Despite the negative energy circling this place, the night market was not a violent place in the daytime. It was peaceful enough for Rita to fall asleep.
Rita had initially wanted to help Aurora out in her times of need. But she had felt out of energy as soon as the place had shifted.
Rita wanted to ask someone else if they felt the same thing she had but the only other people in this place were busy.
“I wish I could go in and help as well but my body feels like it is breaking apart. Sex would have just killed me right now.”
Rita complained as she stretched her body and looked at the sky. It was a clear day outside with the sun high up in the sky.
It felt like nothing could go wrong on a day like this.
Expect, it did. Rita could feel various signatures of energy heading their way from all around the place.
It seemed like they were not as alone as Rita had initially thought their group to be.
“More than 100 people out to get us? I wonder who we pissed off.” Rita was curious about the reason their group would be sought out like this.
Thankfully, Aurora and Natasha seemed to be done as well. Rita could hear the sound of running water, meaning someone was taking a shower.
So Rita did not feel awkward barging in on the couple. The worst that could happen was for her to find the other two naked, something she had experience with.
“You are back? Did you have fun while napping?”.
Of course, her reason for not being of any help had not escaped Aurora’s radar. It seemed like she was vigilant even when she was not in a clear state of mind. It was a fact that Rita would have to remember in the future.
“I was having fun before some people decided to drop in on me. I don’t suppose you have any idea why they are here, right?”
“Of course not. If I did then I would have told you beforehand.”
Rita did not relax after hearing Aurora’s words. Even if the elder sounded calm and collected, Rita could read out the tension she felt.
Aurora likely knew something about this situation but she was not willing to share it with Rita for her safety. This was something Rita hated about Aurora.
Aurora was too paranoid which led to her isolating herself away from everyone else.
She might come off as friendly and supportive but it was only ever for the other side. When it came to wanting things for herself and the dangers she had to face, Aurora kept it all to herself.
“Is Natasha in the bathroom? Does she know of the danger we are in?”
“I didn’t before but now I do.”
Natasha came out of the bathroom half-dressed. There was no telling how long she had been there and how much she had heard about the conversation.
But as soon as her eyes met Rita’s, she knew she had an ally against Aurora. This was not something they would let Aurora do alone.
===========================
Aurora wanted to sigh as she looked at the two stubborn fools in front of her. They could have cleared this problem while being ignorant of the danger, but they wanted to butt in and help Aurora out.
As admirable as it was, it was also troublesome.
Aurora had initially decided to distract those presences outside while keeping the duo in the dark. But her corruption-riddled brain had dragged things out much longer than she had expected.
In the end, the other two had become aware of this situation so it was better to include them in her plan as well.
Knowing Rita and Natasha, they would be a huge asset on her side.
“The presence you feel outside this building is likely ghost species responsible for looking after this night market. They take care to clean this place and make it suitable for transportation to different locations.”
“As long as we remain in this building, we will be transported to the new location tonight and can escape afterward.”
The solution to their problem was really simple in theory. They just needed to stay indoors and they would be alright.
“There had to be a catch here, right? If things were that simple, then more people would have tried to spend a day in the night city.”
Natasha was right. Her cleaver mind had picked up the unspoken words in Aurora’s response.
“You are right. Things are not as simple as they seem and it is because of the cleaner ghosts. They come inside the building to clean it up and if we’re caught in here, then we will die by their hands.”
Cleaner ghosts, as their name suggested, were a class of ghosts tasked with looking after the cleanliness of the building. That meant, cleaning up the space and not leaving anything behind.
Not even humans and customers.
“Can’t we just kill them when those ghosts come here? I’m sure we can take a few ghosts out without any problem.”
“No, I don’t think things are going to be that easy, right?”
Natasha turned toward Aurora as soon as she made that admission. Rita also sobered up after seeing Aurora’s tense expression.
“It won’t be easy to get out of here. Actually, no one had ever escaped this place alive. All those who tried to spend a night in here got killed off trying to escape.” Aurora finally admitted.
“Wait, if no one ever escaped this place alive, then how did you know about this place? Are you some kind of prophet who can see in the future or something? Not that it would surprise me even if you did turn out to be one….You’re kidding me right?”
Rita’s words started rather playful but the more she spoke, the more twisted Aurora’s expression got.
In the end, Aurora was not able to control her expression which made Rita reach the wrong conclusion.
“NO, WAIT. I am not a prophet but I do have some knowledge about this world and the abyss. As for how I came to know all this? I cannot even tell you even if I want to.”
“Is it some kind of curse that prevents you from talking about it?”
“Yes, something like that. So please don’t try to look into this too much.”
No curse prevented Aurora from speaking about the truth of her origins. But that did not mean she wanted to tell about it to everyone.
Not that it mattered any longer what kind of world this was supposed to be before Aurora was reborn. Neither Natasha nor Rita could go back to undo their actions.
It would be better if they never realized what their original fates would have been.
“So you cannot talk about the source of your knowledge? Got it! We won’t ask you again. But does anyone else know except us both?”
“No one does.” Rex did but that was beside the point.
Rex was a calculated risk that had not been proved wrong by Aurora. And she knew that Rex take her secret to the grave. (Just like all the other ones.)
“Well, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but I think someone is heading this way. I can hear footsteps coming near us.”
Aurora could hear those footsteps as well. But something was wrong with this situation.
Ghosts didn’t have footsteps since they did not have material to make up their body. Only living beings who had a corporal form could make noise.
“That is no ghost, but something else. Hurry up and take shelter behind me. I will deal with the person on the other side.”
Aurora quickly gathered her magic to kill the enemy and attacked as soon as she was sure the opponent was on the other side of the door.
Spiked made up of magic pierced the door and pierced the person on the other side of the door.
Or the magic was supposed to do that.
But when the door swung open, a familiar face looked back at Aurora with disagreement written all over it. Just looking at that face brought a headache and Aurora instantly wanted to close the door to block the person.
“Ara~ I risked my life to sneak in here to help you, and this is how you repay me? I cannot believe being apart for only two days made you so cold.”
“Ava? You are back? How dare you show your face back here after you betrayed us.”
Rita sounded annoyed but also relieved to see Ava. Even Natasha looked a little calmer to see the familiar face.
But the most relieved was Aurora.
“Betray? How dare you say that? I was just helping you out by staying behind. It’s a big deal for an overlooker to venture inside another overlooker’s domain without permission.”
“And you have the permission now?”
“Yes, but only in this space. So leave everything up to me now.”
Aurora had never been more relieved to see Ava before.
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