Taking a light stroll in the streets of Peryer, I took up this chance to experience what dazzling ideas this city had to offer. Everyone seemed so friendly, waving and smiling at each other as they continued their delightful conversations about their day-to-day lives. I even participated in some of them myself since they didn’t seem to mind strangers at all. Perhaps it was because this place was a trading hub, where many merchants came and went exporting and importing goods as well as delivering stories from across borders.

Beliefs and ideologies interwoven into the hearts of its denizens with each new visitor, who brought new knowledge like the streetlamps and food-processing machines. Heck, there were even prototypes of cars, or ‘horseless carriages’ as they called it, moving through streets. Although they did explode seconds later, with its drivers protected by mages standing nearby, who appeared to be dressed in uniformed robes of black and blue. Considering the fact that this city was home to a mage tower, they were likely institutionalized mages working similar to the police in my world, sent on patrol by Peryer’s governing ruler or whoever ran the Kyanos Tower. Maybe by both.

Regardless, perhaps it was due to the influence of magic itself that pushed the city into high gear toward technological progress. Very much different to the countryside, where most were content to simply live out the rest of their lives in peace. I wonder if the Pylfur Kingdom’s capital would bear a similar atmosphere. That being said, Glen-san was strangely apprehensive toward the idea though and refused to answer any questions regarding it.

No matter. I’ll just start out small and get used to living life here. I came up to a nearby food stall serving some kind of staked meat. I greeted the shopkeeper in a boyish tone. “Hello, good sir. May I procure some of your most delectable delicacies on this fine morning?”

The shopkeeper stared at me weirdly. “... Did a noble hit your head or something?

Shoot! Is that not how people speak here? Then again, Glen talked to me rather casually. I released a cough and went straight to business. “How much for one of these?”

“Two coppers per stake,” he said. “But if you can get ten for eight.”

“So, two coppers less … Alright, I’ll buy ten then,” I took out the pouch of coins Glen had given me and paid him in full, then taking the stakes for myself. “Thank you, sir.”

Right after, I started eating the meat and it was so good. The freshness and tenderness of the meat, crisp from the coal flames and very aromatic. The shopkeeper must’ve used some kind of special sauce, for it had a striking sweetness to it, yet still balanced by the meat’s delectable savory. If my parents were here, they’d scold me for eating while standing, but the rules of my world did not apply here, so who cares about how I ate?

Suddenly, a guy bumped into me. “Watch it!” he yelled and went away.

“So rude,” I uttered, taking another bite on my meat stake, when I felt something off about my pocket. I looked into my coat and noticed that the pouch of coins was longer there.

That man was a thief.

“Hey! Give me back my money!” I immediately sprinted toward the guy. He was fast, but I was faster. Those points I spent on agility was worth it. However, he seemed to know a lot about the area, taking zigzag turns through streets and alleys, turning the tables around.

Fine then. Don’t blame me for what I’m about to do.

Upon turning to a straight and narrow path devoid of anyone but us, I took up position, right foot back and left foot forward, twisting my body with a ball of condensed wind gripped upon my palm.

“[Wind Shear]!” I lunged my arm overhead and threw the ball of pressurized air forward, its form then reshaped into a linear line, striking the base of the thief’s foot and causing an upward vortex that launched him into the air, landing face flat on the ground. Wooh! Looks like I still got it.

Before he could get back up, I quickly stood on top of him, swung my foot backwards, and—as per Glen’s advice—kicked the thief’s privates.

“OOUUCHH!!!” he cried, trembling from the reverberations sent outwards from the nether region, yet he still made the effort to get away. It seemed one wasn’t enough, thus I landed another kick. “GYAAAHHH!”

Then followed by another kick.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Until his body limped and mouth was full of foam, his complexion pale white, and I could at last retrieve my pouch of gold from his pocket. I’d say I did quite well, despite my initial apprehension toward the idea of possibly destroying one’s ability to make children. Perhaps after fighting all those monsters I have gained steel nerves toward danger.

The thief seemed to have gained a decent amount of money as of late. A dark shirt under a cool crimson vest, trousers partly ripped and oddly bandaged, and a dark cloak shrouding his figure. And upon taking a closer look, the guy looked quite young, a year or two older than myself.

I should probably go on my way. But alas, I quickly discovered a predicament. I had no idea where I was. Glen would probably get mad, considering he told me to stay put while he went to meet a friend in the tavern. There was another one of the same kind around the corner, except it was definitely not the one he’d gone in, for the sign above showed a toad rather than a lizard. I’d have questioned their marketing strategies if not for the constant stream of civilians and rough-looking adventurers coming in and out of them.

