Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale continued down the street toward the disturbance. They looked around at the buildings and their surroundings to see if there was any suspicious activity going on. As far as they could tell, everything was normal. They walked down the busy main street for what felt like two minutes until the sidewalk was covered by a marble-white archway with golden scriptures along the inside.
"Ah, fuckin' rascals."
A strange old man in a suit sat in a bench along the wall of the walkway, smoking a pipe caught Shin attention. He looked up at the man's name.
Shin pinched his nose in reaction to the putrid smell that came out of the other end of the pipe.
"You got something you wanna say?!"
"Ah, it's nothing." Shin was caught off guard by how confrontational the old man was.
"If you don't have business with me, scram!"
The old man took the pipe out of his mouth and blew a huge cloud of smoke at Nightingale and Fuyumi who were standing beside Shin.
Fuyumi stared daggers back at him while Nightingale covered his nose and looked away. Shin sighed deeply before speaking up.
"We heard you were complaining about some kidnappings?"
Shin took out the paper he got from Aureo and held it out in front of Edea.
"Well, yes… of course I'm complainin' about the god damn kidnappings! They're kidnappings!"
Edea lowered his pipe, furrowing his brows in deep thought.
"Well, they're also adult-nappings, but regardless, yes I am concerned about it! This whole damn community is!"
"Well, the party you asked to investigate told us to take over…" Shin said as he put the paper back in his pocket.
"Hmph… what good is a small group of three gonna do compared to their group?! They had like ten people!"
Edea eagerly stuck the pipe back in his mouth, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply.
"Could you stop that for a second?"
"You're not tellin' me what to do! Damn kids… Anyway, since I did put out that request, I suppose I could let you in on the info."
Fuyumi rolled her eyes and whispered to Nightingale who lightly chuckled next to her.
"You see that group of people over there?"
Edea pointed at a small group of people who lined up outside of a guarded entranceway across the street.
"I think it's gotta do with those bastards. They've been laughin' and gigglin' all day every day since people started disappearin'."
The old man made a visceral sound in an attempt to clear his throat before spitting on the floor beside him.
"I saw some people leavin' out of there lookin' crazy as all hell. Sometimes with more people than they came in wit'. Look, just take care of this so I can give you your reward and be on your way. I don't want nothin' to do with you outsider folk."
Shin stepped forward and stuck his hand out for a handshake.
"We'll take care of it." He said with a fake smile.
Edea responded with a look of disgust.
"Disgustin', just get it done."
One of Shin's eyebrows twitched as he tried to hold back his temper.
"Let's go."
Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale walked past Edea, staring at the group of individuals on the other side of the street. As they got close, they noticed that the entrance was covered by a purple curtain that hung from the ceiling.
Two hooded men with axes strapped to their belts stood guard at the entrance. One of them held a clipboard out in front of him.
"Hmmm, do we have an Xavier here?"
A bald man with an eyepatch raised their hand and made his way to the front of the line where the hooded man frisked him for weapons before letting him through the purple curtain.
Shin's group walked past the men and sat down at an outside seating area for a nearby cafe.
"What do you guys think?" Nightingale said as he pointed at the line.
"It's kind of like a nightclub."
Shin tilted his head with curiosity upon hearing Fuyumi's thoughts.
"I guess business is always booming when it's always night." Shin said, scratching his chin.
"Do you think we could get in from the roof somewhere?" he continued.
Although the archway was under a covered pedestrian walkway, the area just past it didn't have a roof. Shin figured that they might have a better chance of getting past the guard if they went around him by accessing the adjacent buildings' rooftops.
Nightingale pointed at the alleyway behind him with his thumb.
"There's a perfect opportunity over there."
They got up from their seats and walked over to the alley. Fuyumi hid in the shadows, keeping an eye out for any curious onlookers.
"All good?" Nightingale called out to Fuyumi, who responded by giving him a thumbs up.
Shin waved Fuyumi over. Once she got close, Nightingale lifted them into the air with a current of wind. They cleared the building with ease. Shin took a quick look at the open plaza on the other side of the curtained archway. Small tents and merchant stands filled the plaza like a crowded market.
