If the thuggish street fight did not alert the guards' attention, then the loud explosion certainly did. Those who passed by the alley felt its shockwave, but even those who were three streets away raised their heads upon hearing the earth-trembling boom.

"Those damn Marktstar fools..." The guards looked at each other before charging towards the ruckus.

Gabriel and Naomi stood amidst the enemy's raining remains. Their attention was still pinned on the absurdity of their situation, and only a few seconds apart did they realize the wary footsteps approaching their position.

"Is someone there?" Asked a fast-growing shadow while unsheathing his sword.

The two heroes caught attention of it and quickly pulled away, turning into a mad dash towards the other end of the alley. However, they quickly pulled their brakes as two armed guards appeared on the other end.

"Crap!" Naomi recoiled. "This is bad! If they catch us now, our cover's blown! Much worse, we might even go to jail!"

Gabriel looked around but there were only a few trash cans and locked doors around them. His first instinct was to hide in the trash, but the guards would've surely checked there.

"Then there's only one way..."

Drawing power from his pool of increased stamina and abusing the adrenaline pumping through his veins, Gabriel raised his foot and kicked the nearest door.

Bang! Dust scattered everywhere as the old door met the elegant boot. Bang! The wood cried out under Gabriel's foot.

Naomi jerked his head towards the creaking door.

"What are you doing?!" He screamed. "Have you lost your mind? If the guards see that, we're getting two years in prison for breaking and entering, plus a year more for vandalism!"

Gabriel could not speak thanks to the holes in his throat. So, he slapped Naomi in the face, then pointed towards the other end of the alley.

As Naomi turned around, he caught glimpse of a large severed hand, Faxon's headless torso and the blown-up bola master.

After he successfully fought and defeated the urge to throw up by the sight, Naomi’s demeanor went through a change.

"Alright." His attention turned towards the old door. "That would probably give us life in prison anyway."

Now with the two of them assaulting the door, their synchronized kicks were enough to slam it wide open.

"Quick!" They rushed in, then immediately shut the door behind themselves.

Leaving but their cold trail behind, the guards arrived to the messy scenery with no one to accuse.

And that scenery sure was messy.

"B-By the Gods!" The guards cursed and covered the eyeholes on their helmets. It was rare for them to see any violence in such a small town, especially the kind resulting in someone’s death.

None had the guts nor stomach to approach the corpses. A guard had to leave and seek a nearby fountain to wash his helmet, which he disgustingly threw up inside.

All of them were shocked to see a display so brutal, except for one.

Heavy footsteps echoed as he entered the alley, bearing so much weight with every step that they felt like an elephant’s stomps.

It was a heavily armored man, covered by steel from head to toe. He stood a head above all the other men, who had to step away just to give space to the massive defender.

"Step aside!" He roared as he approached Faxon's corpse.

Crouching down, his beautiful armor came into contact with the dusty floor. But, it was not his armor that got dirtied by the ground. It was the ground that got hallowed by his righteous foot!

"A clean cut, though not by any simple sword..." The man grunted. "Was it... A rapier? That’s impossible. A simple thug would not use a weapon so delicate."

A much lower-ranking guard rushed into the alley. She was a young woman, whose forehead was a sea of sweat.

"Captain!" She could barely speak, being so out of breath. "The nobles are enraged! You've left the conference without saying a word. This could be detrimental to our relationship with the neighboring towns––"

The young soldier was perplexed, seeing the unrecognizable mess amidst the other guards. Then, when she realized those were meant to be human innards, her breath caught.

"Waah!" She screamed before the sight.

The man with the beautiful armor, the other guard’s captain, stood up and turned towards the young soldier.

“This seems to be more than the results of some drunkards’ squabble. Go to the headquarters and double the on-duty guards in this area! I want a special team to be on the lookout for any human male missing his left hand!”

Though his face could not be seen, his voice was serious.

“Gather as much evidence as you can, but other than that, keep this a secret. We don’t have enough information to make any guesses as of now. Media coverage would only harden our works.”

The soldiers all saluted in unison.

“Yes sir!”

The guards went to lock down the area, while the female soldier rushed towards the police headquarters.

The captain looked up at the sky before leaving. He wanted to make sure there were no clouds around, especially not some that would raise any suspicions.

However, the skies were clear of any clouds.

“Interesting. I could have sworn the newspaper said it would rain today.”

Not wasting any more time, he headed back to continue his duty.

– – –

As the two of them barged through the door, Gabriel swiftly turned around and shut it. He looked around and found a chair, which he used to barricade the door.

When it was set and done, he carefully backed away.

Footsteps could be heard from outside. They suddenly ceased, and after a set of gasps, the cursing of a soldier grew from outside.

"B-By the Gods!" He said, followed by what could only be interpreted as somebody throwing up.

