章 70: Veil 6
A group of soldiers marched through the streets of the city. They headed to the city centre as they couldn't find anyone prior. It was normal thing for them to do, however, the intruders would be afraid and flock to a place where people are present.
With that in mind, several groups of soldiers invaded all the cities in the surrounding.
In the city centre, the soldiers drew closer to the square filled with shops where at least some people could be found, but they soon ran away after hearing the all-familiar and fear-inducing footsteps.
Lia rushed out of the corner and headed to Xavi who stood perplexed in front of the store. Seeing the reactions of the residents and the on-coming soldiers, Lia reacted quickly.
Lily was a bit slower but instantly caught on and followed Lia to take Xavi and hide. Without wasting any time, Lia grabbed Xavi and ran down the streets.
To the right, to the left, straight forward, nothing but cold and seemingly empty houses glared at them.
But it seemed like luck was on their side and when they turned to the right, a door opened up and a middle-aged thin man came out to throw the trash away.
Taking the opportunity, Lia slid past the man through the door into his house. Xavi was hesitant about it but Lia was dragging him with her so he couldn't refuse.
Lily knew what Lia played on and took the man back into the house while closing the door behind them.
It was a small house with a living room and kitchen on the first floor. There was a staircase leading up to the second floor.
Lia with Xavi walked up the stairs and Lily turned to the man, briefly saying, "Sorry," before pushing him upstairs.
In the man's bedroom, the four of them crouched on the floor away from any windows. The man had a confused and panicked face but each time he opened his mouth to talk, Lily stopped him.
"I apologise, uncle," Xavi spoke in a child-like voice and both Lia and Lily turned quicker than a greedy man at the sight of money to Xavi. Their faces condemned him for this act but they kept quiet.
Xavi already had gathered his courage to act like a child before Lia interrupted. If he already wasted his time prepping himself then he should do it properly.
"We want to visit our relatives but I… I accidentally made a soldier mad, so we're being chased," Xavi looked aggrieved, almost to the point he could burst out in tears because of his mistake.
Lia blankly thought he was too sly while Lily didn't know her young master was such a good actor. Her motherly instincts kicked in and she patted his head, "It's alright, the soldiers are bad, bad men. Little cutie, don't cry."
Xavi nodded but inside he was furious at Lily actually treating him like a child.
Lia couldn't continue watching the theatre and spoke to the male who wordlessly watched everything but his expression told them he was moved by Xavi.
"As you can see we're in a dilemma. Please help us out by staying here and my apologies for intruding," Lia slightly bowed and the man waved with his hands nervously.
"No, no, no need!" he felt Lia was too dignified to make her do this, "You-you can stay!"
The man stumbled over his words but didn't seem like a bad person. For a while, they sat awkwardly in silence. Sometimes making eye contact but quickly averting their eyes, sometimes shifting their positions and sometimes slightly coughing to ease the tension.
Then Xavi couldn't take it anymore," Uncle, do you have a lollipop?"
Without a lollipop, Xavi just didn't feel right.
"Oh, I- I don't have sweets but how-how about an apple?" the man was really nervous but seeing little Xavi, he eagerly wanted to soothe this child.
Xavi contorted his face slightly but nodded, "Ok, thanks uncle!"
The man, relieved to leave the awkwardness, left for the kitchen. Lia didn't stopped him as it seemed like he would rat them out.
A minute later, the man came back with three apples and handed each of them one. He was treating all of them like children and was way too naïve letting his guard down.
But Lia and Lily were indeed younger than him, so she bit into the apple. The juice flowing down her dry throat, Lia thanked him. The man lightly smiled. Lia felt this was familiar.
This man… he was lonely. Probably everyone in the Veil having to live like this was.
"Do you live alone?" Lia broke the ice.
The man's eyes widened and he nodded, "My wife left with the kids five years ago when we could still go out."
Lia picked up a piece of important information, "I'm sorry to hear that but five years ago?"
