Carlos and Kaelis were walking along the path between the stalls in the northwest of the Bazaar.

  Because it was Sunday, a large crowd surrounded them. The crowd was exactly like the inside of Naucratis city—filled with all kinds of races and people dressed in upper-middle-class clothing.

  The place was so packed that Kaelis and Carlos could barely move forward. Especially Carlos; under normal circumstances, his outfit should have drawn everyone’s attention, yet no one was paying him any mind right now.

  Kaelis was still doing the only thing he had done since the first day he arrived in this world: following. Carlos slipped through the people, and Kaelis immediately followed through the gap he left behind.

  Kaelis wanted to look around, but it was extremely difficult because he was surrounded by so many different living beings. In his normal life, Kaelis was not someone who spent time in such large crowds—at least not in the last three years. The crowd was making him a little uncomfortable.

  Meanwhile, Carlos was scanning the surroundings. He was probably checking the goods on the stalls and looking out for any cop presence.

  The stalls held a thousand and one different products, just like in the world Kaelis had come from. Examples included dairy products, fruits, vegetables, or freshly baked pastries.

  Kaelis, who had barely eaten anything since arriving here—and even then only low-quality food—felt his appetite surge the moment he saw these fresh, fragrant foods.

  Carlos, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. As soon as he stopped, Kaelis stopped beside him. Kaelis couldn’t understand why they had stopped; the reason didn’t immediately come to mind.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “Nope, I just spotted something that caught my eye.”

  “Huh Really? So what are you going to get?”

  Carlos pointed at a spot with his eyes without raising his hand.

  Kaelis looked where Carlos’s gaze was directed.

  What he saw was a greengrocer stall with no customers in front of it, selling vegetables. Potatoes stood out prominently on the stall, even though there were other goods like tomatoes and cucumbers.

  Kaelis thought the food Carlos was pointing at was potatoes. From the lessons he had learned in his own world, he knew potatoes had very high nutritional value and would be a true blessing for someone struggling with hunger.

  Kaelis could guess what was about to happen, but he had no idea how Carlos would actually do it.

  Since arriving, Carlos had never given complete information about himself, or he had given wrong information.

  When Kaelis had first asked his name, Carlos had only said “Carlos,” but when Zeyd arrived, one of the people in the gathered crowd had said his full name was Carlos Castro. There was no solid proof that this was correct, yet it was perfectly natural for Kaelis to reach that conclusion from Carlos’s behavior since they had met.

  “Potatoes, right?”

  “Yeah”

  “This is my first time here with you, so I have no clue, but how are you going to do it?”

  “I’ll approach the stall secretly and take a crate of potatoes.”

  “———”

  “Don’t worry, I can carry a whole crate of potatoes easily.”

  “You said “secretly,” but how exactly are you going to approach secretly?”

  “Hmm so that’s what you were asking about. Thanks to my divine grace.”

  “You have a divine grace too?? Eduardo said they were rare, but it looks like everyone has one.”

  After these words, Carlos let out a light laugh. Kaelis’s face showed complete confusion.

  “That’s true, but I guess you just keep running into lucky people, haha.”

  “I wouldn’t call Eduardo lucky.”

  Carlos waited for Kaelis to finish speaking. When Kaelis realized the mood had turned serious, he simply stayed quiet.

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  The next job was Carlos’s, and Kaelis had to watch him carefully.

  Carlos spoke again in a low voice.

  “『Divine Grace of Swift Sneak』”

  “———”

  “This divine grace lets me move quickly and stealthily.”

  “Watch me!”

  After saying this, Carlos took action and slowly approached the side of the stall. Under normal circumstances, people should have sensed him through something like a sixth sense. Normally, you would feel it.

  For example, if someone stares at you without you noticing, you get a feeling and instinctively look around. But apparently the merchant didn’t need that, because he never sensed Carlos.

  Carlos slowly reached out from beside the stall. He threw one hand to the far side of the crate and grabbed the near side with the other. The moment he had a firm grip, he stood up and lifted the crate into the air.

  The moment the crate rose, the merchant noticed Carlos. His face showed hatred and anger, but he also looked completely caught off guard.

  With the crate of potatoes in his hands, Carlos immediately started running. While he fled, the merchant could only shout and curse, because he was neither young enough to chase Carlos nor could he leave his stall unattended.

  Kaelis was watching everything. For a brief moment his attention had shifted from Carlos to the merchant. When he looked back in the direction Carlos had run, he could no longer see him. Carlos had vanished quickly and silently.

  Roughly five minutes passed after the incident. Kaelis was still standing exactly where he had been.

  He looked like a small child who had lost his parents in the enormous Bazaar.

  Then Kaelis felt a hand on his shoulder. The moment he felt it, his fear shot the maximum. He was completely alone in this unfamiliar place, and now someone was touching him.

  “You’re still here!”

  The voice belonged to Carlos—the same person who had disappeared moments ago. When Kaelis realized this, he relaxed.

  “Oh it's you. You scared the hell out of me!”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you, haha.”

  Kaelis looked Carlos up and down, but something was missing. The crate of potatoes he had stolen earlier was nowhere to be seen. In a half-joking tone, Kaelis said,

  “Hey don’t tell me you let them take the crate from you.”

  “Let them take it? Me? Who do you think you’re talking to? I left the crate at our collection point.”

  “Our collection point?”

  “Yeah, the roof we dropped down to together. We’ll gather everything we steal there and carry it all back at the end of the day.”

  “Wait, wait a second—how did you even get there?”

  “The same way we climbed onto the roof at near the bridge.”

  “With a whole crate of potatoes in your hands??? You’re seriously unbelievable.”

  “Hahaha.”

  Both of them had smiles on their faces during the conversation. Kaelis was especially happy because they could finally eat something of decent quality—even if it was just potatoes.

