When they reached the end of the alleyway, Crow hung back so Penelope could scout the area for knights. He waited for her to give the all-clear before he joined her on the edge of the road. Taking a moment to look around, he saw that she was right about the street being crowded. Even if it wasn’t the main road, there were enough nobles milling about to give him and Penelope some cover in case the knights from before were still searching for him.

“I guess that’s one similarity between Brerra and Younis,” he muttered when she mentioned how the nobles hadn’t tried to aid the knights in capturing him. “Nobles only care about themselves, no matter where they’re from. I doubt they could even fathom doing something for someone else.” He blinked, realizing he had let his tongue slip, and turned to her in a hasty attempt to backtrack, “I don’t mean you, of course. You’re not like that at all… I love you.” He kissed her awkwardly on the cheek.

“Hey!” Crow flinched at the sound of a voice behind him. He spun around to see two noblemen walking towards him, eyeing the bow strapped to his back. One of them—a man with white-blonde hair—knit his brow, “That’s an interesting bow you have there. Where’d you get it?”

The thief opened his mouth and then closed it again, biting back a reflexive [i]‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’[/i] Instead, he forced a pleasant smile. “Oh, this?” he said, casually dodging the question. “It’s just for hunting.”

“Looks a little big for a hunting bow,” the other nobleman—this one had a dark complexion—noted skeptically. “I’ve never seen anyone use equipment like that to—”

“I hunt bears,” Crow lied.

“Really?” the first noble whistled. “Impressive. I only hunt stags, myself.”

“Look,” Crow rested a hand impatiently on Penelope’s back. “I’d love to stay and chat, but we’re in a hurry.”

“Wait, wait,” the blonde noble said quickly. “You never told us where you got your bow.”

“Wandering merchant,” Crow answered vaguely. “I never caught his name.” Without waiting for a reply, he took Penelope by the hand and walked off, leaving the nobles behind. He turned to her once they had put some distance between themselves and the two men, “I’m starting to think it might not be a bad idea to travel through the forest and avoid all this attention after all.”