Using several crates lying in the area, Meiris climbed onto the roof a house to the left from where she entered the opening. She hoped to avoid getting led to where the woman giving chase wanted her.

'What the-' "ON ME!"

The woman shouted when she saw Meiris jump over her head to another roof with ease.

She found that surprising. With what she saw thus far, the woman was confident she was dealing with some runaway noble - she derived the noble part from her expensive-looking gloves - that has probably gone deep in debt. She rejected the idea of a thief because the girl clearly had no idea where she was running. Add to that the fact that she sensed little to no mana on her.

But her quick thinking and exceptional agility didn't fit an average runaway. Then again, the woman's experience wasn't really enough to reliably define the average.

What Meiris was doing would have surprised herself as well, if she had the time to think about it.

The part about quick thinking was just her - though it was more of a result of her instincts than conscious thoughts. She practiced improvised conversations, not running away - but the agility came from her ghostly vessel. The fear and the will to survive she had- Because she was a ghost, a close, incomplete union of soul and body, the emotions prompted her body to expend mana to increase her physical abilities.

How long could she last doing this? Maybe it was for the better Meiris didn't ask herself that question. Being aware of not knowing the answer may have clouded her judgement.

Her landing was a bit shaky, but soon she dropped on the other side of the building as the nearby roofs were either too far away or too high up. This already gained her a lot of time over the woman who had to run around the long cottage.

She was actually starting to get into the rhythm of it all.

Yet, she didn't break the line of sight for long enough. The 30 or so meters of an advantage she gained were quickly decreasing again.

Eventually Meiris attempted to throw flame behind her, at the woman, who hasn't used any visible spells until that point. However, the flare died before it could reach her and a chill spread through Meiris' body. Only now did she realize something was draining her mana.

'No no- THINK. Fuck-'

She realized that it had something to do with her movements becoming slower, the gap shrinking dangerously fast. She needed something else, she needed it now.

"WHAT'S UP!"

The scream coming from behind her back barely registered in her mind and was in no way what she wanted to hear. At the very least it sounded decently far away.

"Go home, T."

The woman said in between her breaths, so quietly it probably wasn't directed at the man she called "T".

"I got-!"

In that moment Meiris pulled open a door that was left ajar, right into the woman's face. She had no time to react and a loud thud confirmed the hit. The force of the impact nearly ripped the door from its frame.

"Argh- YOU BITCH!"

"A woman, ay?! And looks like she did a number on you~"

T has caught up to the woman, who was now leaning against a wall opposite of the door, clutching her nose.

"Oh shut up. Just catch her!"

They made no effort to keep their voices hushed. Meiris of course had no time to ponder about it, but wouldn't they wake people up? Did no one care to stop them?

It was complicated.

Since the guards didn't venture into the slums at night, it would take a lot of time for the authorities to interfere. By then there wouldn't be any traces left.

Of course, in the long term, the barracks often employed several knights adept at covert operations, such as dealing with underground organizations, but they weren't many and often had their hands full.

Alternatively, for a local, it was much safer to live under the same roof with an adventurer. Though a mass complaint would certainly get some knights deployed into the area.

The harsh reality of the slums was simply that if one has gone into debt or had no friends- They only had themselves to count on.

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It was further amplified by the fact that the area Meiris ran into had no communities. It was like the slums of the slums.

Another thing altogether was that her pursuers weren't in fact being that loud to an ordinary person. They amplified their voices with mana. A technique that was hard to learn and required a developed magic sense to hear. Which Meiris now possessed due to her circumstances.

Thery once told her about the technique and how he sometimes stayed in dangerous neighborhoods, but had nothing to fear because of his brother. She would recall that story later.

For now, she earned a moment of relief, but not rest. Finally she came up with an idea- She wouldn't get far enough to hide and hope in the common sense, but she didn't have to obey the common sense.

She shuddered having recalled the feeling, but it was the best idea she had.

Meiris gained the most distance she could, turned right and dropped through the ground. The feeling in her chest, where the crystal refused to sink, was uncomfortable to the point she used all her will to stay still.

An onlooker wouldn't tell that a human was hidden below the cloak. There was a bump where her back was, but she looked more like a too large rock sticking out of the rough pavement. In the shadow, at night, it was even difficult to discern it was covered with a cloak.

"Huh."

A voice of curious surprise came from somewhere ahead of her. T, she presumed, finally having a bit of her mind to spare.