“Ughhh …,” the thief groaned, seemingly having returned to consciousness. Usually I’d have called the police, which would be the local guards, except none seem to be present nearby. It was as if this particular area had been purposefully abandoned by the law.

“Looks like I have no choice,” I went up to the groaning thief and turned his body around. “Uh, hello, sir? I’m A … Albert. My name’s Albert. Say, can you show me the way to the tavern with the lizard sign for me? You know, where you first stole my money from.”

I hoped I wasn’t too awkward, despite the already awkward atmosphere. It felt like I was getting more distant with reality the longer I was here.

“You … you kicked my …”

“I’ll be glad to kick you there again if you don’t tell me where it is,” I gave a bright smile so as to not show hostility, but after a few seconds of thinking, I realized that I probably look and sound like a psychopath or something. Regardless, you should not treat criminals at the same level as ordinary civilians. The man before her clearly had lost that right.

Having been met brutally by the full-swung kicks down below, the thief shuddered, as he forcibly tried to raise his gaze toward me, only for them to falter at a moment’s notice. “Alright, but … just give me a minute … or two … please …”

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And so I did, but five minutes later and he still had yet to get up. I decided to let it slide. The guilt of kicking his nuts was really racking up.

Another two minutes passed and the thief could at last get back up. “Follow me, it’s this way.”

“Toward the slums?”

“It’s a shortcut.”

“How do I know that you’re not leading me to somewhere stray—what are you doing?”

The man bowed his head on the floor and tearfully cried, “Please have mercy on me, I beg you! I won’t do anything like that ever again.”

I was speechless. Never in my life would I ever thought I’d have a grown man grovelling on my feet. Glen’s method was effective alright, but it was way too effective on this guy, who, now that I took a good look at him, seemed to be pretty young.

“Okay, okay! Please, raise your head. I’ll trust you,” I said hastily, as the thief returned to a standing position and began to lead the way.

However, something I did not account for was my current area. Leading forward were decrepit houses of stale gray, walls and floors contaminated with dark dried goo and growing moss that reeked of sewers, and windows either partly shattered or nonexistent. A sum of people laid scattered on the ground. They wore dirty rags stitched together to form clothes and bore a haggard appearance while being devoid of any sense of purpose, shooting a desperate starving look at any who looked remotely had their mouths filled for the day, as if they had rarely eaten or let alone seen an ounce food for days on end.

“What’s your name? I’ve told you mine.”

Technically I could already see his name on the panel above, but manners must be kept nonetheless. Also, his class was [Archer], though he didn’t possess a bow of any kind on his person.

“Ferrin, that’s my name,” he answered, exactly as the panel stated.

“And what about your class?” I asked again.

“Who knows?” he said. “Never had the funds to pay the adventurer’s guild for a check up.”

That was strange. Lucia never charged me or Glen for a check up on our stats. Could she have given us special service?

“If I had then maybe I could at least get some proper job instead of having to live in this piece of sh*t,” Ferrin kicked a dead rat to the side, which then got devoured by a slime monster living near the building moss. I was about to send it into oblivions, when Ferrin stopped me. “What the heck are you doing? Do you want to get swallowed up?”

“But it’s just a small monster.”

“Are you daft? That small monster is more fearsome than you could ever imagine. Its diet might just be trash and corpses, but don’t underestimate it because if threatened, it could multiply in infinite numbers to eat you.”

He was right. Inspecting the slime’s status, it had the skill [Reproduction EX] which was supposed to be the highest rank any skill could achieve. What a scary creature despite its tiny meek-looking blob figure. Appearance wasn’t everything, I suppose. I should always inspect a monster’s status first before fighting them.

That being said, since a slime could theoretically reproduce at an infinite rate, wouldn’t that be an opportunity to increase skill points. Imagine if there was a farm where adventurers could simply kill slimes over and over again just to gain skills and titles. Although it would have to be fastly secure and probably use a special in order to counteract its [Devourer A] skill so that the walls never melt into the slime’s internal structure, which appeared to break down material and convert it into energy.

“Please, have mercy!” Ferrin dropped to the ground on all fours.

“What? Why? I didn’t do anything!” my flabbergasted self cried. “Really I won’t do anything to you … again.”

“Liar!” he bellowed. “You have the same look as Boss Lorcan whenever he’s scheming something. Either we follow through on the job to the end or receive no food and only whips for days on end.”

“Wait, hold on. Who is this Boss Lorcan you speak of?”

