Rumia was essentially slamming on the door to the sewer. She was probably making more noise than she needed to, but she was frustrated.

  “Amethyst? Amethyst!”

  “Jeez, what’s with ya?” Amethyst emerged from the darkness of the sewer, seemingly trying to fit back on her clothes as if she just got out of the bath. “Let me finish my bath, at least.”

  “Ah, sorry. I’m just a little bit stressed, is all,” Rumia apologized, as Amethyst opened the door to let her in. She dragged her bag into the sewer entrance, with all of the food that the sewer dweller had previously requested.

  “What’s up? Ya got one of those tests things or somethin’? If so, I can’t help ya,” Amethyst brushed off.

  “No. No. It’s just, I have this lady constantly following me around and she won’t even let me sleep. This is the first time that I’ve gotten any kind of break from her.”

  “Ohhh, I see. I can understand why that’d kinda suck. My condolences, then.”

  “Well, I don’t need just condolences, Amethyst. I need something. Grimace should be coming back soon, but I feel like his presence isn’t going to remove Yuzu’s own. I need something to get me out of sight, out of mind.”

  “Uh. What exactly do ya want from me, then?” Amethyst asked, raising her eyebrow. “As said, I don’t wanna be fightin’ any of yer battles. That’s beyond our relationship, yea?”

  “I’m not asking you that… I’m just… I’m just asking you for anything. Look, I can up your payment too. I’ve got a big job in the main government building and I can get you some special food from there.”

  “Oh, shoot, Rumi. Really? Grats! Ya making progress on ya plan to get outta here, then?”

  “It’s… one step at a time. I’m one step closer to finding where PASCAL lives, but it just hasn’t been revealed to me,” Rumia sighed. “It’s hard.”

  “Well, ya seem to have the spirit. So I’m sure ya will get there eventually. On the other hand, I’m interested in these new payments. From the castle itself?”

  “Mhm,” Rumia nodded. “They have rare meats in there, sold at a special restaurant. My boss sometimes takes me there for free, and they’re good protein. I can bring you some next time.”

  “Meat… I’m sold. It better be bangin’. So, what services did ya need from me, then?”

  “Resources. Just, anything. If you have anything that could get me out of Yuzu's sight, that’d make things infinitely better.”

  Amethyst considered Rumia’s request for a moment, before snapping her fingers. “I s’ppose I know someone who can help ya. Ain’t know their face or name, but they’re around.”

  “What? What does that mean?”

  Rumia was confused at the mention. A person that she doesn’t know the face or the name of? Who could that be?

  “Let me show ya, follow me,” Amethyst said, walking down the sewer, deep into the darkness once more.

  “Here we are,” Amethyst said, stopping by a random point in the wall. Rumia was following behind her and reading her map. It felt awful to be back in the sewers, but it was slightly better than being watched by Yuzu all of the time. She had to take that tradeoff.

  Rumia quickly marked down this location on her map and then looked around. She didn’t see anything though, through the darkness of the tunnels around her. “This place? There doesn’t seem to be any markings.”

  “Cause they’re tryna remain hidden. Y’all gotta know the place by vibes.” Amethyst explained.

  “Doesn’t seem very effective for a customer-base.”

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  “Ain’t tryin’ to. They’re a trader, not a seller.”

  Rumia seemed deeply suspicious of this entire ordeal. She looked around nervously, hoping that nothing sudden would surprise her, but there was only the dead silence of the tunnel.

  “Well?” Amethyst crossed her arms. “Whaddya need?”

  “How are they supposed to know? This is an empty tunnel,” Rumia responded.

  “Jus’ shout it into the tunnel, they’ll know, though the delivery process varies. It’s a complicated communication, really.”

  Rumia was a little bit concerned on how this interaction would play out, but she decided to trust Amethyst’s instructions.

  “Whoever is out there! I’d like something that could hide me from eyes that follow me everywhere! I’d also like a weapon to defend myself, and a way to turn off a certain artificial intelligence!”

