Kandy looked down at his map, then up at the city in the distance. “Huh. I got here an entire day early. Go figure. Now I guess the real question is… Do I go in or not?”

  The city looked as unwelcoming as it possibly could. All sorts of fortifications had been set up around the periphery, with only a small free lane for all traffic in and out of the city—not that there was much.

  Compared to either of the cities Jabari had brought Kandy to, this one seemed almost desolate, with only a few covered wagons heading in and out of the main gate. There was almost none of the usual foot traffic of travelers—no, it was clear that the only people were there for business.

  Walking in casually was clearly a bad move.

  Kandy lowered his gaze. There were a few wagons in eyesight that seemed to be heading towards the city. They mostly seemed to be run by either small merchants or farmers—there wasn’t a big caravan for him to sneakily integrate himself into.

  Should I try to bribe one? Or…

  As a mule-lead wagon covered by a dirtied white cloth passed by the base of the sand dune, Kandy surreptitiously hopped over the dune’s crest and slid down it. Without even taking a single step, he carried his momentum down the hill and deftly landed on one of the wagon’s sideboards with a landing so light that it barely shook.

  The wagon was covered with a dirtied white cloth. Kandy glanced about as he raised one of the corners and, without even taking a look at the wagon’s contents, jumped in.

  He immediately regretted his actions.

  As it turned out, the wagon was filled to the brim with cacti and Kandy found their pointy spikes digging into his skin. Kandy covered his mouth as he screamed internally with pain.

  The ride, despite the smooth sand that the wagon was traveling over, was surprisingly bumpy. And each time the wagon rocked, the needles from the cacti in the wagon would puncture him.

  With a bit of concentration, he forced mana through his skin, pushing against and breaking the cacti thorns that were piercing him. Then, he used his mana to seal off his wound and breathed a sigh of relief.

  I really should have looked before jumping in.

  Still, he’d found a way to enter the city unnoticed. It was just a matter of time now before he would enter the city, or so he thought.

  A few hours later, when the wagon kandy had hitched a ride on finally arrived at the city’s gates, one of the guards sniffed something awry in the air.

  “Why do I smell metal in your wagon?”

  “Metal?” The farmer shook his head. “You know me, I come here twice a week. I am only transporting cacti for food and drink.”

  “Hmm…” A gust of wind blew past as the guard sniffed again.

  “I guess I just imagined it. Pass on through.”

  Kandy peeked out from under the wagon’s covering as they rolled into the city. He wound his form tightly like a cat ready to pounce, and when the first alley came into sight he leaped out of the wagon and aimed for the adjacent building’s rooftop.

  As quickly as he moved, only a single passerby absentmindedly glanced at the building and muttered, “I think I’m seeing dark spots again… that’s what I get for staring into the sun as a kid.”

  Once on the rooftop, Kandy looked around. He’d realized long ago that it was far more common for the average person on Emberos to be armed than on Aarde, but that difference was all the more clear here. Almost every single passerby, save for the youngest of children, was armed in some way.

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  The city was as sparsely populated as it’d looked from the outside. The streets still had people walking up and down here and there, but they mostly looked to be fighters and warriors.

  Synchronized footsteps caught Kandy’s attention as a patrol squad marched around the corner and into the alley. They didn’t seem to be uniformed, just clad in the usual Emberos garb—loose cotton clothing with long sleeves accompanied by headscarves.

  As Kandy retreated from the rooftop’s edge and moved his gaze up the main street, he noticed that none of the pedestrians seemed overly interested in what the others were doing. Unlike the towns and cities he’d visited previously, the streets were devoid of conversation.

  That’s fine by me.

  As the patrol disappeared into another alley, Kandy jumped down from the rooftop and stepped onto the main street.

  He’d made it in.

  ***

  Something Kandy had noticed in other cities of Emberos—not that he’d been to too many—was how different the various areas of the cities could be, similarly to the different rings of the Crow’s Nest. For example, the areas close to the walls and gates were usually destitute.

