Snapping out of it when favonovel.com heard the confused elderly man’s question, Gerald then replied, “…Well… we came from the other side of the mountain… Before anything else, could you please tell us where we are and what this monster is…?”
“…Ah, I… see… Well, that monster there is called a Taotie… Before you killed it, it lived deep in the mountains and was known for being extremely ferocious!” replied the old man.
Upon hearing that, Gerald and his party exchanged glances with each other. As Yann had earlier guessed, the creature turned out to really be a Taotie…
“Maybe I misheard, but you said the three of you come from the other side of the mountain…?” added the old man, his tone hinting at his disbelief.
As all three of them nodded in response, Gerald replied, “You heard right!”
Seeing that those from the crowd immediately began discussing that fact, Rey couldn’t help but raise a slight brow as favonovel.com asked, “…Is… there a reason why you all sound so shocked…?”
Hearing that question, the old man quickly explained, “Well… you see, nobody’s ever been able to come over to this side of the mountain… After all, there’s a trap there that hypnotically ensnares anyone who tries to come over! With that said, how on earth did all of you even manage to make it across in one piece…?”
It was clear that the old man was referring to the jade board in the hypnotic cave from earlier…
Whatever the case was, Gerald simply smiled subtly before replying, “Let’s just say we aren’t too sure about that either right now, sir.”
“Well, if you managed to achieve such a magnificent feat without even paying attention to it, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call all three of you wise men! Since you’re already here anyway, come along to our village! Allow us to indulge you for managing to get to this side of the mountain!” declared the old man in a jovial tone.
Seeing no harm in that, Gerald and his party then followed the old man—and the crowd of people—back to their village…
Upon arriving, the trio saw that the village looked exactly like ones that could be found in history books. They also came to learn that the people here led lives where they woke early to work and turned in as soon as sunset came. From those two facts alone, it became evident that the people here had lived completely separate from the outside world for many, many years…
“…Say… do… you think we could’ve time-traveled, Mr. Crawford…?” whispered Rey along the way, finding everything here to be too bizarre to belong to the present.
“Negative. I’m sure that this place is just a utopia that came to be since it was cut off from the rest of the world quite early on…” replied Gerald.
After all, if they truly had time-traveled, then their phones wouldn’t still have signals! That was honestly the main reason why Gerald was sure that Rey’s hypothesis was wrong.
Regardless, after hearing what Gerald had to say, Rey couldn’t help but agree…
By the time they got to the old man’s house, the entire village was already abuzz with news about outsiders’ arrival. After all, none of them had ever met people from the other side of the mountain before!
Once they were inside, Gerald immediately asked, “Speaking of which… How should we address you, sir…?”
“Ah, well, I go by Stanton Lingard, and I’m the chief of this village! In case you were wondering, this place is called Moonbeam Village!” replied Stanton as Gerald, Rey, and Yann nodded understandingly.
“A pleasure to meet you, Chief Lingard! Though… why Moonbeam…?”