"What are you doing?! She ran in here!"

The woman said with obvious accusation in her tone. She must have been only a couple meters behind Meiris' body.

"Yeah. I was surprised too..."

Meiris could hear his footsteps slowly approaching her.

"Ehhh." The woman dropped her attitude. "She didn't get back onto the roofs, did she?"

"You think she would jump that high?"

T liked to move across the rooftops himself. But it wasn't something just anyone could pull off efficiently.

If the girl had indeed climbed a building, he had no idea when. He was up there until he dropped into the alley, having received a sign from his partner who managed to keep Meiris in her view.

"Well, she got onto one earlier. There was also just something odd about her, many things, but I can't put my finger on it..."

"That's new. To hear miss Golden Eyes unable to see through her prey~"

"Shut it, will you?"

Suddenly something wooden cracked loudly to Meiris' left. Almost making her jump.

T broke a trading stand that was already barely standing on its own.

"She really did disappear..."

T swept the alley with his eyes once more. Did G make a mistake? There was no way the girl ran in here. He wouldn't miss her.

"Eh, forget it. Would have been nice, but no need to push it."

Is what she said, but they didn't meet today. T knew what she meant.

"You want to go look for her, don't you?"

"Haha." The woman forced a laugh. "Tsk- Don't you? I said I didn't get a good look at her, but not that I saw nothing. Who the hell wears white gloves here? I'm sure she had silver braces as well.

"And that rag on top, but still couldn't part with a reminder her glorified wardrobe. And she ran away from those shinies on southern. You get it, don't you?"

They, in fact, didn't need it, but if they got her- Maybe they wouldn't need anything for a long while more.

"I say we go for an extra half an hour. Better start running~"

T now seemed to be the more eager one, after the explanation, as he instantly jumped on the nearby roof and set off. Leaving the woman to herself.

"Great. Now where the fuck is K?"

She asked no one in particular and left the alley as well.

'Bet the useless bastard went to bed.'

----------------------------------------

Time seemed to pass awfully slowly while Meiris just laid there almost completely still. She allowed herself to move into a more comfortable position, keeping the crystal slightly above ground, but not a bit more.

They said half an hour. When would it pass? When would they stop looking for her?

She peeked up and saw the sky brightening. Soon people would wake and things might get difficult. There was no way she was going to wait for the next night to fall.

Hence Meiris got up and - still guided by the fading constellation - headed south once more.

On her way she arrived at a graveyard, even if it hardly looked like one to her. It was a large field of wooden planks stuck in the ground, surrounded by buildings in a truly awful state, as well as five large trees.

She was going to walk around it, but something told her to go right through it. Maybe she subconsciously felt sorry for the people who ended up here, dead? No. That wasn't it.

It's not that she didn't feel compassion- It just didn't make sense. Was she going to bond with unknown graves now that she had died? Surely the people that lived and died in the slums could have had miserable lives, but who was she to assume it or feel sorry for them? She was a noble. She came from a different world and - kind of - survived her death.

'This is wrong.'

Was her thought, yet she couldn't tell what was wrong about the situation exactly.

Then, as if by fate, her eyes found something that shouldn't have been... anywhere. But the attraction that brought her here wasn't fate. It was her soul that had subconsciously led her to this place...

She blinked, looked away, and back.

'Who?'

Out of all the questions she could ask, she chose the one which she was pretty sure had an obvious answer.

In front of her was a plank like any other, but there was a wilted flower placed in a hole left by a nail. And the name... Written with white paint, the name spelled [Meiris A.]. Her name. It was difficult to match the handwriting because of the brush, but Meiris was sure the grave was Thery's doing. Why? How?

She approached it, having fresh tears pour from her eyes.

It was an awful cemetery, an insult to a noble. It was almost as cheap of a grave as it got. It didn't even have her name spelled in full.

And it was infinitely more than she didn't even dare hope for. Her family would have burned her body and thrown the ashes into the nearby river. That was if they weren't going to make a further example out of her. She was sure of it, that was the most faith she had left in them. Yet somehow... She had not only been buried, but with a tombstone.

As odd as crying over one's own grave was, she couldn't be happier in that moment, to the point she almost wanted to turn back and find him. Her true family. The one friend she could trust.

But that was, ultimately, a path leading nowhere. Meiris was aware of that.

However, she wasn't aware of something that happened when she approached the grave.

Overflowing with emotions, she didn't even notice sleep coming over her before her consciousness slipped away.