Kiana's morning routine didn't take much time.
After they both quickly replenished their energy with food and water, Aaron took several cloaks and masks from his storage space and handed them to Kiana.
"...Seriously, you don't think walking around the city in masks and cloaks is a problem?"
Kiana gave Aaron an incredibly weird look, completely unable to understand his logic.
"It's fine to be cautious, but being *too* cautious isn't good either."
"You're right—but I'm not asking you to wear the mask now. It's a backup, a *backup*."
With a small sigh, Aaron reinforced two of the cloaks with Knight of Owner, then pointed to one and said to Kiana, "As for this... I observed what people in this town are wearing while you were washing up. There are a lot of mercenaries and plenty of people of unknown origin. Us wearing cloaks is still better than going out in the clothes we're wearing now."
"Why?"
"Don't flaunt wealth—our world's technology level is much higher than here, and our textile tech is stronger. The fabric is naturally better than theirs."
"On top of that, the clothes I bought are relatively expensive, with even better fabric. If we walk out in these outfits, we'd probably be marked as fat sheep and hunted down."
"But if we wear cloaks... well, the cloak's fabric is also good, but it's harder for them to tell with a plain dark cloak."
"I added a buff to the cloaks to prevent anyone from attacking us with hidden weapons. The cloak's defensive coverage is much larger. With the buff, its defensive area can block most of this world's ordinary long-range attacks."
"Mhm, that makes sense."
Kiana put the cloak on, thoroughly convinced.
"I've learned something new. I never thought there'd be so much to consider just by wearing clothes."
"It might not be necessary in another world. But I'm mainly considering... that this world is rotten from top to bottom."
Glancing at the bustling street outside, Aaron added, "This town isn't far from the Imperial Capital. Based on my estimations, the reason there are so many mercenaries here is likely because it's close to the capital, and there's more money to be made. And where there's more money to be made..."
"It's also more convenient for backstabbing."
Aaron took out two metal bats and buffed them with Knight of Owner, then sighed.
"Two people with as little life experience as us... trying to get by in a chaotic place like this... we probably won't be killed immediately thanks to our strength, but the odds of us being swindled due to our inexperience are pretty high."
"Let's go. This really isn't a place we should stay."
"Yeah."
Kiana didn't say much as she listened to Aaron's analysis.
It wasn't that she was too lazy to think; it was that, after thinking about it, she realized that even if she knew the conclusion, she probably couldn't have deduced the process as perfectly as Aaron did.
*Since I can't find any flaws in my teammate's reasoning, overthinking it now is just asking for trouble.*
*I'll just follow his lead. Why should I think so much?*
After the two left the inn, Kiana could feel countless pairs of eyes scanning them on the street.
Most of the emotions in those eyes were curiosity, but a small fraction of them... weren't so friendly.
Greed, violence, killing intent, and even... lewdness?
If the lewd gazes were only directed at her, she might just get angry and try to ignore it.
After all, even though the cloak covered most of her body, people could still vaguely make out her figure and the half of her face that was showing, guessing she might be a beautiful woman.
But the problem is, why are some of them looking at *Aaron* like that?!
Is this world really that dangerous?!
Although most people just looked, these gazes were enough to make the inexperienced Kiana feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Stay close to me after we leave the city gate."
Hearing Aaron's barely audible voice, Kiana immediately whispered back, "You... sensed it too?"
"Yeah. My body hasn't fully recovered yet. But I can vaguely sense that ever since we left the inn, someone has been watching us."
"They probably think they're well hidden. But thanks to Perfect Attunement, my senses are always sharper than ordinary people's. The moment they looked at us, I knew they were there."
"...Ugh. I only had a vague feeling, but you could sense them that clearly?"
Kiana muttered softly at Aaron's intel, "Who's the Kaslana here, you or me...?"
"Don't worry about such small things. But if these people weren't *intentionally* letting us detect them, it means this is all they're capable of."
"Enemies of this level are no threat to us right now."
*But that's only if there's no oriole... behind this group of mantises.*
.....................
Half an hour later, in the outskirts of the town, Aaron looked at the enemies groaning on the ground and said coolly, "Coming out to rob people at this level... Aren't you looking down on me a little too much, fellas?"
"Tch, kid... don't get cocky!"
AThe bandit leader, already beaten, snarled viciously at Aaron and Kiana.
"I've got connections up top! If you knew who my backer was..."
"Connections up top?"
Aaron slammed the bandit's head into the dirt with his foot, then glanced at the other completely terrified enemies, and said indifferently, "It's the City Guard or the sentries, isn't it? My companion flashed a lot of money, they figured two young people would be easy targets, but they didn't want to get their own hands dirty, so they hired you guys to act as their deniable assets."
"After you kill us, you take a cut of the money, and the rest is theirs. I could've guessed this old-fashioned plot with my feet."
"Th-This..."
"Hmm?"
"This 'Big Bro'! It's all a misunderstanding! We'll scramble back to the city right now! We absolutely won't breathe a word of this to our bosses!"
Knowing that Aaron had already figured out who was behind them, how could the other bandits dare to show any resistance?
This guy knew who their boss was and still beat them up. This clearly meant their boss couldn't handle them.
Trying to act tough now was just asking to die.
"Hmm..."
Looking at the surrounding bandits, Aaron actually hadn't planned on letting them go back.
It wasn't that Aaron was bloodthirsty; it was just that every single one of these people was a menace. Letting them go back now would only create more victims in the future.
But if he killed them all...
He glanced at Kiana beside him and sighed softly.
He didn't have any large-scale AOE moves. If he wanted to get rid of these people, he'd have to go around and kill them one by one with his bat.
But that kind of scene was too violent. If Kiana saw it...
*Would she... go into super-pufferfish mode again from the shock?*
...........................