Chapter 7

Walk In The Town

After her talk with Ryan, Erin went outside the assassins’ hideout with Holly. Due to her being a fugitive now, she was given a black hoodie to wear and use to hide her face. She also had a face mask to cover the lover half of her face, so that she wouldn’t be accidentally identified by someone walking past them. The rest of the brunette’s clothes were rather plain and simple, most likely so that she wouldn’t catch anyone’s attention.

“You better not complain about the clothing you get, okay!?” Holly told her companion with a glare. “You should honestly be grateful we even bother clothing you at all, considering how much of a pain in the ass you are.”

“I’m fine with this. No worries,” Erin replied in an almost inaudible voice. “Where are we headed?”

“We’re headed to a place that will help you hide yourself from the law enforcement,” the blonde answered. “You won’t be any good for us, if you have to constantly worry about someone seeing your face, even if by accident.”

The brown-haired woman wasn’t sure what Holly meant, but she assumed that they were on their way to find her a disguise of some sorts. Most likely a mask to hide her face with or something similar.

As the two women were walking, they eventually ended up at the central plaza, the same place where Erin had seen the statues of her old friends and had been picked up by Eba. While the plaza was normally busy, it was practically bursting with people this time. A large crowd had gathered there for some reason, which piqued Erin’s curiosity.

Ignoring the protests of her companion, Erin began to make her way through the mass of people, hoping to see what they had all gathered there to see. It took a while of pushing and squeezing through people, but the brunette was able to find a place to witness what was so important to so many people.

What she saw made all the color drain from her face.

A stage had been set up at the plaza with police officers surrounding it. On the stage was standing a couple more officers as well as two other people. One of these was a rather well-dressed goblin that had two police officers guarding him. This goblin stood out from the other people for a few reasons. First of all, his outfit looked very expensive and was decorated quite a bit. It looked like a military uniform suited for a high-ranking official with a large golden medal on the chest. The jacket was black with red and golden highlights. His pants were white and seemed to be made of a fine material as well. He also had a very fancy looking monocle covering his right eye. The goblin was bald at the top of his head and the rest of his hair had been neatly trimmed.

The second thing that made the goblin stand out was the expression on his face. While all the police officers had stern and serious expressions on their faces, the small green man had a very noticeable smile on his face, like he was enjoying what was happening at the moment.

However, the goblin wasn’t the thing that caused Erin to turn pale. The reason for her shock was the other person that wasn’t a police officer, as the brunette recognized this person.

It was Eba. The old lady that had taken Erin under her wing before betraying her and selling her out to the authorities. However, Eba looked like she had been through hell, as not only was she crying uncontrollably, but she was also covered in cuts and bruises, and her limbs were shackled to prevent any escape attempts.

Suddenly, one of the police officers on the stage stepped forward in order to speak to the crowd surrounding them.

“This is the public execution of the criminal known as Gertrude Eba!” the police officer told the crowd. “The crimes she has been found guilty of by town magistrate Gibbot are as follows! Assistance of a dangerous terrorist! Withholding important information from the authorities! And assisting in the murder of senior officer Harger’s murder! Due to the serious nature of her crimes, she has been given death sentence not only to herself, but to her immediate family as well! Before we carry out the punishment of this vile criminal, she may have one last chance to speak and beg for forgiveness!”

At this point, Gibbot walked up to the shackled lady with a wide smirk on his face. He was clearly enjoying every moment of this.

“Yes, ask for us to forgive you, wench,” the goblin said mockingly. “If your pleas are genuine enough, maybe we can offer you some sympathy in return.”

“...What the hell do I need your sympathy for?” Eba asked angrily before lifting her head to stare down at the crowd around her. “All of you know full and damn well who I am and what I do! Did you think I never heard what you all whispered to each other when I walked by!? Oh, you are all so high and mighty and better than me, aren’t you!? None of you were selling out those who would end up in this position, huh!? Well, I DID! I DID IT SO MANY TIMES I LOST COUNT AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN! MY HEART IS CLEAR, FOR I DID IT FOR MY HUSBAND, WHO WAS TOO WEAK TO EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, WHEN HIS EXECUTIONERS PUT HIM OUT OF HIS MISERY!”

Silence fell over the plaza, as everyone watched the tiny woman, stunned by the words she shouted in defiance to everyone there. Erin herself could feel her face turn pale while listening to her. Even if she had hated the old lady for betraying her, she knew what was the reason behind her actions. Because of that, she could somewhat understand why Eba did what she did. In the brunette’s opinion, the old lady didn’t deserve to be put to death like some criminal.

