When the familiar glow disappeared and Arsil opened her eyes, she found herself standing in a familiar yet strange landscape.

A forest filled with overgrown plants, their roots and branches twisted and bent in grotesque directions, making it an eerie and unwelcoming place.

It was the narrow, elongated forest that surrounded Filthy Alley.

Was it really this easy to come back?

For the past five years, she had felt overwhelmed with how and when to find time to return, and now it all seemed foolish.

The ominous silence, with not even the sound of birds, pressed on her unease.

"You didn’t forget the way already, did you?" Rabin joked, but Arsil remained silent, retracing her steps from memory as she moved forward.

Her mind questioned if she was on the right path, but her body seemed to know where to go. She continued walking, veering off at what appeared to be paths, winding along the uneven trail, and then…

“Ah…”

She finally saw the entrance to Filthy Alley, a place she had longed for.

The entrance, once just a ruin of an old castle and now merely an obstacle to climb over, was littered with gray skeletons, each dressed in clothes that had long since lost their purpose.

Rabin, though not as unfamiliar with the place as Arsil, felt his playful demeanor fade, replaced with a heavy-hearted expression.

Dark stains were baked into the rough surfaces of the ruined stones.

Five years had passed. The once-flowing blood had mostly been washed away by nature, leaving only a few dark marks.

Holding her trembling body still with her arms, Arsil stepped through the entrance.

She saw a skeleton in a tattered brown coat, the sleeves ripped off.

Arsil knew very well who those distinct clothes belonged to.

"That’s Jack. A knight of the Holy Order from the Church sliced through his neck with a sword."

Rabin picked up a small skull and placed it on the headless skeleton.@@novelbin@@

"La Pam… La Pam was yelling at me to hurry up and get Lin when his head was cut off."

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