Chapter 453. An Exciting Night with Two Girls Outside the City: The Alleged Haunted Castle. (3/7) 

It was 1 AM by the time we arrived at our destination. We were currently standing outside a metal gate with the pickup truck we arrived in parked by the wall directly to the left of the gate out of the way.

In the distance, behind the metal bars obstructing us from entering, a sizable castle towered over us imposingly. Some parts of it had collapsed with the lack of maintenance and decay over the years, but it was no doubt still standing… somehow.

I couldn’t believe it really existed and had to rub my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating and seeing things that weren’t really there.

As for how we’d come across it, I’d spotted a random flash of light in the distance while driving. Rosa and Dawn hadn’t seen it… It made me ponder the subject of tortured souls Rosa brought up earlier.

What if… the flash of light I’d glimpsed upon was exactly that? A wandering soul?

The only problem was… there were no lights floating around right now. As far as I could tell, there was not a single soul in sight.

If it wasn’t a stray wandering tortured soul, just what was the flash of light I saw? Was it just a coincidence and I got lucky?

“We really found it, didn’t we?” Rosa broke the silence.

“It… seems so.”

“That flash of light you saw was pretty lucky. To think it’d lead us right to it.”

“Yeah. What now though? The gate’s locked.”

“Isn’t it pretty obvious? If we can’t drive any closer we just leave the truck here and climb over the wall.”

Rosa climbed up onto the top of the pickup truck.

“Give me a boost.”

I climbed up and squatted down with my back to the wall. Rosa placed her foot on my shoulder, jumped up, and stretched her hand out. She grabbed hold of the ledge and pulled herself up.

“Throw the bag up to me.”

I picked up the bag from the trunk and threw it up. She caught it then extended a hand out to me and pulled me up.

Dawn was the last to climb up the wall.

“Uh, by the way, what’s the plan to get out after dropping down?”

“Hmm… good point, I was so excited we actually found it I forgot about an exit strategy… what to do… what to do…”

“One of us could stay up here and wait for the other two to return to pull them back up. We could do it like a test of courage and rotate out the pairs.” Dawn suggested.

“Oh~ that idea isn’t bad. But… I think it would be more fun if we all go together. The person waiting would just be bored and what if something happens to them while they’re all alone? That wouldn’t be good.”

“Haaaah. If only we brought some rope with us. We could have tied it to the truck and thrown it over the wall then scaled the other side that way,” Dawn lamented to herself.

“True, that would have worked,” Rosa agreed.

I spoke up and asked, “Considering some of the collapsed walls in the castle, do you think there might be a collapsed part of the wall attached to the gate? There could even be a second entrance.”

Rosa nodded and followed up with a question, “That is true… Do we take a gamble and assume there will be another way out, or do we walk along the top of the wall to scout out the area before we drop down?”

“Obviously the latter,” I naturally opted to play it safe.

“Playing it safe isn’t as exciting though. I vote to just drop down and leave it up to fate.”

“Are you crazy? What if we really get trapped in there?”

“Worst case scenario, we call Dawn’s father for help.”

“Assuming he can find us. There’s no guarantee that he would. Besides that, would we even be able to call him?”

I pulled out my phone and checked the signal. “Do you have reception? I don’t have any.”

“Ugh, I don’t… I forgot just how out of the way we are right now. What about you Dawn?”

“Uh… nothing.”

“Then, without any backup plan, we can only check for another way out. If there isn’t one, we can only give up.”

“Alright, then let’s split into two groups and go in opposite directions. I’ll go alone. Ran, you can go with Dawn.”

“What? Shouldn’t Ran go with yuh, Rosa?”

“I’m more concerned about one of you two being alone than I am about me.”

“But what if you slip and fall off the wall when you’re alone? That could put you into a pretty dangerous situation.”

“I’ll be fine, relax.”

“Ran, yuh should say something too.”

“She’ll be fine. She can jump off a four-story tall building and only suffer a minor sprained ankle. Falling off of this wall wouldn’t even tickle her.”

“What! A four-story building? Rosa, have yuh really fallen from that height before?”

“Yeah. It’s not a big deal. I know others who can do so as well.” Fellow assassins I imagine. Her dad probably could do the same if she could.

“That’s… terrifying… are all girls from the city able to fall from that high up and be fine? Are they all secretly shapeshifting catgirls? Is this considered a standard for becoming a city girl?”

No, just assassins. 

“It’s not normal, Dawn. Trust me, Rosa and the people she knows who can do the same are the weird ones.”

“I’m not weird. Hmph! You’re just not in as good shape as me.”

I couldn't deny that. I haven’t exactly been training to be an assassin my whole life.

“Uh… I don’t think any amount of working out is going to help with gravity,” Dawn retorted.

“Whatever, let’s go already.”

Rosa rose to her feet, turned in the direction of the gate, and started walking away with her back to us.

“Wait, how are yuh going to get to the other side? The bars are pointed at the top,” Dawn asked.

“No problem, I’ll just walk across.”

“Walk across? But… how?”

“Like this.”

She placed her foot on the pointed metal bar, then took a step forward with little to no difficulty maintaining perfect balance on the tips of her toes. She even had her usual sandals with heels on too which made it even more impressive. The pointed metal bar didn’t even pierce into the bottom of her sandals as she stepped from one to the next in succession without stopping.

Dawn’s jaw dropped when she saw Rosa’s impressive feat of perfect balance. The way she did it was seamless and masterful. She made it look far too easy.

Well, that was my assassin girlfriend for you.

When she reached the other side she looked back and smiled, satisfied by Dawn’s shocked expression, before she continued on her way.

“Rosa’s… really amazing. Is this considered... something normal for city girls?” Dawn looked at me and posed her question seriously.

I stood up and told her, “No. Like I told you, there’s no need to worry about her at all. You should be more worried about falling yourself than her falling.”

Dawn rose to her feet and asked, “Hey, I just realized, why didn’t we just walk along the outskirts of the wall on the ground instead? We wouldn’t risk getting hurt by falling.”

“Why?” As I walked forward along the wall, I listed off the benefits to her, “For several reasons. It’s dark, we can’t see the ground very well even with flashlights due to vegetation. We could trip and fall easier if the ground is uneven with holes. We can see our footing on the wall much easier than on the ground. On the wall, we can also see inside the wall, there could be something we can use to climb over that we wouldn’t see if we’re walking outside the wall. The last major concern would be wild animals. We’re much safer up on the wall should we encounter larger wild animals on the ground that could be dangerous.”

“Oh, I didn’t consider any of those things.”