[What now, Shaula?]

[This street has too many people, let’s wait for him to go into an alleyway or something.]

[It might take a while, you know?]

[It’s alright. You can head to the inn if you want. I can keep my eyes and ears on him.]

[...No, I’m fine waiting, That… That announcement was really something, huh…]

[I know what you mean. Me, I-I couldn’t stop thinking about… oh, he’s getting up. Watch him with me, let’s not lose him again.]

Ajax and Shaula watch the thief walk through the streets, trying his best to blend into the crowd. He lifts coin pouches from two more people, both human. He pickpockets a few others as Ajax and Shaula tail him. He displays a lot of finesse. He seems to stick to humans who look well off, but not too well off.

Nobody who would send people after him if they found out they were stolen from.

Ajax and Shaula dressed in stylish formal wear must have looked the same way. Ajax respects his hustle. Shaula wonders if they should continue tracking him or just leave him alone. She was being a bit dramatic earlier. She actually thinks it’s perfectly fair that he aimed for her while she was distracted.

If she was a pickpocket, she’d have done the same, been just as rude. But, losing twenty silver coins and twenty bronze coins feels like a loss. That’s about $2600 if their estimated exchange rate is right.

Shaula is also interested in watching his technique. She’s never seen someone who could steal money off a person undetected. She wouldn’t have noticed either, but her skin is much more sensitive than it used to be. She had felt the sudden loss of weight at her waist when her coin pouch was swiped.

[Ah… Good, it’s about time.]

The pickpocket walks away from the busy streets into a series of connecting alleyways. From what Ajax can tell, this direction is towards the neighborhood of Astrid. He can also tell that the alleyways are empty. While tracking the sound of his footsteps, Ajax and Shaula continue following him.

It feels like now is a good time to intercept.

[Well, let’s finish this, we’ve already wasted enough time. Mask on.] Ajax takes out two handkerchiefs from his pocket. The two of them tie the cloth handkerchiefs over their faces, hiding their nose, mouth and jawline. Ajax and Shaula still have their fancier clothes on, and Shaula still has her head wrap on as well.

Normally, they might be more inclined to make use of their powers for this situation. Shaula would set her head on fire. Ajax would cover his head in an ice helmet. But, right now, they’re wearing good clothes. A flashy entrance can always be done in other situations with less expensive wear.

They’re still focused on preventing people from recognizing them on the street. When they get home, they’ll have to change clothes and keep their fancy outfits out of rotation for a while.

Shaula and Ajax start running towards the sound of the man’s footsteps. However, before they even see him, they hear his steps suddenly increase in pace. It seems he noticed his pursuers before they even appeared.

Not bad. Shaula thinks. This guy’s quite capable.

[I’ll handle it.]

Ajax runs even faster. He has become much better at controlling his balance and agility over the past few days. He’s happy for the opportunity to show off. He turns a corner and sees the pickpocket sprinting off. Within a few seconds, he catches up to him. Ajax leaps over his head and lands in his way.

The pickpocket stops, his path forward obstructed.

“Wow… That was pretty cool.” The pickpocket says this while breathing heavily. He was running away from them at a really fast speed, but he just couldn’t match the current Ajax.

He turns around to see who's behind him. Shaula has already appeared there. He’s trapped in this alleyway now.

The pickpocket sighs.

He pulls his hood down to show the pointy fox ears on the top of his head.

“So… what can I do for you two?”

The pickpocket has dark violet hair unlike what a human would have. His right ear has three ring earrings. The wind blows around the man, opening up his cloak a little. Ajax just now realizes that his body is fit and muscular, built like a professional gymnast.

The hood of his cloak was covering his ears. His hair could be easily misconstrued as black as well, a hair pigment not associated with beastkin. This might have made him seem less shady to his human targets. Humans in this world would be more cautious towards beastkin who they assume are criminals by default.

This beastkin just happens to fit their prejudice. But, they’d lower their guards, thinking he’s human.

The pickpocket is facing Shaula right now, and she has a good look at his clothing. His shirt under his cloak is black with long sleeves. Across his chest are two straps, both hanging at his right shoulder.

One strap is attached to a backpack. This is where he holds all of the coin pouches he lifts. The other strap is connected to a sheath at his left lower ribs. Shaula sees the brown sheath as he fluidly pulls a dagger from it with his right hand.

“Cool knife, right? My mother gave it to me.”

Shaula regards the single-edged blade. It is a knife similar to a long kerambit. The sharp blade edge is black while the rest of the knife is dark gray. It isn’t reflective at all. The sheath itself is brown and inconspicuous.

