Marlowlia agreed to follow me as long as she had Zeri as a "bodyguard."
I just agreed with her to make it easier for later planning. We were in Marlowlia's room for a conference.
I started to discuss how finding Oslovi would help us save everyone. Then I had to explain that Vivshi was out of commission for this mission and we were the only ones that could do this.
Continuing to the next point, I told them about the location of Fiviana and Oslovi. Both of them were located near an animal market in Nautilus. Both were still alive but Fiviana is being kept in a separate place than Oslovi.
I then told them my plan to save both of them. Marlowlia listened intently as she noted down everything I said. Zeri just nodded her head after every sentence I said and we were good to go.
Requested Marlowlia to prep all the necessary material for this grandiose plan. As I finished placing everything into my pocket dimension, Zeri walked up to me and asked me if she could bring a knife just for protection.
"You won't need it, I got something better for ya."
I tossed her a generation gun.
"There is a little button there, if you aim at a target and press that button, they will go to sleep."
"Got it!! They sleep if I aim at them."
"No, you gotta press the button too."
"Aim, press the button, and sleep, got it!"
"Good."
We departed from Fivindius Estate, Thrude stood at the exit and handed me the 3000 Livis.
"Thank you again for saving us." He smiled.
I returned a forced smile and caught the money. It was still very early in the day near lunchtime.
We walked over to the animal market. But I couldn't see Fiviana nor Oslovi anywhere. There was just a bunch of animals in cages. The parrots squawked and chirped, some intelligent ones mimic the voices of the shopkeepers.
Yelling "Parrot for 5 Livis!"
The stench of feces was also present in the shops. Dogs who lay in uncleaned cages, sleeping or whimpering. Their bodies were severely malnourished.
I told Marlowlia to take a step to the right so she would avoid traffic. She sidestepped closer to the shops and continued walking.
I told Zeri and Marlowlia to split up to see if we could find Oslovi or Fiviana.
A body running hastily through the crowd miscalculated his steps and didn't see Marlowlia. He crashed into Marlowlia landing on the side of the road. She wasn't hurt, but the boy seemed injured. Marlowlia immediately apologized to the boy who slowly pushed his body back up.
He just continues to run with his injuries, ignoring Marlowlia.
"What is his problem?" Zeri outbursted.
"Don't worry about it, he is just a little kid."
Marlowlia tapped around her clothes to brush off any dust and dirt that had gotten on her clothes. She then rapidly smacked her pockets and then looked at me.
"My stuff is gone…"
"What stuff is gone?"
"Everything, my notes, my money, it is all gone!"
"Damn, the little kid must have taken your money."
"What do we do Devina?"
"Nothing, that is just a skill issue."
Marlowlia pouted at me and didn't want to talk with me anymore.
"Fine, fine, I promise you that we will get your stuff back later."
We continued down the animal market asking the shopkeepers and shoppers if they had any clue of an orange cat. No one seemed to know about an orange cat.
But it also seemed like they didn't want to talk about it. It's more like someone is making them shut their mouths.
I called Marlowlia and Zeri to talk with them.
"Fiviana and Oslovi is here. But there is no sign of them, do you know what that means?"
Marlowlia shook her head.
"It must mean that they are either above us or below us."
"You mean they are underground?"
"That is most likely the case."
"So we are just gonna dig a bunch of tunnels to find them?"
"No, that would take too much time and attract too much attention."
"So what do we do?"
"Cosplaying…"
I asked Zeri to stay where she was and took Marlowlia around the corner.
Throwing a piece of metal onto the ground, it started to construct clothing. Peasant clothing, the same ones that Marlowlia wore on the day after the noble gathering.
I on the other hand turned into my mature adult form and wore fancy noble clothing.
We then walked out the corner, Zeri looked at us and laughed.
"Marlowlia, why do you look like that?!?"
Zeri couldn't hold back her laughter as Marlowlia tried to conceal her clothes.
"Is that… you Celestia?"
"Yeppers, I'm indeed Celestia."
Trying to hurry up the process, Marlowlia bashfully asked me to continue with the next step.