Chapter 453.<h4><b>Chapter 453. An Exciting Night with Two Girls Outside the City: The Alleged Haunted Castle. (3/7)</b></h4>


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">In the distance, behind the metal bars obstructing us from entering, a sizable castle towered over us imposingly. Some parts of it had copsed with theck of maintenance and decay over the years, but it was no doubt still standing… somehow.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As for how we’de across it, I’d spotted a random sh 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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">What if… the sh of light I’d glimpsed upon was exactly that? A wandering soul?


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">If it wasn’t a stray wandering tortured soul, just what was the sh of light I saw? Was it just a coincidence and I got lucky?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We really found it, didn’t we?” Rosa broke the silence.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It… seems so.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That sh of light you saw was pretty lucky. To think it’d lead us right to it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. What now though? The gate’s locked.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Isn’t it pretty obvious? If we can’t drive any closer we just leave the truck here and climb over the wall.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa climbed up onto the top of the pickup truck.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Give me a boost.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I climbed up and squatted down with my back to the wall. Rosa ced her foot on my shoulder, jumped up, and stretched her hand out. She grabbed hold of the ledge and pulled herself up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Throw the bag up to me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dawn was thest to climb up the wall.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh, by the way, what’s the n to get out after dropping down?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm… good point, I was so excited we actually found it I forgot about an exit strategy… what to do… what to do…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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,” Dawnmented to herself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“True, that would have worked,” Rosa agreed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I spoke up and asked, “Considering some of the copsed walls in the castle, do you think there might be a copsed part of the wall attached to the gate? There could even be a second entrance.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">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?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Obviously thetter,” I naturally opted to y it safe.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“ying it safe isn’t as exciting though. I vote to just drop down and leave it up to fate.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Are you crazy? What if we really get trapped in there?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Worst case scenario, we call Dawn’s father for help.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Assuming he can find us. There’s no guarantee that he would. Besides that, would we even be able to call him?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I pulled out my phone and checked the signal. “Do you have reception? I don’t have any.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ugh, I don’t… I forgot just how out of the way we are right now. What about you Dawn?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… nothing.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then, without any backup n, we can only check for another way out. If there isn’t one, we can only give up.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright, then let’s split into two groups and go in opposite directions. I’ll go alone. Ran, you can go with Dawn.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What? Shouldn’t Ran go with yuh, Rosa?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m more concerned about one of you two being alone than I am about me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“But what if you slip and fall off the wall when you’re alone? That could put you into a pretty dangerous situation.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll be fine, rx.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ran, yuh should say something too.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What! A four-story building? Rosa, have yuh really fallen from that height before?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 bing a city girl?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">No, just assassins.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s not normal, Dawn. Trust me, Rosa and the people she knows who can do the same are the weird ones.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not weird. Hmph! You’re just not in as good shape as me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I couldn''t deny that. I haven’t exactly been training to be an assassin my whole life.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… I don’t think any amount of working out is going to help with gravity,” Dawn retorted.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Whatever, let’s go already.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rosa rose to her feet, turned in the direction of the gate, and started walking away with her back to us.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wait, how are yuh going to get to the other side? The bars are pointed at the top,” Dawn asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No problem, I’ll just walk across.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Walk across? But… how?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She ced her foot on the pointed metal bar, then took a step forward with little to no difficulty maintaining perfect bnce 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 session without stopping.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dawn’s jaw dropped when she saw Rosa’s impressive feat of perfect bnce. The way she did it was seamless and masterful. She made it look far too easy.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Well, that was my assassin girlfriend for you.


    <span style="font-weight:400">When she reached the other side she looked back and smiled, satisfied by Dawn’s shocked expression, before she continued on her way.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Rosa’s… really amazing. Is this considered... something normal for city girls?” Dawn looked at me and posed her question seriously.


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">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.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“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 shlights 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. Thest major concern would be wild animals. We’re much safer up on the wall should we encounterrger wild animals on the ground that could be dangerous.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, I didn’t consider any of those things.”