15 The City

The brothers hurried down the slope. From afar, they saw that there was a long wooden platform that led from the village to a dock out at sea. A large number of people were walking to and fro on it, carrying various items.

Niu saw a large number of people dragging a humongous net full of fish. He started drooling on the spot.

He and Rie smiled at each other.

"Fish!" They cried out in unison.

Together they raced off, leaving Rai behind.

Rai didn't pay them no mind.

He knew that they would go off and waste time gouging themselves, as per usual.

However, he had something else in mind.

After taking inventory, he was glad to see that all of his bombs were still in almost perfect condition.

He wanted to find a place where he could sell them off for a large sum of money, then use that money for better material to make even better bombs.

They all went along on their own agendas, meanwhile the red haired woman was still standing in place.

It was unknown what she was thinking as she started walking toward the sea, arms folded.

She seemed to be in deep thought as she continued along the way, ignoring everyone that she happened to pass by on the outskirts of the city.

The people also didn't seem to notice her. It was as if in their eyes she was a common sight and nothing much to behold. This was precisely the image she wanted to uphold.

No one would think twice about seeing her moving too and fro, and no one would suspect her if anything when they saw her in dark corners.

She had the perfect disguise to suit her hidden agenda.

As she neared the sea, instead of walking along the wooden platform, she ducked under the rails and walked down into the water. She made a brief show of washing herself, slowly moving along her way.

She was sure no one paid any attention to her, so she too a deep breath and sank into the water.

When she reappeared, she was far away. Under the water was an opening in the earth. After swimming into it, she then swam upward. She surfaced in a cave, taking a few short breaths before climbing out of the water.

The rock walls were infused with strange minerals that glowed and illuminated the large space. In the cave were quite a few strange items laid out on a table. There was also a large map held up by four thick pins that had been nailed into the wall.

It appeared to be a map of the city and it's environment, however there were strange markings, symbols and and random circles all about it. Within most of those circles was an 'X.'

While loosening her wet hair, she walked over to the map. After shaking her hair for a bit she tied it up again, that one strand still managing to escape.

Then, she rubbed her finger against the rock wall for a few seconds. A red substance had been produced due to her wet finger rubbing on it. It was like wet powder.

Taking her finger with the powder on it, she drew an 'X' within another circle.

"Won't be long." She smiled then walked over to the table. There was a square case made of wood which she picked up. Everything else she ignored.

She stopped once she got to a corner of the room, glancing back at something on the table.

Beside two large beakers of thick black sludge was a smaller glass bottle with a lime green, watery substance.

She seemed to bounce a few ideas around her head first before returning to the table and taking that bottle as well.

She sat in the corner, placing the bottle next to her.

She opened the box and smiled, then dipped her hand into it. There was a warm glow before she pulled her hand out.

She now held a glass plate, atop which were several peeled bananas splendidly presented. They were coated in various syrups and seemed incredibly delicious even to behold.

She put her hand into the box again. One warm glow later and her hand came out with a fork in it.

She closed the box and then started eating. Before too long, the bananas were gone. She placed the plate and fork back into the box, then took the bottle.

She pulled the little cork out and then started drinking. Her face flushed red and her eyes rolled up into her head; her head fell back as more and more of the liquid rushed into her mouth.

She was so caught up in ecstasy that she didn't notice someone's head pop up out of the pool of water.

"I knew it!"

She flew into action. Her sharp, quick movement, caused her to accidentally lose her grip on the glass bottle and send it flying.

She gasped, trying to reach out her hand to grab it though it was much too far away.

Luckily, the unexpected visitor raised his hands and caught it. It had spun a few times, but thankfully none of the liquid got out.

He climbed out of the pool, smiling all the while.

It was Niu.

"Ah. Thank you." With a bright smile, he gave her back her drink.

"Don't mention it. Oh, what's that?" Niu ran over to the table, eyeing everything on it for a quick moment.

The woman was about to say something when his attention was grabbed by another thing in the room.

"Oh, wow! A map!" Niu ran over to the map, surveying it quickly, but in detail.

"Be careful, kid. I don't-" Niu exclaimed before she could finish.

"That's so cool! You drew a spiritual diagram!" Niu continued being amazed by every little thing.

The woman gasped.

This kid knew about spirit diagrams? Then, did he know what she was doing?

Immediately, the woman began to suspect that the boy was not what he seemed to be. She guessed that his appearance was some sort of illusion used to make people underestimate him.

As she put up her guard, Niu turned to look at her again.

"You've got some cool stuff. Granny Fufu had cool stuff too, but she never let me inside her house." Niu sighed.

In that moment, the woman tensed up.

"Granny Fufu? Do you mean Miss Fushi Fuli?" The woman seemed to be holding on to some hope at that point. Her fists tightened.

"Uhhh... Do they call Miss Fuli Fu- whatever, Granny Fufu?" Niu only just realized that he didn't know Granny Fufu's actual name."

