Faust observed the base of the mountain, trying to see if he could spot anything dangerous there. After watching for a while and confirming there was nothing, he decided to climb down.
He was extra careful, but thanks to his experience in the cave, he was able to walk on the rocks with ease. Still, it took him a while to reach the base of the mountain.
Looking up from there, the mountain was tall—over three hundred meters high. But compared to the truly massive mountains, its size was minuscule, insignificant.
On the greater mountains, it was possible to see buildings extending from their base all the way up to the peak. There were hundreds of houses, multiple buildings, and other structures.
The dead and short grass was actually quite tall when he stood on it, making it very difficult for Faust to see ahead—it was almost taller than his body. As he saw how much bigger things were up close, he subconsciously mumbled, "Then how big are those monsters?" He was quite shocked by this.
He decided to follow the river. He could hear the flowing water, and closer to the river, there was less of that grass, so it was easier for him to see. Obviously, that could expose his location to the monsters, but he had no other choice.
To no surprise, the river was much greater than it had looked from afar. The size was incomparable—bigger than any river he had seen before. It was over a hundred meters from one side to the other, and it flowed for thousands of kilometers.
The clean blue water also appeared to have no real bottom. It was deep, too deep for Faust to try to explore it. Especially while he was shackled—the extra weight would probably help him sink, but that wasn't what he had in mind.
His actual objective was to find a way to get rid of the shackles. Since he couldn't do it alone, he would try to interact with the people in these "settlements."
That was one of the reasons he was following the river's flow. From the top of the mountain, he had seen a few settlements close to the river. If he followed it, he would eventually reach one.
He started running alongside the river. Soon, his stomach began to growl, but his thirst was satisfied by drinking the river water—it was extremely pure and clear.
"I'm hungry… eh, I have to ignore it for now. I doubt I can find any food at the moment. I can resist at least two to three days without eating—that's not the biggest issue right now. Far from it."
His mind was actually more worried about the monsters. If he encountered one, he had no way to defend himself. He needed his runes. He had to find an area to settle and scatter it with runes or find a book where he could draw them. Now, Red wasn't there to guide him. He was completely alone.
As he was running beside the river, he suddenly stopped and crouched. Not too far ahead of him, there was a creature—a monster. Fortunately, his choice to walk along the river paid off. If he had been running through the grass, he probably wouldn't have been able to see it from a distance.
It wasn't the beetle or the mantis. Instead, it looked like a wolf.
The monster was weird but appeared weaker than those he had seen before. Its body was around two meters tall, and it walked on all fours. Its appearance was similar to that of a wolf, but in place of its mouth and nose, there were a few oozy tentacles hanging out. Where its eyes should have been, there were spiral cavities that resembled human ears.
It apparently hadn't seen Faust. It moved around and suddenly attacked the water with its tentacles. After a few minutes, it retracted them. On them were ugly marine creatures that resembled fish but were black, gray, and purple—they didn't even look edible.
After consuming these monstrous fish, the creature strolled around for a while and then went away. It apparently hadn't noticed Faust.
Once he was sure the creature was far enough, he started running again and eventually reached the outskirts of a small settlement. But the sight was quite surprising.
The settlement was surrounded by tall dark wooden walls, over three meters high, but there was a huge destroyed section that created an entrance. The wood around that part was broken and burned, ashes all around it.
"Did the monsters do that?" Faust waited, watching to see if anyone would come out of the settlement. He observed through the broken entrance, and after a while, he was convinced the settlement was empty—at least of humans, that is.
"I have no better option. There's no way for me to survive out in the open… If that settlement is empty, on the other hand, I could try to rebuild the walls and lay low for a while inside. If I have my own 'area,' then I have the advantage of runes."
In the end, it was a gamble. If the settlement was empty because monsters had attacked and killed everyone, then this was a dangerous area. On the other hand, it might be better this way—he wasn't sure the people living there had been peaceful. Even if they were, they had no reason to help him.
He had already survived alone. He thrived in it—he even enjoyed it. While he was an outsider in the village, he had been out of control, unable to do most things. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Faust decided to carefully enter the settlement. He moved slowly and stepped over the fallen part of the wall. Inside, it wasn't big—not even half the size of his village. The ground was completely made of packed earth with a dark tone to it. There were dark bloodstains on the ground, but no corpses.
He walked around, trying to fully explore the settlement. As he approached the central area, he stopped in his tracks as his body sent a signal to his brain: danger.
In front of him were three creatures. They were small, about the size of an adult's head, and looked like porcupines. They wandered aimlessly.
Their bodies were covered in grayish scales, and spikes protruded from them. Faust observed them from a distance for some time, but they didn't seem to leave the area they were in, so he retreated to the section near the fallen wall. Even though they looked weak, he wouldn't risk his life with an unnecessary battle.
Close to the fallen wall, one house remained standing, while the other three were nearly complete ruins—destroyed beyond repair.
The almost intact house was small, maybe enough for two or three rooms. It had a wooden sliding door and a window covered by a cloth blind.
He approached it, holding the executioner's sword in one hand while using the other to slide the door open.
The door slid open, revealing a mostly empty interior—just a table and two chairs, with a half-open door leading to another room. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, then moved to the other room. There, he found two beds with dark leather coverings.
The whole house had only two rooms: the main room with the table and chairs, and the bedroom with the two beds. Beyond these, the house was completely empty.
"Interesting… Either the people who lived here were very frugal, or things were taken away for some reason."
In the bedroom, Faust sat on one of the beds, the sword resting beside him as he planned his next moves. A single mistake could mean death—his strategy had to be perfect, or at least as close to flawless as possible.