I waited, and waited, and waited.

Don't tell me it's a ghost town.

"Smoothie, should we skip this town?" I whispered.

"No, there are definitely residents here. I'm sure of it."

"You mean [soothsayer] is sure of it."

"What do you have against [soothsayer]? It made one small miscalculation, and you're still not over it!" She crossed her arms, seemingly agitated with displeasure on her pretty face.

I was just pointing it out. Sheesh, are you on your period or something?

I couldn't really voice that, obviously. I doubted she even knew what that meant. Throwing confusion into the mix was sure to be a recipe for disaster.

"Are we breaking up?" I poked her cheek.

"No. I'm staying with you! Pretty please! I was wrong!" She begged, holding onto my arm.

Seriously, that mood swing. Does she not have control over her own emotions? I guess a kid is a kid even with the best support ability out there.

"Alright."

I waited until the sun was directly above us. Still, not a single resident to be seen.

"Okay, I'm done waiting. Stay here, I'm going in!"

Before I entered, I double checked my appearance to ensure I didn't look like a devil. The last thing I wanted to was to get chased again. Since I had no mirror to allow me to see my face, that part had to be skipped for now. If I tried to view myself by creating an eye ball tendril, even I would be freaked out.

Alright, all good. Into the enemy territory, and behind enemy lines!

Sneak in? No. Someone as proud as me could never stoop so low as to sneak around. I walked in through the non-existent front entrance.

"Hello, anyone here?"

The wind replied with some ruffling sounds.

The doors to all the residential looking buildings were all closed. Since I wasn't sure if there were actually people in there, I didn't dare to try opening any doors. After strolling around for a bit, I arrived in front of a three story building that was relatively fortified.

Maybe, this is their town hall or something?

"Hello? If anyone's there, give me a honk!" I shouted while knocking on the front door.

Again, no one answered.

"Enough is enough, I'm coming in."

I pushed open the door with my two arms. Surprisingly, they weren't locked. Immediately visible to me were stone tables and chairs. To the sides, hanging on racks and walls were assortments of weapons and cookware. Many of these cookware seemed to have been used recently, perhaps less than a day ago.

At the very end of this enormous room was a wide stair hall leading downward into some kind of underground facility. I could hear rowdy voices coming from below.

I missed out on a party? No way! For real? No wonder it's so quiet up here.

"Coming!"

I cheerfully hopped down the stairs, quietly of course. Past a certain point, the hall was sporadically lit with pieces of green and blue crystals hanging on the walls. I took a few turns, but was otherwise a very straightforward passage, no traps or anything. The further I descended, the louder the noises became. Now I could even hear hollers and laughter fairly clearly.

I'm not a party pooper, right? I'm just strolling in to say my good mornings.

The closer I got, the more I tried to listen to the words spoken.

Oh? Something about a catch?

I was much relieved when I understood at least some of the words spoken. That meant communication was possible. Anyway, a star should always be the last to arrive on scene!

I carefully snuck a peek at the party venue situated at the centre an expansive network of tunnels. What I saw was a huge gathering of at least a hundred people. Well, they weren't people I would consider humans. If I had to describe them, they looked like ferrets in humanoid forms. They were slim and tall, and the fur on their face had those horizontal dark markings. Aside from minor differences in the patterns on their fur, I couldn't differentiate any of them apart by sight. In terms of their height, they were a head shorter than regular humans.

So many pelts... Let's see their status.

[Level 21 Beast;
Species: Jud-Stefta;
Physical: 60/60;
Spiritual: 23/23;
Traits: Burrower, Enhanced Senses;
Abilities: Brawler, Hunter;
Description: A type of beast folk that lives underground.]

Quite a few of the adults had similar status, with a similar range of abilities and traits. The strongest individual I saw was level 41 and the lowest was a level 5 which was just a child based on its physical stature. From what I could tell, they were likely hunters. Other than a few powerful individuals, I was under no threat.

Strangely enough, they all shared the same species name, with a few exceptions. These people were generally shorter and fatter. Their hands were much larger. In terms of abilities and traits, they really weren't that much different than those without the [hunter] ability. Their species were Jud-Kalifa, mostly in the level 10's.

Phew.

"Good morning!" I waved.

At first, no one noticed me. However, as soon as one person noticed me, more and more followed. The turning of heads was contagious. In under a minute, all was quiet. No one was moving, not even a breath could be heard. Quite a few had their jaws dropping.

"Yo. Am I interrupting?"

You bet I am. I wonder if they're checking my status. I guess my status would be scary for the likes of them. Seriously, that |devious| trait needs to get removed.

"Peace?" I pulled out my two fingers in a V pattern.

Some adults swiftly shielded the children's eyes.

Did I do something lewd?

Then, three buffed individuals approached me, walking with a bit of stiffness. One of them was the level 41 I had noted earlier. In terms of physical stats, I was outmatched, however now that I knew about magic, things wouldn't go as badly if a fight broke out here.

"Miss, are you an envoy of the Highland Emperor?" One of them asked.

Envoy? And who is this Highland Emperor?

"No, I am a traveller," I replied.

Together they let out a sigh.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, bit curious of the circumstances here. In fact, I was glad they weren't hostile to me.

"I suggest you leave this area immediately."

"Are fey beings not welcomed here?"

"Far from it. This place isn't safe. Only those who can fight and unwilling to leave are here. Everyone else had already evacuated and headed northeast. You should do the same."

They can't be serious, right? If I was an enemy, you would have all just perished. I thought, however, I played along as not to ruin their joyous atmosphere any further.

"Fight? Is there a war?"

They looked at each other, a bit baffled, before explaining, "An army was spotted just days ago to the west. We don't know when they'll strike this place."

"Who is striking?"

"Who else? The humans!"

A murmur among the crowd erupted upon the word "humans". It looked to me this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Do you all speak the common language? I've been living out there in the wilderness so I am completely clueless."

"Here only the three of us are fluent in the common language. If you go into the cities, more should speak it."

"Oh, alright. I guess I'll take my leave. Thank you for the information!"

There really wasn't anything I could thank them with. If I gave them a basket of strawberries, the consequences would be disastrous. Hence, I just turned around and left. As much as I didn't want to actually crash the party, it seemed that the party could no longer resume. The mood was all but ruined. Honestly, it was odd that they were even having a party in their current predicament. I would have expected them to be training for their upcoming battle.

Whatever floats their boat...

I left the town the way I came. It wasn't a waste of time as I previously anticipated. The first thing I learned was that there were more than one language in this world. The second was that a war was on the horizon between humans and these people. For what reason? I didn't know. And lastly, beast folks weren't hostile to fey beings.

I wonder why they covered those children's eyes? Were they afraid that my unworldly beauty would taint those innocent eyes? They didn't think of me as some hairless ugly thing, right? Right? Ugh! I should have asked.