Through the quiet paved streets with small, gated manor homes lining the sides, Suran felt as if he was in an entirely different city. Compared to the dense, cramped city streets, the open, vibrant pathways in the upper class residential area was a nice change of pace. It was through these colorful streets that Keira led the way for Suran to Lord Shroom’s estate.

As the cat maid strolled down the road, Suran paid careful attention, mentally mapping the city streets. Understanding the city flow and the lay of the land was crucial in conducting information gathering, especially when staking out a target.

Keira stopped at the corner of the empty street, her tail ceasing its swishing and her ears standing attentive. “Around this corner, down the street, and to you right is the residence of Lord Shroom,” Keira pointed out from around the corner. Suran crept up, peering around the corner with her.

Compared to the surrounding area, Lord Shroom’s estate was younger and larger; all the other stone gates and fences were covered in floral growth, their faces weathered and dirtied by the passage of time.

“I’ll be able to take it over from here,” Suran commented, looking over the home.

“Very well then, Mr. Ibrahim.” Keira bowed her head and began to walk away, “Good luck!”

Glancing down the street juncture, Suran made sure there was no one else around before heading up to Lord Shroom’s gate. It was a solid metal gate with no way to look inside. Suran turned the handle and, as expected, the door was also locked. Patrolling the perimeter, Suran found the walls too high for him to jump or climb over, especially since they held spiked tops.

There was no way to get in, so he searched for an alternative. Even though the walls were high, there were no trees on the other side. If he could get on an elevated level, looking over the wall would be no problem. Taking inventory of the street, there were plenty of homes, but they too were also gated, making it a difficult prospect to find a home he could not only get into, but also climb on top of to see inside.

Instead, he settled on a tree. Across from Lord Shroom’s estate was another manor home that had a massive tree growing outside of its walls. It stood well above all the buildings in the area, so Suran went up to the tree and began the careful task of ascending its branches. After scaling most of the tree, he found a thick branch and perched himself on it and began his watch.

From up high, he got a clear view of the interior of the gate and the front of the home. It was a simple, open lawn without any shrubbery or decorations. A stone pathway to the door was the only thing of note on the lawn. The sun was past its apex and he planned to sit in this tree until night came. All the windows were shuttered and not a soul stirred on the grounds. Few people came and went on the street down below, but there was no activity from Lord Shroom’s home. Hours went by, and the sun drifted across the sky without anything occurring. However, Suran had no problem spending his time this way; he had grown to be a very patient person, so waiting a mere few hours, even days, was nothing to him.

It was at the close of the day that something finally happened. Waddling toward the gate was a portly man accompanied by an elderly man in a butler uniform and a younger, well-groomed, fit gentleman in black formal clothes. They stopped outside the gate where the round man spoke to the suited one for a few minutes. Since Suran was high up the tree, their conversation was just out of earshot, but he could make out concern on the portly man’s face as the business man spoke extremely calmly. From his coat jacket, the dandy pulled out an enveloped and handed it to his large counterpart before leaving with haste.

The portly man, not dressed poorly himself, rummaged in his coat pockets and pulled out a key and proceeded to open the gate and walk towards the home with the butler in tow. From his dress to the butler, Suran assumed this man to be Lord Shroom. After the two disappeared into the home, he waited some time in the tree, but there was no further event. He climbed back down the tree and opted to call it a day and rest, planning to resume his watch early next morning.

After taking the wrong turn more times than he could count, by the grace of god, he somehow managed to get back Baron Reginald’s home. Once again he knocked on the door, but this time it was not Keira the black cat maid who greeted him, but a gruff, muscular man with tanned skin.

“Who are you?” The tall man asked, imposing his height over Suran.

“Suran Ibrahim. I am working on a task for the Baron.”

The man’s eyes lit up and his frightful demeanor washed away, “Oh it was you the Master was talking about.” He stepped aside leaving the door free to pass through, “Apologies sir, I am Fletch, one of the slaves of the Baron.”

“I won’t be long,” Suran remarked, stepping inside the home, “I simply need to collect Natalya for the day.”

Fletch sighed and shook his head, “You mean the cooking lady?”

“Yes, did something happen?”

“She took over the kitchen,” he replied with a nervous laugh. “That girl can whip up a mean dish and Keira hasn’t been too happy about it since she is the cook around here.”

“Then I shall do Keira a favor and get Natalya out of her hair.” Suran walked through the bottom floor of the house until he found the open kitchen with Natalya making a huge mess. “What are you doing here?”

Natalya was beating some dough when Suran called out. “Cooooooking~” she replied in an up beat, musical tone.

“Wrap it up. We are leaving for the inn.”

“Okay!~” She responded in too good of a mood.

Suran was completely thrown off. There was no fuss, no hassle. “Wait, are you really ready to go?”

“Yup! I finished cooking a long time ago. All I was doing was screwing around with Keira since she seemed to despise me being in the kitchen.”

Of course there was an ulterior motive, Suran thought. Without another word, he left the house without reporting to the Baron with Natalya just behind him, back towards the inn. With the sun completely set, it was the first time he was actively traveling during the night in Valcadia. Lining the streets where lamp posts illuminating a strange white glow. Electricity was not something he had observed in this world yet, so he was curious at how these contraptions were giving off light. His first thought was of magic, but that was an alien subject to him. Eventually, he reached the inn, grabbed himself a late dinner, and headed off to bed to prepare for the next day.

He was woken in the morning by a heavy knock on the door. From the window were small cracks of light that indicated it was just past sunrise. Natalya was still sound asleep in the bed across from him. Lumbering out of bed, he approached the door and answered it to find Jerin on the other side.

“You got five lads out in the front asking for you.”

Still half asleep, Suran took a moment to process the information he was told, “Wait… there are five people outside for me?”

“Yup, and, by the looks of it, they aren’t up to any good either.”

Suran thought for a moment, “Is there a backdoor we can use to get out?” It was likely that these men are following up from the attempted assault from yesterday.

“There is one behind the door next to my counter. You can use it to leave.”

Suran nodded in thanks and indicated he would be down in a minute to prevent the possibility that anyone from outside would be able to overhear. Jerin left and Suran went to rouse Natalya.

“What is it…” She mumbled, trying her best to ignore him and fall back asleep.

“We have more trouble,” Suran explained, peering out the window down below, “Pack your bags, we are leaving as soon as possible.”

She lazily got out of bed, her hair in a total mess, “What’s with you and trouble?”

“It’s not like I look for it,” Suran said as he checked over his few clothing, “If I had it my way, I would want no one to bother me..”

A few minutes later and Natalya was set to go. Taking one look out the window, Suran noticed that Jerin was attempting to hold the five men at bay outside. He was an intimidating man, but five against one was not the best odds. Doubling his pace, Suran and Natalya hurried down the steps towards the door behind the counter.

Suran flipped up the counter divider and darted to the back door. As he was opening it, the front door burst open and the five men began piling into the inn.

“Look! There he is!” They immediately saw Suran and pointed him out.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Suran kicked open the door, grabbed Natalya by the hand, and led her out. The room directly attached was a kitchen and supply room, and Suran navigated through it to another doorway on the opposite side. He could hear the clamor and ruckus of the five men chasing behind him. Swinging the next door open, a narrow alley way opened up before them, and, while grabbing Natalya’s hand, ran as hard as he could.

Glancing over his shoulder as he sprinted down the alley way, he could see the five thugs chasing right after him. Suran eyed the sword on his hip, deciding if it was possible to simply turn and fight. He quickly opted against it. With Natalya close by without any information of where they are or where they are going or even if there are more criminals, it was a risky choice. His only choice was to run.