The voices grew more distant as the guards approached the corpses. The threat of danger lowered, and the two could let out a sigh of relief.

“I guess we won’t have to worry about that for now.” Gabriel thought.

The room in which they found themselves was one without much light. Cages and crates of various sizes occupied the nearby desks, and the scent of animal food lingered thickly in the room.

The door onwards was slightly open. Yellow beams of sunshine emanated behind it, obstructed only by the shadow of birds and tiny mammals.

An elderly voice grew from the other room.

“Did someone else knock?” Asked the grandma-ish voice, followed by a pair of slippers slouching towards the door. “Oh, hold on! I’m coming!”

Naomi made a step away. A thousand different worries ran through his mind, like what if the woman will scream and alert the guards, or what if she will attack them with some kind of household item.

Gabriel thought the same, though he already had a solution in mind. He reached for his rapier and unsheathed the weapon.

“First, I make sure she cannot scream. Then, I’ll intimidate her into submission.”

Seeing Gabriel unsheathe the weapon, Naomi had the wrong idea about his intentions.

“Does he plan to kill the granny behind that door?!”

Following his misconception, he was unable to let Gabriel hurt someone innocent.

But that meant he had to take control of the situation.

Swallowing his fears with a loud gulp, Naomi forced his feet to move. He approached the door and raised his shaky voice.

“Yes, ma’am! It was me!” He answered hesitantly.

Gabriel lowered the weapon in his hand. He was surprised, if not shocked, to see his partner take the initiative.

The door opened fully with a long, loud creak. A woman appeared on the other side, wearing an old magenta dress. She hunched at 150 centimeters and judging by the dozen wrinkles on her face, her age was the ripe youth of seventy.

She squeezed her tiny eyes to get a better look at the two. Following a loud grunt of concentration, she chuckled in her harsh elderly voice.

“Haha! Finally, a customer!”

The woman grabbed Naomi’s hand and stood onto the tip of her toes to get a better look at him. Of course, Naomi was not so joyful about the stranger’s touch and poured his pain into an awkward laugh.

“Indeed!” Naomi nodded. “We’ve come to see your goods! W-Whatever they may be!”

“We?” The woman repeated Naomi’s words.

She looked around and laughed upon seeing Gabriel. She did not realize there was another man with them in the room, even though he was standing right next to them.

Gabriel picked up on that, thinking it was quite strange. Maybe this woman has problems with her sight? It wouldn’t be surprising, given how old she looked.

Crouching down to be on the same level, Gabriel observed the woman as she approached with a warm smile.

She did not seem to notice the wounds on his throat, nor the blood on his clothes. However, what caught even her attention was the black tar that Gabriel’s previous enemy rained down on him.

“Huh?” She put a finger on her chin, leaning even closer to Gabriel.

She had a hard time identifying him.

“Black covers most of his figure…”

“He breathes heavily and he’s on the same level as I…”

“His hair is bushy and there’s an awful smell coming from him…”

A light bulb lit up in the woman’s head.

She gasped and pulled away, which immediately set off an alarm in Naomi’s head. He turned towards the exit, ready to break into an escape.

The woman’s hand slowly approached Gabriel’s face, climbing up the side of his messy cheeks and stopping on the top of his head. Then, with the utmost gentleness, she patted the demon.

“Good boy!” She chuckled, grabbing Gabriel’s chin with her other hand and rubbing it. “What breed is he? A terrier? No, a pomeranian! You’re a good boy either way, aren’t you?”

Gabriel’s eyes turned wide. The last thing he expected from today was getting patted by an elderly stranger, yet here he was, unable to protest this act due to his own shock.

His eyes snapped to Naomi, who appeared to be just as surprised. However, his face slowly turned into a smile as he realized what was happening and tried to hold back a laugh.

“She’s a chihuahua!” He turned away to hide his smile.

“A chihuahua?” Gabriel repeated the words inside his mind. “What does that–– Wait, she?!”

The woman gasped, then gently slapped herself.

“How unprofessional! I should have known you were a little girl just by touching you!”

Once again, he patted Gabriel’s head, though much rougher than before.

“Good girl! My apologies for misjudging your gender, I’ll be sure to compensate you with a healthy dose of dog food!”

“Dog food?!” Gabriel tried to pull away, but before he could have done that, the woman hugged him tightly to her elderly chest. He tried to fight her off, screaming internally between the two saggy breasts, but all attempts against the granny were futile.

Gabriel still crying into her chest, she approached Naomi for a handshake.

“My name is Echidna! I’m the owner of this house and the pet shop outside.”

“A pleasure to meet you!” Naomi shook her hand. “My name is Mao and I’m a vagabond. Say Echidna, could you help my dog with a tiny wound?”