Nem wasn't very good with planning. Still, he could try to do it once in a while as long as it didn't involve many steps. For example, his escape plan back when he was in the manor was limited to getting out of the building as fast as possible. The rest was total improvisation.
Now, he had to figure out on the spot how to climb a metal fence, which was completed in the open, without getting shot at.
"I'll just hope they aren't good enough to hit me." That was the only thing he said before rushing towards it and grabbing the metal bars with his hands.
The fence's pattern was quite simple. A succession of tall metal bars planted vertically on the ground ended with a sharp spike, and a few horizontal bars to make it all hold together. It was also rather tall, and Nem needed a few seconds to climb it the first time around.
When his hands touched the fence, no shots were fired. Time seemed to have stopped in Nem's eyes, and he could think clearly during this instant.
'That's either really good or really bad.' He thought in a flash. It meant that the guards were either not here or they were well disciplined and waited for Nem to be in the middle of his climb to shoot. Nem instantly assumed the worst.
'However, they don't know me very well.'
Time seemed to start again, and Nem used his momentum and the powerful elastic muscles of his arms and legs to jump as high as he could. It brought his foot to the second horizontal iron bar, which he stepped on once again instantly. His speed now reaching his peak, Nem only needed one more movement to reach the top, which he made, and still no one had fired yet.
The way he climbed that fence was simply too fast and fluid, like water flowing on an even ground. Even Nem himself was a bit surprised, since he never went all out like this under the effects of adrenaline. But he didn't stop.
When his hands reached the last horizontal bar, Nem kicked with all his strength. At the same time, he heard two gunshots, which he couldn't see at all due to his current situation. However, he was sure they wouldn't hit, since his previous movement had brought him over the fence, like a gymnast, propelled into a frontflip.
It was a rather dangerous move, but they would definitely not have aimed at this height and Nem was confident in his ability to fall without hurting himself too much. More importantly, it was really awesome.
Using the momentum of the rotation he already initiated during his frontflip, Nem rolled on the ground, only dirtying his clothes, which were already far from clean. At this point, Nem wasn't too worried about escaping, since current guns took a pretty long while to reload. However, he was still a bit frightened by the loud gunshots and therefore took cover before stopping his mad dash and turning back.
"Holy crap, that was close !" He let out as well as a deep breath. He still couldn't see who shot at him from this angle, which means they might have already started to come here, using the normal gate. "I should get out before this gets even more complicated."
Nem smiled to himself. They definitely wouldn't be able to find him. There were plenty of people who had seen him when he was discovered at the manor, and also a few during his escape, but that was even better. After all, they would be looking for a young boy with dark hair and red eyes, not light-brown hair and dark eyes. For him, this was as easy as snapping his fingers.
After that, he ran for a bit before slowing down to a fast walk. It was almost the middle of the afternoon, and Nem had a lot of things to do today.
***
After a bit of food, alcohol and child-sized clothing mysteriously disappeared from a certain place in Lunhart, Nem headed to the underground refuge in a hurry. He had to act relatively quickly, but unless he wanted to risk children getting captured because he was too slow or failed, he had to come here first.
Since he had just eaten, his energy was mostly back to full, and the wound on his forearm wasn't severe at all. He had only tied a clean piece of cloth to it after disinfecting the wound with the alcohol he stole. Therefore, he got there pretty fast, and coincidentally ran into Tio, the strange but experienced orphan.
When Nem saw the boy, a shiver ran through his spine as usual, but he also realized something. Earlier, in the manor, he had thought the Church of Peace had sent him here to find the underground refuge where most orphans of Lunhart resided regularly. However, this didn't make much sense, with Carl's skills in the area of following people, couldn't he just follow a lot of orphans until he found the place ?
Also, if Nem's assumption was correct, Carl was a Blessed of the Church of Peace, and therefore capable of a certain level of mind control, so he could have just "asked" a child about the layout of the refuge.
Sure, it would be a bit bothersome for someone as snob as Carl, but he did follow Nem for several days so it was far from impossible.
'Hell, he could even capture the kids himself.'
This meant that there was something in this city, maybe with the orphans themselves, that was very strange and potentially dangerous. In Carl's thinking, they wouldn't suspect Nem since he was a normal boy and therefore allow him to go in there and make his report. Also, since the Big Kor's gang was going to come here tonight, Carl would want to avoid the dangerous thing by leaving town.
Perhaps the thing was only dangerous for Blessed that got close to the refuge, rather than the normal criminals...
'It makes a lot more sense this way... Then who, or what is the thing that scares Carl so much.'
Suddenly, Nem remembered where he was, and saw Tio not far from him, who was chatting with another orphan with a smile on his pale and unnatural face. Nem's back started to become drenched with cold sweat.
This kid was simply too scary. It wouldn't surprise Nem if he was some kind of strange monster or Cursed that could threaten a Blessed such as Carl. If he somehow noticed Nem was a Cursed himself, he might be in deep trouble...
Nem suddenly realized that he had forgotten to change his hair color back to black and his eyes to red. At the same time, Tio coincidentally turned his eyes towards him and instantly put up a puzzled expression.
Tio was quite a handsome adolescent, and to everyone else but Nem, he simply had an unusual skin tone, which wasn't even that noticeable because of the dust and carbon on his face. He did look a bit stiff, but the average person wouldn't think much of it, considering the casual behavior he usually displayed.
That's why when he looked confused, it had a rather normal effect on the other orphan he was talking about, and Nem was suddenly confronted with two strange looks. Fortunately, the second wasn't as scary as the first. They both came to meet Nem, who was frozen in place.
'Uh... Uh... I guess... I'll just try to see how he reacts.'
"Oh, hey Tio, how are you doing ?" Nem said with a slightly high tone of voice.
"It's... you ? Nem ? You didn't look like that before, right ?" Tio seemed extremely confused, even to the point of doubting himself. He was the very depiction of innocence, all while bringing Nem the same old creepy feeling.
Making a quick decision, Nem just glanced quickly at the other child, which was a normal orphan as far as Nem could tell, albeit a little old. He should be looking for a job soon, mainly because it was more and more complicated to sustain the street urchin lifestyle. Most orphans in Lunhart would normally do every possible job at this age to earn money and change their lives. In other cities, perhaps they'd be more inclined to take the path of criminality, but here, they had too many bad experiences and fear involving the gangs.
Even becoming a part of the city police was more likely, and those guys were literally beating every orphan they saw sleeping on the street and ignoring them when they were in danger. Needless to say, they didn't often choose a career in this direction either.
"Yeah, it's me, don't sweat the little details, I have something important to tell Leo and Gina. It's a very pressing matter of utmost importance." Nem didn't know why, but he often ended up speaking oddly when he was uncomfortable, mixing casual speech and vocabulary one would expect from a gentleman of the Red Empire.
"Did something bad happen ?" Tio didn't know Nem very well, but he accurately sensed something was wrong and quickly started to lead him towards the underground refuge before abruptly stopping. "Oh, right, I almost forgot, they both aren't here this afternoon, they should come back later in the evening."
Nem stopped as well and stared at Tio's eyes to try to determine if he was lying, but he could see was a bit of awkwardness and confusion. He stayed like this for a few seconds before saying :
"I'll need both of you to help me. Ah, and get me something to write with please."