PURSUE

Ahli slipped his way through the crowds. He tried his best not to offend anyone as he passed through the tight crevice between two people.

"Scuse me, ah, coming through."

He knew that if he pushed them as it is without notifying them, one of the people there surely would get mad, because, he thought that it should be like that in every world. And, what he thought was true.

"OI, WHAT ARE YOU PUSHING ME FOR!?"

Ahli turned his head to the back while still slipping in between the crowds there, and he saw one of the guys that were watching the guild announcement board, was in the middle of an argument with a fat lady. He seemed that he was trying to escape the fat lady, however, she was persistent in holding him in his place, giving him her piece of mind.

Unfortunately, the other guy that was watching the guild announcement board was not caught in the same problem, and from what a few glances that Ahli caught of him, he seemed not to be bothered by what happened with his friend and contented on pursuing Ahli.

What was a lucky thing in the incident however, was that more and more people got attracted to the fat lady and the guy, making them start to move in that direction to see what was going on. With more and more crowds moving against Ahli, it made him became harder and harder to go forward. However, in his few glances toward his back, the same thing was also being experienced by the man who was pursuing him.

Ahli pushed himself harder and in the end, he finally was able to escape the dense crowd. He saw the alleyway path in front of him was quite lax in traffic, but in its middle, it was again filled with many people. He saw it as another best place to lose his pursuer and with the area lax, he got himself a head start.

As he entered the crowded area again, he turned to see the direction of his pursuer. The guy was just able to release himself from the crowd, yet, he seemed to be able to check where Ahli was, as Ahli felt that they both might have locked in views. Ahli then quickly turned and entered the crowd, knowing his pursuer, surely will come at him as well.

On his way toward the end of the alley, Ahli knew that he had to lose his pursuer faster. An idea popped in his brain when he saw a stall that was selling cloths from faraway lands. He quickly grabbed the coins in his pocket and after feeling them, he pulled one of them, a silver one he got from the villager of Cine. He quickly approached the seller of the cloths.

"Welcome sir, we have many assortments of cloths, brought from the exotic sand country. It is high…"

Before the seller was able to finish his sentence, Ahli cut him off by pointing at the black one and said, "the black one, how much?"

"Oh, are you sure you want that plain one, sir? We have many that are far more beautiful than that."

Ahli knew he could not spend too much time with this guy and so he grabbed the black one and throw the silver coin at the seller.

"I assume this is enough."

As Ahli was about to leave, the seller quickly stopped him.

"Sorry sir, but you are missing 5 copper."

[This is 25 copper?!]

Ahli knew he was ripped by the merchant, but he had no time for argument, so he grabbed any number of coins from his pocket and threw it at the seller. He did not know how much, even though he felt that he might have thrown another silver coin as well among those.

Ahli quickly put on the black cloth to cover his head and shoulder as he heard the gruntled voice of the seller. He did not care for him and quickly leave the stall as in those few moments of the transaction, his pursuer had closed in distance.

He was finally able to reach the end of the alley and at that point, the path of his escape had been separated into three options, going left on the big road, going right on the big road, which is also the path that is closer to Drunken Boar, or another alley with crowded people.

Ahli looked to the back and saw how his pursuer was already in sight. He knew he had to be invisible among the crowds again and so he ran across the street toward the crowded alley.

As soon he was quite deep into the alley, Ahli felt lucky as it was crowder than the one before. He knew his chances of escaping this time would be higher. He walked quickly passing through the crowds, slipping through them to avoid getting into any trouble of offending touched people. However, it was then, that he found a problem of his own.

In front of him, the alley had branched into two paths. Both paths seemed to curve and it was hard for Ahli to determine which path goes to which area. Ahli thought to himself quickly and tried to remember the common city layout of a medieval country that he once read about in a historical book.

[Yeah, it's supposed to be straight and would end in a road anyway. So, whatever option should be okay.]

Ahli took the bet and he chose the left path as it is a continuous path from the one he just passed. He did not choose the right one as it seemed obvious as one would take a turn usually in escaping their pursuer. The easiest option on go out of sight.

He turned to check the path that he came from and did not see any sign of his pursuer. And so, with a safe bet, he continued on going straight. Just to make sure that his calculation was correct, he went to the side of one of the stalls that were quite far from the intersection, but still able to see whatever happening at the intersection. He hid himself carefully, trying to be unnoticed by anybody, including the owners of the stall beside him and especially, the guy that pursued him.

After a few moments passed, finally the one Ahli had waited, arrived at the scene. Ahli paid attention to the guy who pursued him. Just like him, the man was contemplating in choosing which path he should take. From his gestures and movement, he tried to check on both paths, seemingly to see any clue of where Ahli had gone to.

The man then became fixated with the left side path and he stared at it for a while. When the man suddenly walked to it, Ahli's heart started to race. His prediction had gone wrong. The man had used the same logic as he was, and if he continued to walk through the path, he will surely find him. Ahli also could not come out of his hiding as he clearly would be found by the man.

Ahli stuck himself as close as possible to the wall on the side of the street. Trying to make himself blend with all the messiness of the alley. His breath got heavier with every step the man took as their distance got closer and closer. Every beat of his heart felt like a strike of a hammer to his body. He knew he would be found if this goes on as the man was checking every left and right of the place. Then, Ahli saw that the man had stopped.

He looked around toward the end of the street before stopping another man who was walking toward him from the end of the alley. Still with his heart racing, Ahli paid attention to what the man and the guy he stopped did. They were involved in somehow quite a serious conversation. After they had finished talking, the guy who pursued Ahli gave his gratitude to the person he asked, and that person he stopped left and continued with his journey.

Ahli waited and waited for the man to do his next move. He was really nervous and sweat flowed heavily on his head. He was hoping as well that the owner of the stalls beside him do not notice him at all. Then, after the man stared toward the path for quite some time, he turned and walked back toward the intersection. As he reached that point, he took a turn and headed to the other path.

Ahli waited for a while until he was sure that the man had gone. As he seemed to be not showing his nose's end anymore, Ahli came out of his hiding and took a left to continue walking on the path that he had chosen. He was not relaxing however, as he knew, the man might be back again to pursue him. Therefore, he started to run so he can reach the end of the alley faster.

As he reached the end of the alley, in surprise he took a drastic stop from his run.

"You gotta be kidding me…"

Ahli stared at the end of the alley. A tall wall stood in front of him, a building that blocked the path, making it a dead end. And at the top of the door that became its entrance, a red sign says, "Pleasure Palace."