Beyond the slums—home to the abandoned people of the capital—wild, uninhabited mountains crowded together. It was said the slums were left alone to serve as a buffer against monsters drifting down from the mountain range, but no one knew the truth for certain.
At the foot of these mountains, nestled quietly among the trees, was a round lake untouched by humans. Its water was crystal clear, and schools of fish could be seen swimming through it, swiftly flicking their tail fins. Reflected upon the mirrorlike surface of the lake were the leaves of the surrounding trees, showing the first signs of autumn. It was a picturesque scene—a vivid portrait of the changing season.
“Why would they want to go swimming in autumn, of all seasons...?” muttered a man seated at a table set up near the lake.
Zenos, the genius unlicensed shadow healer, was dressed in his usual jet-black cloak as he confusedly watched a group of girls in swimsuits make merry by the water’s edge.
“Aw, come on, doc. Leave us to our fun. It’s hot today, anyway,” said Zophia, leader of the lizardmen, as she turned around to face him. She wore a green swimsuit that matched the color of her scales.
If one went strictly by the calendar, it was already autumn, but the sunlight today was intense with the lingering harshness of the summer heat.
“I agree. So much happened that we didn’t get to have fun this year. I’m glad we get to hang out with you, Sir Zenos,” said Lynga, boss of the werewolves. Her wet tail swished in a circle, scattering sparkling droplets of water everywhere.
Resting his chin in his hand at the table, Zenos replied, “Well, you have a point. I’ve been away more often than not lately...”
He’d infiltrated an academy for nobles as a teacher, hunted down a calamitously powerful magical beast in the frontier, and just last month, he’d gone to a battlefield as a border patrol officer and fought a deadly battle with a group of mercenaries who had invaded from the west.
Why him?
“I’m only a healer, damn it,” he grumbled, letting out an involuntary sigh.
Loewe, the well-built chieftain of the orcs, emerged from the lake with a splash, sending forth white-crested waves of water.
“That just means everyone needs you, Zenos. It’s both fortuitous and not... I have mixed feelings about it,” she said with a melancholic smile.
“Loewe...” Zenos paused as he looked at the orc. “Where’s your swimsuit?”
Though the sunlight glittering off the lake’s surface made it difficult to see, it appeared Loewe wasn’t wearing anything at all.
“Ohhh nooo!” Loewe lamented loudly. “It’s gooone! It must’ve floated awaaay! My perfect body is on full display to the wooorld! How shamefuuul!”
“Okay, no one is buying that, Loewe!” Zophia snapped, hurriedly attempting to wrap a towel around the orc’s body. “Swimsuits don’t ‘float away’ in lakes!”
Loewe flailed wildly. “Stop it, Zophia! This was the perfect chance for me to inconspicuously show off my magnificent physique to Zenos!”
“How is this inconspicuous?! Quit it with the indecency in front of the doc!”
“Indecency? You call this perfect figure indecent? Look! Look at it and say that again!”
“And why would I ever look at your naked body?!”
“Oh nooo!” Lynga interjected. “My swimsuit floated away tooo!”
“Enough already, you exhibitionists!” Zophia yelled.
As she watched the three demi-humans splash and wrestle in the water, the wraith Carmilla elegantly sipped tea under a parasol.
“Hee hee hee... Ah, how I missed the sound of their vulgar bickering. I find it quite nostalgic,” she said.
“Carmilla, stop lounging around and do something about this!” Zenos said.
“Aw, come on, guys! We finally get to have fun camping together! Please don’t fight!” said Lily, a young elf, unable to watch any longer as she stepped in to stop them.
As Zenos stood to back Lily up, he noticed something. “Lily, since when do you have that?”
Lily, who also worked as a receptionist and nurse at Zenos’s clinic, was wearing a glossy, navy-blue one-piece swimsuit.
Teacup in hand, Carmilla gave him a smug sidelong glance. “Hee hee hee... You mean the school swimsuit? Why, I arranged for it.”
“School what now?”
“What?! Do you not know about school swimsuits?!”
