Chapter 78: Something Feels Off...

After feeling they’d soaked long enough, Mira and the two girls finally climbed out of the pool and started drying themselves off with the towels Mira had brought earlier.

Honestly, the three of them could’ve stayed in longer. But Mira knew soaking too long in hot water could make you dizzy. Besides, it was already nighttime, so they decided to just wrap things up.

The real reason, though, was that Evelyn and Elysia kept showing off their bodies to Mira. It left her a little annoyed and honestly kind of depressed, since she felt her body just couldn’t compete with those two.

’Our ages aren’t even that far apart, so why the hell are our bodies this different?!’

After getting dressed, Mira picked up her own clothes and the two girls’ clothes that had gotten dirty from the soil earlier.

"I’ll wait outside. Your clothes are in that paper bag."

Mira pointed at the paper bag sitting on a shelf before walking out of the bathhouse.

By the time she stepped out, the day had already turned to night and it was dark.

That in itself was normal. But for some reason, Mira felt something was off. The village felt way quieter than usual.

’Did monsters attack from the hill?’

While Mira was still mulling over why the village felt so dead, Evelyn and Elysia had already finished putting on their clothes. Both of them came out of the bathhouse, occasionally glancing at the simple outfits they were wearing.

"Mira..."

Hearing her name called, Mira immediately snapped out of her thoughts and turned around.

"How is it? Do the clothes..."

She couldn’t finish her sentence once she saw how Evelyn and Elysia looked in those simple outfits.

There was no denying their charm was just as strong even in plain clothes. If anything, they stood out even more now, maybe because of their hair colors.

But what really caught Mira’s attention was how tight the clothes were around the chest.

Evelyn winced slightly at the tightness pressing against her chest.

"Looks like the size is wrong, huh..."

The clothes looked so tight that Evelyn was clearly uncomfortable.

Elysia then looked down at her own chest while tugging at her shirt a little, hoping it would feel looser.

"A bit uncomfortable."

Mira, seeing all this, could only hold back her frustration. She was becoming more and more aware of just how far apart their body sizes really were. For some reason, it just made her feel even worse.

"Ugh... Forgive me. I didn’t know your sizes."

Hearing Mira’s words, Evelyn only responded with a small laugh before stepping closer with a gentle face.

"It’s fine. That’s on us too for not telling you."

’Ugh... That’s exactly what I didn’t want to hear.’

Seeing Mira starting to sulk, Elysia immediately stepped in to try and cheer her up.

"Relax, Mira. We really do like them! This is just for safety. Both of our sizes are E-cup."

Instead of being comforted, Mira just felt even worse after hearing Elysia announce her and her sister’s size.

She could only cry on the inside while smiling bitterly.

"Good to know..."

’After this, I’m asking Aunt Centipede to help me find a fast way to grow my "assets"!’

"Well then, let’s head to my house."

"Okay~"

"Alright."

The three of them started walking toward Mira’s house.

Along the way, not a single villager could be seen outside. Even though the streets were still lit by the oil lanterns along the road and in front of the villagers’ houses, Mira still felt uneasy about the atmosphere.

She then glanced at Evelyn and Elysia while swallowing hard.

"La-Lady... Something doesn’t feel right here."

Hearing Mira’s words, Evelyn and Elysia exchanged a quick glance before answering.

"What do you mean?"

"I don’t know. But it feels way quieter than it should be."

"It’s already night. It’s normal for things to get quiet since people are resting," Evelyn said while touching her chin, though she kept walking.

"I’ve been in this village for seventeen years, and I know exactly how it feels at night. It’s usually not this dead.

But yeah, it does get like this if there’s a monster or bandit attack coming down from the hill."

Hearing Mira’s serious explanation, with a slight tremble in her voice, Evelyn and Elysia immediately picked up their pace. Both of them walked right in front of Mira to stay on guard.

"Then we’d better hurry to your house."

"Right. I’m sick of this feeling too."

Since neither of them had brought their swords, Evelyn and Elysia chose to wrap their bodies in white and pitch-black energy instead.

Seeing the energy radiating from the two girls in front of her, Mira was a little surprised. At the same time, a question crossed her mind.

If they were this strong, then why didn’t they do anything when Mira let out killing intent and was about to attack them?

Mira knew full well that if she actually fought those two, her chances of winning were only around forty percent.

Maybe it’d be a different story if she fought one of them one-on-one. But against both of them at once...

’I can’t even picture how that would go.’

"Mira, what’s wrong? Why are you spacing out?"

"No! It’s nothing."

Mira snapped back when Evelyn called her name. She’d gotten too lost in her own thoughts to focus on the situation they were actually in.

"We should run so we get there faster."

Evelyn nodded in agreement with Elysia’s suggestion. Then she looked back at Mira.

