The Patrol's Shadow
Patrol duty itself wasn't troublesome. All you had to do was wander around and check for anything suspicious. But the streets were full of suspicious characters to begin with. Back-alley vendors hawking shady goods, merchants tampering with their scales, con artists running shell games, and even a brat trying to snatch a wallet right out of my hand.
"Let go! I'm not letting go! Hey, there's a kidnapper here! Someone help!"
"Hand over my wallet first, you little rat."
"This is mine!"
Even knowing that uneducated orphans in this world survived by pickpocketing and begging, I hadn't expected one to appear right in front of me. I didn't particularly like children, but I didn't hate them either. If the kid just returned the wallet, I was willing to let it go.
"Haa... This is why brats are..."
Noticing my foul mood, Airi tried to soothe the child.
"Little one... This gentleman isn't in a good mood right now, so just give it back... It's scary when he's angry..."
"I said it's my wallet! Get lost!"
The pickpocket kid tucked the wallet into his clothes and pulled out a knife, brandishing it at me.
"If you don't back off, I'll stab you! Do you know how many people I've killed?!"
The sight of him puffing up with a blade was almost comical. It reminded me of my own younger self holding a knife, but instead of fear, I only felt irritation.
"Kid, if you'd pulled out a pigeon instead of that knife, I might've forgiven you. But you chose a blade. I'm not fond of that kind of magic trick."
"Shut up! I'll really stab you! Have you ever been stabbed before? Do you know how many people I've stabbed?!"
I'd been stabbed plenty of times, but I doubted this kid had stabbed anyone. Not with that grip—he couldn't even slice tofu properly.
"Kid..."
"What?!"
"Go ahead and stab me."
He looked like he really wanted to, so I told him to try. I'd never seen anyone hold a knife with their thumb tucked inside their fingers before. Curious if it was some new knife-fighting technique, I invited him to demonstrate.
"I'm really gonna stab you! Don't regret it when you die!"
"Kid, do you fight with your tongue?"
Enraged, the boy lunged at my stomach. He'd only end up hurting his own hand swinging like that. I caught the blade between my index and middle fingers and took the knife away.
"Ah...!"
The pickpocket stared in shock, his only tool of the trade now gone.
"Kid, this is how you swing a knife."
I drove it into the brick wall with a solid thunk. The wall looked sturdy enough that one knife wouldn't cause any real damage.
"Kid... I could've forgiven you for stealing the wallet. But the moment you pointed a weapon at me, you were aiming for my life. If you're going to threaten someone else's life, you shouldn't complain when yours is on the line, right?"
I raised my right fist.
"Master... There are people watching."
"I'll handle it, Airi."
The boy stumbled backward in terror. I stomped down right beside his ear—a technique called jinjiao in Chinese martial arts. It wasn't really a striking move, just a way to intimidate, create space, and set up your stance. But as I said, it was for threats.
"Don't play with knives like that again. If I catch you doing it next time, it'll be your head I'm stepping on instead of the ground."
The boy burst into tears and ran off.
"Ah, my wallet."
In the middle of the lesson, I'd forgotten the most important thing.
"Should I go catch him? I'm confident in my running."
Airi had been recognized for her speed even in the original story. Catching one kid would be easy for her.
"No, just leave it."
"Why not?"
I pulled the knife from the wall, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and tucked it into my coat.
"Consider it payment for the knife."
It had been the kid's livelihood, after all. If I took it, I had to pay the price.
"Besides, I carry two wallets."
Gold coins were too valuable and too likely to attract robbers, so I didn't carry them. Instead, I kept silver and copper coins in separate wallets because sorting them on the spot was annoying. The one the kid stole was the copper-only wallet—only about 120 coppers inside. Losing a spare change purse was a shame, but nothing more.
"Anyway, let's go. All these stares are getting annoying."
"Yes, Master!"
As we walked, we found ourselves in the middle of a market day. Stalls lined the streets, and the crowd bustled with energy. In this kind of throng, it was easy to get separated—and unlike modern Earth, there were no phones to help if that happened.
"Airi."
"Yes, Master?"
"Hold my hand."
I extended my hand. Airi's face turned bright red. She was just like her—flustered over something as simple as holding hands.
"Is it really okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
I grabbed her hand without waiting. People were so troublesome.
The market was packed, as expected of the capital. Besides food and clothing, there were weapons, accessories, monster materials, horses, toys, cosmetics, and even decorative pottery. What caught my eye was a simple hair tie.
I handed the vendor a silver coin and bought several ties. My long hair had been bothering me lately, and cutting it seemed like too much hassle.
"Oh, hair ties?"
"I didn't notice it much in Bechem, but recently this long hair has been annoying. Cutting it is even more annoying, so I'll just tie it up."
I held a tie in my mouth, gathered my hair, and secured it. It felt a bit tight, but at least the strands weren't prickling my neck anymore.
"You're quite skilled at tying your hair, Master."
Her voice carried a hint of wariness. Why be suspicious over something so trivial?
"I learned from a friend. Just a friend."
"Ah, just a friend?"
"Yeah... just a friend."
"Where is this friend now? It must've been impressive, teaching someone as clumsy as you how to tie hair."
I chuckled at Airi's joke. I liked that kind of humor—the self-deprecating banter between ugly comedians on variety shows.
"You can't meet them. They're dead."
"Ah... I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. And you resemble that person a lot."
That resemblance was exactly why I'd bought Dragnity Fantasy 2 in the first place. Our hair and eye colors didn't match, but the atmosphere was similar. Or maybe it was everything except the hair and eyes. I'd originally planned to skip the sequel, believing it would only tarnish the original's reputation. But the moment I saw Airi's face on the cover, smiling at me just like Lee Baek, I bought it without thinking. The adult Werner standing beside her somehow looked like me too. If that person and I had grown up together, maybe we'd have felt like that. The game itself turned out to be quite good. The problem was the VR device that suddenly exploded. Being able to feel sensations as vivid as reality was nice—it let me bring over my precise magic sense. But the company clearly hadn't tested it for explosions. I died and ended up here.
"Ah... My head hurts."
Whenever I tried to recall the moment of my death, pain shot through my skull. Maybe my brain was sending warning signals because the agony had been so intense.
"Augh, my head..."
"Are you alright, Master? Maybe you've been in the sun too long?"
Airi led me to a bench and sat me down. As the headache continued, I leaned my head against her shoulder. Resting there brought a slight sense of relief.
"Does it feel a little better?"
"Yeah, just a bit..."
It was only a little, but Airi's shoulder gave off the same feeling as hers. Even though it was firm, there was a warmth and stability to it.
"You can rest like this if you want."
"No, since we're already on a date, we should look around a bit more..."
As I tried to stand, I spotted the pickpocket kid from earlier in the alley across from the bench. More precisely, I saw him being dragged away by a group of burly men.
"Airi."
"Yes, Master?"
"Sorry, but we'll have to postpone the date. I'm really sorry. Next time, I'll take you to a nice restaurant."
It looked like I'd just found the trail of those kidnappers.