The wind slowly lowered them gently on the roof of the cafe across from the market.
"Think anyone saw us?" Shin asked as he patted down the dust that stuck onto his coat.
"Hopefully not." Fuyumi replied, mimicking Shin's actions.
Shin moved closer to the edge of the roof, peeking over at the market below them. He pointed at a rooftop that was slightly lower than the rest.
"We can drop down from there."
Following Shin, the party made their way over and dropped down. The were only about fifteen meters from the ground. They stayed low to avoid drawing any attention. Luckily, the market was covered mainly by sheets of cloth that roofed the merchant stands with various colors and patterns. There were about fifteen merchant stands that littered the plaza. The dirt ground was muddy from the runoff water that leaked from some of the merchant stands. Loud conversations of transactions between people and merchants flooded the plaza. Muddy footprints were left behind as people moved between the stalls, dodging the poorly assembled lamp posts that lit up the market.
Fuyumi got close to the edge of the roof and made sure the coast was clear below her.
"Follow my lead."
After she dropped down from the roof, Shin and Nightingale followed shortly behind her. The alleyway they were in was narrow, just wide enough to fit two people. Shin and Nightingale hid behind a trash can while Fuyumi slipped into the shadows ahead of them to get closer. Shin peeked his head over the bin.
Right in front of them was a merchant stall with several boxes laid out. The bald-headed man with an eyepatch was browsing their wares when he picked up a small orb.
"Is that a jewel?" Shin whispered.
"Looks like it. Wow, they have entire boxes of those things?"
"I guess most of the supply from the city goes here. There aren't any other general stores or armories that sell them."
"They have to know what they actually do right?"
Fuyumi's head popped out from the shadows and put her finger up to her mouth to tell them to keep quiet. She got closer to the stall to listen in to their conversation.
"How much for this one?"
"That one right there is only for display right now. I got some in the back storage if you're really desperate."
"I'm willlin' to pay."
The bald man put the jewel back down into the box.
"Wait here."
The merchant narrowed his eyes, staring down at his customer before leaving his stand unattended. After he left, Fuyumi used the shadows that covered the entire market and leaped from shadow to shadow to get behind the stall. She followed him into the back room. The man was on one knee digging through a chest. The back room was the room on the other side of the wall to the right of Shin. Shin and Nightingale looked through a small window from the alley.
They saw a dark shadow creep up behind him. Fuyumi slipped out of the shadow behind him, appearing from a cloud of black smoke. She grabbed him by the neck and covered his mouth. She then swept him off his feet with her leg and got on top of him. She tightened her grip on his mouth and froze his mouth shut with a layer of ice before knocking him out with the back of her dagger.
She turned around to see the curious Shin and Nightingale watching her from the tiny window as if she was on TV.
"You got it yet?!" The bald man at the front of the stall called out.
"Tch…" He clicked his tongue before walking away.
"Do they not steal around here?" Nightingale spoke his mind, scratching his chin.
"Guess not?"
They heard the sound of a door creaking behind them. Fuyumi stuck her head out and guided them into the room.
Fuyumi pointed at a wooden panel in the corner of the room.
"There's a trapdoor."
"Oh, wait hold on a moment. I got a message back from Diane."
Shin opened the message panel to find Diane's message.
"I finished appraising all of them not too long ago. They're all pretty low-tier ones. There are only a handful of useful ones. There's one more Bloodshot Jewel if you're interested in that. I'll keep a hold of the rare ones and sell off the rest, deal?"
"Deal."
"I'll be in my office in a few hours."
Shin relayed her message to Fuyumi and Nightingale.
Just as he finished, they heard a voice from the front of the merchant stall.
"Cheng! You in there?!"
It sounded oddly familiar.
"There's no way right?"
The three of them looked at each other.
"I'm coming in."
A short woman with messy brown hair wearing an olive hood over her head came into the room. She paused when she saw the three people surrounding an unconscious man in front of her.
"Huh?"