Chapter 172- The City Of The Mindless (Part 1)
The group of three walked down the road toward the small, rundown city. The more they got closer to it, the more a weird feeling started rising in their hearts.
Rin couldn't discern what it was as it wasn't a sense of danger or fear. Just mere dread, as if the city was the most repulsive place he could enter and his body was telling him to just turn around and leave now.
But, Rin neither smelled anything bad nor saw anything suspicious. This weird sensation was quite literally incomprehensible considering their situation. Hell, they still didn't even enter the city and yet they were already not feeling comfortable.
But, none of them voiced out their thoughts as they knew they weren't based on any real things happening around them. Except for its really bad condition, the city was really ordinary. Even people didn't seem to be looking at them or giving them even a glance. Even the merchants they pass beside never gave them even a small peek. They merely guided their carriage ahead, staring straight at the road. Which was nor…
'Wait.' Rin noticed something really odd.
'Why is no one looking here?' He squinted his eyes as he searched around.
While many would consider such an event normal, Rin knew more than anyone else how odd this is. Beside him were Elise and Evelyn, arguably the two most beautiful women in this entire world. For them to garner stares from passersby and even outright attempts of hitting on was the actual norm. Yet, all these people, mostly men, didn't even stare at them once even though they had the most striking features possible.
That alone could make Rin just stop them. But, he quickly noticed something else, far worse than what he discovered.
Each and every person they passed had the same, weirdly tranquil expression on their face. Their eyes were extremely dazed as if they were in a dream world. Even their rhythmic breathing seemed too slow to be normal.
'What is going on here?'
Rin gave Elise a glance and she nodded quickly, seemingly also aware of the abnormality happening. Evelyn was also already getting ready for any sudden ambushes of any sort.
The idea that this city was normal has far been erased from their thoughts. Whatever they were dealing with at the moment was far from that.
Eventually, they reached the city gates where they found a small booth with a man sitting inside, motionless and staring ahead of him. Rin didn't even want to know how long has the man been in that position for.
"Ehem, we'd like to enter the city," Rin said.
"..."
"Hello?" He asked again.
Yet, not even a sign of response came from the dazed man. Rubbing his chin, Rin tried to think of something before he looked back at his companions and then smiled.
"Maybe they have a special way of greeting here."
"They do?" Evelyn asked with a smile as if she understood Rin's intentions.
"Hmm, so you don't know? Well, since we can't communicate with him, we might as well make our way inside. He didn't stop us after all." Rin said loudly enough for the man to hear.
'Come on, show a reaction or anything.' He thought to himself as he waited for a few moments.
However, the man didn't say or do anything. He was akin to a doll, devoid of any life. Just sitting there, as if he was a mannequin of someone doing this job.
Losing hope, Rin signaled for the two of Elise and Evelyn to just follow him. The man didn't seem to be going to stop them any time soon.
So, they simply passed the open gate and entered the city. The city was weirdly bustling with people that moved everywhere. However…
'It feels so empty.' Rin thought as he looked around him.
Not even this huge number of people made this place feel alive. They were all just hollow, empty souls akin to ghosts moving inside a haunted city.
In the grander image, they might look like normal people doing their business. However, when Rin focused on one individual alone, he quickly noticed the abnormality.
One citizen for example was simply walking until he hit a wall with his face. But, instead of giving any reaction, he merely continued walking while he is stuck to the wall as if he was a broken NPC in a game.
Someone else was sitting in front of a stall, selling something. However, the odd problem is that there was nothing to sell.
A married couple was also standing nearby and were looking at each other, then they went in for a kiss. The problem there is that the husband kissed her eye and the woman kissed his throat. Both of them were obviously unaware of how weird they were at this moment but since no one said anything, they just continued kissing like that.
"What happened here? This place is far odd than what you said, Evelyn." Elise voiced her concern as she sidestepped to get away from a person walking right toward her.
"I'm also quite surprised. I didn't receive any information about such odd behavior by the citizens." Evelyn replied.
"Tsk, this is something that definitely has some kind of link to the change in the lord's behavior a year ago. Where is his place of residence?" Rin asked.
"It's right in the middle of the city. He lives inside a secluded villa."
"Well, let's go…" Rin said.
*Swish*
The three then vanished as they ran toward the heart of the city. Rin's senses were now going off way stronger than before.
However, as they were getting closer to the villa, something shocking happened.
Every citizen they passed by, turned to face them. Every single one of them was now glancing directly at the three of them.
"Huh?" Rin looked around him and noticed the abnormality.
The citizens had started moving right toward them. Because of their huge numbers, the group was stuck in the middle.
"Are they going to turn violent now?" Elise asked as she readied herself to get her sword out. Even though she knew that using this sword as these were innocent people in the end.
They didn't know what happened to them but killing was out of the question since they didn't do anything wrong as far as they could see.
Hundreds of citizens surrounded Rin, Elise, and Evelyn quickly and closed any possible escape route for them.
"Damn, what the hell is going on here?!" Rin was ready to use his shadow manipulation and pull Elise and Evelyn inside so they can escape.
But, instead, Evelyn was the first to react.
"Charming whiff." She said as she moved her arm.
Instantly, a rosy-red aura exited her body and spread everywhere along with the wind. In less than a moment, the aura engulfed every single citizen around them.
*Fuuuh*
Instantly, the whole place was turned motionless as if time itself stopped. All the citizens stopped moving altogether.
"Huh? You stopped them?"
"Yes, but not for long. This is really bad." Evelyn clicked her tongue as she looked around.
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