With my goal now being to head back to the area that Lynn and Ai had lived, and where Old Rong had died, I begin wrapping up our trip in this shopping area.

Before moving on, I find myself just staring out at the layout of the shopping area around us, which is quite interesting.

When I first got here, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate what I was seeing. Compared to the shops from the poor area, each place has a defined spot that they work within. While many of the shops do not have an attached building that they work within, each of the ‘stands,’ as I would call them, are well made and have their wares draped over and around their spots.

While some of the items I see are still questionable, they’re still significantly better than what I saw in the poorer section.

This doesn’t even take into account, the sheer number of fabrics hanging between the buildings. Gorgeous patterns that float and move with the wind from every wall, building, and shop.

Everything is obscured, reminding me of the movies I used to see. Those had the main shopping location being called a Bazaar.

Looking at the people, everyone is covered up. Concealing or revealing their faces, in accordance with their status. Case in point, many of the merchants have their faces covered. The ones who don’t, seem to be using it as a form of status, a way to help sell their wares even better. Things like ‘Aldeno’s Wonders’ or ‘Jin’s Jewelry,’ that seem to be exotic to this area, use their names as branding terms. The same goes for the customers, who use their status to achieve benefits and leverage in negotiation.

From what I can tell there’s actually quite a mixture of foreign elements here, which is maybe why my presence in the city wasn’t that strange to people, when I first got here. I also get the feeling the norms here with people being concealed, may not be the standard everywhere…

At the end of the day, though, this is just a marketplace. Huge for me and my perspective, but small when compared to the places that I will eventually see.

Even with that thought, though, I feel that I’m missing something here. Like there’s a war taking place right under my eyes that I cannot see. A quick scan gives the impression that there are numerous dynamics that are obviously taking place in in the marketplace. Far too many to do anything other than just a broad inquiry, without causing a headache.

The overarching feeling I get from it, though, is that I don’t need to be worried about it at this time. So, I think it’s time to move on.

Before we leave this area though, I remember I do remember that there is another place I’d like to check out, before I had it back to the other side of town. Walking down the street I spot the area, the Luxury store.

However, it appears the luxury store is no longer there. Instead, a shop with armor in it appears to have replaced it. With the string that Lin had given me earlier still on me, I stop one of the beggar children running around.

“Excuse me, do you know what happened to that luxury shop?”

I fish out a big copper coin to get reliable information from them.

His eyes travel from the string on my finger, to the arm band on my wrist, and finally to Shi with her yellow sash, beside me.

I can see him freeze for a moment, before stuttering out, “D-d-dat guy ran away. S-s-sometin aboot prweparin’.”

That was a little hard to understand, but I think I get the gist.

… I really took for granted Lin and Ai knowing how to speak and read well.

I tossed the coin to the kid and he practically sprints away. I can see some other kids sprint away behind him, closely following.

It doesn’t seem malicious, so I won’t worry too much about it.

I do feel a little disappointed, finding out the shopkeeper has already left the area.

Though, I shouldn’t be too surprised. I probably would run to, if I had something that high value on me. It’s kind of asking to be robbed, even in an area like this.

Thinking back to the luxury merchant… He could probably even get a better price by selling the good elsewhere, Players should be able to extract the most amount of wealth out of it, while keeping his Identity safe.

And if his identity is safe, that means mine will be as well…

… I should probably still mentally prepare myself to get confronted about this.

With the last thing in this area, I want to do complete, we finally start moving to the near slum areas. Memories of Lin showing me around this area come back to me.

Traveling down the streets, no one is coming to bother us, though there are plenty of watchers. Children alongside the road watch carefully. It looks like they aren’t watching me, though. They are watching Shi.

Shi asks if we can pause for a moment, which I easily agree to.

I wonder if she is going to give them some money, to buy food?

Reaching a hand in her pocket, she pulls out more than a few strange tokens that have the Yellow Sashes insignia on it. It also seems to have some strange symbols on it, that I don’t recognize.

All of the girls sprint forward and quickly grab tokens from her. Quickly after, one of the girls begin bowing to her and running off in the direction of the main road.

Uhhhh… did she just recruit some underaged girls to be prostitutes?

Shi sees the reaction on my face and I can see a look of disappointment, before she turns away briefly. She just starts talking out loud, filling the silence that has come between us.

“I actually grew up around here. Most of the girls in our group did, as well…

“Growing up out here isn’t a good life. At least in the group, we make sure they are old enough and actually want to work the Avenue. If you don’t, there are other spots for you. You make less, but it’s enough to live on.

“Out here? It doesn’t matter how young you are and what you want to do. They’ll take what they want.”

Silence falls again between us, before I speak up.

“Shi, I’m sorry if it seemed like I was judging you earlier… I have never gone through anything close to what you and the other girls around here have gone through and likely still go through. But I do trust that you are doing what you believe is right, for both them and yourself.

“I support your decision and if you need… someone to hear you out and just listen, I’ll do that for you.”

Her head turns quickly at my words, slightly confused and her mouth slightly open. Her eyes start blinking quickly and seems to struggle to find words, before finally a chuckle comes out.

“Heh. You really are something else, aren’t you? You shouldn’t be apologizing to someone like me. If anything, you should be punishing me for being so disrespectful…”

Her eyes look around, causing me to look around as well. No one else is around. A pulse confirms that.

She bites her lips and steps a little closer. Placing a hand on my leg.

“Hey…”

Her eyes lock onto mine, upturned. Glancing over at a clearly empty building.

Ah… no. Not at this time.

I’m not going through this again. I’m done being tossed around by my emotions.

I like her, but I will do this on my time. On my terms. Maturely.

I open my mouth to speak.