“...Are those really your words?” Gibbot asked with a sneer on his face. “Had you begged for mercy, I might have considered not making your remains into an example as thanks for all the help you’ve provided so far. With this mockery, you have wasted your chance and your head will surely end up on public display.”

Eba turned to look at the goblin with a peaceful smile on her face and tears falling from her eyes. No longer was there even a hint of the rage and fury she had just displayed for the crowd surrounding her.

“My body doesn’t matter to me. Do what you want with it once I’m gone,” the old lady said. “All I care about is seeing my family on the other side after all this time. If I had any regrets, it would be that the person responsible for my end isn’t here, getting executed right next to me.”

Seeing as Eba wouldn’t have anything else to say, Gibbot walked back and gave a signal to the officers on the stage. One of them nodded and walked up to Eba, as he drew a sword from his waist. The sword was similar to a Japanese katana, except it was made with technology foreign to humanity from Erin’s world. At the back of the blade was a small machine that resembled a battery, which unleashed electricity that coated the sword in what looked like blue lightning. Erin knew from experience that this was a shock blade, a weapon that was used by the law enforcement in some areas of the game Five Realms.

The officer raised his sword up in the air and readied his stance. As he did this, Eba lowered her head, readying herself for her end.

Erin felt like time had slowed down as she watched the people on the stage prepare. Her mind was racing, as she thought about the possibility of saving Eba. However, fear and anxiety had frozen her on the spot, forcing her to simply stand and watch as the execution proceeded.

As the blade began to come down upon its victim, Eba thought about her husband, son and grandchildren. The family she would get to meet after such a long time. They would finally know peace. No longer would they have to struggle and suffer in order to live.

Before the blade hit her neck, the old lady opened her eyes in order to take one look at the world before her. That’s when her and Erin’s eyes met. Eba immediately recognized the person she was staring at.

Some of the people that were close enough to the stage could see it as right before her neck was cut, Eba’s expression suddenly changed. What had once been a peaceful smile accepting her fate had suddenly changed into a face that was a mix of shock, rage and hatred.

Erin saw the change in Eba’s face as well. It was with that expression that the old lady died as her head was cut off.

image [https://i.ibb.co/NWc2gZb/Ch-7-pic-1.jpg]

While the crowd around her erupted in cheers over the successful execution, Erin no longer even registered it happening around her. Everything had gone silent as her body stood still, frozen in place as she stared into the direction of the execution.

It was because of her this had happened. It was her fault that Eba was now dead along with her family. And it was clear that the old lady blamed the brunette for her fate as well.

Had it not been for a hand grabbing her arm, Erin would have most likely stood still like that for hours. She looked behind her and saw Holly standing there, glaring at her like a parent would at a misbehaving child.

“The hell are you doing, you moron!?” the blonde said angrily. “Do you want us to get into trouble!? Let’s get going before you screw things up even more somehow!”

Erin didn’t get a chance to protest, as she was suddenly dragged away from the crowd and into an empty alleyway. The brunette was still in a daze over what she had just witnessed, so she just went along with being dragged around.

Erin’s downright lifeless state was quickly picked up by Holly, who let out a frustrated sigh and stopped walking.

“Okay, what is the problem with you now?” the assassin asked in an angry tone, clearly not happy with how things were going. “You had a similar reaction earlier today when we were arguing at breakfast. What the hell happened to turn you into a freaking walking corpse!?”

“I… That lady… The one who got executed,” Erin began to talk, struggling to find the proper words. “She… She was the one who took me under her wing. She let me live at her place and work at her restaurant.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, moron,” Holly said. “I am aware of what went between you and Eba, but why the hell are you all moody now that she’s dead? I mean, she betrayed you and tried to sell you to the cops! I thought you would be happy that she got her head chopped off!”

“I… I understand what you’re talking about, but it’s not that simple,” the brunette began to explain. “I did hate her for what she did to me. I don’t know if I could ever forgive her for what she did. However, she didn’t do it just to earn money. She was trying to help her sick husband. Can I really hate her for doing something like that?”

“For crying out loud… What the hell are you talking about!?” the blonde asked angrily. “Are you trying to tell me that she was somehow innocent and didn’t deserve her fate!? That we should have jumped in there and saved her like some sort of super heroes!?”

“I… No, I… I just-” Erin struggled to find the right words to say. “I mean, she didn’t deserve what happened to her, did she? Shouldn’t I have at least tried to do something?”

