I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

Chapter 136: Abandoned House

"That's all the information we need for now. Meliodas, can you undo the spell and let him leave?"

As soon as I gave my instructions, Meliodas strummed the harp once again and played the music but in reverse. It was still a tone in our ears, which had a mixture of someone dying inside an elegant cemetery. 

After finishing his piece, Meliodas motioned his hand at the bandit. Instead of waking up and attacking us, the mercenary fell on the ground with his eyes closed. Within a few seconds, the bloke snored up a storm.

"Meliodas?" I asked.

"What?" Meliodas replied.

"What happened?" 

Meliodas cleaned up his instrument and went inside the carriage. "I undid the spell. And now I'm preparing to leave. What do you think I'm doing, Arthur?"

I turned back my attention towards Meliodas and raised my eyebrow. There was no point in asking questions about what had happened, since we're talking about Meliodas. His spells worked quite the charm and in different ways.

"If you say so."

We all left the site and returned to our cart. Lilith and the other girls accepted the happenings as if it was just a normal occurrence in our lives. Well, since we had experienced more peculiar stuff than these, our team wouldn't bother about a spell. 

Upon finishing everything we needed, we left the bandit alone in the field and continued our journey. We refused to dirty our hands directly and let nature kill that man or keep him alive. Since the guy may have killed more than he looked, this punishment was the best thing he could ever have. People could argue that I judged a book by its cover. 

But when a man tried killing us while collaborating with the Holy Light Church, we needed to make a move too.

"Next stop is the abandoned house or the village," I announced, while checking out my map.

Although my system told me that there was nothing there but a plain, a village resided ahead. All we had to do was to follow my knowledge and Lilith's instructions to arrive at that place. But we also needed to know the Church's dael, since they planned on terrorising our goals.

"Lilith, have you ever fought against them when you're traveling?" I asked, while whipping the horse with my ropes.

"No, I have not! I remained hidden from everyone and ventured towards different platforms to reach the Excalibur," Lilith answered.

"How about entering a village? Did you do that?"

Lilith nodded her head and answered, "Yeah, I did! I told you before that I entered some small villages and asked the villagers if they knew your name! But the people there only answered one thing, and that was the king of Camelot. There were priests or mercenaries that greeted me, since I used my concealment spells that tricked the people!"

"If my guess is right, those mercenaries found out that there was a demon nearby. Although you may be good at using those spells, the priests had their artifacts and spells with them. By using those features, the Holy Light Church must have used something to track you down. Hence, their presence," I explained, while gazing at the view outside the cart.

There was also one thing that I kept a secret from Lilith. I didn't want to say it, but the possibility that someone in the demon kingdom might have orchestrated this attack. Those demons were against Lilith's beliefs and tried sabotaging her by other means. If that plan failed, they could just dispose of these people and wash their hands before anyone could notice.

Although the priests had these stones, the demons were still a legion of powerful sorcerers. But if I said all of this information to Lilith, she could go against her kin..Despite these thoughts, I wanted to be an honest man to this demonic girl.

"Maybe there is someone inside your kingdom that wants to kill you. If those priests didn't have anything to detect magic, those demons could have done something to them. Since those devils have different goals from what you think of, they may have choreographed this assault," I said, and didn't hold back my words. "I'm not talking about your father, the demon lord. I am talking about those demons that believed that your father was right. Since they want these humans gone, those demons would do anything to keep them at bay."

It was not the sugar coated words I would say before I reincarnated in this world but my honest opinion. That was the better line than any other words I could think of telling Lilith.

After hearing those words, Lilith lowered her gaze and blankly stared at the floor. She gripped her hands and thought about what I had said for a while. Lilith could not believe my opinion, but it was still an idea that the demons might have thought about. Since we're talking about these creatures, those devils didn't know a fair fight.

"You're probably right about that, Arthur. My father wouldn't allow such underhand tactics. But those who follow him could. I couldn't believe it at all. However, there are other demons that are more monstrous than monsters."

"And some of them are also humans, Lilith. It's just a matter of luck to meet the right partners," I retorted, and flashed her a smile.

That demonic girl could never lie to anyone. And there was no reason for her to tell a lie to our group, since everyone trusted each other. Well, Meliodas could be a trickier person. But he didn't have anything in mind, since he was just a bard.

'Will Meliodas announce that he was the mastermind of all these? He's not going to be like "I AM THE BISHOP THAT ORDERS THEM ALL?" now, would he?' I thought, while quivering my head. 'It can't be.'

After countless debates inside my head, I focused on the road up ahead. It was a boring show, but I needed to guide the horses to our destination. Within a few more hours, Meliodas and I would switch places. But that bard could enjoy her sweet nap for now.

Upon a few hours, I finally traded places with Meliodas. I woke him up really good and told him he would be the coachman for a moment. But before he could grab the ropes, Lilith tapped my shoulder and announced something that jolted me awake.

"We're here."

When I heard those words, Meliodas widened his eyes and zoomed in ahead of us. We all prepared ourselves for another fight that could spark if we arrived on the scene. 

According to Lilith, the abandoned village was just a few miles away from where we galloped. However, since we were against mercenaries, priests, and bandits, we would have to fight them if they knew our location. 

Lilith even brought her Excalibur from her scabbard and conjured it with some dark magic. That obsidian spell amplified any ability that her magical sword had. I also prepared my sword, with Merleen's magic covering our fore. We had the best defence and offence in our team, which could defeat elite players in this game.

But our expectations turned downhill when nothing attacked our cart. Even though we walked straight into their traps, nothing happened to us.

"Something fishy's going on here," I murmured, and looked around. :Something is really fishy."

Within a few minutes, we finally arrived at the abandoned village. Our systems notified us that we were inside that isolated place, but our eyes never saw anything. It was just a shady bungalow with no one inside but a few cobwebs. 

I parked the cart nearby and told everyone to breach the area. We didn't let our guard down and maintained the force field surrounding us. It was our line of defense in case something would happen in our surroundings. Our team even made sure that nothing would attack us underground, where some traps could become effective.

After marching ourselves at the front door, there was still nothing out there to greet us.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" I asked, while pushing the wooden door from the house.

The gate blared a squeaking sound as it finally stretched open for us to enter. As soon as we stepped foot inside, the wrecked walls and distorted ceiling addressed our eyes. A few pieces of furniture rested on each side, but we couldn't use any of them.

We continued further and walked straight at the board, which was the only thing that remained intact. Nestled on the table was a scroll and a closed book filled with specs of dirt covering the book's front.

"I sense a dense magic inside that book. I can feel it," Lilith voiced her concerns, and pointed her fingers at the scroll. 

I seconded her thoughts and told Lilith I could feel the same. However, when I asked the three women and Meliodas, they shook their heads. All of them disagreed about our findings.

"That's strange?! All of us have systems. It shouldn't be possible to miss this!" Despite my words, none of them knew what Lilith and I talked about.