  ***

  After moving a short distance away from where they had stolen the potatoes, Kaelis and Carlos began scanning for a new target.

  This time Kaelis wanted to find a stall himself so he could actually be useful.

  Carlos continued scouting the area with perfect professionalism, never letting his guard down.

  While they were still searching, Carlos suddenly froze in place.

  Kaelis turned toward him to ask what was wrong and saw Carlos’s face. It was filled with both panic and joy at the same time; Kaelis couldn’t understand what's going on.

  In a quiet, almost dazed voice, the words slipped from Carlos’s mouth.

  “A— Asaf?”

  When Kaelis heard the name, shock appeared on his own face too.

  “What— Where?”

  No one answered. Kaelis turned to look in the same direction Carlos was staring.

  There was a thin boy who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, with an appearance very similar to Carlos. This was exactly the boy Carlos had described when they first met in the alley—Asaf.

  Asaf was watching a stall. From the outside it was obvious he was planning something, but in such a dense crowd most people wouldn’t notice unless they were paying close attention.

  The stall was loaded with meats that were never missing from rich people’s tables—freshly cut beef, lamb, goat, the kind that made your mouth water.

  Kaelis stepped forward. The moment he did, Carlos grabbed him.

  “Hey why are you holding me? Come on, let’s go to him”

  “Wait!”

  “Why? The kid you’ve been searching for days is right in front of us.”

  “That’s true, but this is a matter of honor.”

  “Huh— What kind of nonsense is that?”

  *”He has to prove himself this way and show that he’s no longer a helpless”

  Kaelis had heard this kind of meaningless talk before. Still, he wanted to go to Asaf. But because Carlos was still holding him and talking about not interfering with the boy’s own job, Kaelis stepped back.

  At that moment, the boy—Asaf—slowly approached the stall. He grabbed a large piece of beef sitting on top. He immediately pulled it toward himself, but because it was heavy, his movements were not fast as Carlos’s.

  The merchant noticed him and shouted. His hand went under the stall and pulled out one of the medium-sized cleavers used for cutting meat.

  While trying to escape, Asaf couldn’t move quickly because of the crowd; he was practically trapped, yet he kept struggling.

  The merchant raised the cleaver, took aim, and locked onto his target. Using all his strength, he hurled the cleaver at the small child.

  The cleaver sank perfectly into the boy’s lower back. The moment it struck, the small child collapsed to the ground. The stolen beef lay among his own blood, and his body was covered in it as well.

  Kaelis and Carlos, witnessing everything firsthand, could only watch.

  Kaelis was in shock. How was this possible? How could the merchant throw a cleaver at a small child without the slightest hesitation? How could everyone around them continue their business as if nothing had happened? How? How?

  With these frantic questions swirling in his mind, Kaelis remained frozen in place from the shock.

  Carlos’s eyes were slightly wet; he was barely holding back his tears.

  He clicked his tongue, letting out a sharp “Tsk!”

  Then he grabbed Kaelis, who was still standing there motionless, and began dragging him away.

  He pulled him toward the nearest alley. Kaelis was still in shock and moved only because Carlos was dragging him; he wasn’t speaking or acting on his own.

  ***

  Using a pipe again, Kaelis and Carlos climbed from the alley onto a roof and simply stood there.

  Kaelis still hadn’t fully recovered, which was why Carlos had been the one to help him up.

  Slowly, Kaelis began to come back to himself—more precisely, he began to be able to speak again.

  He looked at Carlos, who was squatting and staring toward the edge of the roof.

  “Carlos…”

  “———”

  “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

  Carlos didn’t answer the question, but his silence said everything. Kaelis slammed his hand hard against the roof he was sitting on.

  “Why— why— why??”

  “———”

  “Why are you still standing there in silence, Carlos!!! A child was killed right in front of your eyes. Fine, he means nothing to me, but you yourself called him your brother! How can you stay silent like this?!”

  “Maybe— maybe if it weren’t for that stupid honor nonsense, that child would still be alive. Answer me, Carlos!!!”

  While saying all this, Kaelis had stood up and was speaking down to Carlos, who was still squatting.

  Carlos could endure no more; he stood up as well.

  He turned and looked at Kaelis behind him. Kaelis’s eyes held only rage. Carlos’s eyes held sorrow and pain.

  Finally, Carlos began to speak. The words came out slowly.

  He opened his hand, struck his chest where his heart was, and clenched it.

  “May God protect you, May God protect you, May God protect you! When, when will this God ever protect us! I’ve heard these cursed words thousands of times from hundreds of different people. Most of them aren’t even alive anymore. Do you know how many brothers and sisters I’ve lost? I watched every single one's death with my own eyes and did nothing but run away! I hate being alone so much that I keep trying to make new friends, new brothers, new sisters just so I won’t be alone. Otherwise, who would take someone suspicious like you into their home and by their side? Damn it!

  “———”

  “Do you think we chose this damn life? Do you think we never tried to fix it? We did.. many times. In the end we were oppressed because we were poor! In this life, we had no choice but to use the life God gave us!”

  “———”

  “If God truly wanted to protect us, would things be like this?! Even He wanted me to steal—that’s why He gave me this fucking Swift Sneak Grace. Why... just why, why did He give me this grace instead of a power that could protect all my loved ones?!”

  After this outburst, Carlos looked as if he had emptied everything inside him.

  Every word he spoke carried his pain. The same Carlos who had seemed suspicious from the very beginning, yet had always treated Kaelis kindly, had only one goal: not to be alone.

  Then Carlos moved toward the nearest pipe to climb down.

  This time it was Kaelis who remained silent. He gave no answer to Carlos’s outburst.

  What Carlos had said was the pure pain of a thief.