“You’re a completely helpless moron, aren’t you?” Holly said in an annoyed tone. “Look, at the end of the day, all that old hag should have been to you was an enemy, alright? Even if you had saved her, what do you think would have happened? That she would have joined forces with you and helped you take down Gibbot? No. All that would have happened is that she would have betrayed you the moment she got the chance and you would be dead instead. Betrayal was in her nature. Countless other trustful idiots have been killed by her way before you ever even met her. If you get what I’m trying to say, shut your damn mouth and follow me. We have wasted enough time as it is.”

The brunette didn’t argue back anymore and just followed silently. She obviously knew that there was nothing she could have done and any attempts would have only ended in her own death. Still, Erin couldn’t help but regret causing the death of an old lady, who had just tried her best to save her husband.

It felt like she had just repeated the same mistake she did with Devin and his friends.

Erin and Holly walked for a bit longer, eventually coming up to a store that was located in an alleyway far from the more populated areas. Erin looked up at the sign hanging over the store’s entrance and her lone eye went wide upon recognizing the name.

The name of the store was “A Face For All”. In the game of Five Realms, it was a cosmetic/customization shop that was meant for players who wanted to change the appearance of their characters. You could do pretty much any type of changes to your character’s look there, from changing the color of your hair or eyes to even restructuring their facial features.

There was one major difference to this store when it came to the one from the game. These types of stores were normally located at public places, making them easily accessible, yet this one was practically hidden from view. Erin couldn’t help but wonder why this was the case.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Hey, why this store located in such a place?” the brunette decided to ask. “I doubt they get all that many customers with such a location.”

“Huh? You don’t know?” Holly asked. “These places used to be everywhere, until Devinolux and his posse came in. After they pretty much conquered everything, these places saw a sudden boom in customers due to a lot of people coming in to change their faces. These people were enemies of the new government that wanted to make a quick disappearing act before they ended up on the chopping block. The higher-ups obviously weren’t happy upon finding out about this, so these places were immediately outlawed. Nowadays, unless it’s kept under heavy surveillance, these places have been forced to hide their business, operating only in secret while avoiding the government’s eyes.”

“I see… So what are we doing here then?” Erin continued asking. “I don’t understand why we are at such a place.”

“Isn’t it obvious? We are going to change your looks!” the blonde answered. “Your current face is known by pretty much everyone, so we need to take precautions in order to avoid having someone accidentally recognize you.”

“H-Hold on a second!” the brunette cried out. “You’re not going to restructure my entire face, are you!?”

“Of course not, you dumb asshole!” Holly angrily yelled. “We are not about to waste that much money on some greenhorn that hasn’t even been really tested yet! All we are going to do is change the color of your hair and eyes!”

Erin let out a relieved sigh. While she understood that they needed to take precautions in order to hide her from the police, she wasn’t exactly thrilled over the idea of completely changing her facial structure itself. She had heard enough horror stories of what could happen in such operations to know it wasn’t something she herself wanted to take a part in.

The two ladies were about to enter the store, when the blonde suddenly stopped the brunette. Erin looked at Holly and saw a deathly glare on her companion’s face.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but remember not to tell anyone about this place,” Holly said in a low tone. “The guy who runs this place has enough issues as it is and doesn’t need a moron like you to add to them. Not to mention, Ryan and I would like to keep things good between those whose help we might need in the future. Don’t screw this up, okay?”

Erin gave a small nod in response, not able to trust her own speech at the moment. The stare the blonde had given her was one that told her that if she were to go against her order, Holly would kill the brunette immediately. Erin’s instincts told her right away that it was best to give a simple response, as anything else could anger the blonde further, which was not a good idea.

With Holly’s threat delivered, the two ladies went inside the store. The interior wasn’t exactly as clean and stylish as one would expect of a place that dealt with restructuring one’s appearance. The inside looked like that of any rundown building, as there were cracks on every surface imaginable, the paint on the walls was peeling off and there were pipes that were leaking. The furniture also looked like it had aged considerably and was on its last legs. The tables had visible pieces missing from them and doors to their cabinets were hanging loosely.

However, what set this place apart from any old building’s interior came in the form of the equipment necessary for the work that was done here. In the middle of the room was a large metal chair, similar to those that one would see at a dentist, except this one had all kinds of straps on it to secure the person sitting on it and preventing them from moving. Next to the chair was a small metal table with all sorts of tools that would be used in operations, like different blades and such. There was also a couple of gas canisters next to the chair, which were most likely used to put the patient to sleep in case it was needed.

