Iridescent streams of water sprayed from the fountain, mingling with the laughter and cheer of the square. The sun shimmered on the dusty streets, barely visible beneath the feet of knights, magicians, and beastmen. Hundreds of transparent nametags shimmered in the air. I suspected Gabriel had picked up quite a few habits from this city.

And the noises—they were everywhere. Clinks of armor and jewelry. Party members laughing heartily. Lustful golddiggers crooning against flustered warriors. Merchants, NPC and players alike, hollering from their stalls. Conversations and chatter soaked the air: most in English, but I heard plenty of Spanish dialects, as well as an East-Asian language that I couldn’t place a finger on. The people oozed through this place like a river, and it was just one out of dozens of squares in the city.

But where the hell was Gabriel?

Something bumped into me. I twisted down to see a young girl in ranger’s clothing. She was of the few who didn’t have their name tag displayed. The smile dropped from her face as soon as she saw who it was.

“Eep!” She stumbled backward, barely maintaining her balance. “Sorry!”

I watched her vanish through the crowd. Cotton candy pink hair cut straight to her chin, and she had a round, innocent face. Her avatar design wasn’t anything special, but I had assumed the same thing about Gabriel. I found myself wondering if other people were what they seemed.

Someone jostled into me again, and I nearly used my spear on them. How did that kid expect me to meet him in a place like this? I’d be lucky if I could even walk to the other side of the street.

Forget it. I was just going to leave.

“I finally found you!” Someone hissed.

A cloaked figure sidled next to me. Two blue eyes pierced through the depths of the hood. His hands waved maniacally in the air.

“Put away your weapon!” He whisper-screamed. “You’re attracting unwanted attention!”

Sure enough, plenty of people had been staring at me from the street stalls. I was so used to receiving those looks of abject horror that I missed the fact that everyone had focused on my weapon. I tucked it away with a clip of my hand. Hopefully, no one had put two and two together and realized that I had been wielding the Demon King’s spear. The disguise I wore was working so far.

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My new mask only curved over my eyes and nose. Though I physically couldn’t tell a difference in the game, I felt bare, like I wasn’t wearing one at all. However, switching it out with my demon mask was far better than being mobbed in the streets on sight.

Gabriel sagged with relief. “We’re under a strict no-killing policy in the Capitol. I can’t believe you don’t know that.”

“Tch. I had my spear out the last time I visited the Capitol.” I decided to omit the fact that I was only in the outskirts of the city to trade some Delphian Wolf furs. He glanced up at me.

“Maybe you were lucky enough that no one reported you.” Was it just me, or was his stare becoming intense? His mouth was spouting information, but he wasn’t focused on it at all. “Or the officials decided not to mess with you. Or both.”

No, he was definitely laser-focusing on me.

“What do you want.”

He blinked, then jolted.

“It’s none of your business.”

It was funny how quickly my irritation notched up as I watched him set his jaw stubbornly. Under my gaze, the hard-headed expression began to balk.

“It’s just weird that your mask is different,” he muttered. “You’re not faceless anymore. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“How did you find me, then?” I hadn’t even seen him up until he had stood beside me.

“Who else would be standing alone in a busy square while dressed in all black?”

I shot him a look. His face didn’t betray whether or not he was sarcastic at all. A scowl crept onto my face before I realized that he could now see my expressions.

“Let’s just go look for that artifact.”

“...Fine.” Gabriel pulled the hood further over his face. “Follow me.” He motioned to the far end of the square. “We still have to walk a bit to get to Argentum territory. ”

So I could have avoided the extra trouble of suffocating in this overcrowded hellhole the entire time. “Why couldn’t we have met there?”

“Argentum doesn’t allow trespassers within its markets.” He looked at me like it was common sense. “Since they’re sharing control of the Capitol with Blue Rose, security is tight.”

Politics again. It seemed that everything around here centered around politics. I remained silent after that.

Somehow, Gabriel managed to walk in a line that avoided the jostle of the crowd. I felt stupid trailing in the back, so I shouldered my way back beside him. As we exited the markets from the square, the clusters of people became more sparse. The thinned clumps of players crept alongside shadows.

Instead of intermingling, people stuck mostly to themselves, or in pairs. Although the alleyways still evoked a fantasy-like setting, the place became colder, friendless. The atmosphere felt more like my city back in real life.

Voices bounced around me, loud and carefree. Even away from the main chaos of the markets, people here never seemed to stop talking.

“...Heard that there’s going to be a faction meeting…”

“...breaking up with me because I’m spending too much time on this game…”

“...mushrooms, man…”

Then, as we rounded a corner, the next bit of conversation nearly stopped me in my tracks.

“Did you hear? Rumor has it that Gabriel finally killed the Demon King.”