"Could we have taken a wrong turn...? It's hard to tell which way is which in here."
Amira still seemed to be trying to downplay the reality of what she was seeing, though she might well have been just as confused.
"That makes sense."
Unfortunately, Fu Qian clearly had no intention of letting her stay in her comfort zone. After listening to her explanation, he nodded.
"It does look like we took a wrong turn, since our path seems to have disappeared too."
At Fu Qian's agreement, the two instinctively looked down, then fell completely silent.
The ground beneath their feet had turned into a hazy blur, like fog. There was no trace of a path left.
"Heh... Lord Prout really has been in this town the whole time? For example, on the day the dense fog appeared, about a month ago?"
With a tolerant shepherd's chuckle, Fu Qian spared his two lambs any further pressure and changed the subject.
"Not exactly..."
After a long silence, Amira finally answered.
"From what I understand, Lord Prout had just returned to Lairding for some reason at the time."
That made more sense.
There was little chance Amira was lying about this, so Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction.
"But he later tried to return here?"
"Yes. Lord Prout was among the first to explore the fog."
Amira sounded quite respectful of him.
"Don't be nervous. So, what did the exploration reveal? What does the town really look like?"
Fu Qian waved a hand.
His question, however, made the two operatives exchange uneasy glances.
"I said there's no need to be nervous. Do you think it makes much difference to me whether what we just saw was real?"
That was true. He was, after all, a shepherd who walked through "nightmares."
Fu Qian's