Following Red out of the room I was met by an impressive sight. Outside the door, which promptly closed behind me, was about 10 people dressed in what seemed battle armor. Not flashy in any way, but purpose built. These were not flashy divers, but soldiers. They had their job, and they did it perfectly every time. I spotted a familiar face, the leopard from earlier. Her playful face was gone, and now with a cold face. That of someone who has been doing their job well for a long time. Unrevealing and stone like.

“These will be our escorts. We will be moving this package on foot. So you will be in the middle, since you probably can't fight, and will get in the way. It's best you just carry it with the best you can. Hope that's clear.” Red said as he kept walking, not looking in my direction. “I will not be coming with you. So listen to what they tell you. I have an important meeting I must attend.”

Without waiting for a response he walked off back toward the elevator which brought us down here. Leaving me holding a mysterious covered cage in my hands with a bunch of strangers who are supposed to protect me.

“What could possibly go wrong.” I wondered, letting my voice trail off.

“Well you could die.” The leopard responded.

I winced a little at that. ‘Could whatever is in this cage really get me killed over?’ I was just even more baffled by how I ended up in such a weird position. This can not be normal by any stretch of the imagination. A person with no standing, barely entered the city for a day. Is this really just trying to get me killed?

“Alright. You will follow behind me. You will do as I say when I say. If you follow those you will make it home alive tonight. Don't and you won't be going home ever again.” She warned.

I nodded and walked over to what was going to be my protectors. I assume they know where we are supposed to be going, because I did not. I, like I have all day, am going into this very blind. What I thought was going to be an easy first time job, now has my life on the line. I knew this place was wild, but I thought there was a lawful good job here.

Following her into the formation, we started walking to the exit which started opening, not the entire massive door, but a smaller door inside the door. Guess foot traffic is still mostly what's used. What I am carrying is important, but not so important that they don't use a vehicle for it.

“Hey, no zoning out into your pretty little head of yours. You want to survive, you have to keep your focus.” She warned, having glanced back at me.

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“Yes, ah mam.” I responded, a bit nervous.

I felt was genuinely warning me, to keep me alive. I feel she is right, I need to keep looking around. Then it finally clicked in my head. ‘Did she flirt with me?’ I felt my cheeks get a little warmer. I was getting flustered over a small comment. Why?

I pulled myself out of my thoughts, trying to just focus on my surroundings. We were walking through a tunnel, but we just came out of it and out into The City now. We are in a spot, I am not familiar with now. Lots of big roads, definitely for use of larger vehicles and transporting. It definitely felt like this might be a large warehouse district, for storage.

The buildings here all seem to be fairly big, but not very fancy. Longer than they are wide, and very much in neat rows, while being big there was not much room between them. I suppose it’s to help with maintaining The City’s size. It is impressive, how thought out The City is, while at the same time, how chaotic it is. This seems to be the only place where buildings look the same, except the numbers and letters on them to display which one belongs to who. I am not sure it was purposeful, but the letters and numbers seemed to match those of guilds. The one, which we came out of, looked different; it had a simple design on it instead of the rest. Guess the auction house holds its own rights on which is displayed.

I kept my eyes watching around us, trying my best to memorize how we are walking, so if needed I can go back. It took a while before we left what felt like the warehouse district and went back into more houses and shops with the roads smaller than before. Still plenty big enough for bigger vehicles to get through, but maybe one at a time.

We were down the middle of the road, everyone seemed to give us space and avoid getting too close to us. Seems this might be a usual thing for groups of certain kinds that are meant to be avoided. That does make sense, only people willing to try their luck are the ones who will go for the cargo, which is what I am carrying. Which makes me the target if anyone is coming to steal what we are moving.

“Keep on your toes, if there is any better place for an ambush for where we are going it will be here soon.” The leopard said without looking back at me.

I could tell the group was getting ready for an ambush. They are no longer as relaxed as they were a while ago. Their hands are more steady and the air feels a little more tense now. I feel my heart beat faster, responding to the situation. If things go south, I feel it will go bad quickly. As if reading my thoughts, it did. Suddenly people charged at us from the alleyways on both sides of us.