At first I think someone somehow saw through my shapeshift, but I quickly realize that these aren't city guards. In fact, they aren't guards of any kind, they look like common thugs, but there are a lot of them. The common people on the street quickly clear out leaving around thirty people around me.
Thief says "Hand over your bag of holding and we will let you live!"
As he says that the thugs around me all take out an assortment of rusty and broken weapons. They look so weak and pathetic that I have to struggle not to burst out laughing. I could probably kill all of them with a single swing if they came close enough.
"You will let me live?! You would have to be capable of killing me first!"
Boss says "Stop talking! Just kill him and get the bag! The guards won't stay away forever!"
With yells of 'Yes Boss!' the group of thieves charge at me with their pathetic weapons. Under the clothes I made I am still wearing the angels armor, between that and the toughness of my body I am not worried. The first thieves to reach me start violently stabbing me, but I don't feel a thing.
In fact, a lot of their weapons break when they stab me, leaving them dumbfounded. This is just like a scene out of a manga and I admit I am enjoying this feeling of overwhelming power. However, I am not doing nothing, I am just waiting for all of the thugs to get within range.
As soon as all the thugs, except the boss, are in range I draw my sword. Then with a single Whirlwind Attack, this entire section of the street is painted red. The boss, who is covered in blood, just stands there and starts screaming.
His high pitch screaming quickly gets on my nerves so I walk over and cut his head off. Standing there, I can feel the eyes of people on me, watching me and there are a lot of them. Stories of this are going to spread quickly and there is no way I can stop it unless I kill everyone.
Even if I kill all the witnesses, stories will still spread, just with less details. However, that kind of massacre would greatly alert the leaders of the city. That would make our raid much more likely to run into problems, which I want to avoid.
The problem is, how do I get out of this without making things even worse? If I shapeshift at all it will definitely alert the city, and who knows what kind of tracking magic they might have. Then again, I don't even know if they have a mage organization because I haven't scanned the city yet.
Once again, I was too cocky and didn't even think about needing an escape route. The worst choice would be to stand here and wait for the guards to show up. Knowing that all the city gates have guards I turn and start walking towards the docks.
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As I walk away I casually flick the blood off of my sword and put it away. Hopefully, the people watching will report this as me being a human blademaster. Luckily, I don't think anything I did is outside the capabilities of the humans.
As long as I don't do anything too outrageous I am hoping that the city officials won't take it too seriously. Now I need to get out of the city and only come back after dark to do my scouting. Once I leave the street where it happened everything around me looks normal.
The people on that street are probably still in shock and haven't started to spread the word yet. However, I can't count on that lasting for long and once it starts word will spread like lightning. As soon as I spot an empty alley I duck into it and put my sword in my pouch.
Then I use my mana to change the look of my clothes and grow some facial hair. Hopefully, that should be enough changes that I won't match any descriptions. I wish I knew how to use my shapeshifting ability better so I could alter just my face.
However, since this is currently the best I can do, all I can do is hope it is enough. So I walk out of the alley and start to casually stroll towards the docks. I don't hurry my steps, nor do I look around much, either would draw attention.
As I am strolling I start hearing an increasing amount of conversations around me. From a few overheard words I can tell the conversations are about what I did earlier. As expected, the speed of rumors is incredible, but I am not too worried.
Everything I overhear is greatly exaggerated and it will only get more so over time. Hearing descriptions of a swordsman over eight feet tall makes me smile. As long as the city guards don't find someone who can give an accurate description I should be fine.
After a few more minutes of walking I reach the docks and start looking around. When I find a spot with no witnesses I dive into the water and start swimming. All the people grouping up to talk about the rumors actually makes it easier for me to avoid notice.
Once I am in the water it is simple enough for me to swim out of the port without being spotted. When I am clear of the port I drop the shapeshift and swim north of the city. The cove the ship is heading for is south of the city, but I want to see if anyone chases me first.
While I am fairly sure that I didn't leave any traces behind, it is better to be safe. Besides, I don't need to return to the ship until after I have finished my scouting. So when I spot a nice beach I head onto it and lay in the sun for a while to relax.
While I could easily dry myself with mana, it feels better to let the sun warm and dry me. It is very relaxing and it makes me think that I don't let myself relax enough. There are always so many things that I need to do that I hardly ever take any time for myself.
Even now, I could be working on my core or visiting the hall, but instead I just lay there. The beach is secluded and surrounded by cliffs, the only way to get here easily is from the water. It is a small beach with no fresh water, there shouldn't be any reason for ships to stop here.
Despite that, I actually see a ship and it is approaching the beach and slowing down. Before long the ship comes to a stop and drops its anchor, they are definitely coming here. Luckily, the crew is getting boats ready and it doesn't look like anyone has spotted me yet.
Looking around I spot a group of rocks that should be big enough and quickly move behind it. Peeking around the rocks I can see the crew loading crates onto the rowboats. It looks like they are planning to bring their cargo ashore, but why would they be unloading here?