There was no specific rule or direction in the path Nay took while leading the local merchant through the streets of the city she was visiting for the very first time.
But Nay didn't really need to know her way, as she wasn't trying to get to any specific place, to begin with.
'The smell's getting thicker,' Nay thought, keeping her head still and eyes locked on the crowd ahead.
Frantically looking around to figure out the precise window the smell was coming from would only reveal her interest in it to the people who were tailing her.
'They must be Tarkaran students,' Nay thought, rolling her eyes as her new reality reminded the girl of some small details of the past.
Tarkaran was one of the instructors back at the camp where Nay spent the great majority of her life at. Yet, as she was only ever designated as a low-to-mid-rank imperial slave, she couldn't even as much as look at the man.
Tarkaran was the teacher of the high and elite-rank imperial slaves. As a swordsman of renown spreading across the entire continent, he had no time to waste on averages like Nay.
But while those studying under Tarkaran grew into powerhouses that even the strongest in the world had to be careful around… The other parts of their training suffered as a result of the highly militaristic focus of Tarkaran's curriculum.
'They are making all the mistakes Master told me about,' Nay thought while holding back her smile.
Of course, she couldn't see even the shadow of the men tailing her. Their stealth was simply perfect, way too advanced for a mere thirteen rank like her to see past.
But their influence on their surrounding was simply too obvious for someone trained to look out for it to ignore. And as a diligent student of Ons'Nap, Nay graduated from the street chase course with a perfect score!
'Still, they are better than I expected,' Nay thought, careful not to let the delicate twitching of her head get out of hand. In order to keep track of those tailing her, she had to constantly look for wrongs in the crowd.
For groups that suddenly split up, for no apparent reason. A gust shaking a sign of a nearby shop despite no wind caressing the girl's skin…
There was a myriad of tells that she had to look out for to track the path of her pursuers… But from how challenging this task was, Nay could figure out something of extreme importance.
'They look to be sixteenth rank or above,' Nay thought, glancing up for a mere moment when she reached the greatest concentration of the tracking smell.
The girl's lips trembled a little when she finally pinpointed the end location for her mission. Yet, rather than heading towards the entrance…
"I will take the package now," Nay spoke in a casual tone to the man who silently followed the girl on her trek across the city streets.
"Packa… Ah, yes, sure," the young man took a moment to compose himself before unhanding a small cloth-covered shape and passing it over.
"I will go and grab the documents I need you to validate. We will meet at the docks, so get yourself busy figuring out what to buy for the trade I mentioned."
Nay's words perfectly fitted the street. Just by prickling her ears a bit, she could hear several dispositions like the one she gave just now all around.
This was a frontier city, after all. A headquarters to the last phase of the imperial efforts of removing the blank areas from the map… And one hell of a lucrative business for both the mercenaries who took control over the wild lands and fought off the local tribes and the merchants who could claim immeasurable profits by trading away the exotics looted by the mercenaries.
It was this relation of mutual benefit that allowed those two groups, in particular, to rise through the ranks of the city and model it in a shape that further benefited their own interests.
As such, it was only to be expected that this frontier city, as a bustling hub of commerce, was brimming with people too busy with their businesses to stop working even while out in the streets!
"I understand," the young merchant nodded his head.
"Then, I will see you soon!" Nay threw and even waved her hand at the man before parting ways and taking a sudden, sharp turn into the alley she nearly passed by.
'Now, speed is all that matters!'
Nay didn't waste even a single second.
She rushed through the alley, not caring where it would take her. She ran at her greatest speed, conquering distance with each passing second.
And then, she found it. A random, unassuming spot covered in shadows of the high buildings of the city.
'Quick!'
Nay hurried up, tearing her cloak off her body while hoping there was no one to see her in this relatively secluded spot.
Then, Nay opened up the package she got from the merchant before quickly putting on a new set of clothes and finishing the change with a cheap, ordinary wig.
'That should be enough,' Nay thought, closing the package back and stuffing it under her new shirt, molding it into a shape she desired with just a few punches in the direction of her own stomach.
Nay only had a few moments for all of this.
The people tracking her were faster, stronger, and more agile than her. As long as she would be within their line of sight, they could jump her faster than she would be able to react to their attack.
But by suddenly splitting with the merchant, diving into a shadowy alley, and then running around while picking a direction at every turn at random, Nay managed to break that line of sight.
And when she sent her broken cloak with a kick to the darkest point of the alley she was in, she simply picked up the pace, limping as she made her way towards the light of the nearby main street.
In the mere moment Nay took to switch her appearance, she turned from a mysterious yet alluring beauty into an overweight, old lady who struggled to walk without a cane.
Nay reached the mouth of the small alley before pushing through and injecting herself into the flow of the crowd on the main street.
Her change was perfect. She didn't simply dress as an old lady, she acted the part too.
It was as if mere clothes were enough to change Nay's entire personality!
The girl's disguise turned out to work really well. As she kept roaming the streets to make sure she wouldn't bring any tail over to the safe house, Nay could feel someone's eyes digging holes into her back… Only for the feeling to vanish as soon as it appeared.
Then, it happened again. And again.
'They are fishing,' Nay thought, the realization allowing her to breathe a sigh of relative relief. And with this assurance, she started to slowly add direction to her seemingly random strolling, getting closer and closer to the inn she marked in her mind long ago.
Bit by bit, Nay inched ever closer to the huge building her provisional master picked for their safe haven. And the very moment she stepped into the building, Nay instantly pulled down her wig, undid the knot on the cloth that she wrapped around her shoulders, and used the forward momentum to let it fall down all over her upper body.
In a mere instant, she turned back from the old lady into a dignified yet mysterious woman. And with this appearance, she casually made her way all the way to the topmost floor of the building.
Her steps didn't lose any bit of their usual confidence as the girl walked across the corridor only to stop in front of the entrance like several others in the corridor.
'It's here for sure,' Nay thought, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for anything that could come out of the doors. And then, after knocking at the doors three times, pausing, and then knocking two more times, Nay pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
'No unforeseen danger,' Nay instantly noted before raising her eyes at her provisional master hiding in the shadow near the window and only now turning his eyes away from the street below to look at her.
"The bill of promise," Nay called out while stretching her hand towards Theo. "Give it to me."