in the crowd.

Then, under the watchful eyes of all.

Aspen stepped forward, returned the Druid’s journal to Xia Nan, and with unprecedented seriousness, solemnly bowed:

"Thank you for helping Fog Lamp Village, Mr. Xia Nan!"

"Whatever you need, as long as it’s within our capacity... will never be refused!"

Given such solemn seriousness, Xia Nan naturally would not ignore his goodwill.