The main thoroughfare of Saint Grad City teemed with voices and the clamor of horses and carriages.
Elegant buildings and tidy streets spoke of the city's wealth and order.
Cui Ciyou and Sylphy walked side by side toward the spired Adventurers' Guild in the city center.
Their destination was clear, their steps steady.
They seemed no different from the passersby around them, some hurrying along, others leisurely browsing the streets.
Just then, however, Cui Ciyou subtly slowed his pace.
His gaze was drawn to a dark alley diagonally ahead.
A moment earlier, three men had furtively ducked into it.
Their steps were unnaturally quick, as though they were trying to evade something.
As for how the three looked... how should he put it...
They were all young, around their early twenties, and wore ordinary linen shirts.
The only distinguishing feature was the deliberately fierce look on their faces.
To describe it, their eyes kept darting about, yet they forced themselves to look menacing.
The corners of their mouths habitually turned down, as if announcing to the world, "Don't mess with me."
Cui Ciyou knew that look all too well.
They reminded him strongly of the street punks who had aimlessly hung around the criminal scene in his previous life.
That was not genuine ruthlessness.
True ferocity was a restrained quality.
It was something that settled into the bones after battles of life and death.
It could never be faked with a facial expression or a tattoo.
Those covered in dragon and tiger tattoos, forever talking about fighting and killing-
Might well be the first to faint at the sight of actual blood.
People who talked about risking their lives every day might never have done so once.
Ordinarily, Cui Ciyou would not have given trash like this a second glance.