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[INV1][INV2][INVENTORY 3]

[Kattleynan Leafs: 33055]

[Marquean Chips: 39.45]

[Vestygian Obliques: 0]

[INSIGHT: 6]

"I guess that\'s that," I shrugged. "I just hope it\'s enough."

"I hope you come again, sir!" the teller smiled radiantly. "We have branches all over the Shallow Deep. We also offer banking services should you so desire it."

"No thanks," I smiled. "And thank you for your services."

Without thinking too much about it, I led our group out of the exchange. Mentally tallying the fact that we only currently had around forty of these Chips, I sure hope that currency here wasn\'t as weak as the Leaf.

Then again, Shade did say that we had enough money to last us a while.

"How much did you get?" Shizu instantly asked the moment we stepped foot outside.

"Around forty," I casually shrugged.

...

...

Quiet... too quiet, really. "What\'s wrong?"

"That\'s it?" Shizu blankly asked. "How much did you exchange?"

"Around twenty thousand," I replied. "It seemed appropriate at the time."

As if the world itself ground to a stop, I felt a number of gazes all land on me from well beyond our group. Shizu was still focused on me, but the rest of us were clearly looking outward as is readying themselves for a fight.

Okay, time to get out of here then.

Quickly scanning for Maruki, I gave the man a nod before I grabbed Shizu by the hand and followed along. Our tank promptly took to his job and cut a path for us, the rest of us closely following behind us as we tried to find a place that wasn\'t completely packed with people.

"W-What\'s going on?" Shen hesitantly asked.

"Just stay close," Guidance promptly replied. "Hold my hand."

The commotion around us only seemed to grow the more we tried to get away. Shade had already pulled out his rose, his [Manifest] glowing as he probably used his power to compel the crowd to get away. The tension only rose, however, a feeling of being watched only becoming more apparent as soon as we left the main markets. I had already let go of Shizu\'s hand by then, the princess quickly picking up on the situation as her eyes gazed out and around us.

"We\'re still being followed," I stated with all of the seriousness that came with our current predicament. "Shizu, can you try and spot the guy?"

"[Code Watcher]..."

Hearing Shizu whisper out her power, I clicked my tongue when I noticed that Maruki was slowing down. Looking ahead, I saw that a crowd seemed to form right by the docks. Hushed whispers of a lunatic told us of the situation, the distant screaming seemingly becoming closer the more we tried to push through.

[*crackle crackle...*]

I almost wanted to stop when the sound of crackling electricity made itself heard. Turning my head, I followed where it led, my gaze landing on a growing crowd centered around a woman and a man that was clearly a part of the authority.

"Come on! I\'m a potential Academic!" the strangely familiar voice screamed out in frustration. "That count\'s for something, right?!"

"Again, miss Alset, you\'re not permitted to loiter around with an unregistered innovation!" the man threatened out loud. "You\'re already causing a scene with that machine of yours! And it looks like it\'s about to explode!"

"But I can prove it works!" she quickly replied with the desperation of a failing college student. "It won\'t explode! We\'re still here, right?!"

My eyes widened, as did the rest of our group as we slowly pushed forward. I guess that was one of our objectives completed almost as soon as it was stated.

"Moriya," Shade called out.

"I know," I nodded. "Still, we should focus on who\'s following us."

Even now, the ever-present feeling was only growing despite the thinning crowds. The crowd surrounding Alset was now growing for some reason, and our potential new party member only sounded more and more insane the louder the crackling sounds from her machine got. She was practically raving at this point, her tone growing more unstable as time went on.

As much as I want to go and see her, however, there were more pressing things to do, namely, to get this stalker off our back before-

"I see him!" Shizu quickly declared, her gaze pointing towards one of the numerous rooftops lining the streets. "Over there!"

[*BANG!*]

Drawing my pistol, I wasted no time in aiming my shot as I let out a warning shot. The sound of it made the crowd around us quickly disperse, leaving Alset and the man to stare at us with curiosity and apprehension respectively.

"Halt! That was an unauthorized use of force!" the man bellowed out, seemingly forgetting the fact that Alset still had a machine beside her that crackled with unbridled energy.

"I was just defending myself from a stalker," I quickly responded, standing my ground as the rest of my group huddled up in formation. "They wouldn\'t stop, so I gave them a warning shot."

"Still, that was an unwarranted use of a steam cannon," the man, which I could probably just label as some kind of police force, frowned. "And looking at your group, it\'s clear that you\'re all outsiders."

"Traveling sellswords, really," Shade pushed himself towards the front, deftly taking over the conversation for me. "It\'s only natural for us to have some form of protection with us."

"That, it may seem," the policeman hummed.

With Shade doing the talking, I let myself slink back out of the limelight as I gave Alset a passing glance. The woman was already sneaking away into the alleyways, her machine still giving out some crackling lightning as it singed the pavement beneath it. I guess I should respect the hustle there...

"A stalker, you say," the policeman nodded in thought, taking my focus back to the conversation. "Can you describe when and where you first noticed it?"

And just like that, I tuned out the irrelevant conversation. There was nothing to be had there at the moment, so I let Shade do as he pleased as I turned around to look at Shizu. The princess was still scanning the rooftops, her eyes squinting as she forced herself to look far away.

"Ugh... It\'s too bright the farther I try and see," Shizu grumbled in annoyance. "The guy slipped away after you shot at him, but I can tell that he\'ll be back based on how he moved."

"How he moved?" Guidance dubiously asked, her keyboard already in her hands.

"He hesitated on whether or not to move to a different location," Shizu explained, her eyes blinking the black and green away to make way for her usual golden irises. "He almost wanted to jump down too, only for him to back down and run away."

I couldn\'t help but frown as the implications of it began running through my head. This guy had probably started tailing us the moment we got out of the exchange. Coupled with the fact that the very crowd seemed to have reacted to me admittedly being stupid and announcing the amount of money we had, I could only guess that it was some kind of thief looking to rob us.

I chuckled at the thought. As if he could even do that with all of our money safely sequestered inside my inventory.

"Should we give chase?!" Maruki bellowed out, his righteousness practically bleeding off of him in spades. "We should turn him over to the authorities if-"

"There\'s no need."

Cutting Maruki off, Shade grabbed the group\'s attention with the policeman beside him. I guess they already reached a consensus based on how concerned the policeman was looking.

"The Marquean City Watch will be handling this stalker case," the man nodded, his cap lowering to cover his eyes. "As valuable guests of Marquee, I only ask that you render your services to any of our citizens that might request your aid."

"Of course," Guidance replied ahead of me. "So long as we can conduct our business peacefully, we shall make sure that we make ourselves available."

The policeman nodded, "Good. Now if you\'ll excuse me..."

And with that, we could only watch as he disappeared back into the streets. The crowd around us had already dispersed, leaving only the six of us standing in the middle of the empty street.

"Well, that went better than expected," I shrugged, holstering [Blanc] behind my back. "I guess the police here are competent."

"That\'s hardly the case," Shade sighed, a small grimace coloring his face. "With the police already behind our back, it would only make our investigations a whole lot harder."

Oof... I didn\'t think of that, actually. "At least we\'re still technically clean. We can still move around freely enough."

"Agreed," Shade nodded. "And that\'s exactly what we need while navigating this nation. People talk, however, and we\'ll probably have a reputation before the day is over."

"Well, at least it didn\'t end badly," Shizu smiled. "For now, we can just go around and go shopping!"

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