My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 88 What right do you have to talk to me like that?

"Hiss!"

A chorus of gasps rose and fell around them. "Hiro, you—" Milan's hand holding the bowl suddenly stopped, and she turned to look at Rod, her eyes filled with obvious surprise.

She was still carefully considering her words, trying to find a gentler way to inform the villagers of the results, but she never expected Rhodes to be so direct, exposing Lily to everyone without warning.

Don Quixote's mouth was agape, but the words of comfort he was about to say were swallowed back. He stood there, stunned, clearly not keeping up with Rhodes's pace.

In the realm of consciousness, Alina frowned, her tone disapproving: "Why did you suddenly reveal Lily? You didn't even give me a heads-up!"

Even though their minds were connected, Alina sometimes had a hard time reacting. Rhodes would be sitting quietly one second and then reveal his trump card the next, giving her no time to process it.

"They asked if there were any survivors," Rhodes said.

"But, but, you know exactly what she looks like now—" Alina still felt that his actions were somewhat reckless. "They could have simply hidden her away and waited until later—"

"It can't be hidden forever. The village is only so big. She can't hide behind my cloak forever. She'll find out sooner or later. Rather than let them find out and cause trouble by questioning me—"

As Rhodes said this, he glanced at the Hungry Wolf Adventurer Group: "Why don't we take the initiative and lay it all out first? It's better than them finding out later and spreading rumors and exaggerating."

Alina paused for a moment, then thought about it carefully and realized that it made sense.

The village is so small that Lily's unique appearance couldn't be hidden at all, not to mention the newly arrived adventure group.

Instead of hiding things and arousing suspicion, it's better to take the initiative to speak openly and keep the right to interpret things in your own hands.

She pursed her lips, muttered softly, "You're right," and stopped dwelling on it.

Aside from the frightened villagers, the first to react were the members of the Hungry Wolf Adventure Team.

Almost instantly, One-Eyed gripped the sword hilt, his body tensing violently. His single eye was sharp as a knife, and his aura instantly darkened: "What is this thing?!"

He had been wandering the world for over a decade, but he had never seen such a monster. Even the orcs would not grow into such a bizarre half-human, half-wolf creature.

"How dare you bring monsters into the village?!" The female adventurer Lyra beside him suddenly stood up, staring intently at Lily, and shouted at Rhodes in front of her.

"What are you yelling about! What right do you have to talk to me like that?" Milan raised an eyebrow, slammed her staff to the side, and a faint purple light emanated from the tip of the staff.

Sensing her aura, the group paused, then fell silent.

Milan then looked up at the group of people who had slammed their fists on the table and stood up, her expression turning cold: "Watch your mouths, what monster? These are just kids from the village."

"This—" Several injured villagers shrank back in fright, their faces pale. Some of the more timid ones began to recite prayers with trembling lips.

The middle-aged man, who had been full of anticipation just moments before, froze, then boldly stared at Lily's half-revealed human profile for a long time before his voice trembled: "This, this is—Lily?"

He recognized the child's features and the familiar collar of his cloth coat, but the half-furry wolf face and the drooping animal ears made him hesitate to recognize him.

The old woman next to her also opened her eyes wide, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't tell whether she should be glad that her child was still alive or sad that her child had become such a grotesque and inhuman creature.

"Waaah—" Lily shrank back in fright at the stares of everyone in the room, and burrowed into Rhodes' arms, her wolf tail clenching tighter, and her shoulders trembling slightly.

"That's right, she is Lily." Rhodes reached out and gently placed his palm on the top of her head, stroking it twice along the curve of her wolf ears.

"When we found her, she was already like this."

Before anyone else could ask, he continued, "As for the others, unfortunately—by the time we arrived, they were all dead."

Based on his experience as a corpse collector, Rod had used his emotional intelligence as much as possible to convey this message to them tactfully.

These words silenced the entire room; the air seemed to freeze. After a moment, suppressed sobs could be heard.

The middle-aged man swayed, and only managed to stand firm by holding onto the rough stone wall.

From the day his family was dragged away by the monsters, he had already prepared for the worst, but when he actually heard the news of their deaths, his eyes still reddened, and he turned his face away and wiped his eyes hard.

