Becoming a god starts with enhancing fire arrows.

With Ivyra absorbing the damage in the front row, Rhodes has a very favorable environment for dealing damage.

As he experienced more battles, he became more and more proficient in using fire arrows and rapiers.

He dodged the novice lizardman's slashes with nimble dance steps, pressed his rapier against the lizardman's shield, and fired a flaming arrow.

They ended the life of the last lizardman.

Unfortunately, this elven rapier was only sharp; it lacked any fancy effects.

Otherwise, I would need to improve my sword dance skills to a higher level.

Rhodes subconsciously patted his empty wallet.

The son of a marquis might have trouble even paying his rent next month.

"Are you alright?" Avira asked.

He shut down the sword song, shook his head, and said, "Let's go back and provide support."

Barnaby wasn't particularly talented in battle command, but fortunately, he prioritized assigning apprentices to settle the villagers, and there weren't many lizardmen left.

He and Paril quickly finished the finishing touches.

By the time Rhodes and Ivy returned, the battle was over.

Given that the village was mostly populated by the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled, the group took the initiative to clean up the bodies.

After all, the villagers still need to make a living, and it wouldn't make sense for the village to be surrounded by corpses.

Avira pouted.

Even through the armor, she seemed quite reluctant to touch the lizardman's corpse, but she still moved quite quickly.

While Rhodes and Barnaby were struggling to lift a lizardman.

Avira had already taken one in each hand and dumped the corpses at the designated dumping site like trash.

"Mr. Barnaby, could you please perform a psychic ritual?" Rhodes called to the bald mage, standing beside the lizardman priest's corpse.

The staff that allowed me to use the spell of communicating with the dead has been replaced with Arcane Silver Glow, and currently the entire team has no means of necromancy.

Upon hearing this, Barnaby went to the lizardman priest's side.

"Alright, we can deduce the lizardmen's next move based on the results of the conversation with the deceased."

After he finished speaking, he began to chant softly.

The lizardman priest slowly opened his eyes, which glowed with an eerie green light.

Barnaby thought for a moment and asked:

"What is your actual purpose in coming to Yuxi Village?"

"Sell...humans...find...the...murderer...who killed the guards..."

"Who gave the order for this operation?"

"Guards...Commander...Stie..."

"What happened next..."

"Wait a moment!"

Just as Barnaby was about to ask one last question, Rhodes interrupted him.

After hearing the second question, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

These lizardmen weren't planning to plunder Fish West Village for extra money; they were simply following orders from above.

The head of the guards in the town's sunrise district was under Sam's command.

Was this the Captain's own order, Sam's order, or Cassandra's order?

Rhodes looked at Barnaby and said, "Why don't you ask them why they suddenly need money?"

Barnaby was taken aback, not understanding Rhodes's meaning, but still followed Rhodes's advice and asked:

"What is the real reason behind your eagerness to sell off the humans of Fish West Village for money?"

"For...please...mid-level..."

Please provide a mid-level position?

Barnaby didn't understand why that was the answer.

The town's guards are going to invite a mid-level expert to join them?

Rhodes, however, already understood:

So, are all the lizardmen in the entire Sunrise District of this town minions of "Black Hand" Cassandra?

Cassandra is being far too cautious.

They're even resorting to human trafficking and hiring mid-level combatants for a war just days away, as if they're afraid their chances of winning aren't high enough.

The fact that they targeted Yuxi Village, which was inhabited only by the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, suggests that they had already looted other nearby human villages.

Rhodes cleared his head a little and fired a flaming arrow, setting the lizardman priest ablaze.

The flames quickly spread to the other lizardman corpses, burning fiercely with thick black smoke.

The air was filled with a nauseating smell of burning, and the group quickly returned to the hut.

"Phew..." Paril wiped her sweat and let out a long breath.

Avira looked at the gauntlets that had just touched the lizardman's corpse with some disgust, considering whether she should throw them away as well.

Rhodes looked at Barnaby, who was quietly comforting Mrs. Esme.

Mrs. Esme showed no joy at surviving the ordeal; she simply looked silently out the window at the bloodstains on the ground.

Tears streamed down her somewhat sallow skin.

She had heard Barnaby mention that the lizard people wanted to sell the entire village together.

She also knew that once something like this started, there would definitely be more to come.

These adventurers are powerful, but they can't possibly stay in Fish West Village forever.

After living a peaceful life for most of their lives, are they still destined to be reborn as other races?

Seeing that Mrs. Esme didn't seem inclined to talk, Barnaby quietly left and returned to the table in the living room.

"I plan to persuade the villagers of Yuxi Village to go to the town to avoid trouble for the next few days."

Rhodes shook his head: "If they wanted to go to town, they would have gone long ago, not waited until today."

"But the situation is different now. We've killed so many guards from the Sunrise District; these lizardmen will likely come back for revenge soon!"

"No, no. The lizardmen will never come again."

"Why?!"

"The lizardmen have more urgent matters to attend to and will not waste any more troops in Fish West Village."

Due to the terms of the contract, Rhodes could only reveal this much.

He believed that with Cassandra's intelligence network, she must know that he was the one who killed the lizardmen in Fish West Village.

Given her personality, she would focus on preparing for the Allied offensive rather than continuing to allow her troops to be lost here.

Moreover, Yuxi Village only has twenty or thirty residents to begin with, so even if they were sold, the profit wouldn't be very large.

The most critical point.

A few days later, the allied forces will attack, and the residents of Phil will inevitably suffer large-scale casualties.

Seeking refuge in a small town at this time might actually harm them.

Barnaby couldn't understand where Rhodes' confidence came from, and was caught in a dilemma.

Rhodes changed his approach and said:

"Actually, this is very simple. Just tell the villagers the pros and cons and let them make their own decision."

"You have feelings for this village, and so do they."

"We can't ignore the opinions of these villagers just because they are ordinary people."

After listening, Barnaby pondered for a long time without saying anything, and then walked in the direction of Mrs. Esme.

After Barnaby left, Rhodes called Avira and Paris to prepare for their return journey.

Now that things here are mostly settled, we should hurry up and prepare for tomorrow's arrangements.

Rhodes glanced at the panel.

[Next enhancement requires 970/1000 Life Essence]

Hmm, let's kill a few more large animals like bears along the way, and make it a thousand points.

This 970 is so hard to look at, it's giving me OCD a headache.

Just as the three were about to say goodbye and leave, Rosa, one of Barnaby's apprentices, called out to Rhodes: "Mr. Rhodes, if you have time, could I be your apprentice in magical improvement research?"

There is no rule in the academic school of monasticism that an apprentice can only have one master.

Rosa admired Rhodes because all his ranged spells were Fire Arrows, yet they were incredibly powerful.

To be able to learn only one attack spell, Fire Arrow, and yet improve it to such a powerful degree, one must be a master of spell improvement.

She could even imagine Rhodes studying day and night to perfect his magic.

Rosa's family is relatively well-off and can afford to pay for the extra tuition.

But Rhodes shook his head and said seriously, "My improvements to the Flame Arrow are too profound; even I have a few things I don't understand."

"Only when I truly understand its profound meaning will I be qualified to teach others."

Rosa gazed at Rhodes's powerful yet humble back.

He looked dejected...