As we leave this part of the back of the building, Gong whispers to us. “As I mentioned before, I pretty much control the area around my caves. This chat with Big Sister Crane, will allow me to actually own it. If so, I can allow people to take refuge here and hopefully make it safe for them to live.”

As we turn the corner, she continues with, “I’ll explain more later. However, this is where we should part for now. Buy some items and meet in the alley, over on the other side of this street.”

As we head out to the street, Gong heads straight across the street, as Lin and Ai begin looking over at the different stalls.

Before they head to one, Ai turns to me.

“Don’t actually head to any of the stalls, let us do that. From this point, we want to start establishing your character. Coming here with Gong was inevitable, based on some discussions with her. However, we can use this to our advantage. Stay aloof and when we come over with information, just nod or shake your head if you agree or disagree. Also, try not to interact with anyone. Okay?”

Sounds simple enough. Alright, mysterious stranger mode activated.

Crossing my arms and putting on my best Organization Thirteen appearance, I nod to her and point to my head. “Got it memorized.”

She gives me a strange look and heads over with Lin to the nearby food shop. She’s carrying all the money.

As I stand there, I can see some curious looks come my way from various people. Whether it is the yellow sashes, the vermillion stripes, or even the stall owners themselves, I feel like all of them are trying to take a glance.

Because of all of this scrutiny, I am on high alert. While it is a bit painful, I keep my scan at a farther range than normal, a 12-meter radius.

Good thing, too. As some people keep trying to bump into me from behind.

I just move away from them before they can do so. At this point, it becomes an unconscious thing. I feel someone coming close; I dodge away.

Since I’m not supposed to talk to anyone anyway, this is good practice for auto-piloting my abilities.

While I wait, I use this time to think back on the last encounter. Things such as whether the woman was able to read minds or why Gong was so embarrassed, but open to the idea of marriage.

However, as I do this, one thing keeps distracting me and occupies my thoughts and focus. The sound around me feels muffled.

Okay, this headache is pretty terrible. I’m definitely going to need to take a rest tonight. *Dodge* Maybe I shouldn’t do the traini… No, I still need to do it. I won’t grow if I can’t be disciplined, with only this much of a struggle. *Dodge* *Muffled noises* I’ll just make it weaker tonight, to compensate for the amount I had to do today.

*Dodge* *Muffled yelling*

Okay, seriously, what’s going on?

Jumping out of my inner thoughts, I actually pay attention now to why I’m dodging so much and what all the commotion is. From what I can vaguely remember and scan, it appears that there were three people trying to touch me.

Two of them were blue bands, who are across the street now. They seem to have a paper in their pockets, which says… ‘Meet us in the alleyway’. They seem to be perplexed to why they couldn’t bump into me.

The last of the three is standing right in front of me.

She is an absolutely breathtaking, yellow sashed, wavy-haired blonde woman w/ Asian features… who looks like she is in shock.

My eyes move away from her hazel-green ones, traveling down her excessively curvaceous form down to her arms, extended in front of her. One of her hands is outstretched, as if she has been trying to get my attention this whole time.

As I look back up to her, I can see her eyes filling with tears and lips trembling. A look, as if I’ve insulted everything that is precious to her, is shown to me. Which honestly, makes me even more confused.

Her mouth opens as if she was going to say something, but with quick breath, she turns and sprints away.

What… just happened?

She runs back to the front of a building, right into the arms of one of the other yellow sashes. Other women begin surrounding and comforting her, as some of them occasionally shoot simultaneously surprised and respect-filled faces at me.

Okay seriously. What have I done this time?

Lin and Ai come back at that point, with disapproving faces. Ai is the first to speak, “You know. When I said to stay aloof and not to interact… I really didn’t think you would take it that far…”

Lin adds, with muffled laughter “That was pretty amazing honestly. You didn’t even put her in your eyes.

“Just looked at her, as she waved at you to talk, and then, when she tried to walk over to you. You… you just dodged her and turned the other way.”

She squints her eyes for emphasis, “But thinking about it all… You know, you’re not like ‘that’ right? Not that there’s anything wrong with it, we all have different preferences.”

“If she doesn’t fit your inclinations, I wonder what even could catch your interest?”

Lin’s voice seems carry a bit, as the street goes just a bit quieter and Ai appears to be awfully interested in my answer.

Going to have to watch out for this one…

“No, I’m not like that at all. I just didn’t see her, is all.”

My voice comes out a little louder than intended.

Ah shit.

“H-h-h-he didn’t even see me?”

I can hear a gasp, as the woman has clearly heard me, responding with a stuttering voice.

She seems to be caught between pure offense, confusion, and dismay right now. Her face as bright red on her translucently pale skin, she seems to cannot stop biting her full lips and a handkerchief of some sort.

Suddenly, she turns around and flees back into one of the large buildings behind her and her group.

It seems to be strangely high class and upscale for this part of the city. Honestly, it looks like it would belong near a palace.

The woman’s group soon follows, standing just outside the door. They seem to be still looking at me with a strange kind of look. One that I really can’t place.

Lin, unaware of the mess that is escalating due to her making the situation worse, continues on. “Not only that, but you did some pretty intense moves to dodge those other two guys. I don’t I’ve ever seen someone do a one-handed cartwheel to dodge a thief.”

I am never going full autopilot again, in normal situations. Though now I’m wondering why I didn’t recognize my actions…

As I continue to think on this, Ai drops some knowledge on me. “You know, that building that woman ran into, houses the best escorts in the city. Nobles from other cities sometime come to this area, just to visit that place. Before she came to you, she had walked out of that building.”

Ahem. Fuuuuuuuuuck.

Well.

I can only see this going poorly. We should probably move on to another area.

Pronto.

Moving on, we get some distance away from this area. I can see Gong discretely shadowing us from the alleyways on the other side of the road. I am only able to tell she’s doing so, due to my scanning ability. She seems to be evading people easily too. Many people cross under her without even noticing.

It must be some kind of special skill to hide like that. Or people are so used to it that they don’t even worry about it.

Finally getting away from the prying eyes of the people there, Lin and Ai head back out to buy some poor-quality food from a stall. We typically follow the original plan, with me still dodging some enterprising hands, but now seemingly only thieving ones and in full control. I am completely impressed with the flexibility, strength, and reaction speed of my body now. Both my workouts and the healing constitution seem to be having a huge effect.

They pick up some normal goods, as well as some seeds and materials. Nothing of note happens, just some casual remarks. We do overhear occasional support for Gong and gratefulness for her patrols. Apparently, she does that a lot and tries to take care of people, where she can.

Since they are done with that, it is time to find the alchemist.