Thinking they were in an underground city, Alicia and Wisesa found the contents of the first-level city even more eye-opening.

This city below the city was not as grim as it sounded, it appeared. The ceiling displayed a painted vista of a stiff, cloudy sky, albeit dimmer than its real counterpart and the thin strokes forming hexagons along it failed to offer any sort of authentic feeling of the celestial panorama. Holes in the ceiling emitted a cylindrical beam of heavenly invitation, opening and closing as giant metal boxes were lifted into the “paradise of the gods”, or banished from there.

The buildings within this city were far from squalid. The only squalor here were giant thralls who followed their masters, bowing their heads in shame, and they did not dress in squalid clothes either. Quirky structures of various shapes and sizes crammed into one another. Glitter adorned shopfronts in foreign script and temple ornaments. A consequence of an artist assigned to oversee urban planning. The worst impression Alicia offered of the city was that it was a posh lair for felons, not a wasteland for the downtrodden.

"Where are we?" Alicia marvelled.

"This is Chikamachi," Izel replied. "The Lower City. The final layer of Takamagahara after Uemachi, the Upper City. Rest assured, the security here is robust. They didn't build this town to confine the lower castes but as a government attempt to house all Kagatse citizens within a single fortress, whenever their lands are invaded—including now."

"Sounds wise," Wisesa commented. "How many layers do they want to build?"

"I’ve heard they also want to build another city, truly underground."

Their current surroundings were dominated by domed temples crowned with conical ornaments, emitting smoke scented with incense through holes on each side. Alicia noticed numerous bald, half-naked men with bodies covered in paint and spiralling patterns in front of wooden and bronze terraced houses. Some were seated, some stood with arms raised, others with one leg elevated. They maintained those positions while offering some sort of prayer. One can observe the trembling on their bodies and their paint smudged with sweat.

The youth troupe was also stunned to witness how some meditators thrashed about while being dragged away by civil guards, merely for "flaunting" their meditation in the middle of the street, generating chaos and traffic jams as a result.

"That's an absurd form of meditation," Wisesa remarked in astonishment.

"I thought so, why would they do that?" Alicia pondered, eyes flicking to the Tamoanchanese girl and the two Kagatsean kids.

A niggling feeling tugged at the hearts of Alicia and Wisesa, whether it was like beholding eldritch entities or not, as some of the meditators batted their eyelids and followed the teens’ movements. Which Alicia tried to avoid meeting their gaze while Wisesa challenged back with a glare, sometimes stomping his foot towards them as a bluff. Ordinary citizens passing by were likewise caught stealing glances at them, faces half-sour. A gaijin, not to mention ones too young, should not have chosen this place as a tourist destination unless they wanted to entertain themselves with gut-testing and death-seeking.

Even the fleeting glances of the giant thralls were unnerving. Behind those desperate eyes was a black, cloying aura. Alicia and Orb could feel it. They possessed the core of Khaos.

Alicia's hand went to her waistbag instinctively. But Orb offered a suggestion, Leave them. I feel my power restraining them. You already understand the situation.

Alicia did understand the situation. There was a restraint on them in the form of a choker that contained Arcane might. These giants were most likely prisoners of war from Magavostok after the battle against the Black Alliance, and they had a unique condition where they could not be purified with Arcane.

Meanwhile, Izel sighed. She too had a bad taste for the citizens of the Lower City, but not all of them. Only those strange hermits. "These meditators are adherents of Kagatse’s School of Understanding—the national religion. They engage in that kind of meditation to attain enlightenment," she explained. "The spiral marks all over their bodies, it's like... some kind of an analogy that the journey of life is a continuous spiral until they come full circle—completing the realisation of their true self. That's what I’ve heard. But their meditation isn't limited to just that." As they walked, they passed a group of men and women in Kagatsean military uniforms practising simultaneous hand knotting. "They say cultivating while actively practising their Ninshu arts is also one way to achieve enlightenment."

"Those bald, white-and-black-painted people are scary," Kaito interjected, his face expressing anxiety whenever his gaze met the spiral-patterned faces. "We met someone like that in our village once, doing the same thing in the middle of the village. Otosan said they were from some part different from Rikaiha, and warned me and Tome not to go near them."

"You don't have to fear them," the pyromancer responded. "They're just cowards. They're so afraid of mujinos that they surrender and hope mujinos eat everyone within the walls. Know this, Men and Women, they say that each mujino is a manifestation of the Enlightened Ones from the past mourning the world! Absurd!"