After all, you wouldn’t want your opponent to be able to see a blade coming from its reflection, right?

Shaula guesses the man is trained in knife combat, but she’s not sure it’ll give him an advantage against her. She sees that his left forearm has a single bracelet tied to look like two bands. His pants are light gray, and his mid-calf boots are dark brown. Over his pants, he wears a dark gray, patchwork skirt, extending from his waist to just below his knees. 

She can see his ears twitching. He seems to be trying to get an idea of what Ajax is going to do behind him.

Ajax can tell his heart is racing. He feels like this pickpocket thinks he’s about to die.

[You’ll handle it, right? Don’t drag it out.] Ajax whispers.

[Alright, fine. Let’s go to the library after this.]

The pickpocket rushes towards Shaula while watching her whisper inaudibly. He slashes downwards to where her carotid artery would be, his kerambit behaving like a hook. She prepares to dodge, but it’s just a feint. Using his left arm, he boldly tries to strike her right side.

Shaula ignores the attempt and walks past his knife arm as if dancing a waltz. She takes advantage of his arm extended in feint by snatching his knife.

The pickpocket realizes what just happened. His eyes tremble. He didn’t realize he would be so easily outmaneuvered. Shaula can tell that his heart rate is shooting up in panic. However, it soon stabilizes. He accepts that he is outclassed here.

The pickpocket starts to laugh slowly and softly at first. Then, faster and louder until his laughter fills the alleyway. His laughter dies down gradually as the smile leaves his face. He sighs in resignation.

“...Alright, I give up. Just make it quick.”

His eyes close as his arms drop to his shoulders. Ajax feels sad for the guy. Perhaps he should have warned Shaula about what this guy is thinking. Right now, she looks like she has no idea what’s going on with him.

“What do you mean… Uhh… I’m not here to kill you though?”

[Shaula, you get that’s what he’s been thinking, right?]

[Really?]

[We followed him to an alleyway far from the crowds, prevented him from escaping, and then you easily disarmed him. You were hearing his heartbeat, right?]

[I-I thought he was just fighting to protect his coins, you know, his mealticket! Fuck, now I feel bad…]

The pickpocket opens his eyes, and his face turns expressionless. He’s not in danger right now, but he feels like he’s just been toyed with. It’s not a good feeling.

“I just want my coins back. Can you hand them over?”

“Uh, s-sure, fine.”

The pickpocket removes his single-strap backpack and hands it over to Shaula. 

“Could you close your eyes for this? I don’t want you to know which pouch I took.”

“Alright, but I remember how many coin pouches are in there… You’re not planning to rob me, are you? Not much I can say if you decide to though…”

“…” Shaula spends a few seconds searching for her pouch among the ones this pickpocket has already grabbed. She removes her pouch and throws it to Ajax while the pickpocket’s eyes remain closed.

“Alright, I got mine.” The pickpocket opens his eyes as Shaula hands his bag back. He checks it to see that only one pouch is gone. Shaula can see a bit of dejection in his face. She feels bad. She had just wanted to kill some time, but now this guy has this near-death experience. People can get PTSD from things like this.

He wasn’t a pure scumbag, just a… hustler. 

He targeted people who looked like they already had financial security.

Shaula walks over to Ajax and takes back her pouch. While her back is turned to the pickpocket, she takes five silver coins out from it. She walks back to the pickpocket who looks afraid to leave without permission.

“Sorry for making you think I was gonna kill you. Here. For your trouble.”

She hands the pickpocket five silver coins. He looks over at her dumbfounded. Her behavior doesn’t make sense to him at all. Why would she spare anything for him, let alone five silver coins?

To Shaula, who gained a lot of money in just a single night, five silver coins is nothing. It doesn’t feel wasteful to her to hand over what wasn’t originally hers to begin with.

“Take a day off, do something nice for yourself. Just be more careful who you steal from next time.” She offers him this somewhat condescending advice. It is her right as the magnanimous victor.

“…”

Shaula walks past Ajax out of the alleyway. Ajax is about to follow her but lingers for three seconds. He stares at this man looking blankly at his five silver coins. He had noticed the pickpocket’s face and mannerisms throughout the day. He wonders why he laughed when he realized the hopelessness of his situation. Is that something that people actually do?

He feels curious about this man. But, hopefully they don’t meet again.

The pickpocket lifts his eyes and meets Ajax’s. Ajax turns and walks away behind Shaula.