Hearing the commotion, the guards playing dice in the corner of the room all fell silent.

Everyone in the room sized up Colin’s party as if they were looking at monsters.

"Besides that, regarding this gentleman..."

Colin explained Oak Heart’s situation to the guard, telling them not to mistake the Bearman for White Frost.

After all that talking, it was clear the guard captain hadn’t understood a thing.

’This guy must have been recently transferred. He’s not a local guard.’

"For a matter like this, I must ask you to see the Great Druids," the guard said with great deference. "Bran, take them over there, quickly!"

One of the dice-playing guards scrambled to his feet, walked over, and said, "Please, come with me, Mr. Colin."

Their deferential attitude made Colin a bit uncomfortable.

He nodded, picked up the gold bar and coin pouch, and led his team to follow the guard.

As they walked out, a buzz of conversation erupted from the room behind them.

"Is that Colin? That’s the Wolf Hunter!"

"That can’t be right. Isn’t the Wolf Hunter supposed to work alone?"

"Where’d you hear that nonsense! But the legendary Colin is... different than I imagined."

"Actually, I heard..."

Listening to the chatter behind him, Colin groaned inwardly. He just hoped that by the end of the day, there wouldn’t be even more ridiculous rumors about him spreading around this place.

The group made their way down the street, eventually reaching the center of Moss Stone Village.

It was a reasonably spacious small plaza. The ground was covered in verdant moss, and in the center stood three oak trees arranged in a triangular pattern.

As they drew near, the bark on the oaks began to flow like liquid. Swirls in the wood formed into eyes, while cracks in the bark became mouths and beards. A face had appeared on the trunk of each tree.

’Why do all these Great Druids like to reveal themselves this way?’

Colin was reminded of the last time he had met a Great Druid.

"The squirrel dislodges the pinecone, and the acorn falls from the tree," the face on one of the oak trees said. "Speak. What is the matter?"

Their voices were rough and indistinct, and their cadence was so slow that understanding them took a great deal of effort.

"We are a field operations team from Thousand Masts City. A few days ago, we killed the bounty target, White Frost. We are now here primarily to report on this Bearman..." Colin once again explained the whole story from beginning to end.

"We are aware..."

"And that’s what happened," Colin said.

The bark on the oak trees immediately began to shift again, returning to its original appearance.

’I wonder if those guys even understood a word of that...’ Colin mused as he led the others out of the plaza.

The guard who had brought them over completed his duty and left.

Colin stood on the main street and began to count the bounty.

"The total bounty is three hundred Gold Coins. After deducting Aidan’s payment, there are five of us, so that’s fifty-seven Gold Coins each." He then put fifty-seven Gold Coins into a pouch and handed it to Oak Heart.

The burly man stared blankly at the bustling street, lost in thought.

Colin spoke again. "This is for you, sir."

"These yellow stones are meaningless to me, worth far less than a single, vibrant acorn." Oak Heart said, his gaze still fixed on the pedestrians on the street. "May I go back now? The full moon is slowly approaching."

"And about what happened in the forest before... we’re very sorry. If you require any compensation, please just say the word, sir."

"Compensation? No," Oak Heart said patiently. "I have you to thank for knocking me out of my bestial state... Frankly, I don’t even know if I did anything terrible while I was transformed."

"Well... all right then," Colin said.

Since the man didn’t want it, Colin certainly wasn’t going to insist. One had to respect his wishes, after all.

With this, the four remaining members of his party would each get over seventy Gold Coins.

’After this, we’ll head back to Thousand Masts City and have Donkexes and the others cut up the gold bar,’ he thought. ’That way, we can avoid the service fee.’

He then said, "Farewell then, sir."

"My thanks to you all."

With that, the Bearman strode unhesitatingly toward the edge of the village and disappeared from sight moments later.

"So, what’s next? Do you all want to take on a few more bounties?" Colin asked the others.

"Let’s head back to Thousand Masts City first."

Kase said, "We’re all out of Antiseptic Oil. Let’s head back and buy some more, or we won’t be able to gather any more materials. Besides, if we go back now, we can get those Dwarves started on our equipment sooner. You know what a bunch of slowpokes they are."

"It’s not that they’re lazy, making Magic Equipment just takes a lot of time," Colin said, speaking up for the Dwarves.

"Seeing you so energetic, Mr. Kase, I thought we were heading out for another ordeal," Orelia said with a sigh of relief. "I’m actually feeling a bit tired."

As the others looked at her, Ale stated, "I’m fine with whatever."

Once Ale had spoken, Orelia asked expectantly, "So... are we staying in an Oak-View Room tonight?"

Colin was about to come up with an excuse to convince them to stick with an Ordinary room.

But then he looked at the gold bar in his hand and felt it would be a shame not to splurge a little after all their hard work these past few days. So, he simply nodded.

After all, he’d earned over a hundred Gold Coins on this trip; spending one or two to reward himself was nothing.

"Huh? You actually agreed?" Kase stroked his chin. "You weren’t influenced by something in that haunted forest, were you, little bro Colin?"

Colin clapped Kase on the shoulder. "Putting everything else aside, when it comes to generosity, I’ve got you beat by a mile, little bro Kase."

"I’m not stingy! You’re the one who used to be so cheap you wouldn’t even let yourself eat meat."

"Are you serious? At least I was eating proper food. I wonder who it was that didn’t want to buy rations and said he’d just pick berries outside to eat."

The two of them walked into the inn, trading friendly jabs the whole way.

After another meal of assorted grilled meats, they each paid a little over one Gold Coin to book a luxurious Oak-View Room.

After their meal, the group eagerly made their way to the top floor of the inn and pushed open the door to their room.

A faint, fresh scent of oak greeted them the moment they stepped inside.

Orelia let out a cheer the moment she was inside, pouncing onto the bed in the farthest corner of the room.

The room was quite spacious, with a small, burning fire in the hearth. All four beds were large four-posters with exquisite carvings, with beautiful silk canopies hanging from their frames.

Colin walked over to one of the beds and felt the mattress.

The mattress felt like it was filled with velvet—smooth and soft to the touch. The bed was made with a silk-floss quilt bearing the emblem of Moss Stone Village.

Just by touch, it felt more comfortable than the bed he had slept on before he transmigrated. ’Though, a mattress this soft is probably bad for my back,’ Colin mused.

He then went to take a look at the washroom.

A clean bathtub, washbasin, and toilet were to be expected, but there was even a small fireplace with a glass screen, keeping the entire room toasty warm.

In Moss Stone Village, where large-scale logging was impossible, this level of accommodation could only be described as luxurious.

"You all go ahead and bathe first," Colin said. "You can put your dirty clothes in that laundry basket over there. They say it has some kind of magic that will get them clean."

The others murmured in agreement as they set down their things.

Colin then walked to the side of the room that faced the inner courtyard.

This side of the room featured several floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows depicting various Elf myths, along with an oak table and chairs. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked out the window.