"Well, maybe the only enlightenment they want to receive is for each mujino to bite off their balls, and they unite with the others in their stomachs," Wisesa scoffed.

A loud laugh escaped Izel. "Good one, Man!"

"Oi!" Alicia fumed with her hand lashing out at Wisesa’s upper arm. Orb screeched too. "Can't keep yer voice down in front of the kids and the other Kagatseans, can ye?"

"But they're absurd!" Wisesa retorted.

"Well, save your scorn for a closed room, then!"

"Do you think these fools understand the common tongue?"

"You'd be wise to assume one of them does!"

The smile on Izel's face was only a partial one. "I was wrong and right at the same time, Man. Wrong for thinking she was your girlfriend. Right because she appears more like your mother!"

Wisesa did not seem to appreciate the joke, but Izel's laughter had already erupted again while Alicia merely moaned in annoyance.

However, Kaito was an understanding child; he laid a glare at the two teens as a defence to his bespectacled “sister”. "I think Alicia-neesan is right. We shouldn't talk like that in public if it doesn't hurt us. That's rude."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Rude! It's rude!" Tome joined in.

Izel and Wisesa were stunned. The innocence of the children cast an unexpected awkwardness over the group. Wisesa sighed and looked the other way, perhaps just as awkwardly. The journey became silent other than the clomping of their feet filling the air.

"My wee ones are pure bold and brilliant orators!" Alicia beamed at the sight of Tome and Kaito. Tome did not understand a word Alicia said, but she said it with excitement. It must be a compliment. Tome smiled with pride.

"Of course, it's absurd," Alicia added, "but there's no need to tell that openly. I've come to the conclusion that what they're doing is almost a desperate gesture, their coping mechanism. Though I do question why the government hasnae disbanded them. Wrong thinking in the wrong people is dangerous."

"Then convey your aspirations when you meet with the leadership of the Magisterium," Izel replied. "Alright, never mind. Look at that stretch of the fence over there. That's the refugee centre!"

"Really?" Kaito and Tome jumped up and down. "Otosan! Okasan! We have to hurry!"

"Dinnae rush, you two!" Alicia held their hands to prevent them from getting mixed up with the sea of Kagatseans. After all, many others swarmed the hall to register and enter. Storming the entrance just like that was an impossibility.

Tome’s ceaseless yearning for reunion with her parents echoed through the air. Inevitably, Alicia had to step out of line and approach the gate so that the refugees would be spared from her foster child’s whining. Yet, even in this act of consideration, there lingered faint grumbles, thinking that Alicia had committed an offence against the natural order of the queue. Nothing was ever right in their eyes.

The refugee officer in the green uniform blew his whistle at Alicia and the others. "No. No... entry!" he declared in a broken common tongue. "Queue! Go queue...! Kagatsean children can..., foreigners... can't! Tamoanchanese... already have a place!"

"No, we’re nae seeking refuge," Alicia clarified. "I just want to take these two children to their parents."

Kaito also helped Alicia with his mother tongue. The officer’s initial frown—a struggle to decipher the lass' words—began to soften.

Nevertheless, the officer insisted, "Must queue!"

"But we're not registering like the others!"

"Kagatsean children must register!"

"Alright, alright. But can you please ensure their parents are present?”

The refugee officer's resolve was undoubtedly tested when Tome could not stop shouting, "Okaasan to otousan ni aitai!"—first angrily, then pleadingly, then culminating in a torrent of tears. No one could stop her wailing, not Alicia, not Izel, not the refugee centre staff. Wisesa's reprimand only made her crying worse. Only the touch of the Arcane aura from inside the bag managed to pacify her sobs, though not her longing, not with her annoying whining typical of a small child.

"Oi, kanojo ni ryoushin ni awasete yatte yo. Koko ni tojikomerarete iru dake de juubun tsurai nda yo!" one of the refugees in the queue began to voice his complaints. It was better for the children to get what they sought rather than endure the stifling line worsened by the cries tempting everyone's patience.

The refugee officer's resolve crumbled.

"Otousan to okaasan no namae wa nan desu ka?" The officer's defeated expression was unmistakable as his face aligned with the two children.

"Uchi no otousan wa Miyamoto Takeo de, okaasan wa Miyamoto Sakiyo desu." Kaito replied with politeness.

"Doko kara kimashita ka? "

"A-Amamitocho desu."

The refugee officer looked inside the gate, making sure the crowded sea of people did not block his way. "Koko de matte te kudasai," he said before weaving through the sea of people and disappearing into the tent. Alicia hugged the two children's backs as she waited.

