"Speaking of which, I heard today that outsiders have come to town, apparently... doing some kind of research," Luke recalled what he had seen in town that morning.
"Research? What kind of research?" Sean suddenly asked.
"No idea, but I saw them carrying special instruments—excavation tools! I've seen those before at the academy in Koga City," Luke continued.
Excavation tools!
Was there really something worth studying in a small village like this?
Tombs? Archaeology?
Even though everyone said the Taylemian region was a small town, in Sean's eyes it was just a village, and a remote one at that.
And yet outsiders had shown up here, especially in the dead of winter.
From a lord's perspective, attracting outsiders was a good thing—it could boost local trade and income. But for these outsiders to directly curse one of his knights was practically a provocation.
Who knew if they might target his people next?
"Let's go check it out!"
"Now? But it's still snowing heavily," said the slightly tipsy guard.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to!"
Sean couldn't afford to wait. If they were ordinary outsiders, fine, but they had already cast a curse. If he didn't see for himself, who knew what trouble might brew.
Everyone in the room was stunned by his loud outburst. They had always thought the young Baron Weigel was an easygoing man, at least kind to his subordinates.
Lately, whatever requests they made, as long as they weren't too excessive, he'd grant them. So why was he acting like this today?
No one dared to speak, and almost all eyes turned to the scholar Luke, who stood to the side.
He had always been the local brain of Taylemian. Finding a scholar from a big city in such a small place was no easy feat.
"My lord, wait! Maybe they meant no harm—just had a bad temper... Most outsiders think we Taylemians are uneducated and rude, and they occasionally throw a few sarcastic remarks," Luke said, walking beside Sean when no one else spoke.
He kept glancing at Danti, as if urging him to say something too.
"Uh... yes, my lord. I did argue with them, but thinking back, it's not a big deal," Danti said with a placating smile.
"Right, my lord. Sir Danti knows how to handle things and wouldn't escalate it. Besides, didn't they make up?"
Seeing someone speak up, the others crowded in to add their voices.
Sean looked at them—they all seemed reluctant to let him go out...
Maybe because of the heavy snow, or maybe they thought it wasn't a big deal.
Just a minor conflict.
That made sense. If he couldn't see the curse's effects himself, he'd probably feel the same. If he hadn't pressed for details, even the person involved wouldn't have brought it up.
He glanced at the icon above Danti's head—most of the curse had already passed, and his health had dropped to [1850/2000].
Probably another 50 points and it would end.
So the curse wasn't meant to kill, just to teach him a lesson.
And if Sean went now, with his backing, Danti's temper might spark another fight!
The other side could use magic, and Sean had no way to counter that...
Archaeology? Research?
Sean had flipped through his family's historical records and found no mention of any other forces occupying this area before. It was just a poor region. Was there really anything worth digging up?
"Luke, are there any ancient ruins or something around here?" he suddenly asked.
"Ancient ruins? I haven't heard of any, but there might be tombs. A few years ago, I heard someone in town mention finding ancient tomb sculptures in the eastern woods."
Luke seemed to understand what Sean was getting at and gave the location directly.
Tombs.
Was that what they were after?
But if the townspeople already knew about it, finding anything now was probably hopeless.
"Does our country have any rules about digging up tombs?" Sean thought of another question.
Luke was a scholar, after all—in Sean's terms, an educated man with insights on history, geography, and national politics.
"Only noble tombs are protected and can't be dug up. Everything else isn't restricted."
Seeing the icons [Thinking!] and [Confident!] above Luke's head, Sean figured it was true.
Only noble tombs were off-limits. So as long as he wasn't digging up his own ancestors' graves, anything else was fair game!
That meant there was nothing he could do.
The other group even had a magic user. It wouldn't be easy for Sean to get involved.
"Does the baron think the outsiders mean us harm?"
Seeing the [Confused!] status above Luke's head, Sean realized his string of questions had them guessing.
But when he looked at the others, they showed [Surprised!!!]
"Never mind, never mind. Let's eat. Time to prepare dinner."
Well—it seemed the outsiders were right. Taylemian really was an uneducated place. Even after he'd spelled it out so clearly, some still looked shocked.
Seeing that he'd dropped the matter, the conversation quickly returned to tonight's dinner, including the stories about the city he'd heard when coming downstairs.
Especially from Luke, who had traveled to many towns.
Sean had rarely paid attention to their knowledge before, since he wasn't familiar with this world and mostly listened without asking questions.
But after that reaction, looking back at his subordinates, he realized many of them had probably never left this mountain village in their lives. Their horizons were too narrow.
Though they were all in their thirties or forties, they had little experience—just drinking and laughing all night.
As for Sir Danti, the curse icon above his head had vanished, and as Sean predicted, his health had stopped dropping at 1800 and was slowly recovering.
Relying on these people for advice was out of the question. He'd have to handle his own land himself.
During the meal, Sean lightly tapped Luke on the shoulder...
In his eyes, this scholar was the only one with any real intelligence among them.
"What is it, my lord?"
"Tomorrow morning, come with me to town. We'll go see those outsiders," he said quietly.
"My lord really wants to seek out those outsiders?" Luke glanced around and asked cautiously.
"Yeah, just the two of us."