One-Eyed Monster

”Welcome to Xinbal!”

As Igor and the others just walked out of the steam car station, a deep voice transmitted through the loudspeaker from the air.

”The great King Kayne welcomes your return, Xinbal is the home of every Kayne person!”

The slogans kept looping and playing, and the fast-paced Xinbal immediately gave Igor another feeling.

That feeling was warmth.

Igor and Kadi felt that the whole of Xinbal was warm, not at all like the intricate situation Coban Kangen described on the steam car.

Those welcoming messages made Igor think that Coban Kangen didn’t understand Xinbal at all...

”Is this Xinbal?” Kadi asked incredulously, ”This feels very different from what I imagined.”

Igor agreed with Kadi’s opinion.

”What kind of Xinbal did you imagine, more prosperous than this?” Coban Kangen asked as he walked, needing to quickly find a hired carriage, as the population density in Xinbal was high, making public carriages a bit crowded.

Moreover, they needed to quickly shake off those who were tracking them.

Although they had noticed that group of mercenaries on the steam car, strangely, the mercenaries didn’t follow them off the car; instead, they stayed still in the carriage. But once they got off, they felt eyes watching them, as if those people were relaying the task of tracking them.

Finding a carriage, Coban thought, would pinpoint the ones tailing them, instead of it being possible all over the street as it was now.

Kadi and Igor, amazed by Xinbal, didn’t yet have Coban’s instincts; they were still dwelling on Coban’s previous question.

”It’s not that I think Xinbal is prosperous, just that people here should be indifferent, not this warm.”

Coban Kangen was pulled back into the previous discussion by Igor and Kadi, though he found their perspective rather peculiar: ”How can you see these people as warm?”

Coban Kangen had lived in Xinbal for several years and never found the people warm.

”We just got off the car and someone welcomed us, isn’t that warm?” Kadi retorted.

In Kadi’s mind, such treatment was already extremely warm; he’d never experienced such a welcome before.

Coban Kangen looked at Kadi and Igor incredulously, realizing that although these two teenagers were capable, they severely lacked life experience.

Taking the promotional sound from the loudspeaker as a warm welcome showed a glaring lack of life experience!

Coban Kangen didn’t know what to say, his silence now a bit awkward, as his quiet refusal to speak was also a form of acquiescence.

However, the fast pace of Xinbal provided Coban Kangen with an escape route.

A hired carriage conveniently passed by in front of them, and Coban Kangen immediately flagged it down.

”Where to?” the coachman asked simply, as if saying another word was cumbersome.

”52 Bayes Avenue,” Coban Kangen tersely replied, silently contradicting Igor and Kadi in his mind—where was the warmth?

”One and a half gold coins,” the coachman shrugged, indicating they could board if they accepted the price.

”Alright!” Coban Kangen gritted his teeth; the price was steep, but due to their destination on Bayes Avenue, it was a tolerable amount.

Few willingly went to Bayes Avenue, as many peculiar folks lived there, and a slight misstep could lead to trouble; coachmen who braved that street were usually well-known in the area.

Igor and his companions, clueless as to what was happening, followed Coban Kangen onto the carriage with a blank expression.

Inside the carriage, Coban Kangen continued to watch the situation outside, clearly concerned about those tailing them.

Though Igor and the others still didn’t know what Coban was planning, they could read the unease on Coban’s face, which wasn’t a relaxed expression, making them on guard too.

The carriage moved steadily down the street, with many other carriages coming and going, each sticking to their own path, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Coban Kangen’s focus remained outside the carriage window, noting numerous carriages passing by, each appearing suspicious.

”What’s happening?” someone alert to the anomaly quickly asked in code.

”It seems our movements are entirely exposed to others,” Coban Kangen replied.

Igor also turned his gaze outside and noticed that, during their travel, at least three carriages repeatedly passed close by theirs.

Obviously, they were being followed.

Igor hadn’t expected that just after evading the mercenaries on the steam car, he’d encounter new troubles.

Who exactly was watching them so persistently?

Coban Kangen closed his eyes, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the carriage frame, expressing his worries.

Coban Kangen stated that, in his experience, this kind of tracking technique was typical of major factions in Xinbal. However, Xinbal had many such factions, and for the time being, he couldn’t determine which organization these forces belonged to. But he was sure of one thing: the organization those following them belonged to was not one they could afford to provoke.

Igor calmly tapped on the carriage, asking, so what should we do now, pretend not to notice or confront them head-on?

In my view, we can’t act recklessly for the time being. I think we must find a foothold in Xinbal, by which I mean we must find something to rely on here; otherwise, it will be difficult to contend with these forces.

Who should we turn to? Igor was uncertain, struggling with the question of whom to rely on in such a foreign place.

For Coban Kangen, this was hardly a problem, as he was a Kangen, and he simply needed to find his family.

Thus, Coban naturally shared this idea with Igor and the others.

”Then what are we waiting for, let’s go quickly!” Kadi urged from the side.

”We’re headed to Bayes Avenue right now, where the Kangen family resides,” Coban Kangen responded truthfully.

”I never expected things to come to this,” Kadi continued, finding the turn of events somewhat surreal.

No matter what conclusions Igor and Coban reached, for Kadi, these conclusions didn’t make much difference, as he never liked thinking, preferring to follow others’ instructions.

It’s not that Kadi was dimwitted, he was just too lazy to think.

Kadi thought Igor and Coban Kangen were making things unnecessarily complicated—what was so difficult? Why make it so convoluted?

To Kadi, dealing with those following them seemed simple; just shake them off, wouldn’t that be sufficient...