Adam left the barber's shop behind his left shoulder as he started to walk in the opposite direction than he was supposed to - unknowingly.

The mage's head was full of happy thoughts mixed with considerations about the nonexistent meaning of what he had done for the past hour - It was completely useless apart from cutting his beard, but the truth was that had in fact had the shaving utensils packed in his bags, just not on his person, so he could have done it himself as well.

He spent a long time at the barber's while his companions were probably waiting in the tavern, worried about him - if they had even noticed his absence.

In the meantime, while the mage was losing his face heater, the sun rose considerably, now fully illuminating the streets that had already been left by the early-day travellers. Once the workers arrived at work and children showed up in the community centres, the only ones who remained on the streets were wagons, a few pedestrians and those living on the streets.

And of course, Adam, who walked quite unsteadily, as his cat irked him in his pocket. Maybe the little feline had something to say to his not-so-fully-functional owner.

After a while, Adam gave in and took Parcas out of his pocket.

"What do you want? Show me, don't meow - my head still hurts," he asked his little furry friend while keeping him in the air, hanging on Adam's outstretched arms.

In response, Parcas made some weird manoeuvre and in a flash, he was sitting atop the mage's shoulders. Then he raised his paw and nudged his owner's head with his muzzle.

"Let's see," Adam muttered while following his companion's paw and looked some distance away, towards where he was heading to.

There, below a signboard announcing its existence and secluded between a few bigger buildings, a swordsmith's workshop was located. It was a nice establishment, boasting numerous fine pieces ready to be bought and even more drafts depicting what and for whom the master had already made handing on the walls - giving the owner prestige and reliability for the customers to support their trust. A frequent and steady sound of a hammer striking hot iron resounded through the neighbourhood - announcing the master's presence at the workshop.

"So, what do you mean, Parcas?" Adams asked in a tired voice, massaging his head where it pained - meaning everywhere.

Parcas looked him deep in the eyes with disapproval and disappointment visible in his kitty-slits, and smacked him on the head - then he pointed at the workshop again. And meowed.

"Meow."

"Auch, Parcas! Could you not???" Adam scolded in a hushed voice.

But then, he looked at the workshop again, and a spark of realisation went through his eyes.

"Oh. Okay, you were right, sorry." The young mage apologised to the beast on his shoulder, Pet him on the head and put him back into his pocket before turning back towards the direction he came from.

'Fuck, I went the wrong way. How did I not notice I was going back? What the fuck...' Not only that, he also failed to account for the fact that he walked for more than fifteen minutes from the barber's shop.

Anyway, turning back and speeding up his pace, Adam headed towards the hair-cutting establishment again, only to stop in his tracks a few minutes into the walk.

A group of guards walked in his direction, chatting amongst themselves yet observing their surroundings and aiding themselves with the long poles of their halberds.

"Have you seen those guys? Scaredy cats hid just after seeing us." One of them laughed at some random people.

"Yeah, they made some funny faces..." Guard walking beside him replied in an amused tone.

Those two walked at the end of the formation, with a few of their comrades and their leader - an officer in more exquisite clothing.

Adam tried to remain as calm as he could, but he was still quite irked by his headache so, escaping the guard's notice didn't really come as smooth as he hoped.

Namely, while walking next to the officer, he tripped over a cobble sticking out of the pavement and fell to the cold pavement.

"MEOW!!!" Parcas screamed in cat language while flying through the air, having been catapulted out of Adam's pocket.

"Auch!" The mage himself also expressed his surprise and pain, as his knee struck the ground in an attempt to cushion his fall.

Adam fell, then gathered himself up and looked around for the cat missing from the pocket. Seeing him some distance away, he reached out his hand, on which the cat jumped and let himself be pulled into his master's embrace.

"Sorry Parcas, are you alright?" Adam asked affectionately while petting the grey tuxedo and kissing the top of his head.

"Nice cat, though it may have altered your balance a bit, mister." One of the soldiers gave his hand to Adam, helping him to stand up.

Adam took the hand and rose to his feet, now facing the man.

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"Thank you. It seems the pavement is a bit broken," Adam looked back at the piece of cobble sticking from the ground.

The rock slid out of its hole when Adam's boot got hooked onto it and was now lying next to a cavity in the pavement where it previously rested.

Adam tucked Parcas back into his pocket and walked over to the broken piece of road, to move the stone back into its place.

After standing up and shaking off the dust and dirt from his long coat, Adam turned back towards the guards.

"Hello citizen, are you okay?" The officer in flamboyant clothing asked. He was a tall, imposing middle-aged man with a fine moustache.

"Yeah, nothing much happened," Adam responded surprisingly calmly - on the inside his headache-induced paranoia whispered to him that they were about to ask him for his age, the location of his home, vocation or other things that may be considered before enrolling him into the army. But unlike before the fall, he acted calm and collected.

