[Ace's POV]
I finished the last of the grilled squid, the smoky taste still lingering on my tongue as I tossed the wooden skewer into a nearby trash bin with a soft clatter. My eyes, however, never stopped moving, scanning the shifting crowd. I might see that masked man again, I thought, the memory of the heavy, clinking sack sharp in my mind. He and his companion could be the ones the green-haired witch had told us about—the ones commissioning the black magic restraints. And with a crowd this large, it was also prime hunting ground for werewolf hunters to move unnoticed.
"Hello, beautiful ladies!" a female merchant's voice rang out, bright and artificially sweet, cutting through the general din. The call instantly snagged Ovelia and Ann's attention, pulling their gazes toward a stall glittering under its own lanterns.
