It's been a few days since his visit to the memorial site.
The weight from it still clung to the back of June's mind like a hanging boulder.
'Not the time to think about this.'
The awakened quickly dismissed those lingering thoughts as he walked through the busy streets of Bastion. The city itself is rapidly becoming more and more populated with each passing day, due to the constant stream of people coming from the waking world ever since the sovereigns revealed themselves.
Today is quite an important one. Shortly after coming back from the waking world, he received intel from one of the government grunts he used to work with that one of the Pandavar clan members is currently in Bastion.
The information given to him by Smiley about the Pandavar clan and their 'endeavors' is still fresh in his mind. How could it not? The things written on those pages were enough to make any seasoned Awakened clench their stomach.
Unlike most executives of the Black Market, he has a reliable and extensive information network. Not only from the connection he has in the government, but thanks to his high success rate within the underworld, he knows a lot of people there as well.
June had been following this particular member for a few hours now. Thanks to his dormant ability, he was able to keep track of the man from afar without much effort.
Awakened Barga, a relatively small fry within the vile Pandavar clan. Standing at around medium height with short black hair, he seamlessly blended into the crowd, which made following him harder than it should have been. His aspect isn't combat heavy as well, according to the intel he had received.
'I would have preferred someone higher up, but I guess you would suffice for the time being.'
From the information June has received about the awakened aspect, he deduced that Barga's aspect is more on information gathering rather than healing or scouting. June has hope that interrogating him would still give him a head start, compared to the other executives who were also hired for this job.
A small, quiet sigh left the doors his mouth as he slowly navigated within the current of civilians walking down the street.
'Dealing with other mercenaries and executives is always troublesome.'
June thought to himself. Although he had been dreading it, the chances of running into another elite of the Black market are higher than he would have hoped.
After a decade of taking jobs for the shady people that lurk inside that world, he has had his own fair share of conflicts with other executives.
The last time he had to deal with one of them wasn't that long ago. It was against a relatively new executive with the nickname of 'Grasshopper', who had been making a name for himself through the criminal underworld during the last few years. It was due to that encounter that he almost failed his job.
A bunch of selfish and pitiful lots. Though one name he kept on hearing about was 'Hangman'. Someone who has a 97% completion rate, who somehow seamlessly disappeared the moment he showed up.
'Since he's also working on this case too, then it's going to be a headache.'
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that something was off.
'That guy… Is he moving faster than before?'
Without wasting a second, June slowed down his breath as he continued to pursue the Awakened.
'Did I get caught already?'
Dozens of similar thoughts flow through his mind at that moment, like data flowing through the CPU of a computer.
If that guy actually managed to spot him, then there's no way he can let him go now.
'It seemed like I had underestimated this guy.'
With a sigh, June calms himself down as he decides to pick up his pace.
Even though it's possible that Barga hasn't spotted him at all, it's still a pretty big risk that June himself wasn't willing to take. Barga's escaping would just mean losing a golden opportunity to get a head start on his competitors.
At that moment, the Corsair silently turned around and walked into an alleyway. He had decided that, rather than following him from within the crowd, he should try and throw the Awakened off. If he actually had spotted him.
With this method, like a harrowing specter, June stalks the man from street to street.
Observing the man from a distant, Corsair eyes gradually narrows.
'So that how it is…. Judging from Awakened Barga's body language, such as the constricted pupils, sweat running down his face, coupled with how he keeps on looking over his shoulder at every 30 second intervals, which keep on getting shorter and shorter.'
It seemed that June's intuition had been right. The Pandavar Awakened has already suspected that someone is following him.
'But for how long…. No, that doesn't matter right now.'
After a few minutes, Barga eventually stopped exhibiting any of the behavior he had before.
A small smile crept up on the Corsair's face.
'Good, it seemed that he thought he lost me.'
With that, June continues to follow Barga in a kind of zigzag pattern, as he shouldn't take anymore after realizing that the Awakened managed to spot him the first time around.
Though after a while of observing Barga, waiting for the right moment to ambush him, the Awakened finally halted and began to walk into what seemed like a worn down building, near the outer regions of the Great Citadel.
The building, despite being damaged, was a stereotypical one, no different from most in Bastion. It was a wooden building of decent size, roughly 1,200 meter square meters in his estimate, with a large sign saying 'Bastronde Motel' hanging from the roof.
Looking at the building from afar reminded June of the motel that he himself is currently staying at. Though his is much more up to standard and closer to the lake than this one.
Judging from the looks of things, this place seems like a perfect one for those who want to hide from the eyes of the masses.
'Hmm, so this is the place you're staying at?'