October in Altor was like fruit adorning a cake — sweet yet faintly cold — while the vast surrounding countryside had taken on a golden hue, harmonizing with the Lava trees shedding their leaves throughout the city, together weaving a picturesque scene. Combined with the distant, melodious strains of music drifting through the air, everything seemed so tranquil and beautiful, fully befitting its title as the "City of Music."
"Only the Melzer Black Forest remains eternally shrouded in black..." Standing by the quietly flowing River Belen, Natasha gazed at the dark forest on the opposite bank, her voice tinged with emotion. Her long purple hair billowed behind her in the autumn wind.
This black forest held countless memories of hardship, pain, and triumph for her — whether it was the grueling knight training of her youth or the various encounters within its depths, none of it was something she could ever forget in this lifetime.
"Black spruce — a tree species unique to the vicinity of the Black Mountains, suspected to have been tainted by the aura of some extra-planar dimension..." Lucian answered in the tone of a learned scholar.
Natasha couldn't help but laugh at his deadpan, academic response: "Why it's always black has absolutely no meaning to me. What matters is that I was once chased by kobolds through it, ate random tree fruits and ended up in excruciating pain all over, was poisoned and paralyzed on the ground unable to move, and took a wound to the abdomen so bad I had to be carried on someone's back while fleeing..."
She understood that Lucian had deliberately answered that way to distract her, to shift her mindset from "musician" back to "knight," so she could enjoy the "day trip through Altor" with a lighter heart.
"You were chased by kobolds too? With your combat talent, I'd think you could crush them without even awakening your bloodline power." Lucian asked with genuine interest. In his mind, Natasha had been a "Valkyrie" since childhood.
Natasha curled her lip: "Fewer than ten kobolds, and I could handle them easy. The problem was there were several hundred of them — and one that could cast spells innately!"
"What in the world did you do to provoke such a crazed response that several kobold tribes joined forces to hunt you down?" Lucian asked, amused.
Natasha went "Uh..." and raised her right arm: "I honestly can't remember!"
"Didn't you always say your memory was excellent..."
"Everyone makes mistakes! The point is, I can't remember!"
The two strolled slowly along the banks of the crystal-clear River Belen, savoring the familiar river breeze, chatting and laughing as they reminisced about the past.
Suddenly, Natasha stopped and pointed at a desolate, trash-strewn stretch of riverbank ahead, grinning mischievously at Lucian: "Isn't this where you earned your very first pot of gold?"
"Yes — all thanks to Her Highness the Princess dropping a nightingale veil, which allowed me to take that crucial first step out of the slums." Gazing at the pile of refuse, Lucian's heart swelled with genuine emotion.
There, a few ragged paupers were rummaging through the garbage, enduring the foul stench in search of anything valuable. On the embankment beside them stood a burly, barrel-chested enforcer, arms folded as he supervised. Even in the Golden Moon season, he wore only a thin brown jacket.
Natasha let out a soft breath: "The gangs still control this place after all."
"After the Allen Gang, it seems Altor has a new set of gangs," Lucian said without surprise, only nostalgia. Given Altor's actual conditions, the emergence of new gangs was merely a matter of time.
The gang enforcer noticed a man and a woman on the riverside path, sizing him and the paupers below. He'd been about to warn them to mind their own business, but noticing their aristocratic attire and bearing, he thought better of it. Turning his head away, he pretended to admire the river while secretly keeping an eye on them.
Lucian and Natasha did nothing of note, simply continuing to enjoy the river breeze as they walked toward the Market District gate. This allowed the enforcer to breathe a long sigh of relief.
It was afternoon tea time in Lentat — for the gate guards of Altor, this was precisely the most lethargic, least active moment of the day. They gave the slightly altered Lucian and Natasha only a cursory glance, and seeing their clothes and bearing were of superior quality, waved them through the gate.
The familiar, bustling Market District. The Altor-accented Common Language. The clothing styles, so different from Lentat yet equally familiar — all of it delivered an immediate, visceral impact to Lucian and Natasha.
"The Market District hasn't changed at all... It's as if we never left," Natasha remarked. She had frequently passed through this very gate to visit the estates outside the city, and often came here in a veil to seek out all manner of curious and interesting things, so the Market District was far from foreign to her.
Lucian nodded and took a deep breath. That familiar medley of scents — roasted meat, spices, dyes, smoke, alcohol, and all manner of stenches — made him feel as though he had returned to those days of old, when he had struggled to eke out a living in the Market District.
"I used to haul cargo here back then. I wasn't strong enough yet — a single bundle of goods would send me staggering..." Lucian pointed at some small shops along the street.
Natasha listened with a smile, following him through the Market District and occasionally gesturing at a particular store:
"That general goods shop has been around for fifty years. The first time I visited, the grandfather was still tending customers — now it looks like the grandson's generation has taken over..."
"...That shopkeeper recognized me when I came to purchase an ancient seven-stringed lyre. He nearly fainted on the spot..."
Lucian, too, was flooded with Market District memories: "...It was right on this street that John and I beat every last one of the Allen Gang's enforcers into the ground..."
That was the beginning of my tentative acceptance of this world — and my true integration into it.
Passersby glanced at the two, who looked for all the world like an aristocratic couple on a leisurely stroll through the Market District, occasionally pointing things out. They couldn't help but find it a bit odd, but Lucian and Natasha were hardly concerned with the attention of strangers.
As they walked, the two crossed through the Market District and into the Administrative District. The crowds began to thin, and the streets grew progressively quieter, filled only with the sounds of street musicians and Bards performing various pieces — an ocean of music that gave one the sensation of spiritual elevation while strolling through.
Natasha listened carefully for a good while before smiling: "A string serenade in G major... 'Moonlight'... the second movement of 'From the New World'... 'Pathétique'... dedicated to... 'Dedicated to Sylvia'... I can't believe that even though you've been away from Altor for so long, your compositions are still regularly performed. The more street performers and Bards play a piece, the more popular it is — timeless music truly remains timeless no matter the era..."
"There's your march too..." Golden leaves drifted down from the Lava trees on either side as Lucian listened intently, distinguishing the different melodies.
Natasha hummed a passage of melody with a proud expression, then sighed softly: "But compared to before, the frequency of your pieces being performed has dropped quite a bit. Everything I just heard was from the latest generation of outstanding compositions."
Both of them kept close watch on Altor's musical developments and were no strangers to the outstanding works within it.