  Rumia shouted all of her wants at once. They bounced through the tunnels and into the darkness. She waited a moment, but nothing happened. She turned to Amethyst for further instruction.

  “Ya gotta give payment now. It’s essentially an offer for somethin’ of equal value in return,” Amethyst explained.

  “Does lunar work? I earn a fair bit from work,” Rumia asked.

  “Uhh, yeah. I generally dun have much use for it so I give it here.”

  With that confirmation, Rumia took out a fair amount of lunar and tossed it onto the ground. That was going to be her offer. A few moments after the coins hit the floor, Rumia heard the scurrying of multiple small rats. There were three groups. The first group took one set of coins, the second group took another part, and the third scurried away without taking any. All three of them ran into the darkness of the sewer.

  “Huh? Is that how the exchange works?” Rumia asked.

  “Yup. It’s anonymous through the rats,” Amethyst smiled. “Protects identity, right? And they get some trade with whoever they’re in touch with.”

  “But why did they leave some of my money?”

  “Probably ‘cause you asked for somethin’ a lil’ ridiculous. A device that can jus’ shut off the city’s AI is a kinda tall ask. The person behind this is useful, but they ain’t a genie.”

  Rumia supposed that made sense. There had to be limits to what this trade deal could give them. Though as she was thinking, another swarm of rats ran right by her. The sound of something metal dropped onto the ground as the rats ran past them into the tunnels once again. A golden knife.

  “Huh?” Rumia looked at it, and picked it up, as well as the remaining dropped money from earlier. “Is this what my money bought?”

  “I s’ppose so. Pretty cool weapon, eh? Has a bit of magic in it too, enhances your arm to move slightly faster,” Amethyst said, examining it.

  “Really? So like, if I swing then…”

  Rumia did a fairly clumsy swing, and she felt her arm drag the rest of her body into a wall. Her face smacked into the hard stone, before she clutched her nose in pain. “Ow…”

  “Yeah, ya gotta get used to it. Though yer knife skills are terrible as well, have ya ever held a weapon before?” Amethyst said.

  “Uh… I was about to start taking a combat class in school?”

  “Bah—! I can give ya a tip of immediate improvement. Don’t toss yer entire arm into the swing, especially with that knife. It’s jus’ askin’ to be punished,” Amethyst began her advice. “If ya tryna throw a powerful haymaka with ya fist, then alright, but if ya got a knife then most of that work is done for ya!”

  “Oh, um, I see, thanks,” Rumia said. She was never great at fighting or anything. Adelyn on the other hand, practiced all the time at home, even though she didn’t fight much either. But she liked to copy the heroes in the stories, and practice fighting with her telekinesis magic.

  Rumia was just a plain old glowing girl in comparison. Maybe this was a way she could keep up with Adelyn in the future. Regardless, she pocketed the knife and turned to Amethyst.

  “What about the thing that can hide me?”

  “Well, normally only one rat delivers the package,” Amethyst explained. “The knife had multiple extra though. From experience, that means the second order is gonna need some development time. Ya gotta come back in a few days.”

  “Oh, I see. And you’ll let me in?” Rumia asked.

  “Of course. It ain’t like I’m doin’ much else around this time,” Amethyst said. “Though ya already know the way here, I’ll just leave ya to it after.”

  “Thanks.”

  Rumia sighed in relief. Another new option was open for her. With her job, Amethyst’s help, and Anise’s help, she had a much clearer mind for how to move forwards. The issue was still Yuzu, the guard who would not let her breathe.

  Grimace would come back soon, but Yuzu’s presence was a danger that Rumia could never ignore. Even with a more lenient guard, the threat of her was too great. She needed something, anything in order to fight back. But she couldn’t afford to sit still and wait for too long.

  Rumia, with her newfound knowledge, turned her back into the tunnels once again. She’d need to get back to her room, meet Anise, and have a good rest. She hadn’t had that in a while, considering her entire situation. Perhaps it was what she needed to turn everything around.