ngqi
It was already nightti by now. Most of the roads were rather quiet, as ngqi was not a particularly prosperous city; hence, it was also quite tranquil at night.
However, at this mont, a few people broke this silence.
"Is it really okay to do this, my dear master?" asked a maid with long black hair.
"Of course it's fine. I trust you, or are you implying that Aili would let get hurt?"
Yinhua replied.
"No, of course not. You're overthinking it,"
Aili said with a gentle smile.
"Then let's begin."
Yinhua bit her lip, gazing at the city wall ahead, which was six or seven ters high. She felt a bit nervous—after all, she had never done anything like this before.
"Relax, little Yin. You'll get used to it soon, and you might find it surprisingly thrilling!"
Liqin said with a laugh.
"Is... is that so...? Why do I only feel it's all rather dangerous? And isn't this illegal...?"
Yinhua muttered.
"Well then, here we go."
With that, Aili scooped Yinhua up into her arms and hurled her into the air, forming a perfect high arc.
"Wow... You're a born artist,"
Liqin exclaid in awe as she watched the arc drawn in the night sky.
"Talks too much. Not the slightest self-awareness for a fly—ah, no, I suppose flies are inherently noisy anyways."
Aili kicked Liqin into the air as well, and she just barely cleared the city wall.
"Who's there!?"
At this mont, a guard at the watchtower grabbed his weapon and looked up at the sky.
When he saw two people flying over, he was so shocked that he couldn't utter a word.
"Rather than flying, it looks more like soone threw them over... No, that's impossible. This wall is seven ters high. No way soone threw two people up here."
"It's possible, you know,"
Aili appeared behind him like a ghost. With a brick in her hand, she knocked the guard out cold—he fell to the ground and didn't move.
Then Aili's figure appeared on the other side of the city wall in an instant, catching the descending Yinhua in her arms.
"Bang!"
As for Liqin, she landed face-first on the ground.
"Oww oww oww... Why didn't you catch —"
Liqin's face was still buried in the cent, her words all muffled.
"Well, sorry—my abilities are limited. Besides, cockroaches are extrely resilient creatures; I doubt you'd die that easily."
"Are you so kind of insect encyclopedia?"
Liqin pulled her face free from the ground.
"My dear master, are you alright?"
Aili now turned her gaze toward Yinhua held in her arms.
(By the way, the two were currently in the "princess carry" position.)
"I'm fine... Did we make it into the city?"
"Rest assured, master—we're inside the city now."
Aili looked at Yinhua in her arms and gave her cheek a lick.
"You—you—what are you doing?"
Rembering Aili's behavior that morning, Yinhua's face gradually turned red.
"It's nothing, please don't misunderstand. I was just cleaning the dust off your face."
Aili licked her lips, savoring it.
"Huh? What are you doing? We'd better hurry and find a place to stay. Otherwise, it'll be a huge problem if there's no room left,"
Liqin said in confusion.
"No, no, it's nothing. Let's go,"
Yinhua hastily replied.
"Yeah, it's been a long day. You should rest early, miss."
"By the way, I have sothing to ask."
Yinhua said.
"Yes?"
Liqin tilted her head.
"Why didn't we use the main gate and instead had to scale the wall???"
Yinhua asked, a little frustrated.
"Because the entry fee is two silver coins. For three people, that would be six coins,"
Liqin answered seriously.
"So you're a penny-pincher too...?"
This was sothing Yinhua truly hadn't expected.
"Alright, that's enough, let's go."
Liqin pushed Yinhua forward.
***
They soon arrived in front of an inn. The attendant bowed and said to the three of them, "I'm very sorry. Due to the recent influx of people, there is only one room left in the entire inn."
"One room is fine. It's nice for us all to stay together, I think,"
Yinhua said.
"With all due respect, miss, I don't think I can stay in the sa room as this walking stick insect,"
Aili remarked.
"You looking for a fight, huh?!"
With the key to room 1447 in hand, Yinhua led the way to the door, opened it, and was greeted by a spacious area—one large bed big enough for the three of them, an LCD projector (just treat it as a television), a bathroom, and so basic daily necessities—typical of a standard inn.
Yinhua was in fairly good spirits, but after everything she'd experienced that day, fatigue was evident between her brows.
Whether it was the imminent eting with her father or the upcoming Spirit Selection, the pressure weighed heavily on her.
More than anything, she just wanted to take a bath and get a good night's sleep.
"The bathroom's occupied. If you want to take a shower, you'll have to wait a little,"
Liqin said to Aili, who had just returned from the reception desk.
"That's alright, I still need to investigate a few things. In the anti, I hope you keep the miss safe. If she so much as loses a finger, I'll cripple you for life. If she loses a single hair, I'll make you beco a nun,"
"Yeah, yeah, even if you don't say so, I'd never let anyone hurt her. By the way, where are you heading?"
"ngqi is a very ordinary city: not many travelers, no special scenery, but tonight, after walking to four or five inns, only this one had a room left—and only one. Also, the number of soldiers on the city wall isn't right. On our way here, I noticed quite a few stares—so even had a bit of killing intent. Most importantly, there's a faint scent of blood in the air. Sothing may be about to happen."
"You..."
"I'm very sensitive to blood."
"Is that so..."
Liqin looked at Yinhua, then back at Aili, "You always make her think this world is bright and fair, but the sun can't shine on the whole world. Where there's light, there's shadow. Are you really going to keep going this way?"
"That doesn't seem to be under your jurisdiction."
"What do you an? I'm her older sister! There's no way I'll let her stay so naïve. If one day we're no longer around, how is she supposed to go on?"
"...... I'm heading out..."
It was unclear if Aili actually heard Liqin's words. She put on her battle skirt and jumped out the window.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】
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