Much like everything else, the equipment wasn’t in the best of conditions. The chair had rust covering it in various parts and it had marks of being worn down all over it. The metal table also had rust on various places and looked like it had been bent from some places, like it had been hit with a baseball bat a couple of times. There was also old and dried up blood on the metal table and even some of the tools, and the gas canisters were rusted with one of them even having a large hole in it.

There were also pictures covering most of the walls. These pictures showed two different faces next to each other, most likely to compare how a customer’s looks were changed thanks to this place’s services. One would have expected that these pictures would at least look to be in a good shape, but even they had all sorts of dirt and grime all over them. Some pictures were even hanging loosely from the walls or had fallen to the floor.

All in all, the place made Erin think of it as some sort of a nightmarish dentist, where one wouldn’t get help but would rather have their teeth forcibly pulled out and sold on some kind of a black market. She started to fear what would actually happen to her now.

Suddenly, someone walked into the room from the backroom. It was a rather tall and thin elf with long golden hair that reached his back. He was wearing dark and plain clothes that consisted of a simple black T-shirt and gray pants. However, there were two things that made him stood out. One was that over his clothes he was wearing a white, bloodstained apron. One of his arms was also not an actual arm, but a cybernetic replacement.

Since the world of the Five Realms game was set in a futuristic world with fantasy elements, cybernetics weren’t unusual. Such enhancements were normally used for the sake of character customization in the game, rather than due to actual need. Seeing as how the game’s world was now a reality, someone having a part of their body replaced like this was most likely done for a more serious reason.

“Hey, Holly,” the cyborg elf greeted the assassin before looking at Erin. “Is this the new kid Ryan called me about?”

“Yeah, that’s her, Lucas,” Holly replied. “Ryan already told you what we need you to do with her, right? How long do you think it’s going to take?”

“With such a simple job, I’d say it will take less than half an hour. Depends on how well her body reacts to the chemicals I’ll be dumping in her,” Lucas answered. His mechanical arm suddenly changed, turning the hand into a set of blades of varying sizes. “Are you sure all you want is for me to change a couple of colors? I could do quite a bit more, if you want.”

Erin’s face turned pale upon seeing the blades. The thought of being operated on by such tools was not something she was looking towards and she seriously hoped that Holly wouldn’t suddenly change her mind about the changes to her face.

“Hey, times are tough even for us, okay? No way are we going to start spending such crazy amounts of money just on her,” the blonde answered as she went to lean against a nearby wall and took out her phone to play some game on it. “Besides, it’s not like we are going to be shoving her face at every person we meet. It will be enough that no random passerby recognizes her by accident.”

“Fine. Be a boring customer then,” Lucas said with a sigh and started to prepare his equipment.

Erin let out a sigh of relief before walking to the chair. She guessed that since she was going to have her looks changed, she would most likely be required to take a seat at what was essentially the operating area.

The brunette sat on the chair, causing it to creak rather loudly. As soon as she had settled herself, Lucas walked up to her with a few bottles in his hands. The bottles contained liquids of different colors, which Erin guessed would be used to change her hair color.

“Okay, so which one do you want?” the elf asked while showing each color. “I’ve got your regular black and blonde colors here for your hair, but I have some more interesting stuff as well. I could give you some bright green or orange or even pink, if you’re into that.”

Erin looked at the colors thoughtfully, wondering which one she should choose. While it wasn’t exactly the most important thing in the world, she still wanted it to look good. Not to mention, she couldn’t go with a color that was similar to her natural color, as that would defeat the whole point of her switching colors in the first place. However, colors like green and pink didn’t sound all that good to her.

The brunette then noticed a bottle of bright red liquid that caught her attention. For some reason, this color captivated her and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. She carefully reached out to it and picked it up in order to inspect it closer.

“That one, huh? If you say so,” Lucas said as he went to put the other bottles back where they had been. “Although, I’m a bit surprised. I was expecting you to choose something that wasn’t as bright as that and more similar to your natural color.”

Erin didn’t respond as she simply handed the bottle back to the elf. The reason as to why she chose such a bright color wasn’t simple, such as liking the color itself. In a way, the brunette was trying to change herself in a way that was completely different from how she had used to be. She herself didn’t know this yet, but there was a deeply hidden desire within herself to become something new and better. This desire would be more fully realized, as it was only an instinct at the moment.

