Chapter 1629: Out of the City
Ning grabbed Shara and ran away along the back alley. He did not dare bring her out of the alleys, especially not into open roads where there was the chance of the directors getting to him.
“What do we do? Where do we go?” Shara asked, worried.
“Wherever it is, we need to leave quickly,” Ning said. He looked around and some clothes that had been tossed in the alleyway, like rags.
He quickly wrapped the rags around his spear tip, hiding the blade within in. “Dammit, we left out the other spear in my room,” he said softly.
“My clothes are all back in my room too,” Shara said. She was wearing a simple dress for now, nothing extravagant, but also nothing insignificant.
Ning thought for a moment and shook his head. “We can’t go back now. Whatever we left behind, forget about it. We can only run away now.”
“We should go to my house,” Shara said. “Stay there for a few days.”
“Forget about your house. We need to leave the city before nightfall,” Ning said. “We have no other option.”
“What?” Shara asked, confused. “But why?”
“That director will be looking for you. He won’t stop until he’s searched the entire city. There will be people searching for you all over the place,” Ning said and shook his head again. “We cannot stay here at all.”
“Where… where do we go then?” Shara asked.
Ning didn’t know. Without his real system, he was very vulnerable to everything and didn’t have many avenues to go through. He simply needed to get out of here for now.
“Do you know if the bridges check someone’s identity when leaving?” he asked her.
“They don’t,” Shara answered. “They only check carriages and boats that leave, but not people. They only check people who come in from outside.”
“Alright, then we’ll leave the city immediately,” he said. “We’ll have to take a carriage once we are out. Hopefully, we’ll make it to another city before nightfall so we won’t have to stay out in the cold.”
Shara could not believe what she was hearing. She was going to have to run away? From her city?
She had never even been to the different parts of the city and now she was going to be running away from here?
Ning checked what he had on him at the moment. He had his purse where he kept his coins. He had his Spirit Detective ID and this one spear. That should help them a bit.
Ning dragged Shara through the alleyway for long enough before getting out onto a fashion street. He quickly went into a store and bought new clothes to change into and a spare for later.
The clothes he got looked nothing like what he had been wearing previously, and he did the same for Shara. Now, Shara wore a flowery dress with a white hat and soft white gloves.
She appeared somewhat wealthy, but not as wealthy as a noble. Ning hoped that would put her in a gray area among people’s perceptions where she would be forgettable.
Once they changed their dress, they grabbed some food from the other street to go and made their way toward the northern road.
The northern section of the city was where the nobles stayed, so that was where Ning was headed to now. It was further away from where they were, and Ning hoped that would be enough for the Spirit Department to get tricked into not coming after them so quickly.
He was already sure that they wouldn’t think that they would just leave the city, but on the off chance they did, this would help a lot.
Ning and Shara walked through the streets, now carrying small bags with them that held their clothes.
“I’m nearly out of coins,” Ning said. “In the next city we go to, we’ll have to convert your coins.”
Shara didn’t like the idea of changing her coins, but she had to nod affirmatively as she understood that was the only way for her to survive.
Ning began making up a story for himself and Shara that they would have to use when getting out of there.
He was an older brother, who was taking his sister with him to the next city, where their grandparents lived. They hadn’t been to their house in nearly 2 years, so they were doing so now.
Shara took into mind the scenario they had come for themselves and nodded all the way as they walked past the better, more serene neighborhood.
They finally arrived at the bridge on the other way and walked out of it. As Shara had mentioned, there was nobody stopping them from leaving, just walking back in.
Once they were away, they looked for a carriage to get onto to leave the place, but they couldn’t find any that could take them. The carriages that left from the northern side, as Ning had come to belatedly find out, only took away the nobles and rich folks, who all owned their private carriages.
As a result, there were no civilian carriages or caravans that left through the northern side.
Ning frowned, looking around. He wanted to stop a carriage to ask for a ride, but before he could, Shara tucked on his new shirt and pointed toward the sea.
“That boat,” she said. “Can we ask them?”
Ning turned around, looking toward the boat next to the deck, close to the bridge. It was about to leave, and Ning quickly ran up to it.
“Sir, Sir!” he shouted at the man on the ship, calling to the captain of the ship. The man had been ordering some men around the deck when he turned to look at Ning.
“Where is this ship headed to?” he asked.
“To Galebow city. Why do you ask?”
Ning took a deep breath. “Would you mind taking us along?” he asked.
“What?”
“Just to the city,” Ning said. “We don’t need any accommodation. Just a travel passage. My sister and I need to go to the city as soon as we can.”
“No, I’m not taking you along,” the Captain said. “Find someone else. I don’t have the time to help you.”
Ning grimaced. He didn’t want to wait for another ship. Just as he was about to think of something else, he saw something white flash beyond the Captain’s shoulders.
A pale, white Spirit that was clearly on him.
Ning’s eyes widened as the opportunity showed itself. Ning quickly took out his badge and showed it to the man.
“Captain, I am a Spirit Detective,” Ning said. “If you let me travel on your boat, I will deal with the Spirit following you for free.”
The Captain had been starting to get annoyed by now, but when he heard those next words, he froze.
“What?” he asked, turning his head to look at Ning.
“Yes, we will deal with your Spirit, for free,” Ning said. “Not a single iron coin.”
“No, what did you say about the Spirit?” he asked. “There’s a Spirit following me?”
“Yes,” Ning said. “There is one right beside your shoulder.”
“I don’t believe you,” the captain said. “You’re just trying to get me to take you on board.”
“I won’t deny that I’m trying to get on board,” Ning said. “But I am also not lying that there is a Spirit on your back.”
The Captain walked toward Ning, still standing on his ship, and looked at him from a slightly elevated status. “Alright, tell me what you can see?” he asked.
Ning took a deep breath and looked at the glittering light next to him that phased in and out around him. The many people who were working on the dock began to slow their work to see what Ning was up to. They had heard what he had said and so they were all curious to see if he could do it.
Ning focused his attention on the light and slowly, it took a humanoid form. Looking at the thing, his eyes widened slightly.
“Captain…” he said slowly. “Have you… by any chance… had a child die recently? A young girl, maybe 6 or 8 years old.”
Ning looked at the figure of the young girl, her eyes white, her hair floating around her as though she was in water. It was a terrifying image, one that would scare anyone.
Her pale, slightly bluish face was in stark contrast to the colorful surroundings she resided in.
“What… what did you say?” the Captain asked, his face pale.
“A young girl, no longer than 8. She… she wears some sort of dress, with flowers on it.”
Ning stepped a step closer, coming right to the edge of the dock. He looked at the girl and spoke in a voice that sounded as though it was coming from underwater.
“Hello, young miss. Can I help you?” he asked.
The young girl looked at Ning now, her eyes settled on him. “I want Daddy to no longer be sad,” the young girl said. A look of sadness filled her when she said so.
[
Quest: Make Daddy Happy
Young Tima wants her father to smile again, like he used to all those years ago.
Reward: 2 Points
]
Ning stared at the quest that appeared out of nowhere when he confronted his second Spirit he had ever done so. He hadn’t expected a quest to appear, but it had.
“She…” Ning said. “Your daughter, she does not want you to be sad.”
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