This is no village . This is derelict remnants of a village . No trace of life, no tools lying around, no curtains or glass in windows, no flowers. There is something that looks like a burned corpse that nobody buried .

People have abandonned this place long ago and they surely did so for a reason .

As there is a castle near behind, they either fled to the castle or, on the contrary, fled before something coming from the castle .

The only reasonable thing to do is to approach the castle cautiously through the woods on the right as long as there is enough daylight left .

If it looks like a normal living place with sane people around then it is a place to examine and see if there is a way to spend the night .

If it looks as abandonned as the village ruins or there seem to be strange creatures lurking in shadows then all the alarm lights go red and it's best to run all it gives the other way round because the guards can only put me in prison in the worst case but are not likely to drink my blood or enslave my soul . Upon reflection, in this case, that which could dwell in the castle might very well do both to me .