Lilith and Kevin headed towards the gates of the village, it had been a long journey and a break was needed. However, their financial situation was only limited to sitting on benches, because they could afford nothing but crystals for the dimensional traveler.
Upon entering the village, Kevin swept his gaze around the area in surprise. Unlike Haku village, different races of all kinds were present. They had men with scales, some had horns sticking from their heads, and he could even see some with multiple eyeballs which in truth disgusted Kevin.
' What a baby!' Lilith laughed as she stared at Kevin who was not staring.
" Did you know Kevin that they say before one gets a Tsujigen, they show signs of excellent adaptation? Even to the extent that they can copy techniques or knowledge, after seeing it a few times. So far, you've been good at replicating what Klein taught you... so just maybe..." Lilith said as she nodded with a mischievous smile.
" Oh really? I may possess that amazing power?" Kevin asked being very intrigued.
" Yeah yeah and this is just a theory but what if you force yourself to memorize stuff like everybody here."
There were a few loopholes in the theory, but it didn't matter since it wouldn't cause harm. With that in mind, he got uncomfortably close to strangers. Staring straight at their souls, without saying a word.
" May I ask what you want?" A lady asked as she was the victim of Kevin's stares. During this time, Lilith was trying her best not to laugh but was hardly passing.
"What... do you want?" The lady asked once more but Kevin just stared. At this point, she knew clearly about these perverted tactics.
The young lady quickly reached into her bag, pulling out a type of spray. With the haste, she
sprayed Kevin's eyes causing him to screech in pain.
And with that, she quickly scurried off leaving Kevin to rub his eyes in pain.
" Hahahaha!" Lilith came in, already dying of laughter.
" I was lying, you idiot! Well not about a Tsujigen user being good at adapting but the theory part!" Lilith confessed to which Kevin was more than annoyed.
After rubbing what was sprayed into his eyes out, he stormed off ahead.
" Where are you going?" Lilith shouted.
To her question, Kevin gave no response. At least not until his stomach began to grumble giving Lilith another reason to laugh at him.
"Now that I think about it, why did you not bring food?" Lilith inquired.
This question only annoyed Kevin the more. Not because they did not have enough money to buy food but because she wore a backpack and by her words earlier is already claiming to have no food. If so, then what is in the bag? He did not have to think much as it was clear from her personality that something like this would happen. But that left the question, of what was so important that Lilith deemed it more valuable to bring than food.
" What is in the bag?".
"Make-up and clothes," she answered sincerely.
"…"
"Anyways we have wasted enough time." Lilith declared.
They decided to split up the work. Lilith would purchase the crystals, leaving Kevin to find any clues on their bounty. The drawing of the target's face on the bounty paper was below average, therefore if possible Kevin should ask for a clearer drawing from villagers or better yet find out if any know about his whereabouts in Crave city or where he is now.
Kevin was far from a professional detective, but this was the best they could do for now. Especially since they had only a week.
Before beginning his search, Kevin noticed many posters advertising a tournament going on. There were so many posters in the village indicating it was probably a big event. It was then a thought that crossed Kevin's mind if the whole bounty thing did not work maybe they could go for this and win the prize.
' Hmm? Where is the prize mon-' Kevin's brain was momentarily frozen by the number of zeros the prize money contained.
' One, two, three... four... five.... six. A total of six zeros. We beat Norm so winning this should be a piece of cake, right?' Kevin genuinely thought.
He kept the tournament in mind as he continued to ask about Larry Tein. However, it was going worst than he planned. Not only was he met with frequent ' I do not know', but also some very rare insults and even worst cringy jokes such as 'Larry these nuts'. To say it was going bad was an understatement.
Not only that but the stomachs of both him and female Kirby began to shake violently as though they were producing music. As he felt he was gonna collapse from hunger, a ray of hope shined in a rather dark alleyway between two buildings.
" Dave! I told you to bring the money!" A fat boy yelled as he lit a flame on his palm. Behind him were two boys that anybody would conclude were goons.
" Why? I gave you some this morning!" Dave said as a tear began to stream down his eye socket. Not because of fear but because of his weakness.
"And so what? Filthy rich families like yours just look at us from below and laugh!" The fat bully said with anger reflecting in his eyes.
Dave, the one being bullied indeed looked weak with a rather below-the-average physique. He had brown hair and a pair of blue eyes similar to Kevin's but they were hidden behind spectacles. The reason he was so easily bullied was not because of his physique but his rather timid nature.
"Lea..ve me," Dave whispered.
"What is that?"
To everybody's surprise, the timid boy clenched his fist as he shouted.
" Leave me alone!".
Veins slowly began to reveal themselves on the bully's head. He pulled back his fist and threw it toward Dave without using any magic. Dave knew that he could not block it, and could only brace himself for the attack by raising his hands.
However, a few seconds later passed and he felt nothing happen. He slowly opened his eyes to see what is happening, only to see the bully's fist had been stopped by Kevin.
"Who are you?" The fat kid asked.