The old woman, who was squatting on the ground, could no longer hold back. She covered her face and sobbed, her cries soft and desperate, mingling with the bubbling of the porridge pot on the stove, making one's heart feel heavy.

The other villagers also hung their heads and sighed. Some secretly wiped away tears, while others clutched the worn-out holy emblem on their chests and pressed it to their lips, whispering prayers.

When their gazes fell on Lily, they instinctively shrank back; her half-human, half-wolf appearance was truly terrifying.

Half of her face was that of a child, but the other half was covered with fine gray hair. Her left eye gleamed with a pale, cold green light, and when her lips parted slightly, a sharp canine tooth peeked out from between them. The gray hair extended down her chin to her collar.

Although she did nothing, in the eyes of the still-terrified villagers, her half-human, half-beast appearance exuded an inexplicable ferocity.

Faced with this sole survivor, even though she was a child they had watched grow up, instinctive fear outweighed most of their sympathy. They only dared to steal glances from afar, and no one dared to take a single step forward.

Sadness and fear mingled together, creating a heavy and chaotic atmosphere in the church that made it hard to breathe.

"This is practically a curse from the devil—"

An elderly villager with a wrinkled face spoke tremblingly from the corner. His voice was soft, but it made the sobbing in the room pause.

Soon, hushed whispers arose, and no one dared to shout.

After all, the people in front of them were the saviors of the entire village, but the instinctive fear in their eyes when they looked at Lily was still undeniable.

"Look, half her face is covered in hair, and she even has a tail—"

"Being dragged to the mine by monsters for so long, it's a miracle we even survived—"

"But this appearance is too creepy, how are we supposed to live from now on?!"

Several villagers who were nearby instinctively shrank back, some gripping the machetes on the ground; others hurriedly looked away, not daring to meet the wolf's eyes, their mouths trembling as they subconsciously murmured prayers.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Milan took half a step forward, gently tapping his staff on the ground. A faint purple light flashed and disappeared, steadily suppressing the noisy whispers.

"Everyone, please calm down," she said in a steady voice. "Although her appearance has been changed, her consciousness is no different from that of an ordinary child. She will not intentionally hurt anyone, and this condition will not be contagious to others. There is no need to be afraid."

She deliberately omitted the details of being possessed by an evil spirit and the battles she had fought against.

Revealing these details would only amplify the villagers' fears and push the child to the opposite side of everyone.

"I am a mage belonging to the Arcane Academy," Milan said solemnly, glancing at the bewildered faces present. "I will do everything in my power to find a solution and will not abandon the child."

"Yes! And so are we!" Don Quixote quickly nodded in agreement, "Lily was harmed by that bad guy, that's why she's like this now."

"But everyone can rest assured, we have already slain that evil monster, and this situation will not happen again."

""

Although it was still unclear what was going on, Susanna took a step forward.

Her pristine white priest's robe swept across the grass clippings on the ground. She raised her hand and gently pressed it against the crescent moon emblem on her chest, her voice gentle yet resolute: "Everyone, there's no need to worry. I will perform purification rituals on Lily every day, trying to dispel the remaining curse from her. This child is innocent—"

Hearing her assurance, the villagers felt a little relieved.

Some people whispered in agreement, "The pastor is right," while others sighed, their faces still showing deep worry.

No one spoke again, but no one dared to move forward. They all stood a few steps apart, their eyes instinctively avoiding Lily's cold, green wolf eyes.

The gratitude was real, and so was the fear; an invisible barrier clearly stood between them.

Several seriously injured villagers were helped back to bed by their families, muttering prayers under their breath; the older villagers shook their heads and slowly retreated to a corner, occasionally stealing a glance at Lily before quickly looking away.

The porridge on the stove was still bubbling away, its warm aroma mingling with the faint holy scent of the church, yet it couldn't dispel the heavy sense of unease.

Rhodes lowered his eyes, his fingertips gently tracing the frizzy wolf ears on Lily's head, while his gaze subtly swept over the Hungry Wolf Adventure Team opposite him.

Strangely, from the moment Lily appeared until now, although One-Eye and the others were initially shocked, his attention wasn't really on the child's appearance; instead, he was thinking about something else entirely.

