Chapter 27: On the Way to His Hometown

As the wagon silently rolled down the road towards Harken, Luke’s eyes scanned the surroundings for the monster, though his mind was focused elsewhere.

It had been so long since he had gone back to his hometown. Even before he had been sealed, he had been constantly on the move with his ex-comrades to deal with the monsters plaguing the country. The last time he had been there had to have been about a year before he was sealed.

Just the thought of seeing the place made him unable to sit still, and his hand unconsciously tapped against the wagon’s edge.

How was the family? Were they doing well after his disappearance?

Many of the questions he had buried in his heart resurfaced, leaving him constantly on edge.

Suddenly, the driver called out, “Luke, how about you join me for a chat?”

Confused and a bit curious why the driver wanted Luke to join them at the front, Luke moved so that he was right next to the driver.

“Is something the matter?” Luke asked.

The driver glanced around nervously before asking, “Where’s the monster you said you would be dealing with? We’re almost at Harken.”

Now that the driver mentioned it, they had already made a turn on the road a while back. It wouldn’t be long before they reached Harken, but there had been no sign of any monster.

Luke pulled out the mission paper and skimmed the contents again.

It stated that the monster was lurking near the road before they made the turn. The monster was quite slippery, making it hard to catch. On the flip side, it would be easy to kill once caught, as it was actually quite weak.

As he folded the paper and placed it back within his clothes, Luke said, “Don’t worry about it. If we still don’t come across it by the time we reach our destination, I’ll investigate.”

Despite his reassurances to the driver, he berated himself for getting too caught up in his thoughts.

Instead of letting himself get stuck in his head, he should have been keeping a careful watch for the monster. While he didn’t think he would lose to the monster if it somehow caught them by surprise, it still was unforgivable to put everyone else in that situation.

What if things were more dangerous than what was reported?

The incident from the previous town was still fresh in his mind. There was a possibility that something similar could happen here.

His expression hardened at the thought.

He needed to make sure the monster was dealt with and that his family was safe. Once they arrived, he was going to inspect the entire area to ensure it was monster-free. Luke wasn’t going to leave until he was sure his hometown was safe.

They reached the town without encountering any monsters, leaving the driver and Luke on edge.

After the wagon rolled to a stop, the driver said, “We’re here.”

The other passengers quickly got off while Luke remained in the wagon with the driver.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” the driver asked nervously, his eyes darting around.

“I told you. I have got it covered,” Luke said before getting down from the wagon.

Their arrival barely drew any attention from the locals, who only gave them a passing glance before returning to what they were doing. Luke didn’t pay any of it any mind, choosing to check the surrounding area for monsters first.

While he wanted to check on his family, the monsters came first.

Only after he ensured the town wasn’t in danger of any monsters could he feel comfortable seeing how his family was doing.

What he didn’t expect was to find several monster corpses outside of the town.

Luke stood there frozen. His eyes widened at the sight, staring at the corpses in disbelief as he mechanically inspected and counted them.

There was a decent number of monster corpses, making his hairs stand on end.

How did so many monsters get so close to Harken without anyone noticing? More importantly, who had dealt with the monsters?

Since he took on the mission, no one else was supposed to be fighting the monsters.

Of course that wasn’t to say monster hunters couldn’t fight monsters claimed by another person at all. There were always exceptions, like they had been confronted by the monsters or hadn’t known there was a mission regarding the monsters.

It was possible that this happened to be one of those exceptions, but something about the whole thing didn’t sit right with him.

He didn’t think there were many monster hunters capable of taking these many monsters on their own. The number of monsters here was on par with the number of monsters he faced at the previous town.

Perhaps it was a group of monster hunters who dealt with them.

However, if it was really a monster hunter or group of monster hunters who did this, why did they leave the corpses behind?

They hadn’t bothered to deal with the remains, leaving them out in the open where anyone could find them.

Did they maybe intend to leave it to someone else to clean up after them?

It was an option, but the way the corpses were left reminded him of something.

As he stared at the monster corpses, he couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling churning in his chest that he might know who were the ones that killed all these monsters. He reached out to grip the front of his clothes with one hand over the spot where his heart was.

Luke refused to admit it. If he did, he wasn’t sure whether or not he would be able to control himself. He had to be mistaken.

After staring at the corpses for a while, he reluctantly left them alone to return back to the town.

Upon reaching the edge of the town, he didn’t immediately walk back into town. Instead, he chose to walk along the edge, making his way to where his family lived while pretending that he hadn’t seen anything.

It wasn’t long before he spotted the familiar house, and the corners of his mouth curled upward. He took a step forward when he spotted several familiar faces.