"A-Azure?" Louis blinked multiple times, realizing what the woman had done to the guards.
"Iyaa, as expected of me. I'm still strong as ever. When you're in a pinch, it's best to solve it with violence!" Azure swung her fist around in the air, shamelessly proud of her victory.
"Violence your ass!" Louis gritted his teeth and gripped Azure's hand tightly.
Thankfully, there was nobody in the vicinity other than the two guards.
He hurriedly walked past the gates, dragging Azure with him. Swerving left and right, he finally stopped once they had entered a secluded alley.
"..You're so going to get us in huge trouble. Are you sure you're from the highest rank of Egos? Not the lowest?" Louis frowned in disappointment.
Her intelligence sure didn't match up to the rank he was promised.
"H-Hey, what's with that attitude?! It's only thanks to me that you were able to enter this town, you know?" Azure protested.
"Technically yes, but I could've resolved the situation much better by myself!"
"Hmp! I don't believe that. What could be better than my way?"
Louis sighed.
The method they used to get in wasn't important right now. He was wearing rather normal clothes, but Azure was a different case. Her clothes clearly looked like they were of the highest quality. It stood out a lot.
"Stay in your sword form while we're in town. Also, I want to change my appearance again. Lend me a hand." Louis acted quickly.
Azure's sword form looked like she was just a regular iron blade. After tweaking his appearance a little bit and changing clothes, they should be fine.
Azure was filled with complaints, but she had no means to defy Louis. She turned into a sword and let Louis carry her by hand since they didn't even have a sheath.
"We have to stay lowkey from now on, got it?! No solving things with violence! Now, we have a much more important task than to banter."
Earlier, he said that he wanted to change clothes. In order to do that, he had to buy them in a store, but Louis didn't possess any money. Nor did he have the legal forms of identification.
In this wide, unfamiliar world, where should he start if he wanted to rejoin society?
Louis observed the streets with keen eyes, waiting to see if he could latch on to a lucky chance.
As people passed by the busy street, the opportunity Louis waited upon finally arrived.
"You lowly sow! It was you! You stole my gemstone while I wasn't looking! I knew I should've never let you into my store with that kind of shabby appearance!" An angry man berated a pair of mother and daughter.
The mother sat on the ground, embracing her daughter as she withstood all the kicks and punches the man gave her.
Certainly, it didn't give the man a very good impression to the passersby, but no one dared to intervene in fear of being dragged into the mess as well.
'I can take advantage of this if I'm lucky.' Louis smirked.
"What's going on here?" Louis asked, bravely stepping in front of the mother
"Huh? Who the hell are you? Don't meddle in people's business!" The man replied.
"It's just that you were being awfully loud in the middle of the street. If you did it in a private space, I would have no problems, but you are willingly exposing yourself to the public's eye."
"Tch! I'm doing this town a favor anyway! This woman is a thief, she stole a gemstone from my store! Just look at her, does she look like she could afford something from my store?! Clearly not!"
"Please calm down and tell the full story, in chronological order." Louis wanted to close his ears out of discomfort from hearing the man's shouts, but he pacified himself and continued.
The man, who received some sharp looks from the onlookers who viewed him as a disturbance began to stop his attacks and retold the story from his view in a smug tone, believing that he was in the right.
Apparently, the man was the owner of a jewelry store. He kept his most prized gemstone, a high quality Siph ruby inside a locked compartment, which he showcased on the shelves as a not-for-sale item only to be admired.
Earlier in the day, he saw this mother and daughter couple enter his store and look around for quite some time, before leaving without buying anything.
At first, he didn't suspect anything although he felt a bit strange. When he went to do his daily inspection of the gemstone, however, he was surprised to see that the stone had disappeared!
His first suspect immediately turned out to be the mother and daughter, who was the most plausible culprit in his eyes. That's why, he waited in front of his store, wanting to catch the thieves the next time he saw them.
Once they entered his line of vision, his rage swelled up and he approached them right away, accusing them of the crime. When they declined, saying that they hadn't done such a thing and the man was slandering them, the man couldn't take it anymore and started to hit them, which brought them to the current moment.
By the story, it didn't sound like the mother was the thief.
'If the gemstone was kept inside the locked compartment, then how would the mother be able to open it?'
It was nonsensical. There had to be another answer. A correct one.
'Now, how to find it, and how will I be able to prove it?'