Nem heard himself ask the last questions like he was having an out-of-body experience. In front of him, Carl seemed confused as to why he would even think that was a possibility. In the end, he ignored it, perhaps treating it as a joke.
"Anyways, you will need to act a normal street urchin, but be careful not to get spotted near those guys too often. They aren't exactly worried about hurting a child or two..." Carl seemed to regret saying this as he quickly continued. "Don't worry too much, just remember to not follow him when he goes to meet his boss. Also, you will come here every two days at nine in the morning to report everything to me. Understood ?"
Nem already wanted to give up and run right now, but he was worried Carl was going to follow him for a few days at the beginning of the mission. He certainly did seem to be the type to think lowly of a child's skills.
"Uh, alright, but can I get a bit of money to buy shoes and food at least ?"
Carl made a fake laugh and answered : "I see you take your role as a city orphan very seriously, you are already so convincing !"
"No, no I'm serious."
"You will find Mannie in any of the following locations..."
"Hey, come on... Don't screw with me, you..."
"First, the most probable location..."
In the end, Nem was thrown out of the room with nothing but a series of places, each shadier than the other, to check out in order to find the man he was supposed to follow for an undetermined period of time. He also had a physical description.
Nem felt like crying.
To vent out his frustration, he turned back to the closed door and said loudly :
"Well screw you too, Carl !"
He then hurried to leave the hotel, worried the man might take his decorative sword and chase him down the stairs or something.
The old man at the counter had already disappeared when he got down, and Nem was currently too upset to really care.
'I should have just stolen something while I was in his room. This damn arrogant and self-important jackass.'
When he exited the hotel, Nem felt completely lost, although in a different way than usual.
'Now what ? Guess I'll just go look at the southwest area and steal some food, since that's how an orphan would act...'
Nem wasn't completely unskilled at stealing, but it definitely wasn't his area of expertise either.
'I guess I'll just have to practice then.'
No matter how bad his sense of orientation was, he knew the gate he came from was facing North, so he didn't have much problem figuring out the rough direction to his destination. He decided to make a detour to the market he had seen when he came in to get a few things to eat.
Nem began to repeat in his mind the gestures he had learned once from Jane Spencer in the monastery. As for why she taught this kind of thing to children... well, isn't this situation demonstrating it in real-time ?
The truth was that he also had the option of begging for money, but after being ignored by Carl so thoroughly, he really wasn't in the mood. Besides, stealing was clearly more fun.
The decision taken and the moves repeated enough in the air, Nem arrived at the market. Since it was still morning, a lot of people were here to buy stuff for the rest of the day, and it was truly packed.
'It will be really easy like this... But if I get caught it might get a bit tricky to escape. I should target who seems the most uncomfortable in the crowd, since they probably won't scream even if they notice me.'
Just as he was thinking about this, a shout suddenly pierced to the heavy chatter :
"Thief ! Catch him !"
Thinking it was quite funny, Nem used the moment everyone was looking towards the source of the noise to grab a loaf of bread from one stall and an apple from another. He let out a satisfied smile and thought :
'It really is too easy. Even if this sort of occasion doesn't appear often, it's still quite nice...'
Even though the place he was in didn't have the largest concentration of people to shield him from the view, he had still successfully grabbed food in such a straightforward way. As he continued to congratulate himself while munching on the bread, Nem suddenly noticed that the commotion was somehow approaching him. He turned in the troubled crowd's direction and noticed that a little boy with his face stained with coal was running towards him, dodging the adults around him with agility and a sort of desperation.
When the child approached him, Nem noticed that he carried a piece of cooked chicken in his small hands, pressed against his dirty clothes.
'This thief should be one of the street urchins Carl talked about. I didn't think I would meet them so far from the designated area...'
While the surprise was still growing in Nem's mind, the little thief had noticed him as well and suddenly headed straight towards him in a sudden sprint. Before Nem could even understand what was happening, the child had already grabbed his wrist and shouted :
"Come with me !"
Getting dragged around like this, Nem almost dropped his apple and followed with a confused face. He heard a few shouts from the people around him.
"There is another one !"
"He had an accomplice !"
"Hey that's my bread ! Catch him !"
'Uh ? What ?'
He turned to the child while they were both running with disbelief in his eyes.
"What the hell did you do you moron ?!"
The kid was too concentrated on his escape to even notice him, but still held on to his arm despite the perilous situation.
'Aah, screw this !'
Nem took the other kid's wrist in his own hand and took the lead, running faster towards the small streets at the edge of the market. In his opinion, it would be easier to lose their pursuers this way.
For him, running at this speed was pretty much effortless, but the child attached to his arm seemed to struggle. Thankfully, there were already at the entrance of the street, and Nem started to slow down to look behind him.
There were still a few men running in their direction, but they were already stopping, perhaps considering that following kids who just stole a bit of food to survive around the city were simply not worth the trouble.
Still, Nem leads the other boy with him a few more streets before stopping. Letting him catch his breath, Nem examined his feet and pulled a particularly sharp piece of rock from close to his big toe. His expression was that of complete disbelief as he watched the bit of blood coming off his painful barefoot.
'What did I do to deserve this ?'