The blue moonlight reflected off the remaining puddles, while the air was filled with the pungent smell of wet earth, the distinctive aroma after heavy rain, heavy like dust clinging to the skin.
6:15 p.m., Tuesday.
It had been over an hour. The merchants had already unloaded their goods, taking them home or storing them in their own warehouses. Some carried all their merchandise home using carts or hired horse-drawn carriages.
And... neither of them noticed any unusual signs among the merchants in the town square, as if they already knew that the two had come here to capture him.
Zavi was still in the clock tower, about fifty metres from Carlz, who was still on the road leading to the square.
Using the binoculars Carlz had given him earlier, he also made sure his mother was okay—seeing her walking, navigating the puddles, along the road to the Chapena district, carrying an umbrella in her right hand and a closed paper bag in her left.
Zavi drew his conclusions after seeing that from a distance, confirming that tonight his mother would cook a delicious meal, or maybe not. But for now, he chose to focus on the plan to rescue the survivors and spy on the disguised members of the Conwuqoam sect.
But after waiting too long, Zavi became a little suspicious of what had happened in the square at that time.
'Damn... That guy,' thought Zavi, using his binoculars—seeing Carlz still sitting and not moving an inch from where he had been standing before.
Was he deliberately luring the cult members out and attacking himself? Intriguing, seeing the relaxed expression on his face, I'm a little unsure.
Zavi shook his head.
Not wanting to think about it anymore, he decided to shift his gaze to the clear fountain, which was different from the blood-red one before, and from the long wooden bench that surrounded part of the fence, his gaze focused on it.
Without warning, the gas lamps in the first row that illuminated the entrance to the road and the sign pointing to Forgenate District suddenly went out, leaving half the area trapped in darkness.
Zavi immediately moved his binoculars to the left, staring at the darkness of the road without blinking, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly standing on end.
A few seconds later, from within the dark road, a faint yellow light appeared, moving slowly but surely forward.
Zavi reflexively swallowed.
'Why are the street lights over there out?' he thought suspiciously.
Zavi took a deep breath to calm his panic, trying to remain calm and not act rashly so that his plan to save his mother and the other survivors would succeed.
But, for some reason, seeing that made his body suddenly shiver. Zavi furrowed his brow, patted his cheeks with both hands, and then took a pistol out of his coat pocket, which had been dried by the cold night wind.
The atmosphere on top of the tower was very cold, enough to freeze the feet hidden inside his shoes. Even though his body was cold from the cold wind penetrating his coat and entering through the pores of his skin.
But the cold was not what he was thinking about at the moment, his gaze was still focused on the yellow light as if it was warming his body.
Zavi turned, put the brown pistol in his coat pocket, and walked down the stairs to tell Carlz, who was still sitting on the side of the road at that moment.
"Is that a lantern?" he muttered in surprise as he descended the dark stairs. "But... No, no. I misinterpreted it."
He suddenly remembered something strange, an embarrassing incident that had happened to him on Earth eight years ago, when he had just turned twenty.
'Ha ha ha. If he were here... Surely...' Before he could finish his sentence, his expression changed, and he stared blankly ahead, remembering that embarrassing incident—but it made his mind go haywire.
Zavi continued walking, carefully descending the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom floor, there was a neatly square-shaped hole in the wall that offered a clear view of the left side of the fountain. His instincts told him to stop. He turned to the right and narrowed his eyes, not in surprise, but because there was nothing there. He looked back at the yellow light moving slowly in the darkness.
After waiting a few seconds and nothing happened, he decided to go back down the stairs. His feet lifted slowly and were about to step on the stairs.
Suddenly, an emotionless, cold voice, in a language he did not recognise, rang clearly in his ears.
—Foore De Zatt Newatehss—
He pulled his foot back and quickly turned around.
'What!? What language is that? I don't understand it, it's not like the Talazze language that Moran and other cities in the Norn kingdom use. Is this a language from another continent? The south? Or the west?" Zavi shrugged, completely baffled by the language he had never heard before in his original Zavi's memory.
Since first arriving in this world filled with rampant supernatural powers and rapidly rising death rates, all because his soul had been taken by an evil spirit and some had even committed suicide, as the original Zavi had done at the time.
This made Zavi's heart certain that this new world was very wrong.
Damn... The previous transmigration was terrible. Will I get involved in something troublesome that will make my life difficult in the future?
He hissed, his expression changing between resignation to his fate and worry about whether he would be able to live peacefully after tonight.
Exiting the tower, he immediately ran quickly towards Carlz. One and a half minutes later—Carlz had disappeared from his sight.
"Where is he?"
Brak!! Tap.. Tap..
Zavi stared intently ahead. He saw a commotion in the merchants' tents on the left. He rushed over there, ready to take the brown pistol out of his pocket.
When he got there, he stood in the middle of the road. Zavi sensed something moving quickly in the narrow alleyway, which was blocked by rows of neatly stacked wooden crates that filled the pavement for ten metres.
Seeing this, he was naturally surprised, because the lights from the entrance to the Tezny district and the surrounding lights or those from the houses next door were still on without any problems.
But, for some reason, the narrow alley was dark. This made Zavi even more surprised and convinced that there was a clue he was looking for in that alley.
"Should I check it out? After all, the most 'Scenario' one suddenly disappeared somewhere." He shrugged slightly and decided to approach the wooden crates.
And... When he was a few metres away. Suddenly...
Brak!! Wush...
Some of the wooden crates were scattered everywhere.
Zavi's body was thrown backwards by something in the narrow alley, and his back hit the wall behind him hard—a house that was classified as part of the Tezny district.
"Ah..."
And... As he tried to endure the pain spreading throughout his body, Zavi looked towards the small alley, and shortly afterwards, from behind the darkness. A man wearing a white shirt and a black tie over a long black coat, was running frantically as if being chased by something, and he was also holding a blue moon patterned amulet in his right hand.