[h3][center][b]Nikou		-		Hyrule Castle City, Inner Wall District[/b][/center][/h3]	The hub of Hyrule Castle City was somehow even more busy than it usually was, people of all races and creeds swarming the streets. Banners covered the streets in advertisements for every possible event, and the numerous merchants with their stalls and whatnot constrained the crowded streets even more. This was an annual thing, unfortunately. It was the Hyrule Kingdom Combat Tournament. Nikou usually tried to avoid coming into the city when it was like this, not one for massive crowds of "unfamiliar" people, but of course the stars had to align and force him: the latest posting for him was to escort a fairly famous Zora merchant-politician into the city. It made sense-- the tournament was a huge attraction to everyone in the kingdom, and the festivities were an ideal way to bolster kinship between parties that can later be used to procure better trade agreements. That didn't mean Nikou couldn't bitch about it still, though, especially when he was effectively baby-sitting one of the newer recruits. Though, while Nikou hesitated to follow along for safety concerns, the politician was apparently nice enough to at least let them alleviate the boredom of such a uneventful job by allowing both Nikou and his junior, Kota, to wonder the town a bit while he was resting.

	"C'mon, don't you think I could win?" Kota nudged Nikou in the shoulder while beaming at all the posters and people they passed.

	[color=lightblue]"Not really."[/color] Nikou sneered. The last time he had sparred with Kota in practice, all of Kota's tells were far too obvious and the boy seemed to think that spinning around a lot was a good strategy for some reason. Any good fighter would capitalize on that in seconds, and there were a lot of those in a fighting tournament surprisingly. [color=lightblue]"You'd get curbstomped by the first Goron that walked in there with you."[/color]

	Kota frowned as he put his hands behind his head. "Then why don't you enter? I've seen you sparring with the other guys. You seem pretty good, man."

	[color=lightblue]"Not interested."[/color] He scoffed. Watching the tournament was going to have to be enough for the kid, 'cause even that was more than enough for Nikou. If he wanted to see a bunch of sweaty people with too much energy wrestle with eachother, he'd just go back to the barracks.

	Soon enough, the two Zora guards found themselves in the City Square, one of the biggest hubs in the entire damn kingdom. Hundreds of people flowed through the streets, though Nikou made special note of the large amounts of guards shifting through the masses. While they would of course watch over the crowds in such a buy event, they seemed even busier than that... It seems like they were scrounging every last guard together. Normally they'd be pretty relaxed about everything seeing as even the military had to take time off and unwind, but it was clear there was something they were particularly concerned about. Of course, Nikou knew of the serial murders that had been making their way through the Castle City, but that wasn't something that threatened the celebration as a whole.

	Walking up to the guard outpost out of curiosity, Nikou scanned the notices that had been put up. Most of it was pretty mundane stuff, but a few things peaked his interest. First, apparently some relatively underground Zora singer he liked was reported as wanted for illegal drug possession and trafficking. Secondly though, and likely related, there was a series of ID'd wanted posters for several people heavily suspected of smuggling and distributing illegal product. While he hesitated to call crime entertainment, this was a lot more interesting to Nikou than getting drunk and watching some people punch each other in a pit.

	Nikou rubbed his chin a bit, before turning back to Kota. [color=lightblue]"Looks like they have a new crime ring surfacing... I'm going to go ask about this."[/color]

	"Aww come on, Nikoouu," Kota whined, "I want to go see the tournament."

	[color=lightblue]"Do you need me to hold your hand or something? You can go yourself, Kota."[/color]

	"Fine, whatever." With that, Kota took off towards the coliseum in a hurry. It was probably for the best, anyway.

	With that distraction gone, Nikou peeled off one of the posters and walked over towards the nearby guard captain in the outpost. Holding up the poster, he spoke with confidence. [color=lightblue]"I'm a guard from Zora's Domain sent to keep peace in the midst of the celebrations. Seeing as you guys seemed to be stretched thin enough already, could you give me some intel on these criminals so that I could pursue my own investigation?"[/color] 

[center][@Sho Minazuki][/center]