The so-called town was actually a small settlement built on the edge of the dark forest, relying on the resources from the forest for sustenance. Judging from the lights that Violet had seen from above when she arrived, the population was probably around a thousand people.

At this point, it was about two hours after sunset, roughly around 8 PM in terms of Earth’s time. Lester and the others led Violet confidently through the town’s guards and walked along a cobblestone road to the front of a stone house with a wooden sign hanging outside, its main door slightly ajar.

This place, which was the brightest spot in the entire town when Violet observed it from above, seemed to be something like a nighttime tavern, judging by the faint smell of alcohol and the noise emanating from inside.

Lester nodded to the black-haired girl and her companion, and then led his teammates to push the door open. After a moment’s thought, Violet followed suit.

It was lively, or rather, it was as noisy as a market.

Laughter, the clinking of wooden cups, frustrated roars over something, table-pounding, and conversations blended together like passionate musical notes, pouring into Violet’s ears. It felt like there were two different worlds inside and outside the tavern.

“……”

The arrival of Lester and his group seemed to cast a brief silence spell on the tavern. In particular, when Leon, who was following behind Lester, placed two sharp teeth, a row of claws, and a round stone wrapped in black cloth that he had knocked out of the Black Night Tiger’s mouth on the counter, Violet could feel that the atmosphere in the tavern had changed.

After a moment, the noise resumed, but this time it was noticeably subdued. Many people were casting glances at Lester and his companions with a mixture of awe and gratitude, indicating that their mission to hunt down the big tiger was not a secret in this town.

The tavern’s landlady appeared to be a young woman in her twenties, with a gentle and pleasant demeanor. She was dressed in a simple peasant’s coarse cloth dress, her long brown hair tied into a bun at the back. While she didn’t possess striking beauty, she had a clean and tidy appearance that was quite endearing.

“This is… Lord Lester, you succeeded so quickly? Weren’t you just supposed to investigate the beast’s movement today?”

The young landlady used her not-so-smooth hands to brush away the blood on the sharp teeth and claws. She also uncovered the black cloth and took out some kind of small instrument from under the counter to examine the black stone inside. Then she looked up, her smile mixed with gratitude and disbelief as she nodded at Lester and his group.

“It seems to be correct. You truly deserve to be called adventurers from the Sil City. You’ve quickly vanquished the beast that has been plaguing our town. We are truly grateful! Oh, by the way… this is your commission letter. I will affix the seal for you…”

“Well… that was the plan, but we encountered quite a few unforeseen complications… Now that the mission is complete, Miss Lily, could you provide us with a private room? There are some matters we need to discuss.”

Lester gave a wry smile as he tucked the sheepskin parchment, now bearing a special mark, into his pocket. He discreetly glanced at Violet and her companion, and seeing no objections from them, he didn’t say anything more. Instead, he reached out to point at the noisy crowd in the tavern, his meaning clear.

“Oh, certainly! Although the tavern is packed tonight, I’ve been reserving the room for you all along. Here’s the key, please take it!”

“Thank you.”

After repackaging the spoils from the Black Night Tiger’s body, Lester took the small iron key from Miss Lily and led Violet and the others upstairs. It was probably because he was quite well-known here that despite the attention that Violet and Xiao Guang attracted as unfamiliar, beautiful women, nobody dared to create any trouble, likely out of consideration for Lester.

Entering a room at the innermost part of the upstairs, Lester and his group didn’t unpack their belongings. The older man astutely ordered the other members of his team to go downstairs and grab a bite to eat. Only when the room was empty except for him and the two girls did he lock the door and sit down face to face with Violet.

“This should be fine. The Saintess… uh, I mean, Miss Violet and this young lady.”

Lester said as he discreetly glanced at the blonde girl standing behind Violet, who resembled a maid. He then smacked himself on the forehead, as if suddenly realizing something.

“Oh! If it’s inconvenient, don’t worry about it. I mentioned it casually. So, it must be that both of you have some questions for me, right?”

Violet felt like he still thought of her as that “saint” or something. Well, she couldn’t be bothered with constant clarifications, as it seemed Lester was adamant about keeping things under wraps. He had that look of “I will definitely keep your secrets!” on his face. No matter how much she explained, it would probably be interpreted as evasion.

Tucking a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, Violet nodded. “Alright then, Mr. Lester. Firstly, I’d like to understand…”

Although Lester found it rather odd that these two, who seemed to be the Redeemer and her guardian, were asking about common knowledge on this continent, he kept his promise and provided them with all the information he knew.

Firstly, this continent had no official name, and many, including Lester himself, didn’t have concepts like “planet,” “land,” or “ocean.”

According to him, this vast region stretched endlessly. Starting from the Human United Kingdom, where they were currently located, in all directions, there were around a dozen countries of various sizes, including the Holy Empire, Beastman Kingdom’s Domain, Azure Sky Kingdom, and Austre Empire, among others.

If Lester’s estimation was correct, traveling by carriage from the southernmost point to the northernmost point and then from the easternmost to the westernmost point would take about as much time as circumnavigating five or six Eurasian-sized continents on Earth. It was already an extremely vast area.

As for why he mentioned “a region with life”…

According to Lester, there were adventurers who had ventured past the borders of the countries in the southwest, northwest, and northeast directions to explore the world’s edge. However, no matter how far they walked, all they found was a desolate land devoid of life, where there was no water, no food, and even the presence of living beings couldn’t be sensed. Only the unchanging cycle of day and night and the howling of the wind remained.

The wise ones quickly turned back, but those who were stubborn and insisted on continuing forward eventually disappeared forever in the distant wasteland.

Therefore, the common consensus among most people in this world was that “the land has no end,” and the far-off places were only filled with eternal silence and death.

On a side note, there was indeed an ocean in the eastern part of the continent, but because they couldn’t explore the ends of the land in the other three directions, the creatures of this world couldn’t comprehend the fact that their continent was essentially an isolated island surrounded by a boundless sea. They believed in the geocentric model of the world.