The Laughing Swordsman

Ela and Apollo did not move.

They continued speaking without words.

Ned, Alyx, Erin, and Mildred hurried over.

Ned had a big smile on his face. However, when he saw Ela and Apollo lying on the ground, it froze on his face.

He turned his head around, taking in the surroundings.

The village was in shambles.

While they won, it came at a great cost.

The streets were littered with blood and bodies. So many people were breathing just moments ago.

But not anymore.

Before Ned knew it, he was frowning.

The gloomy atmosphere was simply too much for him.

A woman let out a weak cry.

"Someone... save me..."

Erin gasped.

"Coming!"

She hopped up and made her way to the voice.

When Erin turned the corner, she froze.

The woman was using her arms to crawl forward. How desperately she wanted to live was clear.

However, her legs were gone.

The only thing behind her was a trail of fresh blood.

Erin crouched over and held her hands together.

The inner corner of her eyebrows angled up and her eyes shimmered with tears.

She was distraught.

The woman crawled faster when she saw Erin.

"Please!... save me..."

Erin forced the words past her lips.

They were weak but clear.

"I'm sorry. I don't think you can be saved."

The woman flared up in anger.

"No! No! You are lying to me!"

The woman's breathing got heavy.

"You can save me! Just do it already!"

Erin fell silent.

The woman flailed her limbs.

"How could you? Why? Why are you leaving me to die! How could you be so wicked!"

Erin did not look away.

She kept her eyes on the dying woman.

Erin paid no heed to the curses thrown at her, nor did she run when the woman got aggressive.

As for the woman, her strength was leaving her.

"You wicked..."

She frowned with trembling lips.

"Just... try something. Please, anything."

Tears streamed down her face as she let out her last words.

"I don't want to die."

The woman stopped moving.

Erin crouched over and bowed to the dead body.

"Rest in peace."

After a few moments of mourning, she jogged over to the group.

Alyx had a hand on her forehead.

"...I didn't realize the deaths were this much."

Mildred smiled bitterly.

"Come on now. In the end, you all defended the village. If you hadn't, not to mention us, the other villagers would be dead as well."

She sighed.

"So we should be happy."

Though Mildred said that, it didn't have conviction.

It was as though she could not even believe herself.

Ela shook her head.

"Let us go back to the palace."

Wars were quite the strange thing.

After a grand battle, there tended to be celebrations.

However, even the victorious suffer losses.

Some may gloss over that fact, toasting their cups of wine. But the misery would not disappear from just that.

Once the party was over and the victorious opened their eyes, they would find a mess.

Yet, it would rarely be a surprise.

After all, it hung above them. Almost like a parasite feeding on the deepest parts of their minds.

In the end, the only thing left was to clean up the aftermath.

...

Apollo was sitting on a bed.

He was in one of the palace rooms.

The group decided to give him some alone time. As such, they let him stay in one of the guest rooms.

Apollo's eyes narrowed.

He wanted to be stronger.

His assassination target came to mind.

He just had to kill him and he would get whatever that basic shadow step technique was.

Apollo got off the bed and went to the balcony.

He pushed aside the curtains and was immediately blasted with a strong cold wind.

The curtains were special. They blocked the cold from getting inside the room.

Apollo did not mind the chill.

He took a few steps forward and held onto the stone railings.

Apollo peered at the ground.

Although he was quite high up, he had jumped down from the ice giant's head before.

How bad could the fall be?

With that mentality, Apollo leaped off the ledge without hesitation.

The wind blew past his face, making his hair dance in the wind.

Then a crack rang out.

Apollo groaned in pain and held his knee.

The bone covering his knee joint suffered quite a bit of strain.

The corner of Apollo's lip twitched.

Wasn't he fine jumping off that ice giant?

...Why did it hurt so much this time?

Apollo shook his head.

He limped forward as his legs slowly recovered.

A young man was walking on the road nearby.

He had a frown on his face and was looking towards the ground.

Apollo limped over to him.

"Hey, where is Otis Everfield?"

The man looked at Apollo.

After a second, he turned away. He continued walking without a care in the world.

A dangerous smile appeared on his face.

He cut off the man and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Hey. I asked you a question."

Apollo brought his face next to the man.

His head twisted to the side.

The man struggled.

"Let go of me!"

Apollo did as asked.

...By throwing the man at a nearby house.

With a crash, the walls collapsed.

The man coughed up blood and grimaced in pain.

Apollo walked over and lifted him by the collar again.

"Where is Otis Everfield?"

The man frowned and looked away. However, with one shaky arm, he pointed in a direction.

"...That way."

Apollo let him go, causing the man to fall and hit his head on the ground.

The man blacked out.

Apollo walked off towards Otis Everfield's residence.

...

It was not far away. After just a few minutes of walking, Apollo found his destination. He could recognize a marble statue of a person on the small palace's front doorstep.

It was to scale and matched the description of his target.

He scaled up the side of the building, peering in through the windows.

Soon, his eyes landed on Otis.

It was time to finish this request.