Lady Peony.

Age 24, second daughter from the mighty Silver Clan who dominated the entire of Silver Vein Mountains who is to be married into the prestigious Amber Family in the coming weeks. The youngest sister to Chieftess Silver who commands over 300 personal soldiers, is mayor of the Clan’s own town, and the governing power who manages the family’s silver ore sites.

Lady Peony is described to be a fair maiden of noble upbringing who treats everyone she crosses path as equals. Despite being the burden of the Silver Clan on her shoulders, she possesses an adventurous spirit and tends to wander around the territory owned by the Silver Clan.

Last seen wearing her peach blossom pink travelling robes, a hat with a curtain to hide the scar on her left cheek, and--

“You know, little blue,” a woman in a kimono would mumble and stopped reading the contents of the missing poster. “Whoever wrote this could have just wrote: jade skinned beauty, worth a lot. Done. Would save a lot of ink on the paper, don’t you think? All this cramming into tiny font hurts my eyes.”

Martial Blue Sister was not alone. Fortunately and unfortunately.

It was a good thing she was paired up with one other person from Moon Tavern, as there were just some assignments and operations that she was not to familiar with and lacked the experience.

Unfortunately, she had to talk to said partner even when she took this job to get away from crowds. But picking the lesser of two evils, better to communicate with someone she knew by name and face than a roulette of random strangers.

Keeping her company was Martial Red Sister, a seasoned member of the Moon Tavern who stood out with an elegant kimono of vibrant colours and decorative sakura blossom prints. A woman who held fashion in high regards, even the way she walked held enough elegance to attract curious eyes to her stride.

She would adjust and smooth the creases of her clothing and sleeves, making sure neither the skirt of her dress or her long curtain sleeves touch anything unnecessary.

While she was reading the expensive missing person poster, Martial Red Sister frowned, “I know some rich girls like to be risk takers, especially in gambling or romancing another woman’s man, but an adventurous spirit in a place like this is just ridiculous.”

Mutiny Hill.

That was the name of the location Moon Tavern were searching through.

After asking around, following clues, and requesting the help of locals, all fingers and word of mouth all point to this one place. If one thought the name was something to raise an eyebrow, they should see what it held.

Corpses.

Hundreds of corpses were scattered across the mud clay slopes and the droopy roads. The entire hill landscape looked like a well used candle, pocketed with many ditches and pitfalls that were cluttered with skeletons, corpses, and mummies.

Most of them wearing ancient looking armor. These bodies left out in the open and buried with ancient vines and giant roots all stared in random places, as if seeing their loved ones there in their final moments. Many of their arms were coiled around each other.

Along the way, they would come across fresh bodies. Most of then not wearing ancient armor, just regular travelling or farming clothing. Passerbies who may have got caught in ditches full of the dead or thick roots, withering away until they joined the fields.

Martial Blue Sister didn’t chance to look at their faces.

Even though she had seen her fair share of gore and violence, she was not ready to look through the hollowed eyes of skeletons like peering into an abyss. Furthermore doing so would make her believe the missing person, this Lady Peony, was among them. She had to be hopeful for the outcome.

Martial Red Sister took the lead and glanced about.

The hills were shrouded in fog, as if for the last hundreds of years. Smoke and mist moving even slower than a snail, it may take centuries before it finished moving from point a to point b. She also made sure her geta-style wooden sandals did not sink too deep into the soft clay mud, else she will teeter over like a chopped tree. The last thing she want is to trip herself and someone shout timber; oh she’ll punch them for sure.

“This place is incredibly unsettling. I’m shocked the Empire hasn’t cleaned this place up,” Martial Blue Sister would comment while rubbing her arms to stave the spiritual cold, “Why would Lady Peony come all the way here?"

Martial Red Sister tapped a finger to her lip, “You’ve heard of the saying, the most dangerous place is the safest, right? Not to mention, this entire area just happens to be right outside of the Silver Clan’s jurisdiction. Lady Peony would half guess family spies would be hiding in familiar places, so venturing into foreign territory would be the safest chance of escape.”

“...All this, because she didn’t want to get married?” Martial Blue Sister wondered, stunned at this simple motivation.

“I mean,” Martial Red Sister just shrugged, “Everyone gets the pre-marriage jitters. Didn’t you hear the professional storytellers spreading random breaking news back in the capital? ‘8 year bond ends in bloody tragedy the night before wedding’! Or ‘star crossed lovers dueled to the death on the morning of their wedding day’...Stuff like that.”

“...Fake news”

“Don’t give me that look, you little blue headed mouse! I personally investigated those tragedies yesterday!” Martial Red Sister would huff with indignation. “Besides, the missing poster told us no? Who Lady Peony’s groom to be is.”

Martial Blue Sister would recall the poster’s contents, “Th-the young master, of the Amber Family.”

“They’re also called the puppet masters of the Empire. They pretty much own the entirety of North Cloud City through business and government pockets. They have a hand in nearly everything from civil service, commerce, and dabble in politics through proxies. Of course, they always deny those lovely allegations.”

Martial Red Sister felt her face getting stick from the moisture in the air, so she whipped out her pursue to pluck out a powdering kit to adjust her make up.

“Personally,” she continues while puffing her cheeks,” I see Lady Peony’s whole marriage as nothing more than a business transaction. Think about it: Silver Clan’s 100 years worth of fortune from their silver mine and the Amber Family’s behind the scene political powerplay. Why, they could even become the next imperial dynasty if they put their mind to it – but don’t quote me on that, or the Emperor would do more than punch me for such rebellious thoughts.”

Martial Blue Sister stopped in her tracks.

It wasn’t because she heard a random noise, more like the worries in her gut weighed her down. Left and right, she see corpses, skeleton, and mummies left about like lawn decorations. With how thick the fog was, she felt like she got sucked out of her world and trapped in an isolated dimension.

“Maybe,” Martial Blue Sister would voice softly. “We are looking in the wrong direction. I honestly don’t believe Lady Peony would..........”

Martial Red Sister wasn’t a patient lady so she didn’t wait for her companion to finish that sentence before cutting in with her own thoughts.

“Look, little blue. If you don’t want to admit that I’m right, at least don’t be passive aggressive about. Not finishing your sentence to suggest I am wrong is just rude...Little blue? Little...Where in the nine hells did she go?”

Martial Blue Sister was short, that was a fact. But she wasn’t tiny to the point Martial Red Sister would lose sight of her like an ant in a forest. Not to mention, that hair as blue as a lake stood out too much, so it was very easy to spot the girl in a crowd with zero effort.

But after checking her surroundings and horizon, she saw nothing of the sort.

What got her attention however, was a hand gripping her ankle. Martial Red Sister just rolled her eyes. Ha, ha, very funny. Ghostly place, ghostly jumpscare, har har. Just when she was about to stomp on her companion’s prank--

--She found Martial Blue squeezing at her ankle – while a corpse hand was dragging her into a pit of skeletons and mummies by her OWN ankle.

“HALP! HALP HALP HAAAAAAAAAAAAALP!”

”LITTLE BLUE LET GO! YOU KNOW AT LEAST ONE OF US HAS TO SURVIVE THIS! LET GOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Martial artists or not, given the circumstances they had every right to freak out.