Newm, relay station.
The Moon Feast holiday had not yet ended, but the place was already packed with bustling crowds coming and going.
A long-bearded Dwarf draped in bearskin, looking like an upright bear cub, brandished the horsewhip in his hand and hurled filthy curses at the pedestrians blocking the way ahead.
Bare-chested, his lean, solid muscles bulging and writhing beneath sweat-slick pale green skin, a Half-Orc whose face had turned savage from exertion heaved several heavy sacks down from a carriage.
The Moon Feast was certainly worth celebrating, but for many poor residents in the slums who could barely fill their stomachs, at most it meant eating a relatively hearty dinner on the day of the festival.
Things like "holidays" and "rest" were luxuries only those "city folk" with proper jobs and steady incomes could afford to enjoy.
In their situation, one day less of work meant one more day of hunger.
No one was willing to give up a chance to earn money for the sake of some vague, insubstantial holiday custom.
"Extra! Extra!"
"Moon Goddess Church attacked! Suspected evil object circulating in the city!"
"..."
The newsboy's cries echoed through the crowded throng and reached his ears.
They drew Xia Nan's attention.
He looked over and saw a small, thin figure that seemed familiar, standing high on the driver's seat of a nearby carriage, vigorously waving the newspapers in his hand as he hawked today's news to passing pedestrians.
He had a vague impression that when he had first arrived in Newm, the one he'd run into had seemed to be this very boy.
He had originally wanted to buy a newspaper then, but because the accompanying caravan Guards had driven the boy away, he had not managed to.
And today, he had run into him again.