The group made their way to the port of the city with the help of the map. The first thing they wanted to do was to see where their destination was after the robbery.

"By the way," Zhèngyi said, scratching the back of his head. "Didn't you forget something?"

"Huh? What?" asked Laki.

She had her hands clasped together behind her head and her elbows stretched wide as the group walked ahead. Unlike her previous situations, she at least now relaxed a bit and didn't seem so stressed.

Kiyu just shrugged her shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"Women..." replied Zhèngyi, slapping a hand to his forehead. "I don't know if this is still on your radar, but.... we're wanted criminals?"

"Do you think anyone will seek us out now? After we got past the guards?" asked Laki, letting her arms dangle next to her body again.

"I think Zhèngyi is right," Kiyu interjected.

"We should see if we can at least dress up a little. Capes would be a good start, wouldn't they?"

"Or masks?" suggested Laki, earning puzzled looks from both Kiyu and Zhèngyi.

"Yeah... better leave the ideas to me, okay?" he decided, "Maybe we'll find more at the port."

Thanks to the map, they could halfway find their way around Oras. The city was a lot bigger than Jarifa, and they did not build it around a central hub. None of them knew their way around here, while in Jarifa Zhèngyi could still serve as a guide.

In contrast to their first stay outside, it was now much busier and the closer they got to the port, the more people they encountered in the streets.

Children ran past them with parents on one hand and cotton candy on the other, bouncing. Only a few of those who met them dressed themselves more normal. Most had indeed dressed up and were wearing masks, which the group had been laughing at just minutes before.

"What's going on here?" wondered Kiyu.

She was taller than the other two, so she could see a little more, but the dense crowd of people in front of them made it difficult for her, too.

"Let's just ask someone," Laki suggested, and just walked up to a woman approaching them.

"Excuse me, but can they tell me why there are so many dressed up here?" Laki wanted to know.

Zhèngyi and Kiyu looked at each other, with him having a harder time hiding his opinion of the action. But that was just the way Laki was. If she could solve something in direct confrontation, she did. Unlike the other two in the group, she was less cautious and suspicious of others.

Kiyu saw herself as a middle ground between the two, as Zhèngyi didn't trust anyone outside of their group of three.

"Oh, you must be new, right?" the stranger countered, throwing Laki a smile.

"Yes," Laki confessed. "We just arrived yesterday, but have only been in our room so far."

At least she hadn't recounted their entire situation. She had to hand it to her. If someone wanted to look for them based on the day they arrived, they would now run into slight problems.

"I see. So this week is the annual harbor festival of Oras. For one week, there are many booths in the harbor and around it with sweets, masks, games, imported goods, and more," she explained.

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"There are also stage shows by spiritformers and fireworks at the end of the week."

With that, she clasped her hands and looked up at the sky with satisfaction, as if the fireworks were going to happen at any moment.

"The fireworks are always beautiful," she enthused, "oh forgive me. Just the thought of it is always beautiful. You guys should go watch it." she said, walking on with a smile.

"See? Wasn't so hard after all," Laki said. "Shall we go to the harbor festival?"

"That's right, let's go right into a crowd of people who may already wait for us to hand us over to Xianzhu in exchange for some wealth," Zhèngyi grumbled, glancing in the crowd's direction.

"We just need some masks." retorted Kiyu. "Do you have any more money?"

Zhèngyi rummaged in his pockets, stammering something unintelligible.

"Should be enough," he replied while counting the pieces in his hand with his finger. "But I think it's stupid to be so wasteful with our last bit of money."

"You can walk around without a mask," Kiyu grinned at him, "none of us are forcing you to buy and wear a mask."

Because of the dense crowd, they might be fine without disguises, but if they could afford masks, they should, shouldn't they? Anyway, Kiyu was of this opinion and bought a disguise for herself and her lover.

She herself wore a platypusbear mask, and for Laki she had bought one with the face of a liondog.

"It will suit you," she said, handing Laki the beige mask.

Grumbling, Zhèngyi had also given in to the idea and organized a mask from the booth, which he put on without showing it to the others first.

"And?" he asked, as the others surveyed his head.

"Pfft!"

Laki put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter at the last moment.

"Fits!" she giggled and spun away from him.

"What's her problem?" he grumbled, staring over at Kiyu.

"Well… it fits well." she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

He must not have been looking when he grabbed the mask. Who else would take a mask that depicted a sad pigrabbit? Sure, with their size and the body of a rabbit, they were quite cute, but the face was that of a pig and therefore less cute than the rest of the body.

"Anyway, let's move on."

The woman in front earlier hadn't lied with her descriptions of the festival. The closer they got to the harbor, the more booths the group found in the streets. It ended up that there were non-stop lines of booths on the left and right sides.

Especially the candy stands were a big pain for them, because Laki had a sweet tooth through and through.

'At least Zhèngyi keeps our money,' Kiyu, who could only look open-mouthed at the variety of stalls, thought to herself.

If Laki had all the group's money in her possession now, they would be poor within a few minutes, that much was certain. She swallowed hard once and glanced toward Zhèngyi, who just nodded his head.

Laki was a sweet tooth out of passion, and also an excellent pickpocket. Even if Zhèngyi was no target for her because of his own time as a thief and thus able to protect the group's property, everyone around her was at her mercy.

"Soo many sweets," Laki gushed, cracking her fingers.

Kiyu walked up to her lover and, without warning, gave her a light punch to the back of the head with a clenched fist.

"Don't even think about it," she admonished, "We can have some fun here, but you're going to leave crooked things alone, understand?"

"Stupid!" whined Laki, rubbing the back of his head. "It's almost like back then."

Kiyu was about to retort, but stopped with her mouth open. After all, she was right. This all felt a bit like back then. She hadn't felt this lightheartedness for quite a while. How long had it been since the attack on Harios? Almost two weeks?

A short time, but before she could experience that every day. These two weeks full of stress, fight and death , however, seemed like an eternity and only now she realized how grateful she should be. Grateful for the auspicious time she had in her life, for the time she could still have with Laki and also with Zhèngyi.

She pushed her mask up a bit, revealing her mouth as she bent over to Laki. She also pushed Laki's mask up a bit and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"But only almost," Kiyu whispered and straightened up again.

"Well then, let's see what's around here while we make our way to the pier, okay?" she said with a smile and headed off first.

The other two followed her and they stayed close to each other so as not to get lost in the crowd. Finding each other here could prove difficult, especially for those like them who were new to the city.

"Come here, come here, everyone!" they heard a powerful exclamation.

"Come here and marvel at the incredible Horatio! The master of cold arts!"

Kiyu looked at the other two, and they exchanged glances with each other. Cold arts had made Kiyu curious. The woman who had told them about the Harbor Festival also mentioned stage shows by Spiritformers. Was this such a show? And if so, what exactly would he present there?

But it would be pleasant for once to meet a Spiritformer who would not fight with her, whether for training or to the death. At least for a few minutes.