What a delicate situation this was, and an annoying one too. Tetsuya wanted to simply ask around for any information concerning their stolen relics and yet he worried doing so might cause further problems. Did the people of Ru even know about their troubles? No doubt seeing one of Shima's guards out and about in their town raised some questions but he doubted they had put two and two together. If he was going to ask around for information then it would need to be the right people, someone he could trust; trust when it came to complete strangers was a bit difficult to come across, unfortunately. Though he sincerely doubted anyone from Ru had stolen the relics he couldn't wipe that possibility from the slate, not just yet. 

The very few places that Tetsuya could think to ask around were taverns; plenty of folks came and went in these, it was only reasonably then someone might know something. Either word had spread of his causing a bit of a scene before or people were naturally wary of an outsider, whatever the case was he found it quite difficult to get anyone to talk. After coming up empty on the third attempt he had resigned to wander off a bit, try to gather his thoughts and come up with a new plan. Sitting at the banks of a small pond he stared out over the water, watching as a team of ducks swam through, pecking at whatever might be at the water's surface. Watching curiously he spotted a shadow in the water, raising his eyebrows a second later when a koi rose up to try and attack the ducks, probably trespassing on its grounds. Rather than flee the ducks began swatting and kicking at the koi, successfully driving it away and resuming their feeding as if nothing had happened.

That's what he needed, a team. Or at the very least a partner to help cover ground, as two heads were better than one. Lord Shima had stressed sending him alone in order to keep suspicion from rising, and while the young Neko respected his decision it did make his own job much more difficult. Maybe he was just going about it all wrong, maybe he could find another way to work around this issue. Where espionage was hardly his forte however Tetsuya couldn't even begin to come up with a plan. If it took much more than direct questioning it was a little beyond him, and much to his chagrin that strength didn't seem to be panning out here. For a town that was supposed to be receptive to outsiders he couldn't get much luck going for himself.

[color=39b54a]"Or maybe I'm missing something..."[/color] Tetsuya mumbled, letting out a sigh as he plucked up a stone. Reeling his arm back he tossed it into the pond, watching as it skipped a few times before sinking below the surface. [color=39b54a]"Think... The war must be effecting these people too, maybe if I can figure that much out I could help..."[/color] He had been told by other guards that sometimes you needed to do a bit of work on the side to get people talking, earn their favor in a way. While Tetsuya loathed to waste time doing menial tasks it could well be his only option to finding out what he needed to know. 

[color=39b54a]"Well, won't find anything out just sitting here, I suppose."[/color] Grabbing his sword and shield from the ground beside him Tetsuya placed them onto his back again, securing them on a clip fastened to a strap that ran across his chest and back. For a moment he considered leaving the weapons behind, figuring maybe it was his having them that was making people not want to talk. Then again near everyone in Ru seemed to be trained and armed, so thinking that he might be intimidating everyone or anyone was a little absurd. Smiling slightly he shook his head, marching back up the hill leading to the pond and getting back on the road. Right... So where to next?