"Dinnae fash yerself, awright? You'll see your mum and dad soon," Alicia reassured. Tome folded her nervous fingers across her chest, still hoping the officer would come with the two people of her dreams, or at least bring her and Kaito in to meet them.

Five minutes passed, and the officer came out of the tent himself. Pretty concerning, in Tome's opinion, but she remained hopeful. But should she really be hopeful? Because the officer did not seem to carry any paperwork, and his face was half-puckered. The ominous signals were obvious, yet Tome was still too innocent to deny bad news.

"No Miyamoto Takeo and no Miyamoto Sakiyo." the officer said flatly.

"Eh?" Kaito's brows furrowed, worry seeping into his bones. Tome initiated another round of tears.

"Five minutes is quite fast," Alicia represented the two children's denial. "Can't you search again, more thoroughly this time?"

"Already checked. No Miyamoto Takeo and Sakiyo." The officer tried to be firm.

Kaito had yet to relent. "No, they're not. Otosan and Okasan must be there!" Seeing Alicia's face, he insisted, "They should have been here three to five days ago!"

"Iyada! Okaasan! Otousan! Aitai! Okaasan to otousan to issho ni itai!" The faces in the queue were no longer exasperated; concern etched lines across them. Kaito acted as a steadfast brother, embracing his sister while averting his eyes from the threat of tears.

Alicia felt a sting in her chest. Izel from a distance also experienced the pounding of the weight to her heart. The lass diverted that unbearable outpouring of empathy with a presumptuous act. It was mere officer negligence, Alicia thought. Her request turned into a sharp scolding. "Ye must check again! There are thousands of refugees here, ye cannae possibly determine their whereabouts in five minutes!"

"We... register... with machines!"

"Perhaps you forgot to record these folks. Gather the refugees there and ask which of them are Kaito and Tome's parents!"

"We're not missing anyone!"

"Then by Hades how did you not find them? "

The officer gasped at the sixteen-year-old's outburst. He felt the urge to yell back at her, his back arched and his hands clenched into fists. But it seemed the eyes of the queuing refugees already shot him cynical looks. The empathy of two desperate children was absolute.

So instead of retaliating, the officer's body slackened, and his gaze intersected with that of the two Miyamoto children. He bowed.

"Watashitachi no misu o owabi shimasu!" the officer exclaimed. The queue immediately stopped. Other officers scattered out in confusion. "We apologise!" he exclaimed again in the common tongue, still bowing. "Not all Amamitocho carriages come...."

With that, the bad tidings were fulfilled. Tome slumped back into Kaito's arms. Her chest tightened from crying, hampering her ability to breathe. Despair wrenched her heart.

"What do ye mean not all the trains arenae coming...?" Alicia asked back before she could muster an answer. Her mind flashed back to what the gatekeeper had said earlier: many of them did not make it to the capital. Either because the rescue squads had lost track of them, or they were simply too afraid to take risks. They felt unsafe in their own land.

Suddenly, a group of masked humans surrounded Alicia out of thin air.

Wisesa and Izel swore they had not seen the group before their eyes blinked. Their masks depicted fanged and grinning humans in steel grey. Long black overalls were their basic attire, covered in tactical armour littered with grenades, shuriken, and small scrolls. As the bespectacled lass had testified, their entire outfit was riddled with spiralling patterns—from the spiral-twisted features of their masks to even the soles of their shoes. Their weapons were still sealed: the slender rifle on their backs, and the ninjato sheathed at their waists. But that was because they had already displayed the more dangerous of the two: hands locked in Ninshu art gestures.

"Are you Alicia Crimsonmane?" a male voice startled Wisesa and Izel in front of him enough to spin around. Someone dressed the same as the others, except that he was wearing a beret. With the spiral pattern of course. His long bangs covered one eye, yet the other eye was, in fact, shut as well. The grin chiselled on his visage was professionally sincere. Alicia, equally surprised, had already put her hand into her waistbag, but the man took his hand away.

"We mean peace," the man assured. "But I suggest you come with us.”

"Aye, putting me on edge and plying me with Ninshu magic sounds a bit much, don't you think?"

"Then forgive us if the way we came surprised you," the man in the beret hat bowed. "That's how we present ourselves in the Three Kingdoms regions. You'll get used to it."

Alicia did not know whether to nod or not. What a strange response, she thought. "And who are you...?" she asked. Although she hesitated, Alicia actually prepared a guess in her mind.

"Magic nurtures, magic saves. My name is Bujou Henge. We heard about your coming to Takamagahara." []