When we arrived at the plaza where the giant clock tower was, Afallen noticed that Phlum was already there, sitting on a bench while eating a candy apple.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Of course, there's such nice weather that…”

Phlum said while looking at the sky. However, while saying those words, she looked at us and realized what she was about to say and choked with the candy she was eating. We sat right next to her before she was able to talk.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn't mean to…!”

“Don’t worry about it. Where are the others?”

“I-I don't know, but they should be here soon.”

“Hey, Phlum… Do you have another of those?”

Afallen asked while pointing at the half eaten candy apple. It's clear that Phlum does not have spares, however, since she is so clueless, and since Afallen clearly wants to eat an apple candy, I can already see where this is going.

“Nope, sorry. But you can have this one if you want!”

“You sure?! Thanks, Phlum!”

Yeah, that's right, it was obvious.

Afallen took the candy from Phlum’s hand and started happily eating it while swinging her hanging legs.

I noticed how some of the people around us started leaving the area and I looked at the clock. It was about to chime, so the rest of our group should arrive here soon.

Somehow, everyone managed to get here in time, but it was clear that some of them had to run to accomplish that. Kaashi looked awful and so did Fluph, but on the other hand, Nero looked bored, almost as if he had arrived here before everyone else.

“Alright, let's share our information so we can decide what to do next.”

“Let me start, then…”

“Alright, Kaashi, go on.”

Kasshi told us that she went to different parks and plazas in order to talk to the trees of the city. They told her that the church and the adventurers had been really busy lately. They are running constantly around, but it doesn't seem that they are working on the festival matters but something more important than that.

The trees also told her that there have been more adventurers entering the city than the ones going to adventures. Besides, the ones that come back haven't caught any Prey recently. They didn't explain what they mean by Prey, but it doesn't feel like they were talking about animals, at least that's what Kasshi told us.

“Preys? What could they be talking about?”

“I think I can help you with that.”

The one that talked this time was Nero. He told us that he had been exploring the slums, while lurking in the shadows.

He heard rummors about the church arranging festivals from time to time, in order to sacrifice Demons and feed them to the aristocrats after they had been sacrificed, not before experiencing an insane amount of public torture. Sadly (for the people here, who love those festivals), the Adventures haven't caught any Demons lately, so the festival is currently in danger.

We all felt urges to start throwing up after hearing what Nero said. However, if we don't want to attract attention, we need to stay calm, even after hearing something as atrocious as that.

“I guess that explains what I heard…”

This time, the one talking was Fluph.

Fluph told us that she went to the Adventurers’ Guild and heard that the most experienced ones had just gone to explore. Apparently, not so long ago, the church could feel an insane amount of cursed energy in the hills that can be found in the south of the city.

However, contrary to that information, when Fluph went to higher spots, in order to look at the fields, she couldn't see any adventurers on the wastelands.

I felt a shiver down my spine after hearing her words.

What if…

What if, the adventurers were actually going to leave the city, until the church told them otherwise.

I looked at Afallen, but she was licking her fingers after finished eating her candy apple. She was clearly still unaware of the danger we are in.

I looked around us. There was not a single person to be seen in the whole plaza, when did everyone leave?!

“I think…”

I looked around us once again, but there was still no one around to be seen, not even a single animal. It almost looked as if time had just stopped, because there was not a single thing moving around us. It was just us, in an empty plaza, in the middle of a dangerous city.

“I think we are in big trouble… Everyone, get ready, now!”

Right after I shouted those words, every single alley around the plaza was sealed by a squad of the holy soldiers from the church mixed with a party of adventurers.

We have been totally surrounded, and it was nothing but our own fault.