After a few minutes pondering, Lock went out of the shade of the tree.
The sun was a little high but it was not hot rather warm.
He eyed the crowd and sighed.
In the middle of the crowd, there was a beggar looking boy who had this big bush of gross yellow hair and ragged clothes. People were clearly avoiding him. The moment he comes close, he seemed to emit that funny bitter and stinky smell of an animal that stepped on poop.
"I'm hungry…"
Lock mumbled as he felt the groaning vibrations of his belly. Feeling the extreme hunger that was hitting him for the first time in his life, he found a barbecue stand and stared at the owner. But the owner openly frowned in disgust.
"Move away, prick, or I'll kill you!"
The vendor lifted a large butcher knife that was still dripping with pig blood.
Lock wasn't listening though. Was the man talking to someone behind his back? In Lock's mind, that prick couldn't be him!
"Who is he talking to I guess." He said.
With his appearance like a beggar, he went closer to the barbecue stand and grabbed a couple sticks of cooked barbecue.
In an instant, due to the help of his naturally gifted reactions gifted with superb dexterity, he easily took a bit.
"Munch. Munch. Mm!"
As soon as it entered his mouth, the fragrance of the soy and oil dripping to his tongue exploded with a bubbly and sizzling feeling.
He continued on eating in front of the owner of the stand, but what he didn't realize was that the owner was already too angry!
The stall owner tightly grabbed his butcher knife tighter and swung it at the thief who had stolen his two barbecues.
Before he could hit the boy though, he found out that his movements suddenly stopped as though something was restraining him!
'What the!' the owner thought, his face full of wrinkles.
Just then before he could even utter a word and was frozen, the boy pivoted and started to move away like an ordinary customer who bought food using his own money! On both of his hands were at least five or four sticks of barbecue!
The sun shone on the streets as the other beggar looking boy earlier looked at Lock like he was his good comrade. Subconsciously, he followed Lock like his boss.
Looking at Lock walked away in an unhurried and even casual manner, the crowd that had been drawn by the possible conflict subconsciously tried to make way for Lock.
When Lock had disappeared to the crowd, the stall owner finally regained his senses and began to move.
"That thief! That boy must be a wizard. Are they together!'" he yelled in anger.
He shook his arms and massaged his body.
The strange paralysis he felt when he tried to cut the boy's arm was definitely the work of a wizard!
"Where are the guards of this town?!" the stall owner was angry.
Seeing that people were looking at him, he glanced at the stall owner on the side.
"What is it, Cam?" the other stall owner said.
"Look out for my stall for a moment. Those beggars needs to be dealt with!" he said and left, heading to the gates of the city walls.
**
At the same time, Lock saw that the beggar boy earlier was following him like a monkey, hiding behind buildings but peeking so obvious.
Without turning his head, he glanced at him.
"Why is he following me?" he muttered silently.
Just then, the clouds had moved covering the afternoon sun. The surroundings had gone less bright.
"It seemed like I'm not really dreaming. I was thinking of exploring the city until I wake up, but it seems like for some reason, I really was taken by that man." Lock said.
"I still have no idea though. Did he kidnap me? Tsk."
Ignoring the boy who was persistently following him for some reason, he found a seemingly open two-story building and climbed the stairs to head to the rooftop.
The memory of the man he met before he passed out in his royal chamber played in his mind over and over again. But there was nothing he could do.
"But what should I do now? Where is that man? Where would I sleep tonight?"
Flabbergasted, Lock subconsciously stared at the big clock tower situated in the center part of the Capital.
It was a big and massive structure with orange and yellow lanterns surrounding it.
Before he knew it, it was nighttime, the sun began to descend into the horizon, and street lights started to open. Seeing that there were no clues for what happened, he finally decided to stop contemplating for now.
He eyed the Illustrious Royal Palace situated far and high from the Capital and couldn't help but post a weak grin.
"If I come back there…I don't think I want to come back there hehe." He involuntarily gulped and chuckled by himself.
In a sense, he low key wanted to leave that place. Now for some unknown reason and a stranger whom he met in his royal chamber, he was finally here. Out of the palace!
"I shouldn't come back now after all. This is good." He said slowly with a serious face, eventually smiling at the night view of the city.
After mulling over, he then started to look at a wider and serious way. It seemed like his eyes swept the whole city as he started to think of what to do.
He did not realize it earlier for a second because there was too much happening. But right now he looked like a beggar. His face was covered with a lot of suffocating obnoxious amount of hair, and his ragged clothes and bare feet didn't help at all.
"Hmph…" he started to ponder again, but not for now. He put the unnecessary thoughts in the back of his mind first, and started to think of what he needed first.
"First I need a place to sleep, and money." He said.
Putting things through, he then arrived at a quite simple conclusion.
He raised his palms a little and looked at it. With the time he spent in this bizarre day, he had learned that nothing seemed to had happened to him.
"I still have my psychic powers and supernatural strength. I should get some free food and shelter if I join the guild."
When he was finally done thinking of his next step, he turned around and headed to the stairs.
"Ugh!"
Far from his expectations though, someone suddenly stumbled from his own feet and rolled down the stairs.
Seeing that, Lock quickly jumped down to help the guy.
"Ouch."
"You? You were still here?"
Unanticipatedly, it was the boy earlier!