Ajax and Shaula loot most of the offenders as well. A little fee for the trouble. As a result, they are able to get some spending money. This was Shaula’s main objective for tackling crime in the city. Who better than criminals to fund their stay here? Who would the violent attackers and sex pests caught in the act go to about a robbery? The cops?

On their third day in the city, Ajax and Shaula put this new windfall towards clothes shopping. After their trip to a neighborhood clothing store, they bought better outfits. Ajax wears a simple gray, long sleeve shirt and black pants combo with a dark gray cloak. Shaula has a dark-blue dress on. It has long sleeves and a long skirt extending to her ankles.

The style restrictions for women appear once again. All dresses in the store have designs incorporating full body cover.

She also gets a shawl which she ties into a stylish, long tail head wrap. For whatever reason, she arrived in this world completely hairless just like Ajax did. She started to feel cautious about her current baldness after noticing a few looks. The women in this city universally have long hair.

Her hair is growing normally, but still, she must adjust her fashion while waiting for her long locks to return. She cannot risk sticking out here…

All of their fashion choices were approved by the clothing store employees. They did receive disdainful glances for their original tasteless attire and impoverished appearance. But, when the money appeared, all was well. 

The two of them are currently walking through the city in their new clothes while gathering more information about the world. It seems impossible to them that it’s a coincidence they were summoned while a major war was going on. From what they’ve been hearing with their superhuman ears, this is the first war of its kind in millennia.

Furthermore, the rumors about the south aren’t going away.

Everyone is talking about either the war or the Southern rumbling. Many of the people on the street seem to think what Angelidis thought. The rumbling must be the result of the battle between Osva and Semjaza. Ajax continues to listen carefully while casually telling Shaula what he hears.

Shaula meanwhile digs into a food cart meal, a delicious, freshly baked stuffed roll. This one has some meat in its filling and whatever it is, she loves it.

“Shaula, they’re saying that more merchants are coming in from the South with more information about the quaking.”

“Hmm. *Sigh* The more I think about it, the scarier it becomes. No way we can face gods. What if they do reach this city?” Shaula takes another bite. She pauses as Ajax’s face pales slightly.

[Whoa… Actually, one of the merchants came with news about a massive tsunami… Holy fuck.] Ajax stops walking while starting to whisper silently. Shaula follows his lead and lowers her own voice.

[What? What’d you hear? What?]

[One of the merchants just mentioned that this country has a population of… fifteen billion demihumans and humans combined.]

“Wh… What!?” Shaula exclaims in her full voice. A few people around the two of them notice. Both demihumans (beastkin) and humans are mixed among the crowd in this small shopping district. Feeling slightly embarrassed, Shaula leads Ajax to an area away from the crowd. As Ajax is dragged along, he continues whispering.

[And… that’s only in this country. Just in this country alone… The Empire of demons, which apparently has beastkin, demons, draconids and… dragons… ruling over each province, might have a comparable number.] The street preachers talking about the Empire did not go into much detail about the Empire.

This is new, shocking information for them. Shaula finishes off the last bit of her meal in a hurry. She tries to gather her thoughts.

[But… that… How does that make any sense? Look at how underdeveloped this world is! They’re still using fucking carriages, people are still dying of starvation even in this city! How in the fuck could this world already have thirty billion humans!?]

[I-I have no fucking idea. He… he mentioned the population because… he heard a rumor.] Ajax pauses with a frowning expression. He has more to relay.

[What is it? What’d he say?] Shaula speaks seriously. Ajax’s sad expression fills her with worry.

[Apparently… millions of people died during a tsunami caused by a massive earthquake. He’s saying that the tsunami flooded a portion of the southern coastlines and instantly wiped out multiple… cities.]

[Cities!? Wait… if that number of people died instantly, then how many more would be killed in the aftermath? How many more would be displaced? It might even be a hundred million refugees for a tsunami like that… Holy fuck. What kind of scale does this place go at?]

[It’s not confirmed yet obviously. I-I mean, let’s… let’s think about this. Let’s calm down. Really, this… This is all just rumors, right?]

