"Huh?"
"What's going on today? Why are all these Crystal Lamps out?"
Roland tilted her little head as she looked into the distance. She was a young, energetic half-elf who normally could not fall asleep until ten at night, which was when Port Nyanzaru's Crystal Lamps were usually switched off. Sometimes she stared dreamily at those lamps at night or chatted with another little girl downstairs. Today, the lamps had gone out very early, all of them switched off around eight. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Apart from the harbor lighthouse, nowhere else seemed to have any light tonight. The little girl kept feeling that something was happening.
She quietly prepared to climb down from the balcony and take a look, but the moment her feet touched the ground, she found her father waiting below, watching her with a broad smile.
"Oh no."
Roland had forgotten one thing: her father had once been a very skilled rogue. Although he had taken up respectable work after moving to Port Nyanzaru, she had never once succeeded in sneaking out of the house at night.
"Where do you think you're going?" Her father rarely got angry, but Roland still lowered her little head in fright.
She hurriedly said, "The Crystal Lamps are out today. It's so boring. I wanted to take a walk by the square."
Smack.
Her father gave her a tap on the head and said, "Come back inside with me. City Hall has something very important to do today, so all the Crystal Lamps have been switched off. Going near Central Square is strictly forbidden too."
With that, he scooped her up like a little chick and carried her back inside.
Port Nyanzaru, Central Square.
Normally, people still visited the square at night. Occasionally, shy young couples