"There’s danger in the water?"

"Mhm-hmm~ The water is the first hurdle for anyone who falls down here. As the saying goes, ’Water is the Source of Life,’ but the water here has a life of its own. All of it has to be boiled before it can be drunk or used for brewing."

With that, the Minstrel casually picked up a stone and tossed it onto the water’s surface. The splash was immediately answered by a surge, and then tentacles formed entirely of water shot up violently. One, a three-meter-long tendril filled with countless floating debris, coiled around the stone before spitting it back out.

"Then how do we cross?" The Dwarf noticed that the entire bridge was within the tentacles’ attack range. Rorschach activated his [Arcane Vision] and saw that the water contained countless fine, glittering points of Spiritual Light, but they weren’t evenly distributed.

’The entire body of water isn’t alive...’ After the tentacles slapped back against the surface like waves and dispersed, Rorschach observed the Spiritual Light forming into patches, mixing into the water like an algal bloom on a eutrophic surface.

However, he had no interest or time to conduct research here. He fired off a [Frozen Ray], and the entire section of the river around the bridge froze solid.

"Let’s go."

"It’s good to be a Mage..." the Minstrel said, admiring the ice as he strolled across the bridge.

After crossing the nameless bridge, they reached the city’s edge. Rorschach saw that the squat houses were all covered in soot and scorch marks. The roofs were all thatched, with charred straw.

The sides of the street were piled with ash. As Rorschach passed, the slight breeze he stirred up was enough to send embers drifting into the air. The atmosphere was thick with the smell of various things having been burned.

Freddy seemed a bit surprised. "Your Magic Power is greater than I imagined."

The residents wore clothes that were uniformly black and filthy. Most of them covered their faces with scraps of cloth or leather, and the exposed skin on their hands and feet was covered in granulation tissue and scars from burns. From behind cover, their eyes watched the three intruders.

Unlike the Mouse Speaker, it was clear the residents did not welcome the search party.

"Let’s hurry. We don’t want to run into a patrol."

"A patrol?"

The Minstrel waved his hand in disgust. "A small squad of Empire soldiers! Oh, not that thing currently squatting on the Northern Continent, I mean the Old Empire that spanned continents and oceans in a bygone era! These guys were the ones who refused to retreat, a bunch of old hard-heads who wouldn’t surrender to the rebels.

"These old bones don’t even have ears. No matter how passionately I play, all I get in return is a spear pointed at me."

Speak of the devil. The sound of synchronized footsteps rang out, and a procession of near-skeletons emerged from around the street corner. Their eyes were vacant as they blindly followed a leading commander wearing a plumed helmet. Both the plates of their armor and the heads of their spears were rusted beyond recognition.

’Looks like they’re undead creatures...’ Rorschach raised his hand, pulling on the surrounding mist to turn himself and the other two invisible. They slowed their pace and brushed past these things. Rorschach had been ready for a fight, but the soldiers didn’t seem to possess the typical undead craving for the living. They just patrolled the streets mechanically. Wherever they went, the residents would proactively clear away chamber pots, wine barrels, children, and other miscellaneous items blocking the path.

"The Jiaomao House District is huge. We need to go to the Semi-submerged Area to find an acquaintance of mine, Lord Earl Elgin. His crowning achievement was packing up the Temple ruins from the southern end of the continent into two hundred shipping containers and moving them to Storm City. If you ever go to the museum, you can admire his masterpiece.

"The ruthless cross-sections on those stone pillars and statues are more breathtaking than any intricate carving. Of course, this also proves he’s a crude robber. We’ll have to pay some price for an audience." Freddy patted the Dwarf’s backpack, which contained fine wine and white sugar bought in Storm City. Clearly, these were the hard currency in this godforsaken place.

"With a gift for him, we can ask Lord Earl to post a missing person notice for us, and inquire for information from him directly." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

They finally walked out of what the Minstrel called the Jiaomao House District and arrived at the Semi-submerged Area. Rorschach quickly understood the meaning of the name. Although still in shadow, this place overlapped with the underground structures of Storm City.

As they stepped into a tunnel, the dripping ground, the sticky brick walls and vaulted ceiling, and the rushing sewage made Rorschach quickly realize he was in the sewers of the Istani Royal Capital.

They passed a few sewer maintenance workers, who were bundled up tightly, clutching tools like shovels and spades. The Minstrel swaggered by, and the workers completely ignored the strange trio of two tall figures and one short one.

Freddy deliberately played his instrument right beside their ears. One of them seemed to hear something and looked around, but he quickly returned his attention to the task at hand, completely failing to notice the musician just a step away.

"See? In our current state, people from the Upper Realm can’t discover us."

"It’s true!" The Dwarf jumped up and down energetically right next to one of the workers, who didn’t react at all.

"Can we interact with them?" Rorschach had seen that the Minstrel’s music could elicit a reaction. He used [Mirror Flower Water Moon] to remain invisible and reached out toward a worker. However, as his hand got close, it felt as though a slippery membrane separated them, sliding quickly apart.

"People in the gaps can." They arrived at a subway station. Rorschach had never tried Storm City’s underground transport system before. It ran on locomotives built for the Kingdom by the Dwarves. They were coal-burning, which was why the vents on the streets often spewed black smoke, accompanied by a rhythmic vibration that told pedestrians a train was coming.

As if to prove the Minstrel’s point, they saw an old beggar who would occasionally receive a coin—small change from someone buying a subway ticket.

"When did Lord Earl’s palace last pass by?" the Minstrel asked in greeting. The old beggar didn’t answer, instead just shaking his tattered top hat.

This meant the old beggar could communicate with people from both worlds.

Rorschach took the initiative and tossed him a shilling, but the beggar just kept shaking his hat.

With a sigh of resignation, he tossed another coin. The old beggar flashed a mouthful of rotten teeth and mumbled, "The Lord passed by here a quarter of an hour ago."

"Excellent. We won’t have to wait long."

It seemed the so-called palace was a train car. Rorschach continued to observe the beggar, who didn’t look like some master with a hidden trick. "Why can he communicate freely between the two worlds?"

"Because beggars and Scavengers are, by their very nature, people on the fringe. Those Mouse Speakers could also make contact with the Upper Realm if they wanted to, but they don’t dare enter the Semi-submerged Area."

The Dwarf spotted a staircase in the subway station leading up. "If I go straight up those stairs, won’t I be back on the surface?"

"I’d advise you not to do that. Don’t even think about it." The Minstrel’s expression was uncharacteristically serious. "The moment you leave the ’underground’ region without lifting the ’Curse of Unnaming,’ the curse will follow you forever. It’ll be just like it is now—you won’t be able to touch other people, and they won’t be able to see you. What’s worse is that you won’t be able to touch any objects in the surface world, becoming a complete and utter ghost. After wandering long enough, your Spirit will collapse, and you’ll just silently dissipate."

Just as he finished speaking, an ancient train came roaring in. It was much older than the normally operating subway locomotives—one of the first batches to run decades ago. It seemed to be gasping for breath, and the sound of its wheel hubs striking the rails was abnormally loud.

"Please inform Lord Earl that the Minstrel Freddy and his friends request an audience!" Freddy shouted. With a hiss of steam, the train doors opened for them.