At two in the morning, Segona City.
Rows of barracks throughout the city echoed with waves of snoring. All the barracks doors stood open. After fighting all day, the soldiers were exhausted, collapsing onto their beds and falling asleep. They did not even have the energy to bathe in the city's free public bathhouse.
Squads of soldiers patrolled the surrounding walls and the city streets. They were exhausted as well, but to prevent enemy scouts from infiltrating the city, they could only take turns patrolling.
Several torch-bearing soldiers marched across the city wall. When they had gone some distance, a figure leaped up from outside the wall. Before she landed, a black metal wire snapped taut and pulled her to the inner side of the wall.
Sizzle~
The metal wire extended, and the figure landed inside the city. She crooked her index finger, and a glint of cold light flashed along the wire beneath the moonlight before it retracted into her sleeve.
She was a woman dressed in loose black clothes and wearing a red mask. She crouched in the darkness, her fingers touching the ground.
A few minutes later, the woman started forward. She walked along the edge of the city wall, stopping and starting, and successfully avoided all the patrols in the city before reaching the buildings farther to the rear.
In front of a stone building, the woman in black stood in the shadows and waited in silence. After nearly half an hour, a figure walked out of the stone building, carrying a wooden chest.
Sizzle~
The metal wire tightened, and the figure who had walked out of the stone building was suddenly hoisted into the air. His mouth opened wide as he tried to shout something, but not the slightest sound came out.
The exquisite wooden