"They might..." The woman had gleamed something in that instant.

"Tell me something, kid. Where do you come from?" The woman walked over to the table, taking up a rolled up paper.

It was also a map, but one of a much larger area.

Niu marvelled at it for a short while before he answered the question.

"We came from wherever on the map Sky's Eden is. Then we ended up ...here! And we walked through here, passed there. Oh, oh! We ended up walking through this curtain thing and we found a really freaky place."

"There were monsters and these pits of stinky green water, kinda like that stuff you were drinking. There was also this man with wings, he was really freaky looking but he seems nice. He told us how to get here and that was that."

"Walked until we got, maybe here. After that we met you and then the rest you know." Niu gave his brief recount with a smile and many exaggerated expressions.

The woman slowly stepped back. When she hit the wall she leaned up against it. She held her head with one hand and used the other to point at Niu.

She muttered a few incomplete words. Finally, she went silent and looked at him.

"You're from the other world, aren't you?" She couldn't hide her smile at that point.

Niu thought about it for a while before nodding.

"I think we are."

The woman couldn't contain her excitement and shouted, "YES!"

As Niu and the woman continued to chat, Rai and Rie were having their own adventures.

After stumbling across the farmer's market, Rie had been stuck at one stall for hours. He was told that he could get a basket of fruit for one gold piece.

He did not have any gold, but when he asked how much his sword could be sold for, he was told that it was worth one gold piece.

Now, he was stuck in indecision. He had no idea which fruit to get a basket of.

He thought he had finally decided, but then he changed his mind again. That all looked too alluring.

There was a strange, prickly fruit with some spiky leaves at the top. There were these shiny red ones with little green leaves as well.

While he was deciding, Rai was searching assiduously for a store or stall that would purchase his bombs.

After many failed attempts, he was directed to a little store that sold quite a few odd and unusual items.

The store was isolated from other buildings and stood taller than most. It was big, but something about it's design made it seem ordinary. The only thing grand about it was its size.

He knocked on the door then entered, hearing a tiny bell ringing above his head.

A young lady in a long blue dress was already standing there to welcome him.

The place was like a library. There were many shelves packed with odds and ends of every sort. He even saw preserved insects and animal body parts.

He continued walking toward an old man sitting at a desk. The old man regarded him with a small smile and watched him approach.

"Good day." The old man looked Rai up and down. There was a disappointed look on his face, however he still kept his smile.

"How may I help you, young man?"

Rai smirked and glanced around, then he leaned onto the desk to close the distance.

"Listen close. I'm about to show you something that will blow your mind." He removed one of the tiny insect corpse bombs from his robes.

"This is a bomb, but not any bomb. It's special feature is that it delivers a powerful blast without the large radius, making it lethal and far safer than anything else there is."

Rai seemed rather shady to the man, but if his words were actually true then his product was indeed an especially rare item.

"Please, follow me."

Rai was brought to a large yard.

"This is where we test various ranged weapons like throwing knives, bows and arrows and staffs. Feel free to demonstrate using one of our targets." The old man waved his hand.

Rai smirked even harder, almost starting to laugh.

"Watch this!"

He tossed one bomb out. It hit the target, instantly igniting and exploding. The bomb completely destroyed half of the target, while the rest was left unharmed.

The old man nodded his approval, then clapped his hands loudly.

Another woman in blue came.

"Have them set up an armored target. One of the good ones." The woman nodded and left.

In a matter of minutes, two burly men brought out a dummy clad in splendid armor. There were faint lines on the armor, and strange symbols that glittered ever so slightly.

Rai gave a conceited chuckle and shook his head.

"Not good enough!" He threw out a bomb in that second, destroying the head and torso with it.

The old man was caught off guard and exclaimed loudly.

Rai laughed.

"Tell me, how much do you think these bombs are worth?"

The old man took a moment before he answered.

"150, gold, for each." The old man was prepared to haggle. He decided that he would not go above 250, so he started at 150 to give himself room.

He also did not think that Rai knew much about money, after all he wasn't dressed like someone that had a lot of it, so he also did this to make Rai underestimate the value of his bombs.

He couldn't never have thought that Rai would do what he did next.

"Madness!" Rai took out another bomb. This one was far larger.

"400 gold pieces each! If you don't agree, then this bomb right here will destroy everything!" His smirk turned cold and vicious in that moment.

The old man guffawed.

"Go ahead! I lived a full life, you can cut your life short if you wish."

Rai then laughed as if he had heard the most amazingly funny joke in the history of jokes.

"You old coot. Naturally I have ways to safeguard my own life. Then I can go find someone else to buy my amazing creations." Rai laughed some more after saying that.

The old man had to wipe away some sweat. He did not know that Rai was lying about having a way to safeguard himself and he didn't not think he would be lying either.

After all, who would take such a big risk with their own life.

After much thought, he finally nodded.

"Fine. 400 gold pieces each."