  But a bit farther in, the standard of living was typically higher, but not particularly great. Then, close to the city center, the people began to feel like the elves Kandy had met in the forest with Beth.

  Which was to say, they acted like pricks. Rich pricks.

  That, however, didn’t really seem to be the case here. At least not to the same extent.

  Sure, the central area was a little better than the rest, but not by much. There were the same casually-garbed patrols, the same mostly-empty streets. The buildings were certainly bigger, but that seemed more of a happenstance than an exploitation of privilege and wealth.

  Kandy rubbed his chin. This was all interesting, but it didn’t really help him—he was no closer to finding his target, the infamous… Wait, what was the name of his target again?

  Ah, right. Aiyuk.

  He tapped the shoulder of a man walking past. The man paused and stared at Kandy with a terse expression, as if to say, “What the heck do you want?”

  “Hey, any idea where I can find Aiyuk?”

  The man blankly stared at Kandy before shouting at the top of his lungs. “ASSASSIN!”

  Kandy stared at him, confused. “Who?”

  The man stared at him, confused. “You!”

  “Me?” Kandy pointed at himself. “No!”

  “Yes!” The man drew a curved sword hanging at his waist and swung it at Kandy. “Only the chosen son’s worst enemies refer to him as Aiyuk!”

  Kandy jumped backward, only to duck forward again as a spearhead tried to poke the back of his skull.

  “Woah, woah, hey!” Despite the situation, Kandy still tried to play it off. “I’m not an assassin, okay?”

  By now, Kandy had been surrounded on all sides by scary-looking fighters. To escape, he’d have to fight his way out of the encirclement.

  “Prove it.”

  “...How?” Kandy asked.

  “Show us your Crow’s Mark,” another man responded, brandishing a pair of daggers.

  “Huh?” Kandy was confused as to what his Crow’s Mark would show, but then realized that there was a problem regarding this in the first place.

  If he were to show them his Crow’s Mark, he would also be showing them his pale skin—and there were wanted posters out in every city demanding his immediate capture.

  He glanced upward to see if he could jump his way to safety, but as soon as he did, the man in front of him raised his sword to Kandy’s chest.

  “Surrender or die.”

  Kandy thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, I surrender. But I’d still like to say that I’m innocent.”

  “That’s not up to you to decide.”

  With a half-dozen spears pointed at his neck the entire way, Kandy was marched up the street and down a staircase cut out of the ground leading into a dungeon.

  “Do you have any possessions on you other than your clothes?”

  “No...” Kandy wasn’t a good liar, but the man was too busy patting him down to notice his innocent smile.

  “Well, you don’t seem to be armed. Now undo your bandages. I don’t care if you’re ugly, we need to see who you are.”

  Kandy contemplated for a few moments, but then he tugged on a section of the bandages, making it fall into a neat pile at his feet.

  “Ah, you’re the one the Crow’s people have been looking for. The pale-skinned four-eyes.” The man nodded his head slowly. “I guess that means you’re probably not an assassin… but still, we’ll be keeping you in this cell until the inquisitor comes and interrogates you.”

  He turned Kandy around and pushed him into a small cell that was little more than a hole that had been dug out.

  “Inquisitor? Interrogate?” Kandy didn’t like the sound of that.

  Unfortunately, the only response was the cell’s wooden door slamming shut in his face.

  Thankfully, the man and the soldiers who’d escorted him to the cell left after a bit of discussion, leaving only a single guard on watch duty.

  Given that all of his items, including his weapons, were in his hairband’s holding space, Kandy wasn’t too worried. Well, there was that little bit about the inquisitor interrogating him, but surely that wouldn’t be too bad, right?

  Kandy shivered and decided on the spot that If that inquisitor tried ANYTHING weird with him, he wouldn’t play along anymore. He’d pull out his dagger-spear and fight his way through the entire city if that’s what it took.

  He looked around his cell.

  “This doesn’t look nearly as nice as the one in Boomtown…”