"This city looks alive and busy." Shiva looked at the row of stalls and buildings on either side of him. "Its economic wheel turns, people work, goods change hands. But if you look more closely, all of it turns only to benefit a handful of people."
Ash listened without interrupting.
"They buy harvests from village farmers at prices that barely cover the cost of planting. Rice, vegetables, livestock, all bought at very cheap prices under the pretext of transportation and market risk." Shiva nodded toward the large stalls on the side of the road. "Then those same goods are sold here at three to four times the price. The difference goes into the pockets of those businessmen."
"The farmers don't protest?"
"Protest to whom? This is the only distribution channel that exists. If they don't sell to the city wholesalers, their harvests rot in the warehouse."
Ash was silent for a moment.
"Does the mayor know about this?"
Shiva let out a short sound from his nose, not a laugh, more like a reaction to a question whose answer was already too obvious. "He is precisely the one who arranges all of it. The big businessmen in this city pay him, and he protects them. Price regulations, distribution permits, all arranged so there is no opening for small traders to compete."
"The people just stay silent?"
"There were those who once protested." Shiva's tone dropped slightly. "But Aegis is here. Anyone who starts speaking too loudly will receive an unpleasant visit. No need to be arrested, just made afraid, and usually that is already enough."
Ash stopped walking.
Shiva, who was half a step behind him, nearly collided with his back. "Hey, why did you stop?"
"Aegis," said Ash.
Not a question, not an ordinary statement either. Just that word, spoken with a tone different from all the sentences before it.
Shiva studied Ash's expression from the side. There was something in that man's face that had changed, not obvious anger, but more like something that had been suppressed for a long time.
"If I were you, I would get out of this city immediately." Shiva continued walking slowly. "That Jason group is only one small unit. If the report about you has already gone up, what comes next will be far more."
"I will beat them all."
Shiva glanced toward him. "Like earlier?"
"Is there a problem with how I did it earlier?"
"There is." Shiva did not soften his answer. "You were too sloppy. You attacked with an axe without a pattern, easy to read, and Jason avoided you with almost no effort. If not for my help, you would still be chasing after him until now."
Ash's jaw moved slightly. "I was emotional earlier."
"A good fighter must be able to control his emotions."
"I could have incapacitated ten of his men with ease."
"Those were ordinary men."
Shiva looked at him for a few seconds, then laughed softly, not a mocking laugh, but the laugh of someone who found something funny without being able to hold it back. Ash snorted and resumed walking.
They made their way along a road that grew narrower as it approached the eastern side of the city, the buildings here older and more tightly packed, thick moss visible on several sections hidden in shadow and some of the alleyways between them were only wide enough for one person to walk straight through.
Suddenly Ash's hand was pulled hard to the side.
Shiva dragged him into one of those narrow alleyways, Ash's back nearly touching the wall on one side and his shoulder nearly touching the wall on the other. "What are you–"
Shiva's palm covered his mouth.
Shiva pointed out toward the main road they had just left with one finger, his eyes focused in that direction.
A group of men dressed all in black passed over the cobbled road on thin boards that floated several dozen centimeters above the ground, each holding a small handle in front of their bodies to control the speed and direction. They moved in a two-row formation, not speaking, their gazes focused on the road.
Ash and Shiva did not move until the sound of small engines from those boards disappeared along with the thin dust left behind on the cobbled road.
Shiva lowered his hand. "I already said it." His voice was quiet but his tone was clear. "They would surely hunt us down soon, and we were strolling casually through the middle of the city as if nothing was happening. From now on I am the one who determines our route out."
Ash stepped out of the alley, back onto the main road.
"Hey." Shiva followed him. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Why should I be afraid of people who cannot even hurt me.?"
"So stubborn." Shiva walked behind him, his voice rising half a note. "This is not about being hurt or not, this is about not creating bigger problems."
"Go away if you're afraid. Besides, why are you following me?"
Shiva opened his mouth to answer, but the answer did not come out. His eyes instead dropped, looking toward Ash's neck and arm in front of him.
"Wait." His voice changed. "What are those blue streaks?"
Ash did not immediately answer.
Along his neck, and spreading down his left arm visible through the tear in his burned clothing, thin veins of bright blue were visible beneath the surface of his skin, like cracks in dry earth beginning to fill with water, spreading slowly in irregular directions.
***