### Chapter 70: Bathing in Fire (Part Two)
The night was pitch black, with a few scattered torches casting flickering lights across the dusty little town. Distant barking of dogs mixed with the shouts of people, while nearby an infant cried intermittently. On the road ahead, kicked up by the dry earth, burly men wielding steel knives stepped aside expectantly as a woman, cloaked and seemingly delicate, made her way through the crowd.
She walked slowly.
However, she took one deliberate step after another, inching closer.
“Ailna…”
My heart skipped a beat and my pupils dilated.
It really is her…
What on earth?
She actually came back!?
The moment I spotted her, my body sprang into a defensive state, as if it was an instinctive reaction. I bent slightly at the waist, my hand shooting to my waist, only to find nothing—I’d forgotten to bring my “Dragon Claw” when I rushed out! But that wasn’t important; that weapon wouldn’t really give me any advantage against her.
My mind raced, the strong sense of vigilance surged for a brief moment and was quickly subdued.
Wait…
She should be in the same predicament as I am right now.
This woman clearly had something she needed from me, and I had questions to ask her too. The Church people were coming; we wouldn’t and couldn’t start a brawl here. Otherwise, things would just spiral out of control, and that would help no one. The urgent task now was to figure out what we should do next.
I quickly regained my composure, standing still, watching her approach.
“Miss Ailna—”
As the woman got closer, the first to react was Old Man Robert. It was as if her arrival shattered the gloomy haze hovering over the town. The old man jogged up, his joy as visible as if he had just spotted a great savior, delight plastered across his wrinkled face.
“Miss Ailna! You, you’re back… at last…” He rubbed his hands on his pants, excitement lighting up his murky eyes, “Those knights, the Church knights… Mond found their traces! They’re coming this way… Are you alright? Have you seen them? What should we do, what should we do… make a plan…”
His words tumbled out, a chaotic string of thoughts; it was clear he’d lost his mind a bit. Upon seeing Ailna, all his hopes were pinned on her, but she didn’t respond, ignoring him as she continued on her path.
“You’re just in time, Ailna!”
The burly man named Mond turned around, followed by a few spirited folks, all bubbling with enthusiasm. “Let’s go meet those false believers! With you here… if we add the Young Lady to the mix, they can throw as many as they want at us, and we’ll take them all down!”
“Let’s drive them back! Make those false believers think twice about coming here again!”
“Raaar!”
The warriors of Meiser Town raised their swords and cheered, filled with over-the-top excitement. With Ailna around, it felt as though nothing could stand in their way. Even the few women still sobbing at the roadside lifted their heads, hope glimmering in their eyes.
But…
The woman still hadn’t made a sound.
These people were blinded by their joyous emotions, or perhaps they were blindly trusting Ailna, and in that moment, not many even noticed her condition. Even the Old Mayor seemed to forget the urgent warning I’d given him not long ago about Ailna possibly being done for in the Sandy Valley.
But I noticed.
That woman looked like she had taken a serious beating.
Though her wounds seemed to have healed, the scorch marks and dense sword cuts on her cloak, the dried, horrid stains of bl**d, her slightly awkward gait, and the silver strands of hair peeking out from under her hood—all of it had an unsettling aura about her. There was a lingering thick bl**d residue mixed with sand and dust that made me feel a strange sense of dread about Ailna.
I was suddenly a bit anxious.
What does she want…
Ignoring the chatter of the crowd, the woman glided past the old man and the bulky Mond standing in her way. Within a few steps, she had come to a stop right in front of me.
“…”
I didn’t say a word, just looked up at her.
A sharp, cold breeze blew, slightly lifting her cloak and revealing part of her face shrouded in shadow, stained with a dark red hue; her eye glowed an unsettling white.
My heart lurched.
What’s going on with her…
“Ailna, big sister…”
Little Betty called out timidly from beside me, and I quickly pulled her behind me.
“…Ailna?”
“Miss Ailna, are you alright…?”
Mond and the Old Mayor shouted from the back, exchanging anxious glances as the woman continued to ignore them. The atmosphere turned eerily quiet, and I felt the tension thickening, but I tried my best to conceal it, steadfastly locking my gaze on her.
This woman was watching me…
What’s she observing?
“…Hey.”
After a pause, I finally couldn’t hold back and spoke, furrowing my brow, wanting to ask her what happened. But before I got further, her scrutiny was over; she no longer looked at me, instead turning to the old man.
“Grandpa Robert.”
“I’m here, I’m here!”
Old Man Robert rushed forward at the sound, somehow already holding his pipe in hand, but hesitating to smoke it. Instead, he gazed at her with a goofy grin, “Miss Ailna, as for the Young Lady’s matters, I’ve been following your orders; I’ll try to meet any requests she has… She’s been waiting for you to come back, but…”
“Hi, now that you’re back, we can breathe easy, but it’s really not a good time to chat. Those Church knights are going to show up any minute now! Make a plan, make a plan, we’re all ears tonight—”
As he spoke, the woman suddenly bent over, then knelt, banging her forehead into the dirt with a heavy thud: “Thank you for your care all these years.”
The Old Mayor froze in shock.
“…Uh.”
Flustered by this sudden gesture, he fumbled with his pipe, tossing it away as he trembled and reached out, trying to pull her back up. “What are you doing?! Silly girl, get up, get up…”
He helped Ailna to her feet, and she stood up seamlessly.
“At a time like this, why are you saying such things… you, you’re one of us! We’re all Meiser Town folks!”
The old man patted her shoulder, offering awkward reassurances, but the woman remained silent, turning her gaze to the gloomy night sky. Her hood swayed gently in the breeze, and I couldn’t see her expression.
But my unease only intensified.
“Betty…”
I took a couple of steps back, quietly leaning over to Little Betty and whispering, “You should go now. Take your mom and leave—”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Before I could finish, the wind howled.
Out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to see splatters of bl**d, silhouettes tumbling down into the shadows, all in the blink of an eye.
I felt a few warm droplets land on my face.
