The Laughing Swordsman

Layla continued to dangerously pull herself and Apollo upwards. Beads of sweat continued forming rapidly on Willow's forehead.

After many close calls, they eventually got up to the top of the walls. There was nobody around.

Layla stretched her free arm high into the air.

"Wah!~"

As for Willow, she fell to one knee, panting. Her heart was still trying to recover from that stressful experience.

"Hah... now we made it to the top of the wall."

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"What now?"

Apollo curiously turned his head towards Willow, waiting for her response.

Willow cleared her throat.

"Now that we have scaled up the wall, we have to scale down the other side. Our priorities must be taking it slow and sile-"

"Hup!"

Without letting Willow finish her sentence, Layla directly jumped off, taking Apollo with her.

The black mist screen strained.

In a fluster, Willow jumped off after her helplessly. As she began falling, her face twitched.

...At this rate, this girl was going to be the death of her.

The group felt a strong wind blow by them as they descended.

Layla closed her eyes to fully embrace the wind.

"Waaah!~"

Willow really wanted to tell Layla to be quiet. However, something told her that Layla would only become louder if she did that.

Willow let out a sigh, before preparing a technique.

The group continued accelerating at great speeds, about to slam down onto the floor. However, right before they were about to do so, Willow's eyes narrowed.

A dense black mist swallowed the group up, sending them into the shadow world.

Layla looked around curiously at the dark world filled with the occasional grey mist.

"Eh? Where did we go?"

Not even a second later, they disappeared from the shadow world. Their figures reappeared, standing at the edge of the city.

The massive crater in the empire's wall was about thirty or so meters away, meaning they were fairly close to it.

The black mist screen still covered them, but was getting faint.

Willow's eyes darted around until they landed on a giant piece of rubble they could hide behind.

She ushered Layla and Apollo.

"Over here, quickly now!"

Layla curiously looked at Willow, but complied. Once the group appeared behind the rubble, Willow let out a sigh of relief and dispelled the black mist screen.

"Now... try your best to attract as little attention as possible, ok?"

Apollo scratched the side of his head.

"Ok."

Layla nodded.

"Hehe, got it!"

Although Layla appeared to be agreeing quite easily, it didn't give Willow any reassurance.

...In fact, she was already thinking of the possible ways Layla could blow their cover.

Layla skipped out from behind the giant piece of rubble.

"Hehe, so many new friends to make!"

Apollo trailed behind Layla, almost like a curious puppy.

He waved his bokken around in the air.

"More sword swinging!"

As for Willow, she followed the two with a sigh. She looked at Hex sleeping in her arms.

"...Why can't they be quiet like you?"

Two tiny black claws appeared from Hex's side, giving a shrug. Then, they disappeared like they were never there.

Though it was still more or less night, a few rays of the early dawn peeked into the sky. The majority of the night passed while Willow scraped together some clothes for them to wear. A few early risers were walking around in the cobblestone streets.

They were dressed in similar clothes to Willow, either modest gowns for women, or plain tunics for men. The colors of their clothes were muted, almost as though they did not want to attract unwanted attention.

The main difference they had with Willow's clothing was their clothes had many wrinkles and holes, unlike Willow's smooth gown. While Willow's clothing was relatively clean, it was questionable if their clothes had ever been washed.

Willow understood this peculiarity, but there was little she could do about it. It was hard to make something new look artificially worn. In fact, an attempt to do so might make one look even more conspicuous.

There was also the consideration to steal someone else's clothing, to really play the part.

...But Willow really didn't want to do that. Not because she was against stealing, but because it truly was too uncomfortable for her to wear.

She consoled herself by reiterating in her mind that her acting skills would falter if she wore something so disgusting.

As for how true that was, Willow wouldn't know. After all, she never even tried.

The nearby houses were all one story high and were made out of wooden planks. There was the occasional plank that was rotting, but that was the minority.

Some people had gotten on top of their roof, sweeping off the snow that covered it. Although this seemed strange at first glance, it was because the roofs of their houses waned under the pressure of the snow.

If left unattended, the roof may just directly collapse.

Next to each house was a fairly large plot of farmland. However, they were all covered in snow.

The villagers themselves didn't seem to be concerned about this fact. It was as though they were confident everything would work out fine.

As the group stepped out on the streets, a middle-aged lady noticed them. She had a dark blue gown and pants that were too short for her. The clothes were quite dirty, as expected of one living here.

The middle-aged woman walked towards them leisurely.

Willow's heart beat a little faster.

This woman wouldn't ask them what they were doing all the way out here, right?

The middle-aged woman waved.

"Hello there! I haven't seen your faces from around here."

Layla waved enthusiastically.

"Hi hi!~"

Apollo giggled.

"Hello, old lady!"

Willow's face twitched. Part of it was because the middle-aged woman mentioned she hadn't seen them before. Part of it was also because Apollo just called the woman an 'old lady'.

The middle-aged woman raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"