3 Down Shady Alleys

Lili [pov]

"Excuse. Me. Please. Is there trouble here?" came a monotonous tone from the shadows behind the adventures. From them stepped out a young man in his late teens or early twenties. Red hair, and amber eyes, with features of someone from the far east. Besides those exotic features, the young man had a plain black sleeved shirt, and beige pants.

In the eyes of adventures a slightly annoyed civilian just showed up.

He had no armor or weapons, from what they could see, and unless he was hiding some daggers on his person, that wouldn't help him much against multiple adventurers.

What in the-what is going on?!

Such thoughts went through Lili's mind. It had been looking to be just another one of Lili's bad luck days, but now it seems that Lili's luck has gone from bad to worse.

...or maybe Lili could use this as a chance to escape, but… if she were to leave a civilian in the hands of three hostile adventurers, then…

Lili wouldn't be any better than an adventurer.

///

In the meantime, while Liliruca was having an internal struggle between her safety and her ethics, the annoyed 'civilian' was currently having a staredown with the beastman adventurer he singled out as the leader of their group.

"Who are you?" The beastman, and the leader of the 3 thugs asked.

"Just a passerby, seeing someone in trouble, and deciding to help. Are you alright young miss?" he answers him, and asks the young girl if she's in need of saving.

"I'm-" the young girl begins, before her statement gets interrupted by the beastman's figure as he places his figure between herself and the stranger.

"If you're a passerby," the short beastman confronts him, and steps closer, to 'stare him down' from a closer distance.

Stare downs are more effective if you were actually tall. Shirou thought, as the short adventurer looked up at him.

"-then hurry up, and pass-on-by. This is a matter between adventurers. No need for nosy civilians. It's best you get on your way," the beastman said.

"You heard him redhead, get a move on!" perm thug said.

"As they said, we wouldn't want things to get personal, right? Oh, and before you do anything dumb, we're all level 2 adventurers, and we're in an empty alley at dusk. Soooo, get a move on now ha ha…" continued on the scar faced adventurer.

The adventurer places his hand on the hilt of his blade, in an attempt to intimidate. Despite his aloof atmosphere it seems he is prepared for conflict, if things escalate. Even if he is an adventurer, an adventurer fighting a regular person isn't something the guild would allow so simply. Especially if you are just a no name level 2 from a familia that could care less about you. The fine you would get for your actions would be too much.

But… in for a penny in for a pound I suppose, besides it's not like there's any witnesses around here.

"I guess you're correct." Shirou says.

Right before kicking his legs from beneath him…

"Eh?"

During that half a second of bewilderment where no one, except the kicker, is aware of what's going on Shirou kicks him once more in midair, and into a wall.

Sending him flying.

"Would you all kindly consider leaving now?" Shirou asked in a bored tone.

...

"You!" yelled thug number two.

"Get over yourself! Hey Garef, get your ass back up and get in this. Oy, don't think just because you suckered pun-kick! One of us, you can take us all on! We're not going to get our asses kicked by a brat that's never seen combat." The Beastman says. Despite being the shortest of his group it seems he is the leader of the other two.

The other two seem to get their bearings with his shout. The one with the perm, now known as Garef, scrambles to get up, as the scar faced adventurer reaches into his cloak.

The leader takes point, and charges with his own blade.

Well then, time to get started. He raised his hand, and…

"Trace on."

Prepared for combat.

Creating a couple of no name blades, he parries an oncoming strike with one, while the other gets ready to strike true. These are nothing more than common blades that you can find on any sales stand selling 'cheap,' gear, but for cheap opponents that is all that is needed.

After parrying the blade, Shirou stomps on his toes.

The thug opens up his mouth in what would have been a shout, but he choses that moment to kick him into the air.

I have never fought any adventures as of yet, and have no idea what being a level 2 actually means, he thought.

So he decided to play it safe, and use some 'light,' reinforcement for the moment.

Taking advantage of the momentary shock of seeing their leader flying, Shirou hits the final adventure with the pommel of my blade on top of his skull. The man falls easily enough.

Eh, wasn't that a little too easy. He thought momentarily.

As he expected a bit more resistance, from his kicks he held his attack for a moment giving the guy he originally kicked time to recover. The scarred adventurer starts getting his bearings togethers and draws his katana, and swings it for Shirou's head.

Ah, that blade actually has a bit of history, Shirou thought, unlike the other blades these guys had, this blade has actually been wielded a few times. Enough times for him to tell that this blade has "killed," many monsters.

All of them being monsters you can find in the first ten floors, and...no monsters that come from below it…

Are these guys really level 2? He wondered.

