80 Just Immobolizing, Alright?

Nathan was on the verge of yeeting himself out once more, but with my genius thinking, I forced Jess to reassure him she didn't hate him a second time. Although she was resistant to the idea, thinking there was no need, she did it in the end, which let Nathan's fragile self-confidence tide over to the end of the journey.

I told the servants to go along without me to the slums. As for that pale meat business, Nathan just left it to Edward. In reality, there wasn't much of a point in him being there in the first place since Edward could do most of it on his own.

When we finally did end up getting to my room, Nathan let out a long sigh.

"Damn. I thought I was going to die. If I knew that was the case, then I would've just run over here."

My eyelid twitched.

"You don't seriously think she still hates you, right?"

Nathan scratched the side of his head.

"Well... I guess if she said it that many times, I guess not."

Huh?

"Then what the fuck was the problem, man?"

Nathan frowned before blinking a few times.

"...I don't know, bro. How the hell am I supposed to adjust when the 2D character suddenly becomes 3D? This like goes against every single one of my morals."

I let out a long sigh.

"Ah, whatever. To be honest, I thought I was going to have more difficulty getting you away from her rather than needing to convince you not to break down the moment she glances in your direction. I guess this is better than what I could've asked for."

He rubbed the side of his head.

"And what about you? Not once have you tried to clear up the misunderstanding personally, nor have you gone to see her."

The corner of my lip twitched. I didn't expect him to redirect it to me.

"...Well, it's not convenient for a person in my position. She's not even in our class."

Nathan laughed and pointed at me like a 6th grader picking on someone.

"You know that doesn't matter! We already broke character the moment we got here anyway."

I tilted my head to the side and thought about it for a moment.

"Well. I guess talking to her wouldn't really change anything in the end."

For a moment, we just looked at each other silently. I soon decided that enough was enough and spoke up.

"Anyway, we were planning that trip to the forest, right?"

Nathan blinked rapidly.

"Ah, right. I was thinking we should stop by a shop along the way to get some basic gear."

I tapped my chin a few times.

"Um, why not just do that now?"

Nathan shook his head.

"I think it would be best that we leave as few traces of what we were doing as we can just in case anything crazy happens. You remember I was the one that covered up for you all those times, right? Just trust my judgment."

I gave a quick nod.

"Ah, yeah. I assume that we will be needing cloaks and masks as well then?"

Nathan rubbed his chin.

"I would say so, yeah. Do you have one already?"

I walked over to the bed and pulled out the cloak and mask I had stashed behind the headboard. Nathan raised an eyebrow when he saw that.

"You found his mask already?"

I blinked a few times before nodding.

"Ah, yeah. I found it in the fake black market. Speaking of black markets, I got Raisa to hand me a map to the real one and she just handed it to me today."

I then pulled out the paper, but the moment my gaze fell on it, my expression fell.

"What's the problem?"

Nathan walked up so that he could take a look at it as well, after which his expression twitched violently.

...Because the map was more like a children's drawing. Large splotches of thick strokes of black ink filled the paper with rough drawings of houses that were not proportional by any means. In red, there was a path that led to an X as though it was a shitty treasure map.

"I... I put too much faith in her."

Nathan could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing, nearly falling down to the floor.

"This... HAHAHAHA... this is great, man! You have to appreciate just how specific it is. I mean look, the window on that house doesn't actually connect fully, and look at how precisely the X shows where the location is! There's even a beautiful path laid out."

I silently folded up the paper and closed my eyes.

"...Nevermind. So what was your plan going forward?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Did you not think of anything?"

"..."

I remained silent. Not because I was guilty or anything, I mean, I was thinking about coming up with a plan but... it just kinda ended up this way, y'know?

Nathan rubbed his temple with the base of his palm.

"Honestly, I was kind of expecting this. Don't worry, I already made a pretty detailed plan. After we get our gear, I was thinking that after we first pass by some of the stores in the Trade District. Although my hopes aren't high, we may find something quite precious..."

...

"I didn't think leather armor would be this uncomfortable. Isn't this stuff supposed to be easy to move in?"

I complained while adjusting my mask, trying to get it to fit my face better. As for Nathan, he simply let out a sigh.

"It's not like we can just get things tailor-made for us. Especially considering that would just leave more traces. Small ones, but they still can't be ignored. The size is going to be a little off and there's not much we can do about it."

