Crockta peered outside the window and saw that it was a dark moon tonight. He placed his greatsword on his back; then he passed by the noisy pub on the first floor of the inn and went outside. The cold night breeze awakened his senses.2

“You’re early.”0

Ilya and his crew were waiting for him. They were wearing masks that hid their faces, so only their gleaming eyes were visible in the dark.0

“Let’s hurry. It’s good if we do it as early as possible.”0

Nights were quiet in Arnin. As usual, with the exception of bars that ran past midnight, the lights of all the buildings in Arnin had been turned off, and the residents were asleep.0

Crockta and the others moved quickly. They ran through the streets and entered the forest, soon arriving at the slums they had visited earlier in the day. The slums were darker than other parts of Arnin as none of the houses had lights on. Everything in their view was pitch black. Even the light of the dark moon wasn’t bright enough to reach the ground and merely floated in empty space.0

Ilya whispered something, and a faint light rose up. It was a dim light that only illuminated a few steps ahead from where they were. Ilya looked back at the group and gestured for them to follow him.0

Ilya’s destination was a deserted and dilapidated house. Ilya got rid of the light and held his breath while approaching the house. When they cocked their ears to listen for any activity inside, they heard a faint sound coming from the inside of the house.0

“…”0

Ilya raised...0