"Good to hear, how about the cat? It was considerably louder than you during the fall." The middle-aged officer expressed his concern, focusing his attention on the little creature sticking its head out of a big pocket on its owner's side.

In reply, Adam took Parcas out and spun him around in the air, carefully observing him from all sides - before coming to a conclusion.

"I think he is unscathed, it's a cat after all - they tend to fall on four paws." Adam once again amazed himself with his calmness - he always knew that acting calm was the best way to avoid suspicion or unwanted attention, yet he never thought he would be able to pull something like that off.

"Beautifull creature. I myself have two of them at home - though, yours seem to be much calmer than my little freaks. They wouldn't be able to stay calmly in a pocket, regardless of its size. Ingenious invention by the way, you must go out with..." The officer thought for a while, " Parcas(,?) a lot." He asked.

"Yes, we travel a bit. Our home is far from here, so we stay with each other." Adam pulled Parcas into his embrace, like a little baby. He hoped that revealing his status as a person out of town would help him drive away the officer's thoughts about taking him to the nearest enrollment office.

"Must be hard. May I ask what are you heading, citizen?" The officer kindly asked.

"Ehh..., It's quite embarrassing to say, but I got lost. It's a lot bigger city than I am accustomed to... So to find my companions, I wanted to first find the northern gate, Wind Gate if I am not wrong... Could the officer help me a bit and point me in the right direction?" Adam asked, ashamed. He didn't know how long he could keep us in such an act, so he tried to lead the conversation to a quick end.

The officer and his subordinates seemed to glee when Adam praised their city. Local pride thrived where overall patriotism failed - such was life in a terror-driven Empire, no one among the common people wanted to serve the emperor - their own city was a completely different story.

"Of course, you were heading in the right way. You will arrive near the Wind Gate in about twenty minutes if you continue on this path." The officer replied with a smile, pointing in the direction he came from, and where Adam was going before tripping.

Adam took it as a signal to leave, and after thanking the guards and politely saying goodbyes, he started to walk north again.

Yet, even after a while, he couldn't wash off the surprise of himself. Surprise by his ability to stay calm, and in the fact that the officer let him leave.

-----------------

Some distance away, behind Adam's back, the group of guards led by an officer in exquisite clothing marched in the opposite direction than the young mage.

"I hope other squads will leave him alone, He seems like a good fellow. The type that wouldn't survive in the army." The officer commented.

"Yeah, most would either silently walk away or flood the broken pavement in curses. Also, he had a nice cat - really similar to one of yours, captain, are you sure it wasn't yours?" The guards walking the nearest to his superior engaged him in conversation as they marched.

"No, as I said, mine would scream, bite and claw at whoever initiated contact with him - trying to put him in a bag would result in blood being spilt. Also, that one was definitely much younger than mine - maybe a month old." The officer's answer wasn't far off - Parcas was about three to four months old.

"Yet quite big, I was sure it was mature." The guard replied.

"And fat." Another one commented.

A bystander standing nearby could see a group of guards walking forward, nodding their heads in unison.

--------------

After some time, Adam indeed arrived near the Wind Gate - it was visible in the distance, filled with people either leaving the city or arriving in it.

The queue's right side, filled with those who were leaving Northern Overseer, was noticeably bigger, and longer than the left side.

While walking along the edges of a square bordering the gate, towards the read he and his companions took to their tavern, Adam noticed that the departers were sometimes ordered to get down their ride and

present their baggage to the guardsmen - which was quite weird, as the arrivals were checked much less frequently.

The young mage and his group were a prime example of this - a heavily armoured group of men wandering into the city didn't even go through a basic control checkup. However, they may have looked quite sick while entering as they weren't in their best shape - which explained why Adam didn't notice the gate's weirdness back then.

It seemed that the City's lord was more concerned about things leaving his city than entering it - Adam thought of it as illogical, wouldn't they want to catch those who bring contraband into their home's premises more than those who take away the dangerous stuff?

He was curious about the reason and quite perplexed about the situation, but he soon left it in the past - people managing such a huge city couldn't be stupid, and they surely knew what they were doing.

Anyway, turning towards the majorest of the roads leading from the gate's square, Adam found himself staring at vaguely familiar buildings and vendors that irked a spot in his brain - quite uncomfortably considering his headache.

He already travelled through this road, between the low wooden houses mixed with some other, similarly low buildings.

During his walk back to the tavern, Adam realised that each major road in the Northern Overseer acted as its own ecosystem - where one could find all manners of trades and shops selling their services. Though, more specialised workshops like the luxurious shoemaker's which Adam found some hours before, aren't on every street - those gain the advantage of rarity that allows them to set their prices much higher than the rest.

So, just like in every other city.

And just like in every other city, if you search long and hard enough, you will find what you search for, at least if it's a building - those are quite hard to miss.

And that's how Adam returned, to the shadowy alley in the corner of a square, where an inn's signboard peeks out from the depths.

And behind it, a way to stables is seen, covered a bit by a brown horse's head.