Aiko also takes off her hood and pulls out her long hair from beneath the robe.

"Finally," she mutters, as the cool night breeze catches itself in the tangles and makes it sway lightly in the dim moonlight.

Crystal sighs, shaking her head, her ears itching in irritation and finally she says, "Well, I guess that answers your questions no why we can't 'go and join the scholar society'. Adventurers that constantly need to hide their face don't tend to have a very good reputation. Plus, it would mean betraying everything I am and have done. So no, I am not running from this life I have chosen. Besides, we've done just fine so far without the help of people like you."

Sebarius shrugs and leans back in his chair as he replies, "Figured as much...a shame though, I would've loved to work with you."

"Why though? In case it slipped your mind, Aiko's lost her memory of the time before imprisonment. As such, she's utterly useless in your studies. Oh and before you ask, no, she can't read 'the scripts of old' either."

"But I clearly saw her read you instructions back—"

"What you believe to see and what really happens are often two very different things, Mr. Sebarius. I remember that day all too well, and she wasn't reading some ancient instructions on how to fight the Golem. She remembered them. Like a flashback from her past."

"But...the slab in her hands..."

"A dud meant to distract the Golem from my attempts to get behind him. Though Blaze did a far better job at distracting him than Aiko at the time."

"...Blaze?"

"The fox. Bravest critter I've ever seen."

"And...where is he now?" Sebarius inquires, while Aiko makes an effort to get her hair brushed, obviously not very interested in the current conversation between Sebarius and Crystal.

Crystal tilts her head slightly to the front, supporting it with her left hand while asking, "Say, have you ever tried walking into town with a fox in tow? The whole point of these cloaks is to stay incognito. You know, keep your identity hidden. And that includes 'not drawing unwanted attention'. So yeah, Blaze is around."

She looks up again and towards the hill beyond the town before saying, "It's a warm and night. Since those goons kinda busted our joint earlier, we should lay low for a little while. And I know just the place."

"But...aren't your things still in that tavern?"

Crystal shoots Sebarius a sorry look and then replies, "Right, I forgot that you don't have any sort of experience with our side of the world. Listen, you never just 'leave your stuff at the tavern', you hide it in a secure location nobody knows about or with someone you can trust. That way, when the place you're staying at gets busted like today, the most they'll find are a few essentials. In short: As a thief, you generally travel light and don't leave potentially incriminating evidence for pursuers to find. This way, even if you end up being captured, they can't prove anything and even if they managed to find your stash, they'd still be unable to pin it to you."

While Sebarius still ponders Crystal's words, Crystal puts her hood back on and moves behind Sebarius to get to the handles of his wheelchair, while Aiko fights to get her fluttering hair back into her cloak, which fetches her a headshake by Crystal but not a single word is spoken.

The three of them move quietly through the alleys of the small town, while the guards finally realize that their targets had managed to escape and swarm out into the streets themselves to try and find them.

Aiko mutters, "I really don't want to trade places with the poor boy who let us out earlier."

"We all make our decisions and we need to live with the consequences," Crystal replies while still keeping pushing.

While they approach the outskirts of the town, Crystal finally asks the question that had been hanging admidst the three of them ever since that soldier had tried to put them under arrest, "So, you wouldn't happen to have any idea whatsoever why these guys tried to capture us....right?"

Sebarius sighs, leans back, pulls back his head to look at Crystal's face in the shadows of her cloak and asks, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that I have no idea, right?"

"No, I wouldn't. I've seen your reaction. You know exactly what these guys came for. And you also know as well as I do, that those guys weren't from law enforcement either...so, whom did you piss off enough, that they'd send a party of mercs after you? Cause even idiots like them are costly to hire."

"...it's part of my story actually, but—"

"But I don't want to learn about it when my head is already in the noose on the gallows, damn straight! So spit it out already! What have you done?"

"...have you ever heard of the 'spirit orb'?"

"...an enigmatic jewel, which is said to date back to the time before the great reset, wasn't it?" Crystal says.

Sebarius motions for Crystal to stop for a moment, reaches into a hidden compartment of his wheelchair and pulls out a small item which looks like a regular compass, if not for the tiny, brilliantly glowing tip on the needle, which points straight at Aiko.

"Miss Aiko, would you please walk around me?" Sebarius asks.

Aiko gives Crystal a puzzled look, who nods and Aiko starts walking.

And sure enough the needle on the compass follows her.

"How...how is this possible?" Crystal asks, while Aiko looks at the contraption more closely.

"I call it a 'spirit compass'. It works like a regular compass, however instead of using a magnet for the needle, I've fixed a tiny fragment of the spirit orb to the needle, so now, instead of pointing towards the north, it now points to the strongest source of spirit energy. And as it were, this source right now is you, Ms. Aiko. This is how I found you."

"...I have so many questions right now..." Aiko utters after a second of shock.

Sebarius nods and replies, "And I want to answer them the best I can in due time. And I am hoping that you will bear with my presence for a little while longer until I am done telling my story. How much farther is it to your hiding place?"

"Not much. We'll be camping outside of the ruins we were talking about before you interrupted us. That gives you the rest of the evening to finish telling your story. And it better be good, or else I'll personally deliver you to those goons we shook earlier, with a bow on top."

"Thank you, Miss Crystal."

"Drop it already. It's just 'Crystal', not 'Miss' or anything. Same goes for Aiko."

"Thank you, Crystal."