Ross appeared deep in thought. Sean called out to him several times, but he didn't respond until Sean stood right in front of him, snapping him back to reality.
"Oh, my apologies, Count! I was thinking about something else."
"What could possibly have you so engrossed, Lord Ross?"
After they parted ways, Ross, following his usual approach, posed as a scholar to gather the townsfolk's opinions and perspectives. Naturally, most of it revolved around the strange dreams in the town. Through his inquiries, he discovered that, just as Baron Maeland had said, the townspeople were thoroughly content with their current lives—whether in reality or in dreams—and they all appeared remarkably at ease.
However...
The townsfolk gave him the impression that they couldn't care less about real life, and many of them looked somewhat listless on the surface.
"Count, have you noticed how the townspeople look at you?"
"What do you mean?" Sean asked.
"It's hard to put into words. It's like when they look at you, they feel..."
"As if they don't take you seriously at all?" Sean finished the thought before Ross could.
"Yes, that's exactly it."
In truth, Sean had noticed this earlier—or rather, yesterday. A group of people living in their own dreams wouldn't care what reality turned into. In their eyes, everyone else was just a backdrop, and only the figures in their own dreams were the protagonists.
"This isn't surprising anymore. Any other findings?"
"Not much else. The townspeople rarely say much, but a scholar always has his methods." With that, Ross pulled a thick leather-bound book from his coat.
"What's that?"
"I got it from an old man's house. You know, in a town where no one speaks honestly, it's better to find something more reliable than trying to pry words out of them." Ross seemed quite proud of his achievement.
Tsk.
Stolen, huh.
Not bad—fitting for a scholar.
"Does it reveal anything?" Sean asked.
"It's a diary. Based on the leather's aging, I'd estimate it's sixty to seventy years old. It records the daily life of its owner from back then. I found that the town was still normal fifty or sixty years ago; this situation only emerged later. It also mentions something called a 'tree spirit' multiple times." Ross's words caught the attention of both Sean and Asrant.
Placing the book on the table, he pointed to several marked entries.
They were all mundane daily trivialities, even complaints about family and neighbors—the ordinary life of a common resident. It recorded that his daily work was to go up the mountain and chop wood.
In most border towns of the Basharan Empire, selling timber was the main source of income. As for medicinal herbs and animal hides, they weren't steady—found when lucky, absent when not. While some industries had started using coal and even fuel oil, that was limited to highly developed cities and those tech hubs. The vast majority of regions still relied on primitive wood, and ordinary folks could only afford to burn wood for fuel!
Living off logging and hunting was the shared way of life for border townsfolk.
This was no different, even for someone who kept a diary.
Still, the fact that this person could write a diary made Sean a bit envious. Compared to his own town of Taylormian, the residents of Uppervalley seemed somewhat more cultured. He guessed this habit might have been picked up from travelers.
Travelers in this world often kept diaries. Back in the day, Kerry from the archaeological team always carried one. According to them, if an accident happened on a journey, they hoped someone would find the diary and deliver it to their family.
Beyond these trivial matters, the diary frequently mentioned a "tree spirit," and in later entries, it repeatedly claimed that the tree spirit brought light and vitality to the town!
After that, there was nothing.
It seemed the writing stopped.
"There's nothing after this, my lord." Asrant picked it up and checked, finding the remaining pages blank.
"Yes, he stopped writing. Or maybe he didn't need to anymore..." Sean looked at Ross.
"Is the diary's owner still alive?"
"Probably not. The oldest person left in that family is an old woman. I found this diary in a corner. Do you think there's something wrong with that tree spirit, Count?"
"It's likely some kind of peculiar magic." Sean then told them about the strange smell he had noticed the previous night.
The scent of tree sap was strongest at night, but it vanished during the day!
Moreover, when he had taken down the tree-ring ornament from someone's door earlier, no matter how old it was, cutting it open revealed that the wood inside was still alive.
The cause of the town's strange dreams might very well be these trees.
"So, Count, what should we—"
"Asrant, later tonight, gather a few agile and trustworthy men to check out the forest."
"Yes, my lord!"
Sean decided to see for himself.
Uppervalley wasn't his territory, and since this dream phenomenon hadn't caused any casualties, he could have simply turned a blind eye. But Sean still wanted to investigate.
Mainly because this thing, which didn't fall within the realm of magic, piqued his curiosity—or rather, his concern.
Especially after encountering the fish-men, the Deep Ones, and the so-called Elder Gods, Sean took these unknown abilities and magics very seriously. If not for the fact that the passive effect of the Eye of Gehros was still active, he wouldn't have dared to go directly.
Night fell again.
Asrant, following Sean's orders, brought along five or six guards with Order levels around 5. They all carried torches in the dark, having first asked the townsfolk where they usually sourced the wood for building houses, and then set off along that route.
Walking through the forest at night was inconvenient. Several torches had to be clustered together to light the path.
"Why didn't we come during the day?" Ross had joined the group as well. Though he was an experienced traveler, that very experience told him that night was the worst time for movement.
"The smell is strongest at night. If it's hard to move, we can find the path first and come back during the day to check it out." Sean hadn't expected to find anything right away.
The forest was vast. Whatever it was, if it wanted to hide, it could easily do so. So they had to rely on the tree sap scent being at its peak at night to track it down.
"Indeed, there's a very distinct smell around here." Ross and Asrant also noticed the scent in the woods, unlike any other forest. Most forests had a mix of rotting matter, soil, and plants creating a strange odor.
But this tree sap even had a faint sweetness to it...
It stretched all the way into the depths of the forest.