As Gazef entered Carne Village, he did not immediately engage in conversation with Riezel because, while passing through the square of Carne Village, he saw the gathered corpses of the villagers.
Before this, the villagers had already been preparing for the funeral.
Although holding the funeral on the very day of the tragedy might seem a bit rushed, in this world, it was something they had no choice but to do. If corpses weren't handled in time and the deceased weren't given proper funerals, they risked turning into undead.
Undead were creatures formed from the negative energy and vitality that lingered in corpses or other necromantic mediums, creating a type of monster with a nature opposite to that of the living.
Living beings had lifespans, while undead did not.
Holy powers could heal the living but harm the undead.
Magic that healed the living would wound the undead, while curses and deathly powers that could kill the living would instead nourish them.
Beings like zombies, skeletons, ghouls, ghosts, wights, or swell skins were all forms of undead, making them some of the most numerous and varied monsters in this world.
Such impure entities frequently emerged in places where people died, giving rise to the undead, especially those who died tragically or without anyone to mourn them—their chances of becoming undead were notably higher.
Given this, paying respects to and comforting the deceased was an extremely important custom and tradition in this world, cherished across all nations and races.
Since the villagers who had perished in Carne Village died in a brutal massacre, the resentment they held in their final moments was undoubtedly intense, increasing the likelihood that they would turn into undead.
As a result, the surviving villagers had to stifle their grief, gather the bodies of their loved ones in one place, and prepare to hold a funeral as quickly as possible.
Gazef and his group's arrival had unwittingly interrupted this process, causing the villagers to hide indoors and leaving the corpses gathered in the square.
Seeing such a tragic scene, Gazef halted his steps.
"Let me offer my prayer for the dead."
Gazef made this simple request to the village chief, drawing a slight glance from Riezel, making him admit that this so-called strongest warrior truly had a heart for understanding and empathizing with the commoners.
Meanwhile, the village chief, upon hearing Gazef's words, was moved to tears before quickly calling the villagers out of their homes to continue the funeral.
Even though the funeral in this small village was far from luxurious and extremely modest, it was already the best the villagers could manage at the moment, and no one would hold it against them.
They even gathered the corpses of Belius, Londes, and the other disguised knights from the Slane Theocracy, intending to bury them as well to prevent them from becoming undead.
Nevertheless, this process brought forth another round of sobbing, prompting Riezel, who felt somewhat uncomfortable with this kind of atmosphere, to excuse himself and temporarily step away.
Gazef, on the other hand, placed a flower on each villager's grave and bowed to them in respect.
During this time, however, Gazef received surprising information from one of his subordinates.
"What? You're saying that young man can use 5th-Tier Magic?"
Gazef was surprised by what his subordinate had whispered in his ear, as he had just learned this information.
"Incredible, right?"
With a face that showed amazement, the subordinate spoke with a hint of disbelief.
"When we talked to the villagers, they all said that before the knights who attacked the village died, they shouted that he used 5th-Tier Magic."
Although the villagers might not understand what being able to use 5th-Tier Magic meant, Gazef and his subordinates did.
"Only a magic caster who's entered the Realm of Heroes can use 5th-Tier Magic… and this young man can actually use it?" Gazef muttered in amazement.
What was the Realm of Heroes?
It was a realm for those who had surpassed the natural limitations of their race, a boundary beyond what mortals should be able to achieve, which was why it was also called the beyond-mortal realm.
Moreover, those in the Realm of Heroes were an existence so rare that, even across the entire Re-Estize Kingdom, there were barely any people within this realm.
Considering this, could a young man who looked under twenty have really reached that realm?
"Is it possible they made a mistake?"
Another subordinate, seeing Gazef deep in thought, voiced his doubts.
"He's so young. How could he already be in the Realm of Heroes?"
Upon hearing this, Gazef shook his head, rejecting his subordinate's view.
"Young age doesn't make it impossible to reach the Realm of Heroes. Did you forget about the leader of Blue Roses?"
At Gazef's words, the subordinate fell silent.
Blue Roses was one of only two Adamantite Adventurer Groups in the Re-Estize Kingdom with five members, all of whom were women.
