The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo looked at Willow as they ran.

"Is it really that bad?"

Willow nodded.

"Yes, it's really that bad."

Layla pouted.

"Hehe~ Where are we running to?"

Willow frowned.

"Away from the scene of the crime!"

Hex ran while holding down the top of his hood with his sleeve.

"What happening?"

Willow sighed.

"Too much to explain right now, but if we stay, then the crowd will see us."

Apollo looked over his shoulder.

"...But there is no crowd."

Willow furrowed her brows, taking a peek at the place she left the lady's corpse.

As Apollo said, there was no crowd.

Willow stopped in her tracks.

That... didn't make much sense. Although the streets were not filled to the brim with people, it was not a deserted town. It was literally daytime in an empire!

Her eyes narrowed. She noticed another peculiarity.

...The corpse was gone too.

Beads of sweat formed on Willow's forehead.

What was going on?

"Hello there."

The group snapped their heads towards the source of the voice.

It was the lady's corpse, but the voice of a refined old man came out. The head was reattached to the body, but blood continued dripping down the neck. The corpse stood there rigidly while its eyes were wide open...

...and glowing with a bright yellow, almost looking holy.

Emphasis on almost.

Willow's heart hammered in her chest. This was worse than even the most unfortunate situation she predicted.

The corpse was looking at Hex when it greeted them. This prompted Hex to respond.

"Hi there!"

The corpse smiled rigidly.

"I apologize for my intrusion, but I simply wish to make things a little easier for the both of us."

Hex rubbed the top of his head with his sleeve.

"Huh?"

The corpse laughed.

"Sorry, I should be more clear. What exactly is your goal in this city?"

Hex tilted his head to the side, confused.

Willow decided to interject. There was a frown on her face.

"Why do you want to know?"

The corpse's head eerily tilted to the side before turning to Willow.

"...Did I ask you?"

Willow's face twitched. She decided to remain silent.

Layla tilted her head to the side with curious eyes.

"Who did you ask?"

Apollo scratched the side of his head.

"I think it's the person he's looking at."

Layla nodded.

"Oh!"

The corpse's head glanced at the two, but after a few moments, shifted back to Hex. It seemed like it just didn't want to deal with the two of them.

Hex blinked with confusion once he noticed the gaze went back to him.

"Um... me just follow them."

He pointed towards the others with his sleeve. Though he didn't mean any particular person, he was pointing towards Apollo and Layla.

The corpse was speechless for a moment. Its gaze shifted towards Apollo and Layla.

"...What is your goal, you two?"

Layla raised her hand in the air with a smile.

"We both know you!"

The corpse fell silent. Then... a chuckle rang out.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Apollo scratched the side of his head.

"I... don't really know."

The corpse laughed out loud.

"It appears we both know each other then."

Willow's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

The corpse smiled rigidly.

"You noticed my gaze this entire time, didn't you? I wasn't trying to hide it after all."

Willow's eyes widened.

They were... being watched the whole time?

She hadn't even suspected that. She had been watched before, but she had at least an inkling of that fact.

Yet... this person wasn't trying to hide it?

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, that's why I felt so weird."

Layla giggled.

"Well of course I noticed! You're watching from so close, after all."

Apollo nodded.

"Ah! Where was he?"

Layla giggled and pointed towards a watchtower far off in the distance.

"Just over there! Can't you see him? He looks like an old man, hehe."

Apollo looked over and squinted his eyes. As expected, he wasn't able to see anything.

He sighed.

"Ah... my vision isn't so good."

As for the corpse, it froze when Layla mentioned that. However, he soon recovered.

"...Now that I reassess the situation, it seems I was mistaken."

Willow furrowed her brows.

"Huh?"

The corpse let out an eerie laugh.

"It was quite the conclusion to jump to. Why would The Harbinger of Death come here? There are plenty of better locations for him to harvest..."

The corpse's eyes narrowed, staring intently at Hex.

"At most, you are his reincarnation. That means..."

The corpse's eyes slowly closed.

"You are in a vulnerable period. A perfect time to obtain rewards for little work and..."

The corpse's eyes shut.

"...kill a genius."

Willow's sword flashed, splitting the corpse in half. It fell to the ground lifelessly in four pieces, but Willow knew that her attack probably did nothing.

Hex blinked a few times in confusion.

"...Me no understand what happening"

Willow clicked her tongue.

"This isn't good..."

Apollo looked at Layla.

"Where did he go?"

Layla looked around herself, spinning around in a full circle.

"He's all around us!"

Apollo's eyebrow raised.

"Huh?"

It was at this point Apollo noticed a light tremor.

He looked down at the ground and scratched the side of his head.

"Hmm... shaky dirt."

It was as though a raging beast was hiding deep under the crust of the world.

And was rising up to the surface.

Willow tore off the gown covering her and unfurled her wings.

"We need to get away!"

Layla put a finger on her chin.

"Get away from what?"

Willow's eyelid twitched.

"The shaking ground!"

Layla giggled.

"But we would have to go really far away!"

Willow furrowed her brows.

"What?"

Layla's tail unfurled from her outfit, pushing off the maid's clothes, and swayed.

"The entire place is shaking!"

Apollo gave a curious look to Layla.

"Huh?"

As if on cue, the tremors suddenly increased, on par with an earthquake.

The houses... shot into the sky.

And grew a pair of legs.