“Lean back and relax. This won’t take long,” Lucas instructed, which Erin followed. Two of the elf’s cybernetic arm’s fingers changed into syringes and a part of the arm opened up, revealing an empty container. He poured the red color into the container before closing it again. “Now, this might feel a bit uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t be actually painful. Just bear with it for a moment.”

As Erin was laying back on the chair, she felt how Lucas inserted the syringes into the top of her head and liquid started to flow in. The pouring liquid brought with it a slight burning feel. While it wasn’t too painful, it was still somewhat uncomfortable and it also carried a stinging sensation as well, like the brunette’s head was being poked with numerous needles everywhere. As the liquid spread around, this same feel was carried everywhere in her head.

However, despite how bad it felt, Erin didn’t make any complaints whatsoever. She didn’t cry, she didn’t let out any pained sounds of any kind and just grit her teeth while taking the whole thing in stride.

It didn’t take long until Lucas removed his syringes out of Erin’s head and took a step back. They waited for about ten minutes, as the liquid did its thing. After that time had passed, the operation was over.

“It’s done,” Lucas said as he took out a mirror and handed it to Erin. “See for yourself how it looks. If you ask me, I’d say it went pretty well.”

Erin took one look at her reflection and was amazed by what she saw. While she had never hated her old hair color, the new look she had simply left her speechless. The normal dark brown had now been replaced by a bright red color, making it almost look like her hair was shining.

“Judging by your reaction, you’re pleased with the results. That’s good for you, as having to change the color again would have cost you extra,” Lucas said with a slight smirk. “Next up is the eyes. Any particular color that you’d like? We can do pretty much any color in existence. We could even simply make your pupils disappear, but I have to warn you it might look a little creepy.”

“...Can you make them green?” Erin asked carefully. “Something bright green, like emeralds?”

“Sure. That’s no problem at all,” the elf said as his cybernetic arm started switching up again. “By the way, nice to hear you speak finally. I was starting to think you were mute or something.”

“If only I was that lucky,” Holly commented while her eyes were still focused on her game.

“...Well, let’s just ignore the mean lady over there and get this on, shall we?” Lucas said as one of the fingers in his cybernetic arm had switched into what looked like a laser. “Now, this will get rather uncomfortable, but you’re going to have to bear with it. Luckily you only have one eye, so it won’t take as much as it would normally do.”

Erin was a bit irked by the fact that Lucas referred to her lost eye as lucky, but didn’t say anything. The sooner this was done, the better.

“What do you need me to do?” the ex-brunette asked.

“Not much. All you need to do is lay back and keep your eye open through the whole thing,” the elf instructed. “However, you need to keep your eye open no matter how uncomfortable this gets, okay? It will hurt and won’t feel good, but that’s unavoidable.”

Erin nodded and followed the instructions she had been given. Once she was laying back, Lucas pointed one of his mechanical fingers that had transformed into a laser right into her eye. Erin was staring straight into a green light, which was very uncomfortable. Her eye was hurting a lot from having to stare at a bright light like that, which caused a couple of tears to fall from her eye. Still, no matter how much it hurt, Erin kept her eye open and didn’t do anything that could stop the procedure.

After a while, Lucas was finished. He turned off the laser in his cybernetic arm and stepped back to admire his work. Although Erin couldn’t help but close her eye and rub it in order to ease the pain, he was still able to get a look at the now finished eye. The elf gave a satisfied nod at the results he saw.

“Okay, here’s the mirror. See for yourself how it looks,” Lucas said as he once again gave Erin a mirror.

The young woman looked at the mirror and saw that her eye was now a very beautiful shade of green, instead of the normal blue that they had been.

“Hope you like it. If you don’t, I can always change it into something else, but it will cost you,” Lucas said with a small smirk. “Besides, I doubt you want to go through that again.”

“This is completely fine. Thank you very much for your services,” Erin said politely and even bowed her head down.

“...Huh. I honestly didn’t expect such manners from you, seeing as how Holly was the one who brought you here,” the elf said with a surprised look on his face, before looking at the blonde assassin with a grin. “You should learn from your friend. Otherwise, I doubt you’ll ever get a boyfriend.”

“Bite me, jackass,” Holly said with a glare before walking up to Lucas with some money in her hand. “Here’s the payment for your job. We’ll be in touch with you, in case we need you again.”