"Yes, you don't know? Until 5 years ago, the-the, I mean we could freely leave the veil and people were able to enter but then the Lord started to gain more control. I- I mean the veils were always there and the wall too but no one controlled. Only sometimes the Lords forbid someone to go to do something but because those were bad people."
Once the man started talking, he couldn't stop. It has been a long time since he could freely talk with people. He was afraid he had forgotten how to.
"Then why did the Lord suddenly gain control?'' The man disregarded the fact that Lia and the others didn't know about it even though they were from the Veil. He was just happy to have company.
"It's not clear but rumours-rumours say it's because of the son of the… the C family. He made countermeasures to prevent people from leaving to the core and other people entering because they say the core is overfilled. So, the Ghost King gave the Lords more power to assert their, erm, dominance and so, we're stuck here."
The man told them everything he knew but Lia had the feeling that something didn't add up. The story had various holes. Min's goal was to create two worlds full of ghosts, so it could be he used the Veil as an experiment to confine the people but why didn't he kill them or set ghosts free here?
Then a whole layer was crowded with ghosts just like how he wanted to and no one would know because it's impossible to enter the Veil now.
And even if Min confined the Veil for whatever reason, what did it have to do with Kil? Was he the one carrying out Min's orders? Despite knowing of Min's goal, Lia still couldn't figure out his plans or the meaning behind his actions. She knew nothing of him.
Lia looked at Xavi who was also serious.
"What happens if you go against the rule and go out?"
"As… as long as you don't try to leave the Veil, you'll be reprimanded three times before being executed. That applies if you want to go to another city. H-However, if you want to leave a city, you need the Lord's permission and no one knows how to gain because those that went to get it all disappeared!"
This also didn't make complete sense, after all, Lia, Xavi and Lily were able to get into this city. Unless the Lord knew and watched them and decided to lure them here. However, it was clear that permission from the Lord was indeed needed to get from city to city.
"But, but shouldn't you already know this?" the man finally became conscious about what he was talking about.
Lia didn't want to tell him the truth, not because she was afraid he would snitch on them but because she didn't want to give him needless hope that he could leave the Veil just as they entered it.
"We were living a sheltered life, we only stayed at home like this for our whole lives so we haven't even noticed any change."
"Oh, is that so?" the man seemed to buy Lia's excuse, "Where do you want to go? Where are your relatives?"
This time Xavi spoke up as he was the only one who knew about the D family's location," It's somewhere in the West. A city called Rag."
"Oh, that's going to be hard because you need this area's Lord's permission to leave and the area where Rag is, that Lord's permission to enter."
"So, you're saying it's impossible?" Lia got worried about having to get two Lords permissions. It seemed like they strayed far away from where they originally were supposed to be.
"Because no-no one knows how to get a Lord's permission!"
"I see, you seem to know how to get to Rag. Can you give us directions?"
"O-Of course! Wait a second!" the man ran out to get something.
The three of them used the time to discuss.
"What do you think?" Lia looked at the two.
"This is complicated, we have no other choice than to try..." Xavi was also at a loss. They ended up completely missing the simple plan he had in his mind.
"But you noticed, right. The things he said seem suspicious," Xavi figured that the reason for Veil's confinement was too vague. He also didn't know why the people here accepted it so easily. Obviously, there were a few who tried to leave but it was as if everyone submitted to their fate without resistance.
"That's concerning me, I-" Lia stopped as the male came back with a piece of paper
It was a detailed map of the Veil. He marked their position, "W-We're here."
He drew a line across a quarter of the map, "And Rag's here."
"It's best to use this way and cut it short but it'll depend on the Lord."
"Do you know anything about the Lord?'' the so-called Lords play a big part in the Veil and this worried Lia.
"Not much but he doesn't- isn't very friendly."
"I see. Does it matter at which time you pass the Veils?"
"What do you mean?" the man was perplexed.
"If we go at night is the possibility bigger to go to another city and not be caught by soldiers?"
The man shook his head, "No, it's at all times the same or else everyone would've already exploited this fact."
Lia's suspicion turned out to be true. This area's Lord knew they were coming and deliberately let them in. For what purpose? What did the Lord have in store for them?
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