At last.

[Randall's POV]

A rapier's edge clashed directly with a pair of claws.

"You already reached this point…" muttered Anne. For a mere moment, her gaze actually showed some impression.

But that's it.

She pushed me away with ease, creating a few meters of distance between us, along with some magic hexagons. The barely fluctuating shades of violet revealed the solid control she held over the Miasma contained within them.

Strangely enough… I could feel it. The hexagons were alive.

Definitely.

Some spheres made of… Darkness? No, I think the element's name was "void."

Anyway, a small barrage of magical, cannonfire-like projectiles emerged from the magic hexagons. "Shoot down."

One came hurling towards me, at a manageable speed. It wouldn't be hard to just move out of the way, honestly.

'But it would be worth nothing.'

So I stabbed the first shell, which blew up a tad far from my face. 

The second and third one approached in a similar manner, both fairly slow. But the gap between them was too small.

Thus, I turned my stab into a rather wide swing, which allowed me to hit both targets. One after the other.

'Nothing worth celebrating.'

Another attack connected with a sphere, leaving 2 to be fired.

"Last one."

She launched them simultaneously.

"Tch."

Positioning myself in the middle of both projectiles, I swung my blade once again. And stuck the one in the left first while taking a step back.

Then, the attack landed on the right one, putting an end to Anne's half dozen of magical, purple cake-donuts.

"I always knew Llen's body had a great talent for Ego, but still… Even considering the fact that your cultivation process is far smoother than it is for most people, your learning speed remains impressive," she commented.

"And you're not half as annoying as him…" she muttered, right after.

She continued firing attacks at a reasonable pace. They slowly increased in speed, though. 

Ninth cannonball, a diagonal slash took it out. 

'Even with the speed and power behind her attacks watered down greatly…'

It is mildly difficult to keep this pace up. But still manageable. So I continued defending against the assault.

Through stabs and swings, not a single one remained intact. 

Until the nineteenth one came, alongside the other two. It was the only one to pass by. 

"That's enough, I guess."

The miasma-made magic hexagons vanished, and I chose to sit down on a patch of purple grass.

'Verdant grass mixed with purple patches…'

How gorgeous.

Just like the river flowing behind Anne.

'This is quite peaceful, isn't it?'

Yeah. For sure.

… I rested for a minute and a half. A sweet smell lingered in our surroundings, and the soft touch of the grass slowly lured me to close my eyes.

'Almost as relaxing as the Palace's beds…'

Only for Anne to prevent from reaching that dreamy oasis.

A pity. Really.

"Enough resting. We must keep going."

Not even a minute later, we got up. And with our bags and equipment on us, we continued walking though these lavender patches.

…

A few hours later, we finally managed to spot a town. 

The hard, earthy walls shielded our vision into the encampment, but a few buildings rose far above such walls. Three of such places being the one with the Teutonian green and red flag, a large facility that resembled a school, and the final one looked quite fancy.

But that was about it.

"Looks like a fairly big town. We'll be able to hide here for a while, hopefully," commented Anne, before letting out a yawn.

"You're sleepy already?... Let's try to not fall asleep in the streets, shall we?" I voiced jokingly, while patting her back.

We walked around the walls, and eventually found an opening guarded by two titans and a human… 'Wait, no. That's a spectre.'

The blue uniforms clothing their bodies and the spears on their backs all had a pattern in common: the flowing water drops scattered on their shapes.

A grunt emanated from one of the titans. 

His appearance… Definitely looks like a guard.

And considering the noon sky above us, it might be safe to say he got one of the later turns.

We scouted for an alternate entrance, and eventually stumbled upon a gap in the wall.

Well, "gap"… More like a bunch of somewhat small cavities, due to their size. Still, we decided to sneak in by climbing. Akin to a pair of thieves. 

Thanks, walls. You've saved me once again.

"Faster. We can't afford to be spotted."

The one below me grunted, but I made sure to pour half of my total efforts into ignoring her. Why only that?

Remembering exactly how to climb wasn't easy, so quite a bit of effort has to be spared for that one ordeal.

We reached the top of the wall, and peeked inside the town.

Hundreds of buildings, mostly wooden, entered our field of vision. A few ones stood out due to the good condition they were in, but most didn't have that luxury.

Far from it.

While about a sixth of the "regular" houses weren't breaking down like those from Danpold during… that night, they weren't that better off in comparison.

Some houses had cloth covering a part of their roofs, whereas others resorted to using a block of solid earth shielded by steel plates. Or maybe it's another type of metal? I'm not quite sure.

Regardless, we hopped off and landed on the ground. 

"So… Now what? Searching for an inn is not exactly the safest idea…"

Anne nodded, calmly. A frown appeared on her cold, resting bitch face. The sort of face I am quite familiar with.

I did wear that expression for a long time, after all. 

"We could also sleep outside if we take turns."

And so, we split up and snuck around, searching for a hidden spot in a somewhat open-ended town.

'This… I don't think we can find much. We'd probably need a house or something to hide properly.'

While my gaze wandered around the bent grass and the walls of the strangers' houses, it fell on a particular piece of cloth. A gigantic piece of brown cloth.

Then, it returned to the earth-like wall.

'..... The colours are pretty similar.'

That's… true.

'And that piece of cloth is fairly big…'

Meaning… If we laid on the wall's surface and hid under the blanket, maybe we could blend in with the night's help?

'True indeed.'

Well… It's for a good cause, right?

'Look at that, I'm really going to become a thief…'

Disgraceful.

With mildly hesitant steps, I walked towards the rolled-up brown sheet. It wasn't the same ground-like brown, but it would blend in pretty well when the moon rises.

No people in sight.

The houses lacked windows, too.

My hand came in contact with it, allowing the wet, bland towel to soak my fingers with water. And I snatched it.

My feet quickly ran off, as the breaths coming out of my mouth did so at an erratic rate. This heart of mine beated like crazy, but that wouldn't stop me.

'This is wrong.'

… But it's to survive, right? 

I took a turn, and heard a voice not too long after. Ten seconds or so later, to be precise.

"Motherfucking thieving BIT–"

I did not slow down.

… After roughly three minutes, I bumped into my temporary companion. "I think I fixed the bed issue for tonight."

She stared at me, speechless.

"...?"

Still stared.

"Anne…?"

"Holy shit."

The insult took me off-guard. 

"You're truly not the dumb cunt I used to know…" she uttered.

A few tears of joy almost left her overjoyed face. "Ahah, tell me the plan." 

"Basically, we climb up the wall when the time's right, cover up our bodies with this sheet…"

One stays awake to keep watch, the other sleeps. After roughly 2 hours, we swap roles. It was that simple.

'While a full sleep would have been better, we can't afford it.'

[Beggars can't be choosers.]

A phrase I've heard more than a few times, and has been true.

"... It's simple, but it can work," she voiced with a gleam of... hope?

Either way, thoughts aside, we measured the piece of cloth and concluded it was approximately three meters long. All we had to do now was wait for the night to arrive.

… The day concluded with both of us sleeping on top of the wall, covered by the sheet. Not side by side, of course. Despite the quality of the sleep, it could have been worse.

However, on her second shift, the demoness' voice woke me up. 

"Ugh, I knew this would be costly, but fuck me…. I can't believe I miss sleeping on a bed and having warm meals, of all things."

'Yeah, you get used to it.'

Voicing that wasn't worth it. But it was true.

Instead of waking up, I went back to sleeping.