13 Sneaking Around

The shuttle descended slowly.

It was a model unique to Chemos, and its enthusiastic creators had carefully designed a particularly special feature for it: when landing, the shuttle folded its wings like a real bird.

Of course, it had no benefit whatsoever beyond increasing costs and maintenance expenses, but that did not stop the people of Chemos from enthusiastically buying this model over and over again.

The hatch rose, and Anazion strode down. The fresh air that greeted him made his pale violet lips twitch involuntarily.

Before this, he had never smelled anything like it. Belisarius Cawl's private vessel was filled day after day with a pungent odor mixed with machine oil, leaving no room for anything resembling normal air, while the air within the fortress called Wing of the Eagle carried a faint hint of decay.

Anazion did not particularly like that smell, but he thought it was understandable—any old building probably smelled like that. Perhaps the wood or something else had reached the end of its service life and needed replacing.

He happily pulled up his hood and wrapped his scarf around himself, disguising himself as a tall, powerfully built mysterious traveler before slowly leaving the landing pad.

The Chief Librarian had suggested that he begin his tour with City No. 3. Apparently, it had the richest cultural atmosphere on all of Chemos, and its policies were very friendly toward travelers, so a steady stream of visitors came here every day.

Naturally, there was no shortage of nobles and their bodyguard entourages among them. Thanks to the presence of these mercenaries, cyborgs, augmented humans, and Ogryns, Anazion's build did not stand out quite so much.

He soon left the landing pad and arrived on a bustling avenue. The road was clean and orderly, the sidewalks on either side