Chapter Cornelia: Crescent Sun

Ravishing Flower - A Petal Amongst Thorns

While still improvising for a plan, I waited for the thugs to finish their series of pitiless bullying as they left the ample room. Then, I came out of my hiding spot as I surveyed the area.

Much like the hidden tunnel from the forest earlier, the cavernous place has a bunch of crates and chained handcuffs scattered throughout it. Of course, you can't forget about the barely empty wine bottles and the scattered gambling cards and chips all over the floor, as some of them are even broken and crumpled or soaked in wine, respectively. The walls and ceilings of their base are also rocky, just like in your average cavern. But unlike the tunnel from before, this place is brimming with light thanks to the many strong torches attached to the walls.

Near the walls are also a bunch of wooden pillars, perhaps standing strong to stop the whole cave from collapsing to dust. It has some cracks on it though it still is enduring enough to hold this place up.

But what really caught my attention are the sands. Unlike outside, it felt like I just entered some portal and got dropped on the kingdom of Narala. Even with the scenery somewhat resembling the kingdom of pleasures, the weather is still as chilly as all territories of Lughvia.

The rocky ground's mostly covered in thick sand and the only sandless place you could step on here is the elevated, larger stepping stones placed around the area. In some corners of this place, you could perceive on the ceiling a very thin line of sands falling from it, such as an hourglass flipped around.

I want to inspect the other places as well. But it seems a tense fight is going on in the next area. I could even hear the battle cries and cheers of about a hundred men. Though I could convince them that I'm a low-ranking thief in this area, it would be quite the ordeal for me to suppose someone in there gets suspicious of my disguise and happens to find out I'm a spy in disguise. I'd also appreciate it not to be involved in their unsanitised brawls.

For now, I need to find someone whom I could interview and who would cooperate with me. A child who looks older than their fellow children.

Hmm... Ah, I believe she should do. I approached the little girl with very long and very uncared hair. Her skin is fairly dark and her body is really thin and undernourished. She's like a walking scarecrow. As for her getup, her attire is roughly similar to her peers here; tattered, dirty clothes, enchained with heavy steel shackles, is barefooted and has wounds of different shapes and sizes dispersed throughout her famished body.

I find it odd though. How a girl of her calibre, a petite and underfed one at that, can manage to move her limbs without complexity despite the ton-weighing shackles locked on her neck, ankles, and wrists.

Feigning her oddities, for the time being, I approached her with a friendly tone, "Heya, little fella. What's your name?"