'Ah, so that's it, uh ?'
Nem didn't feel concerned at all. Conflicts between gangs stopped being interesting for him when he ruled out clearing out the city. There was realistically no way to properly manage the situation in his position, so Nem just gave up on making a real change. It wasn't really his problem anyway, since he was going to leave soon. His goal was now much closer to venting and doing whatever he wanted rather than helping anyone.
Yawn.
'Looks like there will indeed be something to discuss with the boss once Mannie gets there.'
Mal nodded.
"I've heard it's something big, sir." He put his fingers on his chin to make it look like he was thinking a lot. "But he can't decently believe his little group stands a chance against our organization, right ?"
"No, even if he had the element of surprise, there is no way he would attack directly. My guess is... forget it, I'll tell the boss first." The monocle man stood up, removed his handkerchief and straightened his clothes in a dignified manner. "We'll go now. Perhaps we'll catch him right after he finished eating. It's easier to handle him then."
'Oh, looks like I won't have to wait until the evening this time, lucky.'
"Do you think the boss will even care ?" Asked Mal, a bit awkwardly.
Mannie sighed but didn't answer. They both left through the front door and Nem waited a bit before climbing back up the roof and following them. Even though his sense of orientation still wasn't very good, Nem knew the way to the boss's places from the Fat Snake, so it wasn't difficult at all for him to find the two men again without having to go through the guards.
Normally, Nem would follow them closely, using his small and common appearance to hide in the crowd or behind the building, often in ruins. It was his mission after all, and he took it very seriously when he believed that someone was keeping an eye on him for Carl. Now that he was sure nobody was looking(he had in fact just assumed that was true because he couldn't be bothered any more), Everything was much easier.
First, Nem didn't need to listen to their conversation at all, which allowed keeping a safer distance at all times. He even stopped at some kind of food stand to buy some bread and unidentified grilled meat, getting rid of all his money in the process. It didn't actually cost that much at all, he just really wanted to clear some space in his pockets and therefore threw it at the merchant.
Second, he could now practice his other Cursed powers. Sometimes, he disappeared in an alley and came back with slightly different hair color, and he kept his eyes in a very discreet shade of red, really close to brown. Strangely, even though this wasn't very useful at all, doing this made Nem feel somewhat nice, and he found changing hair color easier and easier, to the point that light-brown and chestnut hair wasn't a problem anymore.
It was a very strange feeling, like becoming able to lift more weight just by doing a few reps. It was also very pleasant.
'It seems that my elastic muscles' ability isn't the only thing I can work on... But it didn't do anything like that when I was playing with it at the orphanage. And my ability to notice details didn't increase as well, I just became better at using it with experience. Nothing strange like what's happening now...'
Nem was confused, and he spent the rest of the trip changing his hair and eye color again and again, each time away from any prying eye of course.
'Perhaps it's because I'm doing it in a real situation and not just on my own where it has no impact ?'
He ran his hand through his now chestnut hair.
'How does that even make sense ? Well... It's a Curse after all, I'm sure it has its reasons.'
This mystery seemed somewhat impossible to figure out, so he just joked inwardly. He looked towards a basin of clean water that reflected the sky exceptionally well and admired his new look briefly.
His lighter hair and his still darkish skin tone were surprisingly nice together, and he didn't look like he had dyed his hair at all.
'Perhaps it's because I'm still so young looking...'
Nem was a bit puzzled by his new body, which he could tell everyone found adorable or even handsome. He couldn't remember how he looked like at all during his previous life, but he was sure it was around average at best.
'If I reincarnated as a little girl and still looked that good I would have been in so much more danger.' He shivered even thinking about it.
That shiver brought him to glance at an old man down the street, who was staring at him with eyes that made him want to throw up again right here and then.
'Oh shit, did I really just jinx myself into meeting a perverted bastard like him ?'
Nem was so disgusted he hurriedly disappeared into an alley and changed his hair back to black again before coming back from another alley into the street. He couldn't even bring himself to lure the guy away and kill him.
He hurriedly followed the two criminals and avoided thinking about useless things.
Finally, Nem could see the metal composing the half-finished bridge and the dark smoke coming from the nearby factory. It was indeed where the boss lived. Well probably. Maybe he just hanged out over there and lived somewhere else. Anyway.
At this point, the boy separated from the two men, leaving to do some security check or something, and hurried to a destination farther away. The whole area is encompassed in an iron barrier, the only solution was to climb over it without any guards noticing.
For now, most guards in this area would probably be a bit distracted by the newcomers. Even though it wasn't much of an advantage, Nem was ready to take his chances.
Not only was climbing this fence easy as breathing for him, but even the spikes on top were too spread out to pose any danger to someone with a body as thin as his. If not for his head, he would even be able to squeeze through the bars. Probably.
Nem didn't want to take too much time and only looked around for a bit before choosing a spot to climb. After a small hesitation, he pulled out a knife, put the handle between his teeth and wiped his hands on his pants before beginning the climb.
He was like an agile monkey and got to the top in an instant. Not even stopping for a second, Nem put two legs on the other side, twisted his body to grab the fence and slid off smoothly. There was a small creak due to the friction between his hands and the iron but his feet made almost no noise when hitting the ground.
'Aaaah !'
Nem didn't make any sound but his mind was bursting with nervousness and excitement. With all the guards and guns around here, he felt like he was sneaking in a military base. Swiftly, he hid in a corner and peaked before taking a deep breath and putting the knife back into place.
There was already a guard in sight, his gun resting against his shoulder in a professional fashion. Fortunately, he was quite far and not directly looking at the corner the boy was in. Nem hid completely, focusing on the sounds.
After a few seconds of heavy breathing due to the exhilarating situation, Nem heard a particularly loud step, which made him glance again at the guard. The sound was made by him when he turned into an alley, still reasonably far from Nem.
The little boy took advantage of this to progress deeper into the inside of the fence. It was a reasonable assumption that they would be fewer people patrolling further from the barrier. Nem also wished to not lose vision on Mannie and his subordinate and therefore went roughly in that direction...
Or so he thought.
'Fuck, how come this doesn't look like what I saw on the other side of the fence at all ?'
'It's like I went the other way or something...' The realization slowly dawned on him.
Nem interrupted his routine of hiding and peaking and almost facepalmed, hard.
'...'
Fortunately, Nem was very good at acting like nothing had happened in this sort of situation. Instead of wasting more time, he slowly climbed to the roof of one of the numerous small houses and sheds in this place to gain a better vision.
'Damn, I hope no one sees me...' He made some half-assed prayer to the God of Combustion again, since he didn't let him down last time. The truth was that for all he knew, it could be the Goddess of Combustion, so he was pretty much joking around with his prayers. Maybe the God of Combustion liked jokes ?
Unexpectedly, his vision found the silhouettes of the two men he was looking for from far away. They were both still together, heading for a building that could be called a small manor just because of its size.
'Not bad for a criminal...'