“Sure. Pleasure doing business with you,” Lucas said as he took the money and put it in his pocket. “If I were you, though, I’d try to get her a cybernetic eye to replace the one she lost. Not only would it hide her identity even better, you can also put all sorts of fun gadgets in cybernetics. My arm is a good example of that. I could recommend a buddy of mine that makes them.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much those things cost?! We’re not going to waste that much money on her!” Holly complained angrily. “If she ever wants one, she can earn the money for it herself! The best she can hope from us is a cheap glass eye.”

With their business concluded, Erin and Holly left the store. Before walking out, Erin gave one final polite bow to Lucas as a way of showing gratitude for his work.

Now that her appearance had changed, Erin no longer needed to hide herself with her hood and could walk around more calmly. As they were walking, she noticed a small electronic billboard on a wall, similar to movie posters back in her own world. However, this wasn’t showing an ad for a movie or anything like that. It was showing her face.

Seeing her face shown in such a manner caused Erin to stop in her tracks and stare at it with wide eyes. It was a wanted poster for her and it had a bounty of six million credits written on it. The crimes could be seen written underneath the bounty, which included the assault and murder of a police officer as well as conspiring against the government.

Erin could feel her face turn pale. She knew she was on the run from the law, but seeing her own face on a wanted poster was still quite a shock for her.

image [https://i.ibb.co/nbcKSZP/Ch-7-pic-2.jpg]

Holly suddenly walked up to Erin and dragged her by the collar of her shirt away from the wanted poster. Erin could tell that the blonde assassin was angry by the way she was stomping as she walked and the displeased grumbling she made. Once the two ladies were in an alley did they stop.

“What the hell is wrong with you!?” Holly angrily hissed at Erin. “Why were you just standing around, looking at your own goddamn wanted poster!? Don’t you understand that even if your appearance has been changed, people can still recognize you, especially if they have the damn picture right there for comparison!?”

“I… I was just taken aback by seeing my own face on a wanted poster. That’s all,” Erin explained. “In all my life, I never thought that I would ever see that happen.”

“Well, I’m certain a lot of other people thought the same thing, but they weren’t dumb enough to make recognizing them easier,” Holly ranted and let out a frustrated sigh. “Besides, shouldn’t you have expected something like this? After all, you did kill a high-ranking cop.”

“I suppose so… However, I didn’t expect the bounty to be so big,” Erin said. “I mean, my bounty was six million. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

Suddenly, all of the anger in Holly seemed to disappear completely and she turned towards Erin with a surprised look on her face.

“Did you just say six MILLION?” the blonde asked to which Erin nodded. “Are you sure you didn’t get that wrong?”

“Hey, I know you don’t exactly have a high opinion of me, but I can still read just fine,” Erin replied. “I know my numbers, and the wanted poster’s bounty was definitely in the millions.”

Holly looked down in thought, a look of confusion and shock on her face. This whole thing had really taken her by surprise, which Erin noticed.

“Is something wrong?” Erin asked. “Is my bounty really that surprising?”

“You bet your ass it’s surprising!” Holly almost yelled. “Do you have any idea just what type of people are given bounties of that level?”

“Not really,” Erin answered with a shrug.

“Your crime was basically the murder of a cop, right? That kind of a crime would normally land you a bounty of about a couple thousand credits. Since the guy you killed was rather high-ranking, you could maybe have it in the tens of thousands as well,” Holly began to explain. “However, even big name criminals, like leaders of criminal families and such wouldn’t earn themselves bounties that reached the millions! The only people that get those and above are some REALLY big targets for the authorities!”

“L-Like what?” Erin asked.

“Enemies of the government itself,” Holly answered. “This kind of a bounty is reserved for rebel leaders and terrorists. Basically, if you have a bounty in the millions, you must have done something very serious and pissed off someone very big and powerful. What in the hell did you do to earn this bounty!?”

“I… I have no idea!” Erin replied. “The only thing I can think of is the death of that cop, but that could that really be the reason!? Could he have had some connections or something that is the cause of this bounty!?”

“That could be it. No idea what else could be the cause of it,” Holly said thoughtfully. “Anyways, let’s get out of here. It’s best if we don’t stay outside too much, considering what we just saw.”

Erin nodded and the two ladies were on their way back to their hideout. As they were walking, Erin was furiously trying to figure out the reason for her bounty, but was unable to think of anything that made sense.

Suddenly it hit her. The only people that got such large bounties were ones who had seriously angered those in power. While Harger had been a high-ranking police officer, it was unlikely that anyone closely associated with him had the power to do this. However, there were some people in this world that Erin knew that had a huge grudge towards her.

Devin and his group of friends, who were now in control of this world.