Chương 66: Light Stalking

Blake and Graham followed the businessman inconspicuously and kept a long distance between them. The man's aura continued to swirl around him, yet he always managed to avoid all the busy streets and intersections, bothering the least amount of people possible.

"Any idea on what his ability could be?" Blake whispered to Graham beside him, while keeping Eth at the end of his vision.

"Haven't seen anything weird yet… Some sort of internal boost?" The two continued to lag comfortably behind, making sure there was no chance of getting caught. Although they weren't too afraid of Eth finding out, it would make their jobs significantly more difficult should he know he was being followed, showing them only what he wanted them to see. At first, the man seemed to be heading towards the mines in the south, when suddenly, he pivoted. Graham and Blake jumped behind a torn-down house immediately.

A clump of white dust scattered from the light impact of their bodies on the wood.

"Think he caught us?" Blake whispered.

"Maybe. He also could have just realized he forgot something…" Blake peeked out from behind the rusted building to the spot where the businessman should have been; it was empty.

"Shit! He got away!" How was that possible? Was this the ability he'd been practicing? Teleportation? Maybe it made him quicker? Graham shook his head with a sigh.

"He's literally right there…"

"..." Blake looked again, and sure enough, Eth was there, just a little further away on the path northward.

"Dumbass." Blake slipped out from behind the ashy column and continued trailing the man. Before long, Eth led them to the bridge. Blake watched closely as the businessman made casual conversation with the guards. After waiting for his figure to disappear, they climbed up the slanted bridge themselves.

"Hello, SIRS!" Before Blake could retort, he felt Graham's hand rest on his shoulder. With a sigh, he took a step back.

"Hello, Brad and…" Graham began.

"Chad." Although he and Graham had met the guards many times in the past, it was rare that they'd ever actually strike up a conversation, so they had never bothered learning their names. Usually, they'd just stroll past with hoods covering their faces and their badges wordlessly answering any questions they could have had.

"Right, could you tell us where that man was headed?"

"We learned his name yesterday, sir, he said he was Eth and wanted to do some exploring. Today, he just said he had some business to attend to on the northern end." Graham lightly patted his shoulder.

"Thanks, Chad, you've been a big help. Just make sure not to let him know we've been snooping around." Both Brad and Chad straightened up.

"Of course not, SIR!" The two men passed the two guards and quickly made their way northward.

"What if he lied that he was going north?" Blake asked.

"Then we can guess he knows he's being followed. Otherwise, we're probably still good to go." As they approached the public square just past the central space surrounding the clock tower, they found the man in the cheap top hat slipping through into the alleyways on the opposite side. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Looks like he hasn't caught on to us just yet."

"It always pisses me off how green this area is compared to the shithole we live in," Blake complained.

"Just buy a house here then. Come on, hurry up." Blake scoffed, but listened to the instruction anyway, continuing to follow the man further north. Every time they thought he'd stop, he just kept going. What was so north he needed to visit? The only buildings up here were those of the most successful merchants, various Banner headquarters, and the estate of the mayor himself. Was this Eth a bigger deal than they thought?

As far as they knew, he had just arrived in the city, but perhaps he had deeper connections than they had given him credit for. All of these suspicions exploded when they realized which mansion he was approaching.

"Shit, he knows the Mayor?" Blake hushed, but Graham remained quiet, pivoting to a nearby bush. Blake crept to the other side, in case there was an angle Graham would miss. The door opened, and an unfamiliar woman stepped out. They couldn't make out the words, but before long, the businessman followed her inside. Blake and Graham shared a look from afar before meeting up back in the middle. They had fucked up big time with their falsified report.

"If anything, we're lucky." Graham scratched his nose.

"If we hadn't followed him today, we would have gotten in a lot of trouble…"

"If we report this before anyone else finds out the mistake, and frame it as if we did some extra work…" Graham grinned.

"Cha-ching." The two waited for a few more minutes before the man left the building. Then, they immediately followed him south again. He walked through the buildings, then through the square, past the clock tower, and then passed by the bridge once more. His pace had increased a great deal compared to his leisurely walk from earlier.

"Hey, Chad." Graham approached first. Blake was really glad he did, because he really couldn't handle these guys.

"Hello, SIR!"

"Where did Eth say he was going off to now?"

"He didn't specify, even when we asked. He just said he needed to meet up with his workers."

"Alright, thanks, Chad, thanks, Brad. Keep up the good work and just keep track of anything this guy does in the future if we ask."

"Thank you, SIR!" They replied in unison. The two quickly made their way down the metal bridge. A cool breeze caused their clothes to flutter as they spanned the width of the river.

"Mines?" Blake suggested.

"Probably." Blake checked his stopwatch. 2: 37 The next shift at the mines began in… What was it, 3? He'd never cared much about their daily lives. Assuming it was 3, there were only 27 minutes remaining until the next shift. Eth was probably rushing to arrive before they were forced to work any more. Why should the workers he bought with his own money be withered away by the exhausting labour of Slack-Stone? Of course, he wanted the workers out of there!

"Let's wait here." Graham proposed as they arrived in front of a two-story restaurant. Positioned close to the mines and fairly south, it was one of the nicer establishments around. They were just a few streets away from the mines, where they watched Eth's figure vanish. They could pursue him deeper, but it was likely he'd turn around soon and maybe even catch them in the act.

With the city being shaped like a reverse water droplet, there was only one point where the slums met Slack Stone, so he was more or less sure they would be able to at least track which direction he exited from their clear vantage on the second floor. There was simply no reason to risk it. More importantly, he was hungry.

"Alright!" The meal was some sort of mysterious meat packed into hollowed-out bread that was a little too thick. Not bad, but it couldn't possibly compare to the stuff at Laura's. Thinking of her, his mind drifted off. She had a crush on him; he just knew it. He just needed to get the courage to ask.

"He's leaving." Graham ripped him out of his daydream. The mysterious figure in the top hat was walking northwest, four figures behind him. Two girls who were talking amongst each other, and two guys who seemed to be excitedly talking to Eth. Yet the pragmatic businessman didn't seem very interested in what they had to say, so after a minute, the two guys shared a look of disappointment before stepping back and joining the two girls in their discussion.

As Eth led the four people, Blake and Graham quickly finished up their meal and followed suit. He was leading them towards the shopping area. And that's when they saw it. What used to be an open space was now filled with a massive red and white tent that stood out from the dark and broken architecture around. The large entrance had a small gap, allowing them to peep in. It looked extremely out of place, if nothing else. They couldn't just barge in, so the two circled around to find the same view all around.

One massive tent. Near the back, there looked to be something more structurally sound, but it remained covered by the tent. They looped back to the front once more.

"Looks like we're waiting here." Blake sighed. A flash of aura emanated from Graham as he activated his ability.

"Here." He extended his hand, offering Blake one of the two binoculars he had pulled from his storage.

"We won't be able to hear much, but the front entrance has a decent-sized hole."

"Is this our celebration?" Graham shook his head, sharing Blake's disappointment.

"Just think of the credits." Blake sighed again and swiped one of the binoculars from Graham's hand. Then the two walked a little further and got comfortable inside some nearby bushes. With their binoculars, they peered into the circus tent. Today was supposed to be so fun.