Chapter 78: Ness
Leiruat’s figure hovered effortlessly above the bustling town, levitating in slow, sweeping motions as her luminous eyes flickered across the citizens below.
From her elevated position, she observed the townspeople moving with uncanny synchronicity—each person immersed in their tasks, hands repeating motions with eerie precision, as if their actions were drilled into muscle memory a thousand times over.
A group of young men, muscular and silent, carried enormous chunks of boulders across the street, delivering them to a nearby construction site where others waited with tools in hand.
There, hammers rose and fell rhythmically, chiseling stone into ornate vases or intricate architectural designs. But it wasn’t the artistry that unsettled Leiruat—it was the indifference.
When a hammer missed its mark and struck flesh, causing blood to splatter or bones to crack, there was no cry of pain, no reaction. The wounded simply continued their task, as though their injuries were no more significant than a smudge of dirt.
Leiruat’s brows drew together in a sharp frown. Her eyes narrowed, her unease growing by the second. ’This doesn’t seem normal,’ she thought grimly, drifting deeper into the town.
She passed into another district, hoping for contrast—but found none. The people here wore different clothes, performed different duties, but their expressions were just as vacant. Their eyes were hollow, their movements mechanical.
A chilling wind curled around her as a sense of dread clutched her spine. ’Nothing like this happened in the previous timeline,’ her gaze flickered with uncertainty. ’What the hell happened here?’
Without another thought, her figure blurred, vanishing in a blink. She rocketed through the air toward the looming castle in the distance, but even then, her sharp gaze continued to scan the ground.