As the blade slowly descended on Shirou's skull he decided it was time to end this farce. He blocks the blade with one sword. He dispels the second in order to empty his hand, and briskly grabs his hand, and…

"Crack," he breaks his wrist.

"Ahhh!!" The adventurer yells out.

Shirou lets his other blade fade away as well, and grabs both him and perm henchman on the ground with one hand each, and throws them towards their boss.

"Well that was unexpectedly easy," he said out loud. He definitely did not expect this from adventurer's, but this does confirm my theory that level 1 adventurers aren't any stronger than your average human, albeit one that is in good shape.

"You, you, you're an adventurer!" the young girl yells out, before running off, away from the alley, and back into the crowd.

No I'm actually not. He wanted to say, but wasn't given a chance before the young girl ran off.

Why did she run? Did she think he was going to rob her? Oh, well. At least she's safe. I guess this level of violence is too much to show for a young girl.

After all, human violence is different from fighting monsters after all.

He thought adventurers would be used to this level of violence, considering she's from a familia, but a young girl is still a young girl. Guess she isn't used to this level of violence yet.

I messed up. If I see that girl again, I'll apologize for showing her a bad sight.

"Dammi! What the hell do you want?!" The beastman questions, as he and his bodies are standing alert on their feet, all of them nursing their injuries.

"Like I said, I'm just a passerby looking to help." And I'm done here.

"...Seriously?" he questions as he scrunches his eyebrows, and nose as if he was just told something foul.

Shirou nods, as he wondered if he should report this to the guild

...I wouldn't get in trouble if I showed my face their right?

"Tch, whatever. Oy, you two we're going with the tenth floor play," he says as he grabs something out of his parcel.

It seems he still doesn't see the difference between us. He thought to himself as he put his hands at his sides; in position ready to trace two blades and fight if need be..

"Take this!" He screams as he throws something on the ground. I jump back as I prepare for whatever-

It stinks!

A stink bomb is thrown. It is a rather crude way of fighting, but he can't deny it's effective. He thinks that to himself before tracing a mystic code blade with wind abilities, using said blade to blow away the foul wind.

Only to find nobody hiding behind it.

I… I fell for that. Rin would be disappointed in me.

That is unfortunate, but at least the young girl is no longer in trouble. Or…

Right, she said they come from the same familia… I hope I didn't make things worse for her, I'll have to search for those thugs later on. I guess I'll take a look now, how far could they be?

///

"Pant, pant," Lili struggles to get air back into her lungs, after running as fast as she can from the brawl. She doesn't know what the adventurer wanted from her, but she wasn't going to miss this chance to make an escape.

I'm probably going to have to lay low for a while so Belway, and his friends don't take it out on me.

"I'm not sure who that adventurer was, or what he wanted with Lili, but I'm not staying to find out," Lili says to the world, as she wonders if any of her 'targets' had red hair.

Came to help huh… What a joke, like there could ever be a kind adventurer, I don't remember stealing something from him, but I have no intention of staying to find out what it was, Lili probably already sold it by now.

Lili thinks to herself. Not once considering that perhaps he really was there to help. There is no way such people could exist in Orario, but…

But if they could…

Lili couldn't let herself finish that thought, and decides that was enough excitement for today and goes to one of her hideouts, where she can ignore this mess ever happened.

///

It seems you can get pretty far, when you know the streets better than that of a tourist. Shirou thought to himself as he enjoyed another drink tonight. He had gone up and down those streets for quite a while only for the sun to go down, and the stars to start shining.

He really needs help finding an information network. And so on day eight; I set out to find the 'underground' of Orario, huh. Or at least that was the idea but...

He takes a look out the window as he enjoys his drink. As the bar is lit by the purple glow coming from outside the establishment's windows.

No one has even bothered asking my age, makes me wonder if there's even a drinking age in this world? Or is it just that no one cares about things like that in the red district. Although, it's purple.

This is a stupid idea, but I can do it… probably…

They say drinking lowers one inhibition, but if his inhibitions weren't lowered he wouldn't have the courage to go ahead with his 'mission.'

He came here to ask questions, about the shady parts of this society, if there's any, matters along the lines of besides the guild who holds the most power, is there anyone interested in monster crystals, has there been any conflicts to note. Basically the kind of information that makes you look suspicious for even asking.

But how exactly do you ask a "shady," person if he knows someone "shady." Such thoughts went through Shirou's mind as he goes down the 'red' light district

Now how exactly is he going to have this conversation? he wondered.

Oh, hello there, can you point me to your nearest drug provider? Oh, hello there, do you have something that can spice up our night? Oy, is there someone invading your territory?

Honestly, how does someone find a gang? This world follows the dungeon stereotype down to at. He thinks. Although I've never actually played an rpg game, I still know all the tropes thanks to Taiga.