"Can you keep up?"

"I can."

Mira then wrapped her body in her own red energy.

"Alright. Let’s go!"

*Whoosh!

In an instant, the three of them shot down the village road at high speed. The powerful wind from their movement made the leaves along the road tremble and the lanterns hanging in front of the villagers’ houses sway.

Mira’s red energy, Evelyn’s white, and Elysia’s pitch-black trailed behind them along the path they took. The three colors formed faint, flickering streaks in the air before slowly fading, as if leaving behind a bit of their power in the places they’d passed.

In the dark of the night, the sight was striking, like three lights cutting through the silence of the village.

After a while, the three of them finally arrived in front of Mira’s house.

Mira, at the front, slowed her pace. She looked at her house, dark with not a single light coming from inside.

’Where’s big bro? Is he not home?’

The village atmosphere had felt off this whole time. But seeing her own house this quiet made Mira feel even worse.

"We’re here. Let’s just go in."

Evelyn and Elysia nodded. The three of them then pulled back the energy wrapping their bodies before Mira stepped toward her front door.

Just as her hand was about to touch the doorknob, Mira meant to turn around and make sure the two girls were close behind her.

But instead, she found that Evelyn and Elysia were already gone.

"Huh...? Lady Evelyn? Lady Elysia?"

Mira immediately turned toward the road they’d just come from. She checked the side of the house and the surrounding area too, but found no sign of either of them.

"Lady Evelyn! Lady Elysia! Where are you?!"

Her voice started rising. She even walked a few steps away from the door while continuing to search in every direction.

They were clearly right behind her just moments ago. Mira hadn’t heard any footsteps moving away, nor had she sensed any energy movement from around them.

’How could they just vanish like that?’

Mira started to suspect something had happened. She didn’t want to take any risks, especially if someone was deliberately targeting the two Nocturne daughters.

Blood-red energy then flowed from her body and gathered in her right hand. In an instant, the energy formed a scythe that she gripped tightly.

"Lady Evelyn! Lady Elysia! Answer me!"

Mira kept scanning her surroundings with full alertness. Her mind was starting to fill with all kinds of bad possibilities, and she had absolutely no idea that what was actually happening was far from anything she was imagining.

Mira slowly moved away from her front door. The scythe formed from blood-red energy was still gripped tight in her right hand, while her eyes kept trying to scan the area around her.

But before she could take another step, every light in the village suddenly went out.

The lanterns that had been lighting the streets instantly lost their glow. Even the light from the villagers’ houses vanished all at once, plunging the village into total darkness.

"W-what...?"

Mira immediately raised her scythe. She tried to see in every direction, but there was nothing recognizable in that darkness.

"W-why did it get dark...?"

Her breathing started getting uneven. Her heartbeat quickened, while her right hand gripping the scythe started to sweat.

Mira tried to calm herself down, but the situation she couldn’t understand at all was just making her thoughts spiral even more.

’Could it be... something happened to them?’

Her eyes started to feel hot. There was a strong urge to cry, but Mira immediately bit her lip and tried to hold it back.

’I’m grown up now... I can’t cry just because of something like this!’

Even though she kept telling herself that, her fear didn’t just go away.

With slow steps, Mira started moving toward the road in front of her house. Her right hand kept gripping the scythe tightly, while her left hand reached out slightly in front of her to make sure she didn’t bump into anything.

"Big bro...?"

She called out to Elias in a quiet voice.

"Big bro, where are you...?"

Mira kept walking while trying to steady her increasingly ragged breathing.

"Aunt Potato...?"

This time, her voice sounded a little shaky.

"Aunt Centipede... Lady Evelyn... Lady Elysia..."

Mira kept calling their names one by one. But no one answered. She didn’t even know which way to search anymore, since the darkness made it hard to tell the road apart from the houses around her.

’Please... someone answer me...’

Her heart was beating faster and faster. Sweat started soaking her forehead and her breathing grew heavier. She had tried to convince herself that everything would be fine, but the disappearance of the people she knew, combined with the village suddenly going pitch black, made it almost impossible to hold back her fear.

"Big bro..."

Mira called out again in a small voice.

But just when she felt she didn’t know what else to do...

*BOOOOOOMMM!

A massive blazing red explosion suddenly erupted from behind her, right in the middle of the wheat field!

The bright red light immediately illuminated a large portion of the surrounding area, revealing the expanse of wheat field that had been hidden in darkness just moments before.

Mira instinctively turned around.

Her eyes went wide as she witnessed the explosion. Cold sweat started running down her temples, while the scythe in her right hand was still gripped tight.

"What the hell was that...?"

She genuinely had no idea what had just happened in the middle of the wheat field.

* * *