Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

Monsters are a mysterious existence on the continent of origin.

They are enemies of all races: elves, dwarves, and even mysterious dragons; any life form is a target for their attacks.

They were like locusts, leaving nothing behind in their wake.

Some speculate that they are the product of racial malice, some believe they are the embodiment of the planet's own will, and others say they are punishment left by the gods for the world's impious...

Lynn's predecessor was also exiled for incompetence during a monster attack. This thing seems to be everywhere...

"Tell me the details of what happened?" Lynn gestured for Bray not to be nervous.

Bray gripped the water bag even tighter:

"After we passed the slope where we saw the black rock, and continued walking, there was an old forest. It was eerily quiet inside; you couldn't even hear a bird chirping. Many of the branches of the small trees at the edge of the forest were broken off, and the cuts were rough and uneven. It didn't look like they were blown off by the wind; it looked more like... something had hit them hard and broken them."

Bray pulled something from his pocket and held it on a piece of coarse cloth. It was a dark brown stone about the size of a pigeon's egg, covered with a layer of dried, blackened substance that gleamed oily in the setting sun.

He carefully scraped off a small fragment with his fingernail, brought it to his nose, sniffed it, and immediately turned his face away in disgust. "We found this in that forest, stuck in a crevice between rocks. This thing... it smells pungent, a fishy odor."

Lynn took the stone; the temperature between his fingertips was unusually cold. The black substance clung tightly to the stone. He handed it to Joel, who leaned closer to look.

Joel squinted, examining the substance against the light, then licked his finger, dipped it in the black foam, and held it to his nose. His face slowly darkened, his wrinkles furrowing. "No...it can't be wrong...this smell is exactly like those monstrous things that attacked Blackwater!"

Joel seemed to recall something, and his body trembled.

Those listening nearby began to whisper amongst themselves, their voices tinged with unease. Several teenagers were silently pulled behind the adults.

Leon glanced one last time at the mountain shadows in the west that were about to be swallowed by the night: "We didn't dare to go any further and turned back along the edge of the ditch."

The few words he brought back carried a weight far heavier than those two skinny rabbits.

The campfire hadn't been lit yet, but the evening breeze seemed to carry a faint, fishy, ​​rusty smell from the western mountain valley, creeping chillily into people's collars...

The campsite after dinner was shrouded in a deliberately suppressed busyness.

People silently reinforced the low wall they had built during the day, but their eyes couldn't help but glance at the dark mountain shadows to the west.

Lynn swallowed the last piece of bread and walked over to Leon, who was wiping the blade of his sword.

"Leon, come with me for a moment."

"Yes."

The two walked to a sheltered spot, a little further from the campfire. Lynn said bluntly, "As far as I know, monsters are unlikely to appear here. They only attract attention in places with large gatherings of people. How could something like this appear in Grayrock Town? Leon, do you know anything about it?"

There are a lot of monsters near the kingdom's capital, and they are very active. They seem to appear out of nowhere and harass people every now and then. If it weren't for the large number of court mages and high-ranking warriors in the capital, the kingdom would probably have been devastated long ago.

But Grayrock Town shouldn't have this thing, at least not now.

Leon shook his head: "I don't know."

Lynn sighed. If even warriors who had direct contact with monsters didn't know, then no one could answer this question for the time being.

After a pause, Lynn continued, "What are their weaknesses?"

"Monsters all have a core, similar to the human brain or heart. Destroying the core will cause the monster to dissipate."

Leon paused, seemingly unsure how to describe it: "However... the location isn't fixed, because there are many different kinds of monsters... mostly on their heads or in the center of their torsos."

"..."

This somewhat conceptual idea caused Lynn to fall into a brief silence. After a moment, Lynn gave the order:

"We take turns on night watch. The appearance of monsters is too illogical. I suspect something bad might happen tonight."

"What's the night shift schedule?" Leon asked.

"I'll guard the first half of the night, you guard the second half. Bray and his hunting party will spread out along the wall. Bring some good weapons," Lynn said to Leon. "Your men will take all the able-bodied men, split into two teams, and guard the east and west openings, where the low wall is at its lowest point. The women and children will all be gathered in the two sturdiest houses in town, with Martha and Joel watching over them."

Leon frowned. "My lord, you need to rest. I'll take over for the first half of the night."

"I can't sleep." Lynn's voice was calm, but firm: "I have to be there the first night. That's settled."

Leon opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he obeyed the order.

After Leon walked away, he immersed his consciousness into the system's light screen. His public opinion score had risen to 815 due to the sense of crisis during the day and the mobilization in the evening. He quickly browsed the redeemable items and found what he needed most right now:

[Rapid Fire Compound Bow *1: 500 Public Opinion Points]

[6.2mm carbon-mixed arrow * 50: 200 public opinion points]

This is it!

He stepped out of the shadows carrying the exchanged bow and arrows, and amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, walked straight to Bray and handed them over:

"Give it a try."

Bray rubbed his hands vigorously on his tattered clothes before carefully taking the item. The moment he touched it, the scars on his face seemed to twitch. He stroked the cold pulleys and the bow, tried pulling it in the air, and his eyes widened instantly.

"This...this power..." His voice trembled, filled with unbelievable ecstasy, but he immediately suppressed it and turned into a focused solemnity.

He carefully inspected the bowstring and arrows, then drew a black arrow, nocked it, and without aiming at anything, slowly pulled it back towards the open ground, feeling the extremely smooth force and the almost vibration-free stability.

Leon, standing nearby, frowned. He stepped forward and whispered, "My lord! This weapon... it's too sophisticated. Bray may be a hunter, but he's still a resident, not one of our own. Giving him such a weapon... what if..."

"What does 'resident' mean? And what does 'one of us' mean?"

Lynn calmly looked at Leon: "These are all my subjects."

He then softened his tone slightly: "Leon, caution is the right thing to do, but trust is mutual. Today we entrust our backs to them, and tomorrow they will entrust their lives to us. You understand this better than I do."

Excessive vigilance will only make it difficult for people to be of one mind, just as peasants and landlords cannot be of the same mind. This is not the kind of people Lynn wants.

Leon was stunned. He stared straight at Lynn, recalling the changes in the lord in the past few days. He felt as if he were meeting his master for the first time.

After a long pause, he placed his right hand on his chest and performed a standard knightly salute:

"Yes... sir, I was narrow-minded!"

……