Civil Unrest

"Eh, it reeks down here!" Cal said, as we began descending down a manhole.

"This is the only option we have. There's no way we can just walk back into the city." I responded.

After our escape from the prison cart, we headed back towards Unk-... I mean Nekotropolis. With every entrance of the city guarded we had to resort to finding a more "undesirable" method of sneaking in.

"It's not that bad. A Chad like me isn't phased by od-..."

*Squish*

As Ryo spoke, he accidentally touched his hand to the tunnel wall. He paused for a moment.

"...Bro, what exactly is this tunnel used for?" He said.

"Currently we're in the city's sewer system." Kuro responded.

Ryo quickly pulled his hand away. It was covered in a dark "mystery" substance.

"Oh... Then what I just touched was probably-... Blehhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

He began to violently vomit. Cal patted him on the back.

"It's alright buddy, just get it out."

Eventually he stopped.

"Alright I think I'm goo-... Blehhhhhhhhhh"

He went on a few moments longer until he finally ran out of stuff in his stomach to throw up. It was moments like these that I was happy that I was undead...

We made our way down the disgusting corridor. Down the center a stream of filth flowed. Luckily we didn't have to go too far until We made it to a ladder of another manhole, which we began ascending. I was first. Before I went any further, I slowly pushed up on the manhole cover, leaving a gap just large enough for me to peek through.

"The coast looks clear."

*Clunk*

I shoved the manhole cover to the side and exited. The others followed. Luckily it seemed like nobody was arou-.

"Mommy, why did those dirty men crawl out of the sewer?" A random child said, pointing at us.

"Stay close to me honey. Don't make eye contact and those homeless men won't bother you." The mother said as she quickly escorted her child away from us.

It could have been worse, they could have been guards. Suddenly a man walked past us.

"Please take this and get yourself a good meal tonight." He said as he tossed us a coin.

"Oh we're not actu-."

I quickly nudged Kuro to shut him up. I wasn't about to turn down free money, especially since Erika was currently in possession of all mine.

"Thank you so much for your kindness sir." I chimed in.

The man smiled and walked away.

Red laughed.

"I think you might be even more of a devil than I am."

I ignored him.

"Man we've had some crazy luck haven't we?" Ryo said.

"Yeah I know. What are the chances of our cart tipping over and random smoke appearing out of nowhere to cover our escape. You didn't use some kind of magic, did you Arno?" Cal asked.

I tugged the magic restricting collar that was still locked around my neck.

"No, I can't use magic at the moment."

"We shouldn't sweat the details guys. All we know is that by some miracle we escaped." Kuro said in a slightly nervous tone as he glanced at Red from the corner of his eye.

"You're right bro. We shouldn't overthink this." Ryo responded.

It was a good thing for Kuro that his friend wasn't the sharpest.

I quickly changed the subject.

"I think we should focus back on our task at hand. Now that we're escaped convicts, it's going to be even harder for us to get anywhere near the palace."

"What if we went back through the sewers and snuck back into the palace that way." Kuro suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, but the issue is once we actually get inside. I have no doubt in my mind that they'll be expecting us." I replied.

Ryo shook his head in objection.

"Anything but going back down there, bros. I don't think my stomach can han-."

*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by a commotion that seemed to be coming from just a block over. We all cautiously went over to investigate.

"Rabble rabble rabble rabble." A group of collective voices said as they marched through the streets.

It appeared that an angry mob of citizens armed with torches and pitchforks had formed. They were heading in the direction of the palace.

"Let's follow them to see what's going on." I said.

We blended in with the massive crowd. It seemed as if it consisted of the majority of Unk-... I mean Nekotropolis' citizens, all of whom looked incredibly upset. As they marched through the streets more and more citizens joined in until they finally stopped right in front of the palace gates.

"Rabble rabble rabble." The crowd continued.

The herald from the other day came out to address them.

*Whoosh*

Someone had thrown a pair of shoes at him. He managed to just dodge them.

"If everyone could please calm down, I will address your concerns."

A lady up front spoke.

"Who thought it would be an idea to release hundreds of stray cats into the city? They're terrorizing our homes and businesses and using our streets as a litter box."

"Yeah and not to mention the fact that the new Shogun just decided to erase centuries of our history by changing our city's name." An old man added.

"I understand your concerns and will relay these to Shogun Erika. We at the government strive to do what's in the best interest of all the citizens of the East Kingdom." The herald responded.

"And significantly raising our taxes is supposed to be in our best interest!?" Someone angrily shouted.

"Rabble rabble rabble!" The crowd angrily yelled, not satisfied by the herald's generic politician responses.

The enraged crowd began rushing towards the gates. A group of guardsmen held them shut with all their might. The mob started throwing all sorts of miscellaneous objects over the gate. In particular it seemed like they were trying to make a statement by tossing bags of kitty litter. Somehow in less than a week of Erika being put in charge of a nation, she managed to tick off all its citizens and create mass civil unrest.

As I turned my head to my right, I suddenly noticed Red sitting on Kuro's shoulder, muttering something into his ear. Kuro nodded with a slightly unsure look on his face. He turned to me.

"I think I can put a stop to all of this." He said.