"I am indeed not qualified to be your guardian. I have to apologize to you..."
"No! Heath is the best guardian!"
"It's no use praising me." Hitzfeld grinned.
Seeing that Ashley was still nervous, she reached out and pinched her gradually pale face.
"If you do something wrong, it's wrong... something bad has happened, and now we have to think about how to fix it."
"What do you mean by rescue?"
"If you really want to know... I will teach you how to fight with others next."
"Just never trust strangers."
As she spoke, the girl took out a cloth bag from her bosom like a magician.
“Also try not to eat food handed to you by strangers to start with.”
Chapter 20 The Butcher
Wood didn't know that Hitzfeld had no intention of eating the food sent by the villagers. He was still immersed in the joy of the victory of old Sind and his gang. After leaving the cabin, he personally led his men to the ridge of the field.
No one knew what they did there, but it was certain that the same number of people who went came back, not one less, nor one more.
"That detective lady doesn't look like someone who likes to talk nonsense." Wood gathered the young men in the village at the entrance and reminded them of the precautions. "So we can't say anything nonsense. Even if the police come to ask, we have to say we don't know. Do you understand?"
"I understand!" Everyone answered in unison, and then a dirty little head popped out from the crowd: "Why didn't the police come to check on us before~"
"This is not what you should be thinking about right now." Wood raised his foot and kicked him. "Get out! Go back to sleep!"
After the crowd was dispersed, Wood had a look of satisfaction on his face.
Although he was a butcher, he had also spent a few years in school when he was young. He knew more about relationships than anyone else and was the designated successor to the old village chief.
So of course he could guess that the reason why Xinde and his gang of village thugs were able to run rampant in the vicinity was that they had secret deals with some local officials.
However, what they did was not excessive. They did not take anyone's life easily. They just beat them up and demanded money and property. That's why the matter did not become a big deal.
He must have had some ulterior motives in choosing to attack those two women today. They deserved this fate, and it is a great thing that deserves applause.
But what happened tonight... He was not sure whether those who had received bribes would send people here to inquire, so he just planned to unanimously say "I don't know" and completely turn this matter into a bad account.
As time passed, the night gradually deepened.
After returning to the back village, Wood, who had been busy all day, had just packed up his things and was about to go home. When he walked past the high ground, he saw that the light was still on in the old village chief's house.
Thinking of the bright smile of the one-eyed girl, he hesitated for a moment, but decided to ask them if they needed him to do anything else.
In the cabin, Hitzfeld had already disposed of the food.
There's black soil everywhere around here, so it's quite convenient to do this.
She had already earned enough money that an ordinary person could not spend in a lifetime, and every month Dream City deposited a large sum of money into her account. Although it was a waste... she could just give her more money later.
This type of wooden house has very poor performance in terms of thermal insulation, as there is almost no mezzanine floor. Relying solely on thin wooden walls, it cannot keep out the cold. Even if you light a stove and burn a fire, the heat inside will quickly dissipate as long as it is turned off for a while.
Hitzfeld didn't need to sleep, so she couldn't share a bed with Ashley. She let the girl rest first, and she sat at the table to read a book, and also helped the man and the dog to watch the stove.
This is also a very necessary job. In winter, poisoning and fires caused by improper care of heaters are more common in poorer areas.
After reading for a while, Hitzfeld left his chair and went to the bed to look at the girl's sleeping face.
There was a saying in her previous life that girls change a lot when they grow up, and she thought it was applicable to Ashley.
The skeleton cannot be shrunk, there is nothing that can be done about it. But gradually, after a normal diet and civilized education, Ashley's body and facial lines are becoming softer, and you can already see some of her mother's charm in her eyebrows and eyes.
If things continue like this, she might grow up to be a beauty. It won't be a problem for her to find someone of the same height and stature to spend her life with.
But you want revenge...
The smile on his face faded little by little, and Hitzfeld sat on the bed and sighed.
She was sure that Ashley didn't know much about Nirikui and the role Nirikui played in the Brays Island incident. Most of it was probably inferred from her occasional mentions of it by Xia.
There was nothing to blame, except for this reason, which she could not stop. But she also knew how difficult this road was to walk.
Just look at Leon and you will know that the Cornerel family is not a small noble family in Wayne. After joining Shadow Lion, he even dared not get married, and he would drink whenever he talked about it.
Ashley's will cannot be changed. Even if she doesn't become a Flint Knight, she will most likely join this system. Then her future marital happiness and the emotional rights that she should enjoy as a human being will be questionable.
If she gets nothing, can I really say that I have taken good care of her?
Hitzfeld isn't so sure.
"Dong dong dong."
A knock on the door.
It was very light, as if it was afraid that the people inside had already fallen asleep, and it seemed as if it was hesitating whether it should come.
Hitzfeld gave a meaningful smile, walked over and let the person in. As expected, it was the butcher.
"I knew you would come, Mr. Wood," she said softly. "Please take a seat. I have something to ask you."
