Cornered

Light seeped into the dim room where Yu lay in slumber, causing his eyelashes to flutter, slowly opening to reveal dazed eyes

He stared at the ceiling as he tried to remember where he was, his mind was in a bit of a haze but he was slowly piecing things together, soon his eyes turned calm after recalling all the happenings of yesterday

He didn't move yet and instead continued to stare at the plain ceiling quietly

"Sigh"

After minutes of silent reflection, he let out a tired breath and sat up

"That dark smoke, whatever it was, is the reason I'm having all these problems"

It was pretty obvious at this point, for once it left his system he could sleep and think normally, his temper grew calm and logical unlike the eccentric nature that was taking over him before

"Was it a product of the management? Was it remenants of the old owner? Or something else?"

Those were the two reasons he came up with after thinking for the past few minutes, for they seemed to fit the situation well, but he had no evidence to prove either wrong or right

"Whatever it was it's now gone, I should make sure it never enters me again"

That was the only thing he could do at the moment

Standing up he gave his body a good stretch and went downstairs for a quick meal

Everyone was rather quite while they ate, most of the inn's residence were either alone or a small group that was stopping by during a trip making them too tired to talk

After the small meal Yu started to roam the streets looking for the Mercenary Union branch of this city

"Young man please stop and take a look at my wares I assure you they are of top quality"

"You look like someone with keen eyes, how about I make you an offer?"

"My fellow adventurer, please take a second of your time to..."

It was only dawn yet the hawkers were everywhere, practically grabbing at him with their words, if not for the crossbow at his waist he felt like they would even pull him to their stores against his will

While trying to get out of the crowded areas he asked around and found the building he was looking for

"Its actually not falling apart"

Unlike the other two he'd seen this one was actually well kept giving him hope that there would be some worthwhile missions

"Welcome sir, how may I help you today"

Asked the pretty receptionist

'Look, even their treatment is polite here'

"I would like to see the missions available for low and low-mid Bronze"

"Sure thing, may I check your card first?"

He nodded and handed her the card to briefly check before he was given a two-page list of various missions, a far cry from the pathetic three that he saw back in Calico

"I will take the extermination mission near the White Woodlands"

"Which one's?"

"Fake Owl and Blood Tracers"

"Alright sir, but be warned, the Blood Tracers would only show themselves when they sense the enemy is physically weak while the Fake Owls are masters at escaping unfavourable fights, that's why theses missions are hard to accomplish"

"Thank you for the heads up"

Feeling good about her attitude he replied nicely before heading out to look around the place some more

"Is that the Viscount's bat in the sky?"

"You mean his son's bat beast, but why is he roaming above us?"

"Maybe it just wanted to fly around, you know beasts don't like to be caged, especially flying ones"

"Sure, but a bat wanting to fly in day time?"

"Hmm, your right, it's weird huh"

While everyone was gawking at blue bat flapping its wings up in the sky Yun was hastily making his way to the trading shop that housed many rare materials ranging from beast parts to valuable minerals used for crafting

'They just had to have a Tracer, what dumb luck is that'

He cursed to himself, wanting nothing more than to run toward the shop, but if he did that would make the guards who were probably informed to look for any suspicious activity alert

'It should be impossible to track my energy down since I didn't fight or anything, how come it's already hovering over my location'

The beast in the sky was a variant of the Blood Tracer, one that tracked down energy instead of blood, but he didn't leave any energy traces behind since he didn't do anything that required them

Tingting

The sound of light chimes came with him opening the door to enter the trading shop, the shop keeper was arguing with two men so Yu took the time to glance at the bat in the sky, seeing it hover over the area he was in previously some more before moving to the White Woodlands

'Good, I fought a ton there so it should be occupied searching around that area, that doesn't mean I'm out of danger though, I need to get out of this city as fast as possible'

"What do you think fellow?"

"Huh?"

Pulled from his thoughts he noticed the two large men and the sly looking shop keeper all had their eyes resting on him impatiently

"I said, what did you think? Is Fake Fowl's feather really worth two grams of Ururushiol powder"

The large man asked impatiently again, he wanted the young-looking dude to back him up so he tried to be intimidating as he spoke

"This young man may not be well versed in the price of the market, why don't you trust my word dear sir, this trade is definitely fair"

"Bullshit, there is no way its fair at all!"

They went back to arguing again, the sly man wanting to profit and the large men wanting a fair trade

'Am I that lucky or what'

All that filled Yu's eyes was the bag of feathers by the two men's feet, filled with Fake Fowl's feathers, this particular beast was good at hiding itself especially when it came to being tracked spiritually, the fact that this came the second he needed to hide from an energy tracking beast made Yu slightly suspicious

'Perhaps this was a ploy set by the baron to capture me? That couldn't be right?'

It would be ridiculous for them to have predicted him walking into this shop looking to hide his energy among the many energy-filled minerals, even he made this desicion in a split second

"Where did you find a rare creature such as a Fake Fowl anyway?"

His question interrupted the conversation making the guy that asked him rather angry

"Hey if your not gonna help then shut up and stand there while we finish ou business kid!"

"Take it easy brother, sorry about his manners, we found it roaming at the edge of the White Woods, it put up a good fight but we finished it off with some effort"

The guy next to the short-fused yelling dude explained while holding his brother's temper, the explanation however made Yu frown

'They haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about, a Fake Fowl only lives in battlefields preying on the dead bodies of fallen beasts or soldiers, in a fight it's as good as a chicken and only knows how to run and hide, I bet they don't even know what a Fake Fowl is yet they seem to know the price of its feathers'

This was definitely rigged, even if it wasn't he wasn't taking his chances, so he turned back and walked out the stores, leaving the duo and the shop keeper to their bantering

Without stopping or looking around he made his way to the gateway opposite to the White Woodlands which was unsurprisingly guarded, only residents of the city or known adventures were allowed to go in and out, everyone else had to either stay in the city if they were already inside or had to go through a series of inspections to be allowed inside

'They want to catch me yet don't want to put the city in total lockdown and cause panic'

The way of handling the situation made them look experienced in this sort of confinement leaving him cornered like a rat while they lay relaxed waiting for him to expose himself

'That Tracer is gonna come back at some point once it can't find me or my remaining energy fades away, by that time I need to be out of here or else..'

Fearing the worst he tried to look for another way ou the city, be it bribes, digging under it, climbing the wall, but all was for nought, there was no way to bribe the stern-looking guards without putting himself at risk and he had no monster to quickly take him out

'Should I blast my way out?'

It was a reasonable idea, but then they would find it much easier to trace him using Lyra's energy, and the two of them couldn't possibly run from them forever

Everything started to look bleak, he started to feel uncomfortable and suffocated, he considered going back and buying the Fake Fowl feathers but it was only a temporary solution, he needed to find a real way out and fast