Brando smiled faintly. He had already gotten the answer he wanted. Turning around, he looked behind him and met Nemesis's gaze as she lay in that direction. Her eyes were sharp as blades, and she gave him a light nod.
The sun was already beginning to sink westward into the Empire's inland sea. In the final moments before sunset, the sea in the far west seemed to catch fire, turning into one vast expanse of pure-gold radiance. But as the last ray of light disappeared beneath the horizon, the golden waters rapidly faded, leaving behind only a dark-red hue, like a casting that was gradually cooling. Looking from west to east, Greystone Town was surrounded on all sides by rolling hills. On clear, cloudless days, the view from above was extraordinarily broad—especially with the Anzeruta Mountains stretching from east to west in the distance and the endless plains to the east forming a magnificent panorama. But once dusk descended, the distant mountains seemed veiled in evening haze, growing indistinct and blurred, like an Impressionist oil painting. The boundary between heaven and earth was shrouded in an orange halo and rosy clouds, becoming hazy and indistinct.
But in the end, all of it sank beneath the silent night.
As the light dimmed, the vision of creatures accustomed to darkness instead grew clearer. The Harpies circling above the town seemed to have noticed some disturbance in the nearby hills. They circled over the surrounding slopes for quite some time, shrieking loudly, but before they could draw anyone else's attention, a commotion suddenly seemed to erupt inside Greystone Town. Noisy voices came from several streets, and the racket drew the feathered beasts' attention back. They turned and flew toward the town.
Inside Greystone Town, the Cave Dwellers were capturing hidden residents, Imperial soldiers,