'Okay, maybe this isn't the best way to steal something... But I like being straightforward !'
This is what Nem thought once he successfully escaped from the angry citizen of Lunhart. It wasn't that the shopkeeper wasn't determined to catch him, but he simply had to give up once he saw the little thief's running speed.
Lost in the great joy of having shoes and not having to check everywhere he stepped to walk, he had felt like a Pokemon player who finally got the running shoes for the first time and had pressed B with a lot of enthusiasm.
This was why he had displayed a speed slightly above what a normal child would be capable of in a full sprint. The really problematic thing being that he was actually running in the crowded market at the time, dodging and grazing all the people around him even though some of them were trying to catch him.
It gave the shopkeepers and various onlookers a serious surprise but did have the beneficial effect of making them give up early.
'Well, all in all, I suppose this isn't something a human can't do... I should be relatively safe unless someone who knows me from the orphanage was there. The probability of that is close to zero, so I should be good if I just brush it off if somebody asks.'
'Anyways, where am I ?'
He looked around him, a confused expression on his face.
'This doesn't look like any place I've been to before... '
This wasn't surprising, though, as it had only been a day and a half since he had come here. In the end, he simply looked in the direction of the Sun and went to the southwest, a satisfied smile on his face. Having shoes was so good !
To pass the time, he looked around in the streets, observing the stores, people and architecture. Even though this wasn't a good place to live at all, Nem had to admit that this city had some style to it.
Some buildings and streets looked like it was trying to be part of the Red Empire so much that it actually somehow became even more grandiose. At the same time, it still gave off that exotic feeling that one would expect from a city close to the jungle in the Southern Countries.
Suddenly, Nem read something interesting in the front of a store : "Historical Library of Lunhart".
Intrigued, he entered the building and was greeted by the scent of leather and old paper. It was a very orderly room, with clean wood shelves and books. Behind the counter was a middle-aged woman, seemingly so immersed in reading that she didn't notice him.
Not wanting to bother her for nothing, he simply started to read the various titles to get a rough idea of what he might be interested in.
'Construction of the town hall in 4080... Attempts in creating an opera...The mayors of Lunhart (edition fifteen)...'
He almost opened a book on the best musicians originating from this city out of pure boredom when he found something more interesting.
'Foundation of Lunhart Until Its Current State. This is a very thick book, but it should answer some of my questions about the wall and the construction of the southwest area. Also, I should try to find something that can explain the situation of the guarded factory.'
Unfortunately, he didn't find any titles that seemed to speak about this, not even anything mentioning industrialization in any word he could recognize.
'Perhaps this is too early to be recorded...'
He asked politely if he could read it for free and started flipping through the large book after getting a positive answer. Since reading this was going to take a while, he only familiarized himself with the content before putting it back in its place.
Assuring the woman that he was going to be back tomorrow and saying his goodbyes, he headed to the underground place to once again have a conversation with the adolescent couple.
***
The next day, Nem was woken up by the light of the rising Sun, and he realized he was feeling a bit cold. He sat up reflexively and looked around to find something to cover himself with.
Instantly, his eyes widened and he jumped in surprise at the same time. He was on a roof !
'That's right, yesterday I didn't want to sleep underground with the others so I just picked a random house to climb...'
He sneezed, but it didn't feel like he had caught a cold, fortunately.
'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...'
Yesterday, he had asked Leo and Gina about the various criminals in the city and gotten a few general answers. He also remembered that Leo had mentioned that he worked at a factory and questioned him about it as well.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the one he was hoping for. The factory he was working in was primarily working with fabric and clothes and was situated close to the center of the city. The only thing he heard about the factory in the southwest was that it was handling metal, and that was it.
'More importantly, Gina gave me something to brush my teeth with, so this was totally worth it.'
Finally, the items he had started to amount to something and he had secured a safe way to get some information in the library, which looked more like a book store.
This morning, all he had to do was to go back to the hotel and to meet Carl, and he had more than 2 hours to do that. Despite waking up on top of a roof, Nem was in a good mood.
He got down from the roof, exercised a bit and found something to eat before going to the meeting. Nem believed that training was always important, and it wasn't as if becoming a Cursed had fixed his strength or agility. In RPG terms, it was more like his base stats were upped and their upper limit increased. If anything, he felt like he was in particularly good shape today.
After a while of walking, Nem finally arrived at the Leo hotel's reception room, where, surprisingly, Carl was waiting. The young man was dressed in a fancy suit, sat on a leather chair, and had a cup of tea in hand.
There was actually a small table in front of him, and Carl slowly put down the cup and signaled the boy who just entered to sit in front of him.
When he did so, Nem noticed that the man's gaze rested on his shoes for a small second and his body tensed up a bit before coming back to normal instantly.
'Calm down, me ! It doesn't matter if he saw me. In fact, that look just gave me enough confidence that someone was indeed spying on me from afar.'
Carl was the first to break the silence. "Well ? Go on, report." The insufferable tone of voice instantly put Nem in a deep state of annoyance. He naturally extended his middle finger at the young man, a gesture which didn't have any particular signification in this world and began to report everything in great detail, feeling a bit better.
Carl continued to drink his tea without interrupting, and nodded at the end, seemingly satisfied. Despite knowing that he had done a good job, Nem still expected that this arrogant fellow would comment on his skills and was thus pleasantly surprised.
"To be honest, I've kept an eye on you when I had the time, and I do think you did a good job."
'He just admitted it like that ? And why do I feel so annoyed even though I'm receiving a compliment ?'
Nem made a surprised expression and asked :
"So I just keep doing the same thing ?"
"Yes, except you won't have my supervision... Just remember to not get close to the boss of Mannie's organization, just like before." He stood up, readjusted the golden sword on his belt and started to walk away. "You can leave now. I won't be in town for a while, so don't do anything stupid like getting caught by the police."
Hearing those last words, Nem, who had planned to directly follow Carl for an entire day until the one spying on him had no choice but to show themselves, felt a very strange emotion rise up inside him.
He had prepared, planned and worked up the determination to do it only to find out that it was all useless. Not only was the one spying on him Carl himself, but he wouldn't even be in Lunhart until the next meeting. The boy watched Carl go up the marble stairs, his red eyes empty of emotions and unfocused.
'But... my master plan...'