There Were Always Some Strange People

Erza really hadn't noticed Eleven following her. No matter how much Eleven fooled around, it was impossible to detect him when he put his whole heart into playing hide-and-seek without a certain level of Spiritual Power. At least, Erza couldn't do it yet.

Eleven even followed Erza onto the train. After buying a ticket, he professionally made his way up to the roof. Sitting there with the strong wind whipping his hair into a mess, he felt proud! Sensing the unsuspecting Erza directly beneath him, he felt an inexplicable sense of superiority well up inside him.

Eleven didn't know what Erza's job was, and he had followed her without even making any preparations.

Now, Erza and Eleven entered a rather desolate little town, one after the other. It wasn't particularly run-down, but there weren't many people around. It lacked the bustling vitality of Magnolia. Eleven didn't know where he was, either; he had simply followed her all the way here.

With so few people in town, he could no longer use the tailing techniques he had employed in Magnolia. Otherwise, the whole street would be watching him put on a one-man show. How the hell was he supposed to follow her then?

With no other choice, Eleven reluctantly walked into a dark alley. He decided to hole up there and follow Erza using his Spiritual Power.

As for turning invisible and following her? Impossible! How could a professional stalker use such a crude method? At the very least, at the very least, he had to stay hidden in the shadows at all times!

"Oh? Erza went into a weapon shop. Is her job to help out at the weapon shop?"

Eleven had his back against the wall, peering around the corner. Of course, he wasn't actually looking at anything. He was observing Erza entirely through his Spiritual Power; he was just entertaining himself with a role-playing game.

"Hey there, little brother~ What are you sneaking around for?"

A frivolous voice came from the dim alley. A young man swaggered out, sporting an exaggerated rainbow-colored pompadour and a nose ring.

Eleven turned to look and was immediately stunned by the person before him. The man wore a pair of baggy jeans, but they were covered in horizontal slashes, leaving the pants in strips that looked barely capable of covering his underwear. His T-shirt also had many neatly cut slashes scattered across it, even exposing the little black dot on one side of his chest.

Dressed in rags.

That was Eleven's only assessment of him. His clothes looked like a few tattered rags hanging from his body, and combined with that exaggerated hairstyle, Eleven couldn't decide whether to pity him or look down on him. After some thought, he decided it was best to ignore him.

The young man wasn't angry when Eleven gave him one look and then ignored him. Instead, he stepped in front of Eleven and slammed a hand against the wall with a bang, pinning him against it.

"Kid, you're a new face! Sneaking around like that... What, did you come to my town to cause trouble?" The young man looked at Eleven teasingly, as though he were a lamb waiting for slaughter.

Eleven had a guilty conscience and immediately thought he'd been found out for following a girl again. He began to stammer. "N-no, I, I... didn't do anything!"

The young man was delighted to see Eleven react that way. He knew he'd picked the right target this time.

"Don't be nervous, little brother. I'm not trying to give you a hard time. How about this? Give me twenty thousand J, and I'll make sure you're safe and free to go wherever you want in town. How's that?"

The young man gave Eleven a sinister grin. He hadn't picked his target at random. For one thing, Eleven was obviously an outsider, making him easier to extort. For another, although Eleven had grown up in an orphanage, he had been a mage for almost two years and had quite a bit of money. Since he often modeled himself after Laxus, his outfit, though far from luxurious, looked a little better than what most children wore. Kids dressed like that were his gang of punks' favorite targets.

Eleven was a little confused by the punk's words. What did he mean? He wanted to protect him?

Eleven had never been extorted before, and no one had ever told him what it was like. He was genuinely considering whether to hire the poor, ragged man in front of him.

He instinctively felt his pocket. He had left in such a hurry that he hadn't brought much money, and after buying his train ticket, he had only a few coins left. He took them out and held them in front of the young man.

"I don't have that much money on me. Is this enough?"

The young man flew into a rage at the sight of the few clinking coins. He punched the wall and shouted, "Kid, do you think you're tossing change to a beggar?"

Eleven glanced at the young man's ragged clothes and mentally roasted him, but he didn't say anything. After all, the man meant well in wanting to protect him.

"Alas, I guess it's not enough. I'm very sorry, but I won't hire you to protect me, then." Eleven first lamented his own poverty, then bowed sincerely to the young man to express his apology.

Eleven's behavior left the young man dumbfounded. In all his years of extorting countless people, he had only ever encountered three types: those who immediately backed down, those who acted tough and got beaten up by him, and genuine Long Aotians who acted tough and beat him up instead.

But he had never seen anyone reject him as sincerely as Eleven did! He felt as if his confession had just been rejected, and he was even a little disappointed.

After a long silence, the young man finally gave up thinking and fell back on the standard thug's logic: this brat had to be messing with him!

"Ah! You little bastard, you're messing with me! I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Oh, Erza came out of the weapon shop. Why did she go into an armor shop now?" Eleven continued his covert observation from his corner.

Behind him, the young man gradually came to, rubbing the large bump on his head. As soon as he saw Eleven, he began shouting, "Y-you're a mage? Don't tell me you came here to deal with our boss?"

Eleven frowned at the young man. He had finally realized something was wrong. There was definitely something wrong with this guy's head!

He had refused the man's protection, and the man had immediately flown into a rage and tried to hit him. Who would dare hire him like that? Maybe he had mania. It was best to ignore him.

Seeing that Eleven was ignoring him again, the young man scrambled to his feet and fled, muttering as he ran, "I have to hurry and warn Boss Jack!"

Eleven glanced at the fleeing young man but paid him no further attention. He was more concerned about Erza.

He still didn't know what Erza's job was, but she had finally stopped simply walking the streets. She had bought a suit of black armor that fit her.

Then, to Eleven's surprise, the armor vanished as soon as it passed into Erza's hands.

"Space magic?"

Eleven muttered to himself. This was his first time seeing Erza's magic. He had initially thought she was a mage who specialized in strengthening blades, but he hadn't expected her to be able to use space-attribute magic. Appearances really could be deceiving.