Because of that he went to bars in order to gather knowledge just like you would in those games. By eavesdropping.

Games lied to him.

There bull. I've gotten a rumor here and there, but nothing pointing to anything shady.

As he eavesdropped, over and over he only heard things along the lines of: 'Did you hear the sword princess went down…' 'Did you hear the Loki famila is going to the 59th floor?' 'I hear the soma family made new wine. I heard they hoard all the good stuff'. Etc. etc.

All the rumors either involve the dungeon, which he couldn't do anything about, yet, or trends like the newest wine, nothing he could use. It was basically one step above housewife gossip.

So he came to this place for some info. This place being the only place he hasn't toured for… obvious reasons. If there's a crime or information network anywhere in this city, it would be here, he reasoned; in the red light district.

There's no way in hell Hestia would show me this place.

If there is nothing here, then he really will have to devote all his time to the dungeon, guild be damned.

As it stands though, Orario might really be a peaceful city. Shirou wondered if perhaps crime was impossible in a city run by the gods, although he had been doubtful of this era due to his knowledge of certain heroes and their tales. The gods, at least the ones in this city, seem to be more benevolent than the ones in my world's history.

Perhaps it's because many gods had to humble themselves with mortality to be in this world? He wondered.

Regardless...

"Oh~ A new face. Care to have some fun tonight?" His musings would be cut short as a sweet voice entered his ears.

"Want to buy me for the night?" She continued."Like what you see? Come closer if you want a better look…"

...it doesn't change the fact that I am completely out of my element. How the hell did future me do this? Did he even do this? Rin says he gave off a Casanova type of atmosphere, but I don't see how 'I' could ever come to like places like these.

Shirou decided to retreat, and go back down a shady alley from whence he came.

Oh, there's another prostitute on this street as well. He thought after making his escape.

"Umm… Excuse me, miss..." he said, getting the woman's attention. Maybe he could find the wording this time he wondered.

The woman had tan skin, skinny figure, dark hair, wearing a bra and see through lower wear showing… her lower undergarments, as well as showing off an exposed midriff. Definitely an amazon, Shirou thought, probably an adventurer as well. One bang covering an eye, while letting her hair flow to her lower back, while dressed in a purple see through garb.

Definitely a prostitute. A very alluring one at that.

"...could you...um…" he says, and... "point me to the exit, I've seemed to have lost my way." In the end, even with fate giving him a second shot, he just couldn't go through with it.

Turns out I'm a romantic at heart. I'll have to rely on information through eavesdropping.

"Hmm…" she hums to herself after her statement, as she decides to walk around me slowly. It gives off the feeling of her being a predator, and I being the prey. "Heh tall figure, strong arms...hmmm, firm chest. Not bad, not bad at all." She analyzes him, all the time stroking his arm and chest as she did so.

"Hey handsome customer-kun, interested in making some memories?" She asks as she stares into his eyes, a small smile developing as she said so.

"...umm…"

"Hmmm... You're a nervous one aren't you. Relax. Let big sister lead you, and you'll have a memorable night. I might even give a discount for such a firm man like yourself." she says, not once letting her hands off me, or getting proper footing in this bard of words.

"Well, it's not a matter of money… it's just that I wasn't here for pleasure per say… I was looking for some shady people, that… ah stole something from a friend of mine...so I came to the, ah… shady part of town, but I… I have no idea what I'm doing here." he says with a flush definitely appearing on his features.

She widened her eyes at his statement, and paused for a short while. Letting him go temporarily before..

"Pf.. PFHAHAHA…" she burst out laughing.

"Sorry, but it's not everyday I meet someone so 'virtuous' on this side of town. Okay. I'm better now. So mister officer, based on your down on your luck story, and…" she says as she comes closer laying her hands on her body once more, and pressing it against the wall.

Sniff. Sniff. She takes a whiff of my breath.

"...the smell of alcohol on you. I guess things don't go well. Care to lessen your worries?" she asks as she continues to press her body, her leg going between my…

Even I can tell what she's hinting at. It is a bit difficult to move.

This is a hold isn't it? Definitely an adventurer.

"Don't you worry virtuous-adventure-man," she says emphasizing each word. "By the start of tomorrow, you'll have forgotten all about today's worries," she finishes as she leads me away.

He believes this woman is what you would call a carnivore.

"...umm…" he tries to muster up his courage to say something, as she pulls him in..

"...Umm, what is your name?" It's not good. Drinking alcohol really does lower one's inhibitions.

She halts and turns to look at me.

He doesn't know if it was the alcohol or the situation, but he was sure he was as red as a tomato right then.

"Aisha, you can call me Aisha," she says as she leads him away.

…

What did I come to the red light district for again?