Wood looked a little confused.
Especially when he saw her walk slowly to the bookshelf, lean against it, and take out a small notebook and a pen, he suddenly had an illusion: it seemed that she was the owner of this place, and he had become an outsider.
Thinking of the other party's identity as a detective, he swallowed, tried not to look at the charming face against the firelight, and walked to the table and sat down.
"What do you want to ask?"
"Besides us, have there been any other outsiders visiting the village recently?"
"This..." Wood recalled and shook his head, "I don't remember."
"What about old Sind's group? Are there any changes among them, such as an increase or decrease in the number of people, or a familiar person who suddenly disappeared?"
"I--" Wood was about to answer reflexively that there was no answer, but he was suddenly stunned: "Wait...it seems to be true!"
"Tell me more about it?"
"That's old Cinder's henchman. They call him 'Ape' Liz... but I haven't seen him for a while. He wasn't there the last time they came to the village to ask for money."
"The last time before that."
"The last time before that! He is almost the best fighter of old Sind and is always inseparable from him."
"Then speculate why he was not there last time."
"This..." Wood began to hesitate.
"I can't say for sure...Miss."
"After all, I'm just a butcher... I guess they might have had a conflict with someone somewhere else? Maybe something happened in Leeds..."
"He's dead, isn't he?"
Wood's heart almost stopped.
"Let me ask again."
Hitzfeld raised his head and stared at the butcher with a smile.
"Are you sure that in the evening, all that was sold at that stall was pork?"
As soon as these words came out, Wood's expression suddenly changed.
From being a little rigid and honest, he became extremely gloomy, his deep eyes narrowed, and his right hand touched his lower back.
"I don't intend to pursue this matter."
The girl's next words made him relax a little.
"I've talked to the people who delivered the food...they did a lot of bad things, and if they were caught they would be hanged. You might have helped reduce the workload for some people - I'm not that pedantic."
"How did you know that?"
After a long pause, Wood finally uttered this sentence.
"My secondary job is a mortician," the girl replied, "I don't want to confuse human bones and muscles with animals."
Wood was discouraged.
It turns out that the flaw was revealed at first glance.
"Don't put it on the table for sale next time." Hitzfeld continued to lift the notebook, "Tell me how you got the opportunity."
"He was injured."
Wood shook his head.
Now that things have been exposed to this extent, there is no point in hiding the details.
He simply told everything.
"That day he was injured and struggled to run to the village to find someone to save him. Unfortunately, he met me first, and I just ended his suffering."
"I'm not lying to you, Miss Hitzfeld." He wanted to add something else, "Even if I didn't kill him, he probably wouldn't live long."
"What kind of injury did he suffer?"
"Gunshot wound."
Gunshot wound...
It's still a bit unexpected.
You have to know that although guns are common in Sala - any coachman in Blackwood City may carry a gun, but guns are still not very common in such remote villages.
This is also the reason why those people did not doubt her when they heard that she had a gun in the evening. Guns still have a strong deterrent effect on these people.
"He lost a lot of blood," Wood said. "It was too late to stop the bleeding. I was afraid that his death in the village would drive old Sind crazy, so I dealt with him secretly."
"Doesn't old Cinder know about this?"
"I don't think he knows. Judging from his performance after that, he doesn't know."
"So I can understand that -"
Hitzfeld looked up from his little notebook again.
"Someone shot and injured Old Sind's right-hand man. There's no way he didn't know about this. It's even possible that he was right next to him at the time, but under some kind of pressure, he chose to abandon this loyal servant..."
"I……"
Wood shuddered at the scene she described.
"I have no idea……"
"That means there are outsiders."
The girl was busy taking notes.
"External forces coerced him."
“Even though you can’t see it, it’s there.”
Chapter 21 Seagod's Families 1
"I... I don't understand what you're saying..." Wood stood up and wanted to leave. "It's too late. I won't disturb you to rest..."
"Wood." But Hitzfeld stopped him and asked softly under his terrified gaze: "Did you hear any iron hammering the night before last?"
"……what?"
"The noise of ironwork might not be particularly loud. It might be coming from nearby or from the other side of the railway track... Is there any?"
"I... I'm not sure." Wood hesitated. "It seemed like there was one the night before yesterday, but I'm not sure if it was ironwork..."
"Is there a blacksmith in this village?"
"Elan's family are all blacksmiths."
"Could it be them?"
"No - Impossible!" Wood waved his hands quickly. "If the distance was that close, I wouldn't be unable to confirm it... The direction from which the sound came is probably some distance away from here. It's very much like what you said, coming from the railway."
"You can be sure that you really heard it and it was not an illusion."
"I can still guarantee this, because I couldn't rest easy for those two days and couldn't sleep at night."
The two talked about the topic of "blacksmith" and "iron forging" in detail for a long time. Finally, Wood told the girl: Nowadays, there is no blacksmith who gets up so early to start the furnace and forge iron.