[I mean… I guess the tsunami could still be a rumor, but still I’m just trying to wrap my head around the population. He wouldn’t just lie about the country’s population while telling a story. At least that has to be a rough estimate. Wow…]

The two of them contemplate things like this during the day. They continue to hear incredible things about this world just by walking down the street. Things that don’t make sense, things that make too much sense, things that feel ugly that might feel normal to the average citizen…

At night, they focus less on the free floating rumors and more on their powers. Under cover of darkness, they practice. Over and over, they practice. Their running, their reflexes, their agility, their physical strength, their senses. Her fire and his ice. Even their healing factors. These are all valuable tools for survival.

More than anything else, they must survive. In order to return home, they must survive. In order for Ajax to see his family again, they must survive.

Tonight, Shaula has a new idea on how they can better achieve their goal of survival.

[Let’s start stealing shit.]

[...]

[Come on, don’t give me that look. *Sigh*. Fuck. We don’t have money. We gotta get enough money to figure out how to return home. Money buys a lot of things. Information. What if we need books that can only be found in bookstores and not libraries? We also need to have some scratch saved up for clothes to burn through if we accidentally set off our powers.]

[...You’ll need, you mean.]

[I’ll burn yours too if that’s what you want. We also need a home base maybe. Or at least an inn to stay in. We haven’t showered in a while.]

[Hmm. Wouldn’t it be enough if we squat in an abandoned building or something? And really… don’t forget that we haven’t been able to fall asleep.] This is something that Ajax and Shaula have noticed over the past few days. They’ve lost the ability to perform certain biological functions. 

Excreting waste is one of them. Their bodies seem to run too efficiently for any waste to be produced. It is certainly odd to lose universal human traits so quickly, but it’s not hurting them. They do not have any body odor on them anymore. They don’t sweat so bacteria cannot grow on their bodies.

Although they haven’t noticed yet, viruses and bacteria cannot survive on their bodies at all. As a result, there is no body odor that they need to be mindful of. They cannot get sick either. Things had been good with their new bodies so far.

Until they realized that they can’t sleep. That feels more disturbing to them. They haven’t been able to feel rested and they haven’t been able to dream. The rest issue is not a problem because they never feel tired in the first place. Their bodies always feed them a steady source of energy from who knows where.

But, to not ever feel rested in the future is inhuman to them. To not dream is disturbing.

If they could get their ability to sleep back, they might want to keep it. At least to have the option rather than having no ability to sleep at all. These bodies come with changes.

Shaula feels that this is the price for power. Ajax is more anxious about it. He is far more anxious than her about all of the changes they’ve gone through. He’s struggling not to consider the amount of time the two of them might remain in this world. Shaula had wanted shelter so when he feels ready, he could go through his loss in a safe, warm place.

But, of course neither of them can feel warm anymore. Shaula decides to stop talking about a homebase for now.

[So, what do you say? Let’s find some people who are actually rich and steal from them. They’ll keep most of their money in a bank anyways and they probably have insurance, assuming that’s a concept here.] Shaula tries to play off her worries, but she does notice Ajax’s stress. Perhaps, she went too far the past few days. She had plan after plan and he went along with it without whining. He replies to her plan that she already feels like taking back.

[*Sigh*. Fine. You’re right. What we need is going to take money. We might as well have more than enough than not enough. We’re doing everything we can already, we’re beating the shit out of criminals like comic book heroes, we’re awake all the fucking time and we need a place to lie down when we want to. Even if we can’t sleep, we can still lie down on something soft, right? Fucking. Fine! Fine…]

Ajax looks up at the night sky. He looks up at the red moon. It first appeared yesterday night. Nobody worried. It just looked ominous to him but it was a normal sight. It’s just another thing. Like everything else, he just has to bear it for now. This is all temporary. He knows that this is all temporary.

[*Sigh* Fine. But, Shaula, they have that weird noise canceling thing, remember? Houses as rich as ones you would target are gonna be as silent as a church mouse. It’ll be harder to know what’s going on inside those kinds of houses, right? More chances of getting caught, too.] Shaula smiles at him. He has gotten over his stress for now. Exercise always evens him out. Both of them are gonna have some fun.

[Since we’re already in the city, I think we can afford to take a greater risk. Don’t worry. I have a plan.]