“Why would you ever assume I’d know?”
“Fine. ’Tis a type of swimsuit once used in schools in the far east. A legendary item, said to be coveted by fanatical collectors the world over! A man of culture would be able to appreciate the sight of a young elf in one.”
“I know I keep asking this question, but are you sure you’re an apex undead? Like, really?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ooh, dinner’s ready!”
As night fell and the surrounding mountains were wrapped in the deep hues of dusk, the group gathered in a circle around a campfire after setting up their handmade tents around the lakeshore. Dinner included bread brought from the clinic, as well as a bubbling soup filled with beast meat and vegetables brought by the demi-humans. The pleasant tiredness from the day’s fun and the fresh night breeze made for perfect seasoning, making the meal taste even better.
After taking a bite of her skewered fish, Lily said, “Wow, Lynga! The fish you caught is so tasty!”
“You’re so nice, Lily,” Lynga replied. “But I am, indeed, a fishing master!”
“You do know you’re a werewolf and not a cat?” Zenos asked.
“Man, doc, things were rough for a while. It’s nice that it’s all finally settled down, huh?” Zophia asked.
“Yeah,” Zenos replied. “I wanna take it easy for a bit.”
“But little did Zenos know, a new—”
“Keep your weird predictions to yourself, you floaty snake!”
The lighthearted banter continued around the crackling fire. Though the breeze blowing over the lake carried with it the coolness of autumn, the day’s warmth still lingered gently in the air. The peaceful meal went on, and once the large pot was finally emptied, Loewe looked up at the jet-black sky and smacked her knees.
“Looks like the perfect time to get started,” she said.
“Started?” Zenos asked. “With what?”
Loewe’s lips lifted into a grin and she chuckled. “Why, ghost stories, of course. A true summer tradition.”
“But summer is over.”
“Aw, c’mon, doc,” Zophia interjected. “It sounds fun. And tonight’s pretty muggy still.”
Lynga let out a small laugh. “Try not to faint from my story.”
Zophia and Lynga were excited to join in, but Lily was clinging to Carmilla with a nervous expression. “I’m scared...”
“I am no good at ghost tales,” the wraith remarked.
“You’re a literal ghost tale,” Zenos said flatly.
“Hee hee hee...”
After the pair was done with their usual antics, Zophia spoke up. “All right, I’ll go first.”
She lowered her gaze to the flickering campfire and began to whisper, setting a strangely fitting tone for her story.
“It was a night just like this, hot and muggy... I’d just started working as an honorable thief, trying to survive and help feed the people of the slums a little. I used to research the homes of nobles and rich citizens who profited off of shady deals and sneak in, night after night. But I didn’t have much experience yet, so I was really tired. On my way back from a job...I decided to take a nap in an abandoned house.”
She tossed a twig into the fire and continued.
“I started feeling something strange. Like someone was in the next room. And when I held my breath and peeked in...”
A warm wind suddenly swept through the camp, rustling the trees in the mountains.
“Ack! Was it a ghost?!” Lily exclaimed, brows furrowed with fear as she clutched the hem of Carmilla’s robes.
The sight of the young girl who was terrified of ghosts clinging to a being that was essentially their queen made for a truly surreal scene.
Zophia suddenly pushed to her feet and shouted, “And there they were! The Royal Guard! That abandoned house turned out to be a rest station!”
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.
The lizardwoman stood there with her hands on her hips, blinking at the others’ awkward stares.
“You guys don’t think that was scary?” she asked.
“I mean, it would be scary, but...” Lily mumbled.
“I don’t think that’s a ghost story,” Lynga said.
“Indeed. You just picked the wrong spot for a nap,” Loewe pointed out.
A thief accidentally sneaking into a base full of knights whose job it was to catch thieves was certainly a terrifying experience, but one that was distinctly lacking in ghostly elements.
“I...guess, but... I mean, my blood’s never run colder than it did that night...” Zophia muttered as she sat down with a dissatisfied look.
Lynga leaned forward. “Heh heh! My turn! Try not to wet yourselves!”