“He’s the leader of the … ice cream shop right past this road.”

“Ferrin, I may be an airhead, but I ain’t dumb enough to believe there’d be an ice cream in a slum sprawling with dirty rats,” she stated, clearly. “Also, ice cream exists here? No, never mind that. Just tell me the truth and nothing but the truth. Unless you want to get some more kicks down there.”

“He’s the leader of the Flower Gang,” he sputtered. Although the gang didn’t sound all too threatening. “The gang operates by disguising themselves as florists to pilfer goods or lure people in to kidnap them or hold them for ransom.”

Never mind, this gang sounded like the most devious group of hooligans there was. These nasty crooks deserve the righteous might of justice more than anything. That being said …

“But you just straight on pickpocketed me though,” I pointed out. Nothing of his appearance suggested him into being a florist.

“My status is at the very bottom of the barrel,” he said. “Only the lowest of the low get the odd jobs. Otherwise they’d have to make money their own way. Only those recognized by Lorcan can know the ins and outs of the gang and their numerous plans for the city. Some of what I’ve heard is … horrific. Like last month when news broke out that the hospital at west’s end street caught on fire. Apparently the gang was responsible for that in order to steal medicine and sell them off at a higher price.”

“How dare they?!” I grew more infuriated by the minute. “But if you knew about that then why didn’t you run away or maybe work as an adventurer? Even though you can’t check your stats, surely you’d still be able to take on commissions.”

“A badge costs one gold coin. I mean, what kind of poor person has that kind of money in their pockets?!”

That was odd. It appeared there were two possibilities behind this reason. Either Lucia was being overly generous or the guild receptionist whom Ferrin talked to was committing corruption. Looked like public order was lacking in this era of this world. My father and his colleagues would never have let this case go away without the guilty being served justice.

“Also …,” he seemed to hesitate for a second, but nevertheless spilled it out. “My little sister is working there, at headquarters, as one of its many maids. I couldn’t possibly let them keep her there! I made a mistake and they said that if I managed to pay up all my debts then they’ll let us go. I’m only four hundred left to go! If I don’t pay then … then …”

“They won’t keep their promise,” I told him. “Even if you managed to pay them, they will still keep you and your sister working in the gang, or maybe throw you into the gutter once you outlived their use. That’s how it always goes.”

All the cases my father had worked on that involve ransom always ended up like that. Paid or not, there was no guarantee in whether they’d return you your precious person. Either the demand increased or the kidnapped was rescued before anything happened. That or they were simply killed in order to keep their silence.

The dose of reality was hard-hitting, but it was necessary to be understood especially when it came to family members. Granted, I’ve never experienced any of that myself back home, but it didn’t remove the fact that my heart was given to him. If my father was here instead of me then surely he would do whatever he could in order to ensure the safety of the victim and for the perpetrators to meet their due punishment.

“Then let’s go,” I said, feeling determined without a hint of doubt. “Let’s get you and your sister to safety.”

“Huh? What do you—”

“I meant what I said. Let’s go! I’ve got a plan to do so.” Despite my pleading, Ferrin continued to resist. Of course, who would believe that a fifteen-year-old could launch an infiltration mission deep into the headquarters of an infamous gang? But he would surely learn to not underestimate the boy named Albert or the girl I was, known as none other than Takebayashi Akari.

My plan was bound to work. Maybe this was the [hero] title talking, but I have full one-hundred-percent confidence in ensuring its success, even though I technically never once tried it. Really though, who cares for the details? Magic existed in Orbiterra. Anything was possible so long as you put your mind to it. . And after several rounds of convincing, Ferrin finally gave in to the idea.

“Great! Now all you need to do is lead us the way,” I said. Everything was set to start with nothing amiss. Still I feel like I was forgetting something. No matter, it could wait until Ferrin’s sister was rescued from the dreaded headquarters of the dangerous Flower Gang. Its name really lessened the stakes considerably.

Oh, where could it be I wonder? Maybe it’s someplace underground where the only way to get to it was through a series of labyrinths filled with monsters? Or maybe it was out in the open inside a seemingly normal building so they could operate in broad daylight? The possibilities were endless.

“It’s this way,” Ferrin pointed at the direction of the alleyway. The same direction where he intended to lead me toward minutes ago.

“So, we were heading to your Boss’ lair anyway?”

“Yes …,” he turned around his head, guilty as changed.

“Well, let bygones be bygones because we have a new goal set for us. That being said, you did try to trick me, so …,” I pulled my feet back and kicked him in the nuts.

“OUUUCCHHHH!!!”