"Right!"
The children at the sanitarium had yet to reach their rebellious teenage years, but even so, they were full of curiosity and eager to get closer to Elysia, with her beauty and sweet voice.
Elysia was quite fond of these children, especially admiring how they maintained a healthy, sunny, and positive attitude despite the torment of their illnesses, rather than sinking into despair.
However, Elysia wasn't exactly a natural storyteller. A flicker of an idea crossed her mind, and she decided to play a game with them instead.
Knowing the children were physically frail and couldn't handle anything too strenuous, she borrowed a storybook from Aponia and turned to them.
"How about a game of 'pass-the-parcel'? I'll pass this book to someone here, then I'll turn my back and call stop. Whoever is holding the book when I stop has to accept a 'penalty'—they'll have to perform a talent for everyone. How does that sound?"
It wasn't too intense, yet highly interactive—it was the best little game Elysia could come up with on the fly.
The children were thrilled.
And so, the game began.
It even reached a point where the children coaxed Durandal, Eden, and Aponia into joining in.
Under Elysia's "precise control," all three of them inevitably ended up with a penalty, each performing a little talent of their own.
Seeing that the children were worn out from the excitement, Elysia gestured for Eden to take her place. She asked Eden to sing some lullabies to soothe their nerves and wind down the atmosphere.
Durandal was the last to take the stage.
As she looked at the children below, fairy tales from a world that didn't exist in this one began to drift into her mind.
She cleared her throat and said, "I'll start by telling you the story of The Three Little Pigs."
The Three Little Pigs is a famous English fairy tale.
Like many classic stories, it has several versions; the early ones were actually quite grim—the three brothers face different fates against the Big Bad Wolf.
The eldest builds a house of straw, the second a house of wood, and the youngest, being diligent, builds a house of brick. In the end, only the youngest's house survives, and he even cooks the wolf and eats him.
Of course, the version Durandal told was the sanitized one, modified for children.
The bits about wolves eating pigs and pigs eating wolves were removed, turning it into a story where the youngest brother protects his siblings and uses his wits to drive the wolf away.
Many of those fairy tales from Earth are essentially fables, weaving moral lessons into the narrative—the perfect blend of education and entertainment.
The Three Little Pigs is no different; it teaches that if you want something done right, you should do it properly rather than cutting corners.
The children at the sanitarium had never heard anything like this before.
Once the story ended, they immediately clamored for more.
Durandal had plenty more in her repertoire, so she moved on to The Tortoise and the Hare, warning them against arrogance and complacency—cautioning them not to lose out like the hare did simply because they had a slight advantage.
After two stories back-to-back, the children were still begging for more, but it was already nine o'clock at night.
Aponia gently intervened, putting a stop to the storytelling and organizing the children to head back to their dorms for bed.
Of course, this was only possible because Durandal promised to come back and tell them more tomorrow.
Otherwise, those children wouldn't have budged, even if they were risking Aponia's displeasure.
By the time the children were tucked in and Aponia returned, it was ten o'clock.
She looked at the three of them with an apologetic smile. "I'm truly sorry for all the trouble tonight!"
"Don't be sorry! We had a wonderful time, didn't we? Right, Eden? Right, Bianka?"
Elysia glanced at her two companions as she asked.
Eden looked a bit puzzled. "Bianka?"
Then, she looked toward Durandal, seemingly having realized something.
Elysia was clearly speaking to her and Durandal, meaning "Bianka" was simply referring to her.
Noticing Eden's confusion, Durandal nodded, offering a brief explanation. "Bianka is sort of my nickname. Elysia likes to call me that."
"I see." Eden's expression cleared.
"Aponia, you've had a long day. You should get some rest now; we'll be heading out."
After saying their goodbyes to Aponia, Durandal left the sanitarium with Elysia and Eden, making their way toward the inn they had booked earlier.
Perhaps because it was late, Durandal could feel a gaze from the shadows—a feeling that was growing increasingly brazen.
Durandal sighed. She decided to strike first before they could make their move.
With a flash of motion, she appeared directly behind a man with a scarred face and a jagged line across his eye.
The man felt the world blur, and suddenly, one of the three beauties he had been tracking vanished into thin air.
A bad premonition washed over him.
Before he could even turn around, a sharp object pressed against his spine—the tip of the lance Durandal had summoned.
"I ask, you answer. Think carefully before you speak. If you don't, while I won't take your life, one thrust of this lance will ensure you spend the rest of your days confined to a bed. Do you understand?"
Durandal's icy voice cut through the air behind the scarred man.
"Yes, yes! I'll cooperate! Spare me, Superwoman!"
Durandal: "..."
How on earth did she become a "Superwoman"?
Well, to be fair, in some ways, he wasn't exactly wrong.
Durandal wasn't looking for this thug for no reason. Just like back in the Siberian town, she wanted to find the "boss" of Sundown Alley to send a message: keep your people in check, or you'll regret crossing paths with us.
The man spilled everything he knew like beans falling out of a bag.
As it turned out, Sundown Alley was a cesspool of mixed characters; there wasn't one single boss who ruled over everyone. Instead, there were several "big brothers" who each controlled their own sector.
Those sectors were divided into Theft, Extortion, Prostitution, Gambling, and Drugs.
The man himself was in the Extortion business—his usual routine involved robbery, and if he spotted someone decent-looking, he'd try to take advantage of them too.
He had been tailing the three of them because he wanted both their money and their beauty.
Of all these sectors, the most legendary was arguably the one focused on Theft.
It was said that the most skilled thief in Sundown Alley had once visited the homes of the other four bosses, yet no one had ever seen their true face.
People didn't even know if the culprit was man or woman, old or young.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL