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Gwen, Marian, Schurz, Saladin.

Following Instructor Ion’s instructions, the four students were walking along the road.

Yes. They were just walking.

After walking in silence for about five minutes, Marian, unable to endure the silence anymore, hesitated and said,

“So… what should we do now?”

“Um….”

“Umm….”

No one answered her.

While they understood that their task was to patrol and maintain order on the main street as per Instructor Ion’s instructions, they were at a complete loss as to what they should actually be doing. They were walking along the street, but they questioned if that was even enough.

Though Marian and Schurz were nobles familiar with the Capital City, they had barely ever walked along such a busy road without an escort as children of high-ranking noble families. Naturally, they lacked knowledge of the surrounding geography.

Gwen, who had lived in the Capital City before, was from the Tris family, known for swordsmanship but not noble, making her quite close to being a commoner. However, that was all in her childhood. Since she had grown up, she had mainly lived in the mountains, making her memories of the Capital City vague, plus Gwen was extremely directionally challenged.

As for Saladin, being a foreigner, he didn’t count.

Of course, the uniform of Philion Academy was quite eye-catching, so just wearing the uniforms had some effect on maintaining order.

That’s why Instructor Ion had advised them: as long as they wandered around a bit and dealt with any problems that arose, it would be sufficient.

Such problems were generally trivial. Minor issues like quarrels between passersby leading to fights or someone tripping in the crowd.

They were to immediately resolve such minor issues and report to the gate if any dangerous incidents occurred that the students couldn’t handle.

Marian thought it wouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, she felt it was much lighter than the duties of the Capital City Gendarmerie. Except for the fact that there were so many people bustling around.

As the granddaughter of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army with many connections in high positions of the Capital City Gendarmerie, she took the lead to speak.

“How about we try walking with our shoulders back like the gendarmerie?”

Unfortunately, her understanding of the gendarmerie was limited to imagining people walking around with tense shoulders, nothing more.

After contemplating for a while, Schurz propped his chin and said,

“Just wandering around would be inefficient. Why not select places that might have poor order and patrol those areas repeatedly?”

“Places that might have poor order?”

“The types of crimes that occur around here would likely be pickpocketing or scams targeting tourists. If we focus on areas where tourists gather, we can respond immediately if an issue arises.”

“Hmm, you know quite a bit, huh?”

“I’ve glanced at some administrative documents. They say areas with high foot traffic frequently see minor crimes targeting tourists or wealthy citizens.”

Schurz adjusted his glasses and added,

“Especially around this time, such crimes spike, so we should focus on the surroundings—Ugh!”

Thud!

Schurz suddenly staggered on the street after bumping into someone hard while walking.

It was a child who looked about twelve or thirteen, and apparently in a hurry, they collided shoulders and disappeared into the crowd without a word.

Marian asked with concern,

“Schurz! Are you okay?”

“Ugh… I’m fine. It was just a bump, nothing to—”

Suddenly, Schurz’s expression hardened. All the words he had said up until now rushed through his mind.

High traffic areas. Pickpockets. And the crime rate spiking around now.

Schurz started touching his waist, soon realizing nothing was in his pocket.

“My, my wallet!”

“What? Are you an idiot? You tell us to be careful, and then you get robbed?”

“Did I think I’d get robbed? Ugh, my student ID was in that wallet…!”

“You two! Is this really the time to bicker? Quickly figure out where it went!”

Marian scolded as she quickly looked around.

However, finding the pickpocket who had brushed past amid the throngs of people was not easy.

Just as she was thinking that, Gwen, who had been scanning the area intently, shouted loudly.

“I found them! Over there!”

“Huh? Where—Gwen! Wait! You can’t go alone!”

“Stop right there! Give me back Schurz’s wallet!”

Gwen sprinted after the pickpocket, and Marian, startled, hurriedly followed behind her.

“Hey! Wait for me!”

“Marian! Gwen! Don’t rush!”

Schurz and Saladin also tried to chase after Gwen, but the sudden influx of people swept them away from their spot.

“Look over there! It seems there’s a performance happening!”

“Let’s hurry and check it out!”

“Whoa…! Ouch, damn it!”

“Excuse me! Coming through!”

The two struggled to push through the crowd to catch up with Gwen and Marian. But in that brief moment, the girls had vanished from sight.

Left standing on the street were Saladin and Schurz, looking at each other.

“Uh oh. Isn’t this a big problem?”

“Reluctantly, I think it might be.”

Giving up on finding their companions, the two turned back toward the gate.

There was no other option but to call Instructor Ion.

*

The pickpocket boy who stole Schurz’s wallet slipped into an alley, pushing through the crowd.

Gwen and Marian had to follow him into the alley.

Crash!

“Stop! Right there!”

“Don’t follow me!”

There isn’t a pickpocket in this world who just stands still and waits.

One measly pickpocket probably couldn’t outrun well-trained academy students.

However, this was a narrow alley, and the foe was a small, nimble child. Plus, he adeptly darted around in the twisty, cramped alley, making it difficult to catch him even for a kid.

Marian regretted following Gwen into the alley. The environment was too filthy and gloomy.

“Ugh, it’s disgusting!”

Marian had never experienced such a filthy alley. As a noble lady, she had always been surrounded by glamorous, beautiful things.

Sure, she had caught whispers of the dirty, sordid secrets of the nobility in high society, but she had never encountered something so physically dirty herself.

She had just stepped on something mushy a moment ago. She screamed inwardly but tried not to think about what it could be.

“Haah, haah…!”

Sweetness was starting to seep into her mouth. Her heart pounded, and every breath brought a waft of the stench.

Yet, Marian was surprised to find she was still able to run well.

Originally, her stamina was way too low to keep up with Gwen. While she was panting heavily now, under usual circumstances, she would have run out of breath and fallen behind long ago.

Instructor Ion’s training wasn’t useless after all!

With that thought, she diligently ran through the alley.

She chased the pickpocket down the winding alley, and though she almost lost sight of him several times, she finally managed to close in on the boy.

“I got you…!”

However, just as she was almost upon him, Marian froze in shock.

“Help! Please! Someone help me!”

Finally, she reached an alley where rough-looking men surrounded her.

Rugged skin and dirty clothes. There was a dangerous and ominous vibe from those who seemed to have reached the end of their wits in life.

“Brothers! Let’s get her!”

Was the boy part of this group from the start? He shouted as he dashed past the men and out of the alley.

But Marian could only watch. She was sure that the men wouldn’t just let her go after that boy.

“What’s this? Who’s this girl?”

“Did you mess with our kid?”

“Ugh…!”

It was her first time being surrounded by so many men.

Marian, slightly frightened, took a step back, but quickly steadied herself.

Of course, she couldn’t defeat all these men alone. She’s not good at fighting. But she wasn’t the only one here.

The heir of a sword master. The scion of the sword. The genius of swordsmanship trained under two of the seven heroes of the continent was right next to her.

“Gwen! I’m counting on you!”

Calling out her reliable friend’s name, Marian turned her head.

But Gwen was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh?”

No matter how much she turned to look in every direction, she could only see herself and the men surrounding her.

It dawned on Marian then.

Gwen had gotten lost somewhere along the way.

“Uh… I think I wandered into the wrong place. Excuse me?”

Just as she was about to turn and run, the men had already surrounded her tightly.

“Where do you think you’re going? You came this far without a care, huh?”

“Seeing you up close, you’re quite cute. Bet you’d sell high in the black market.”

“Ugh… um….”

Marian was sweating profusely, silently trembling.

 

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