Despite this, each of them was a highest-rank Adamantite Adventurer, and their leader was an acknowledged hero-level figure in the Re-Estize Kingdom who had already entered the Realm of Heroes, accomplishing multiple extraordinary feats by the age of nineteen.
In other words, reaching the Realm of Heroes before twenty wasn't unheard of.
Gazef's point was simple.
"We might have met the second person like her."
Upon hearing Gazef's words, his subordinates exchanged astonished glances.
As for Gazef himself, he spoke with pure admiration, feeling an even deeper respect for the young man in his heart.
Although he could be considered someone within the Realm of Heroes, he knew his own limitations and understood that he was, in fact, still half a step away from fully entering the Realm of Heroes.
First of all, the reason he was recognized as the strongest warrior had two underlying causes.
One was the set of four great treasures granted by the king, which, when fully equipped, boosted his power to an exceptional level.
As for the other, it was a treasure he had received from a senior member of Blue Roses, which allowed him to place one foot into the Realm of Heroes, even though the other foot hadn't fully crossed that line.
In other words, even with external help, he hadn't completely entered the Realm of Heroes and had only half a foot in.
For this reason, he was especially respectful of those who managed to step into the Realm of Heroes purely through their own abilities.
"Let's go."
Gazef shook his head and walked away.
"Let's have a good chat with that young hero."
Upon hearing this, his subordinates nodded in agreement and quickly followed him.
===
Carne Village, Village Chief's House.
At this moment, the village chief was nowhere to be found, as he had lent his house to Riezel and Gazef so they could have an important conversation.
Riezel and Gazef, on the other hand, sat across from each other at a simple wooden table, exchanging a few pleasantries before getting to the main topic.
"How did Sir Brynhart find out that those Baharuth Empire's knights were actually disguised knights from the Slane Theocracy?"
Gazef was very curious about this.
After hearing the full story from the village chief and the other villagers, he was intrigued and wondered how Riezel, a magic caster who had 'accidentally' passed by Carne Village, could have known about the Slane Theocracy's secret plan.
Unfortunately, this question was destined to remain unanswered.
"What would you think if I told you I knew all along that today's events would happen?" Riezel replied, looking at the strong man across from him with a slight smile and a somewhat ambiguous tone.
"Knew all along?" Gazef narrowed his eyes.
Needless to say, a lot of information was packed into that statement.
One should know that the Slane Theocracy's secret plan was definitely known only to a few, yet here Riezel was, claiming to be just passing by while also saying he had known about that from the start.
Was there some hidden motive behind his words?
No one knew.
"Rather than focusing on that, shouldn't you be more concerned about your own situation, Sir Warrior Captain?"
Riezel steered the conversation in a different direction.
"You know they're coming for you. Whether it's slaughtering innocent villagers or cozying up to the kingdom's nobles, their goal is the same—to eliminate you."
As soon as Riezel finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room grew heavy.
Gazef remembered the information his subordinates had just gathered from the villagers, specifically the information that Riezel had revealed during his confrontation with the Slane Theocracy's disguised knights.
"You mean one of the Six Scriptures, the Sunlight Scripture?"
Gazef now understood that the knights disguised as knights of the Baharuth Empire were merely bait to lure him in, and the one truly holding the fishing rod, planning to reel in the big catch from behind the scenes, was Sunlight Scripture.
He knew that the Six Scriptures were no ordinary enemy.
It was a fearsome organization consisting of six units, each with a specific role, specialty, and function within the Slane Theocracy.
Regardless, each unit wielded terrifying power without exception.
However, the most famous of them all was the strongest among them—the Black Scripture.
It was said that every member of the Black Scripture had stepped into the Realm of Heroes, each one astoundingly powerful.
On the other hand, the Sunlight Scripture was a unit specifically tasked with the suppression and annihilation of demi-human races and their dwellings.
Among the six units, the Sunlight Scripture was the most frequently deployed.
While its members were few in number, even with reserve members included, which barely totaled a hundred, to join, one had to be able to cast at least 3rd-Tier Magic, the highest tier of magic ordinary magic casters could learn.
Clearly, this fact alone showed just how formidable the Sunlight Scripture was.
"Does Sir Warrior Captain have any chance of surviving an ambush by a group like that?"
Riezel's question hit Gazef right in his weak spot.
Did he have a chance?
Obviously not.