His gaze lingered on Lily's face for only a brief moment before he looked away after hearing their explanation, instead scrutinizing the dust and battle marks on Rhodes and the others.

The female adventurer Lyra next to him crossed her arms and occasionally glanced at the villagers with a disdainful look that seemed to say "it's nothing". But as soon as the one-eyed man turned his head slightly, she would immediately lean over and whisper a few words in his ear.

Before the murmurs inside had completely subsided, One-Eyed took half a step forward, breaking the slightly tense atmosphere.

He deliberately lowered his voice, his tone much gentler than before: "Wait, this lady knight just said that the monster that harmed the child like this has already been killed by you?"

His single eye was fixed on Don Quixote, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the patterns on the sword hilt: "What kind of monster is that?"

Are they using living people for curse experiments?

Don Quixote was always outspoken, and after being silenced by the villagers, he immediately perked up when someone asked about his battle record.

She slammed her greatsword on the ground, opening her mouth to continue, "He's a two-headed ogre who built an evil altar deep inside the mine and captured a lot of villagers—"

Don Quixote.

Milan suddenly spoke, precisely cutting her off and preventing her from revealing any more information.

She turned her head and glanced at Don Quixote indifferently, her eyes clearly conveying disapproval. Then she turned back to One-Eye, her expression calm but her tone distant, clearly drawing a line: "Thank you for your concern, One-Eye. The instigator has been executed, and the direct dangers in the mine have been temporarily suppressed. The village will not be affected again in the short term."

She paused, her fingertips lightly touching the magic crystal at the top of her staff, a subtle threat in her voice: "However, the specific details are confidential information under this commission."

"To be honest, this mission was personally assigned by the vice president of the Adventurers' Guild. The core information is only available to the person who commissioned the mission and the guild's senior management."

"You're just a temporary support team, your only responsibility is to assist with village security. You probably don't have the authority to inquire about the core details of our operations, do you?"

The room fell silent the moment Milan said that.

The one-eyed man's probing expression froze for a moment, clearly not expecting the other party to bring up the guild's vice president so bluntly.

The female adventurer Lyra immediately frowned and took half a step forward to argue, but the one-eyed man quickly grabbed her shoulder.

He chuckled, raised his hand to touch his chin, and the stiffness on his face instantly turned into a smooth smile. His hoarse voice also became much more amiable: "So it was a task personally assigned by the vice president. We were being presumptuous."

"Mainly because our group has been clearing out roaming monsters in the Blackrock Mountains area lately, and we've also encountered a few cases of evil people kidnapping people to perform sorcery. It sounded like the same type, so I asked a few more questions."

He shrugged and said casually, "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just worried that some of the remaining members might escape and cause more harm. Since you've already taken care of things, that's for the best."

Milan followed the steps down, nodded slightly, and said in a more gentle tone, "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Commander. We have already conducted a preliminary investigation of the situation in the mine, and we will confirm it further later."

"We will have to rely on your group more for the village's defense and the surrounding patrols. If there are any monsters that have escaped, we can deal with them together then."

"Of course, of course." One-Eyed nodded with a smile, but there wasn't much of a smile in his eyes. He quickly glanced at Lily, who was being protected by Rhodes, and then looked back at Milan's face. He hadn't completely given up his investigation, but because of his position as vice president, he couldn't ask any more questions.

Both sides are tacitly going in circles, being polite on the surface, but secretly weighing each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Susanna, who was watching from the side, understood the situation perfectly and quickly stepped forward with a smile to smooth things over. She gestured towards the stove, saying, "Alright, alright, what are you all standing there for? Have some porridge first! It's been cooking for almost an hour, it'll get cold if you leave it any longer. We can discuss the village's fence repairs and patrol schedules after we've eaten."

The fire crackled in the stove, and the aroma of porridge wafted out again, but the atmosphere inside the church was far from as relaxed as it appeared.

Rhodes lowered his eyes and pulled the cloak around Lily's neck to cover her exposed wolf claws. This wolf adventurer group, whose arrival seemed too coincidental, was definitely not just passing by to provide support.

However, the other party has not yet shown any obvious threat; it may just be a simple competition between adventurers.