I clicked my tongue.

"Well, just because it makes sense, doesn't make the situation any better."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not like our situation could get much worse in the first place..."

After he said those words, I ended up falling silent. He was quite right. While these days so far have been relatively peaceful, I also remembered that was just a tiny prelude to the absolute chaos that would soon ensue.

...But damn, this leather armor is rubbing my armpit the wrong way, and it is incredibly annoying.

Nathan had gotten his own black cloak and mask. While it wouldn't be too hard for me to also get him one, he had already made it so there was no point. And more importantly, it looked a lot more realistic, probably because there were plenty of old and torn-up rags to choose from.

As for the mask he had...

Unlike mine, which had a huge frown, his had an exaggeratedly wide smile. I asked if he was trying to be the Joker or something, but he said that it was one of the only masks he could find and it also matched mine, so he thought why not.

We were currently walking down the streets of the main trade sector. Quite a few people gave us strange looks because of our getup, but they didn't care too much before moving on. Most people here had things that had to tend to whether that was business, or finding something to buy.

Around us, there were several tall buildings belonging to some famous merchant organizations. While most didn't have any actual noble titles, their power was either on par or not too far from most actual nobles.

They had several layers to them, and with each one you go up on, the pricier and rarer the items. In fact, most of them had quite a few iridescent stones with a spell pre-programmed into them. From devastating firestorms to a near-instant rock wall to create cover, all of those could be found.

Especially if one went to what was called the Trady Trading Shop. While the name was weird, it was still a behemoth of a place. And as of now, the doors to enter were right in front of us.

So naturally, we took a left.

Ah, what? No, you read that right, we didn't go in there. After all, we were here to see if we could find something that didn't have known value yet, but was still being sold. The things in that shop are all things that are in demand, whether they be cheap or not.

As such, we ended up wandering around to look at some of the stalls set up on the side of the road, for people too poor to actually buy a shop. While we were looking around, that didn't change the fact that we were slowly making our way out of this district.

After all, it wasn't like we really needed anything. We were just taking our chances while passing by. As expected, most of the stuff we passed by was either junk or things that weren't all that useful to us right now.

That didn't mean the stuff was low quality. In fact, there were a decent amount of iridescent crystals and a few iridescent stones here and there. They didn't have a spell carved into them though, obviously.

We didn't have much hope, but when we were nearing our journey, we ended up finding something that excited both of us.

The entrance to the Common District. Which was just a dirt pathway.

Huh? Were you expecting us to find some sort of treasure?

To remind you, we reincarnated into a shitty tragedy dating game. There's no way they'd just present us with opportunities like those. No, no, no. To be more accurate, they would do things more like-

"Stop right there!"

Sending a bunch of bandits to ambush us. Kind of like what was happening right now.

Ah, wait-

Roughly ten or so bandits had surrounded us. They wrapped their faces in cloth to obscure them, their own kind of mask. Along with that, they all had knives in their hands, ready to fight if we decided to resist.

See, while people are in the Trade district, there will be guards that prevent things like stealing, so that people can feel assured that they won't have to worry about that kind of thing while shopping.

However, the moment you step out...

My gaze drifted over to a guard, who simply glanced over before looking away.

Yeah so like, they don't give a flying fuck, because apparently, that's not their job. If one were to exit the Common District at certain places, then they would probably get this kind of ambush.

The ones where rich people usually left, but also weren't too crowded.

"Drop all your weapons now if you don't want to die! Everything you have will be taken from you."

I drew my sword while Nathan took out his spear. With a chuckle, I asked him a question.

"Do you think they'll have some money on them?"

While it was hard to tell, I still saw that Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. Why else would they be stealing like this?"

"Hey! This isn't time for conversation! Hurry up and drop your weapons!"

I tilted my head to the side.

"I guess this isn't really a proper time for conversation, huh?"

"Yeah, so hurry up and drop your-"

Nathan and I suddenly bolted in opposite directions. He took advantage of his short height to get a good angle and pierced the man from underneath his ribcage into his heart.

As for me, I went towards the closest bandit in the back and slashed at his eyes, making him scream.

"Why do you always waste time with non-lethal injuries?"

Nathan chastised me. I simply laughed.

"It's to immobilize them, alright?"

These bandits probably weren't expecting this.