Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Gather the corpses and burn them with the settlement—leaving the bodies in the open will only attract wild beasts and Spirits, which would pose a threat to nearby villages after feasting on the remains.

As snow began to fall, Malin halted the team’s onward journey, retreating with several dozen goblin younglings. One of the summoned Earth Elementals was lost, so Malin ordered Clovis to cancel the summoning, and had his own summoned Earth Elemental carry some goods chests that had been found in the settlement—these chests certainly bore evidence of attacks on small human caravans; otherwise, where would such non-goblin-style chests come from?

Returning these chests to the city and handing them over to the merchant guild should fetch a substantial reward while also clearing the caravan’s name—a mercenary’s death by the hand of another race is better than the stigma of having fled with the goods.

"Speaking of which, it’s already spring, so why is it still snowing?" Last year, when Malin had just arrived, it was cold but not snowy, so he wasn’t sure whether this weather was abnormal or normal.

"It’s quite normal, Carterburg can have snow as late as April, and in the battlefields to the North, it can snow even in June. The Chaos invasion is affecting the weather of several kingdoms in our region. If you cross the plains eastward to enter the Kingdom of Sal, they’re probably able to wear single layers now," said the Dwarf walking ahead of Malin, tightening his collar. "My grandfather mentioned that Carterburg used to be quite warm, and people didn’t wear winter clothes even in winter."

It seemed the Chaos invasion was indeed fatal; the kingdom to the North hadn’t resolved the issue yet, and the fifth great destruction that had started from who knows where gave Malin a headache.

On the way back, Malin encountered a group of Light Cavalry, who said they came to notify the Apprentice hunting team to retreat to Carterburg—as the weather forecasted, snowfall would continue for the next week. In such conditions, without needing Apprentices to fight desperately, the Spirits would cannibalize each other for food.

"You all took out a nest of goblins?" The chief Light Cavalry eyed the goblin younglings bound with ropes behind the team, "Where is their settlement?"

"East, in the hillsides east of Sherla Village. If you go now, you should still see the smoke from our burning," Malin glanced at the Light Cavalry.

"Let’s let it keep burning then; we’re off, gentlemen. You’ll have to make your way back on foot, take care." The Light Cavalry showed no unusual reaction and after bidding farewell to Malin, left with their comrades.