Since Gauss and his team arrived in the Herbal Village, the overall demeanor of the village chief and the villagers was relatively friendly. Although somewhat distant, they consistently maintained respect for them.
In the end, Gauss had a subtle intuition that using Friendship Magic with the village chief would not necessarily yield desired results.
Don’t underestimate this intuition; it might seem mysterious, but a person’s feelings often stem from various external factors.
Moreover, Gauss’s exceptional attributes made his judgments about different environments and details more keenly accurate, so his feelings were far more precise than the baseless notions of the average person.
"Let’s investigate this ourselves first," Gauss shook his head, rejecting Aaliyah’s suggestion.
He also needed to clear the nearby demons.
Meanwhile, Aaliyah didn’t persist with her suggestion.
She casually mentioned it, but she wasn’t very willing to use such techniques on ordinary people either.
....
Past noon.
After a brief rest, Gauss’s team, having determined the course of action, emerged from the foldable house with an ordinary demeanor.
Outside the house, it was deserted, with villagers busy with their own tasks.
"Captain, I’ll go check on York," Serdur faintly sensed a potential breakthrough with the mentally ill patient.
"Alright, go ahead, be careful."
Gauss nodded.
At the same time, Ying quietly vanished into the shadows.
"What should we do?" Aaliyah turned her head towards Gauss.
"Just take a stroll around the village."
Gauss seemed very calm.
He needed to wait for Ying to gather intelligence, whether it be anomalies in the village or the distribution of monsters, so for now, he awaited good news.
So, Gauss took Albena and Aaliyah for a walk around the village.
If not for those subtle anomalies, Gauss thought the village seemed quite livable.
Being situated in the forest, the air was exceptionally fresh.
The scent of stacked herbs masked the stench from household garbage and feces.
A few old men sat on small benches, smoking tobacco outside their homes.
"Out for a walk, respectable folks?"
An old man missing a tooth greeted them, unclear but polite in tone.
"Yes, just wandering after a full meal." Gauss replied with a smile.
"Our place here can’t compare to the big city; not much in terms of scenery, just lots of herbs, with fairly decent air." The old man puffed on his pipe, squinting.
"This is a wellness haven; when I’m old, I’d like to return to live here." Gauss continued his conversation, "Sir, how old are you?"
"Take a guess?"
"Sixty?"
"Haha, us old fogies, should be eighty already!" The old man proudly stroked his white beard.
"You’re in great spirits, sir, not at all like eighty."
"Of course, our Herbal Village has been a longevity village for centuries; within hundreds of miles, it’s us who have the most elders!" The old man boasted with pride.
Gauss chatted casually with a few more elders before leaving.
"The elderly in the village have sharp minds." Gauss mumbled with unexplainable sentiment.
In this era, it wasn’t easy for ordinary people to live long, not to mention maintaining such clear mental states and coherent speech was even more rare.
His initial guess of sixty wasn’t out of flattery.
It was a reasonable analysis.
Compared to his previous life, ordinary elders of this era appeared more aged, and with poorer diet compared to before, the likelihood of dementia was greater.
Yet, in his eyes, the elders in the village appeared too spirited.
And this wasn’t an isolated case; whether it was the village chief or the elders smoking, their speech and thought were incredibly fluent.
What’s their secret to longevity?
Simply calling it a longevity village didn’t seem to explain it.
Is it the influence of the natural environment? Or is there some special reason?
Gauss and Aaliyah continued strolling through the village, meeting friendly villagers who even offered them home-preserved meat and jam.
Out of caution, Gauss politely declined, not accepting them.
"Such a prosperous village..." Aaliyah remarked.
Since departing from Sen City, heading north, they had aided quite a number of villages. This village, while not large, surely had the best living standards amongst them.
Gauss encountered the "promising youngsters" the village chief spoke of in a clearing resembling a Martial Arts Arena.
They were both male and female, practicing intensely, utterly focused.
So he observed from afar without interacting.
"They’ve all acquired skills."
"The leading middle-aged person might have a Professional Level."
Gauss squinted slightly.
The middle-aged one held a Magic Staff, casting tricks at the target.
Though only basic tricks were being used, Gauss’s proficiency in magic observed that his skills weren’t just limited to tricks.
"If this village has a Professional and so many apprentices, living in the forest, having no fear of monsters does make sense."
A Professional Mage paired with familiar village apprentices could wield advantage over most low-tier monsters.
"But..."
Gauss glanced at his moon-white robe.
As a caster, even a rustic villager should be able to recognize it at face value, right?
Although that middle-aged mage had pretty good skills, to Gauss, who has grown vastly, he seemed no different from an apprentice, with much room for further development.
In such a concealed forest village, aside from caravans and adventurers like himself, other Professional casters shouldn’t visit often, right?
Even without guidance, mutual exchange would be beneficial.
Gauss focused his gaze on the middle-aged mage and several apprentices.
"Let’s head back."
After observing for a while, noticing they had realized his presence, Gauss motioned for Aaliyah and Albena to head back towards the foldable house.
Entering the house, Serdur had returned.
"Any special findings?"
"When I arrived, York’s physician was already attending to him."
"It seemed he had just finished administering medicine."
"In my view...it didn’t seem like treatment; rather, it’s more like..."
Serdur didn’t finish his sentence, but the group understood his unspoken implication.
"Are you saying that the villagers are drugging him?" Aaliyah was surprised.
"Yes." Serdur nodded, "Judging by the medication, it appears to have been ongoing for some time."
"What about Uncle York’s wife?" Gauss asked.
"According to villagers, she died from a strange illness shortly after childbirth, and he was originally an outsider who taught locals literacy. After his daughter went missing, there were no relatives left in the village."
"How could this be... The people here don’t seem like bad folks." Aaliyah murmured, her usual accurate intuition wavering.
"..."
Gauss pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"If there really were malicious intent, a dose of poison would do the trick."
He came to the essential point.
Given there’s no family in the village, administering poison for the physician should be easy; why bother with the elaborate process, making him a madman?
For those with sinister motives, a dead person is far safer than a madman.
"Indeed..." Serdur nodded hearing Gauss’s analysis.
As they fell into contemplation, Ying entered from the doorway.
"Back, did you discover anything?"
"I did."
Ying nodded decisively.
"The village’s surroundings are indeed covered with medicinal powders, keeping many monsters and beasts outside, preventing entry."
"The village head didn’t lie about that."
Ying paused, with Gauss waiting patiently, knowing her cautious nature. If she mentioned discoveries, it would undoubtedly be significant.
"However, while I was exploring outwards, deep in the forest, I found an old stone house."