Kaito spent time wandering through Rovetelle, listening to gossip, chatting with vendors as he purchased supplies, and otherwise familiarizing himself with life in the kingdom.

It seemed like a pleasant place to live, albeit the religion seemed a bit weird to him — something about dragons being worshiped? Or… something to that effect — though he supposed it wasn’t the oddest thing he could think of worshiping.

Though based on the way Euden and the others had reacted to his altered Hollow form, they probably thought he was a dragon as well; he had no idea how that would settle out later, given that he wasn’t one, but he’d let them have their preconceptions for the moment.

(He just needed to make sure to never say he was a dragon.)

(He had no desire to be caught in a lie like that.)

(He just hoped Uryuu didn’t say anything one way or the other before they could discuss it.)

(They really should have discussed their story before he left.)

(Ah well…)

Still, everything he was hearing throughout the town painted the kingdom in a good light: a bevy of royal children that were mostly well regarded, a good king who had his people’s well-being in mind, a light soldier presence focused on keeping the peace, peaceful relations with nearby kingdoms, peaceful relations with nearby dragons…

It almost seemed too good to be true.

Kaito kept an eye on the sun’s position as he went about his meandering trek through the town; Lark had told him to return in the early afternoon to pick up his new clothes, and he’d rather not be late. When he felt enough time had passed, he headed back to her shop and slipped into the shop, calling out “Hello?” as he closed the door behind him.

“Yes? Oh, hello there!” a younger woman greeted him as she poked her head into the shop from the back room. “Lark! He’s back!”

“Well, I see you at least have a functioning sense of time,” Lark teased as she came out from the back with a bundle of cloth in one arm. “We finished these not too long ago, so you’re just in time.”

“Thanks,” Kaito said as he accepted the bundle from Lark and passed her the second half of his payment, then set the bundle on a nearby table to unfold the top shirt. The blue of this one was close to his usual colors, and the style wasn’t anything outlandish: just a long sleeved shirt with a v-shaped collar, fairly simple in design but well made. The shirts below it looked about the same, though in different shades of blue, and the pants below those seemed to be all of a kind.

“I figured that black was a good color for your pants,” Lark said as he shook out a pair of the pants and held them up to his waist. “Nothing fancy about any of them, since you wanted them done so quickly.”

Kaito folded the shirt and pants back up. “It’s fine. I don’t need anything particularly fancy, just something that will serve to make me stand out less,” he told her as he turned to face her and bowed slightly in thanks. “I appreciate your service.”

Lark chuckled a bit and then nodded towards another door. “You can change into a set back there, if you want. It’s just a storage room, but there’s space in there.”

“Thanks,” Kaito said as he grabbed a set of clothing and went into the small storage room to change; it felt strange to discard his kimono and pull on something closer to what he used to wear as Uryuu so many years ago. The fabric didn’t exactly cling — in fact, it was looser than many Living World styles — but the sleeves and pant legs were still tighter than he was used to. Tight enough that he couldn’t resist tugging slightly at his sleeve, even though he knew that wouldn’t fix a thing.

He consciously let go of his sleeve and shoved his annoyance aside in favor of folding his original clothing so he could step out of the small room.

“Not a bad look on you, though a bit plain,” Lark said as she looked him over. “How do they fit?”

“Quite well, thank you,” Kaito told her as he tucked his usual clothes into the pack he’d bought at a stall and then tucked the other two sets of new clothing in on top of it.

Lark watched him pack with an unreadable expression, then finally said, “Don’t get killed doing something foolish, kid. There’s more to life than glory on the battlefield, and I hope Ranzal tried to tell you that.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Kaito tried to reassure her, though he doubted it helped given the dry look he got in response. “I’m not looking for glory, I promise.”

She sighed a bit and shook her head. “If you say so, kid,” she said with a hint of doubt, then added, “Next time you’re in Rovetelle and have some extra time, stop in. I’ll get you in something a little nicer looking.”

Kaito made an amused noise and said, “I’ll think about it. But for now, I need to get moving. Thanks again.”

Before she could say anything else, he slipped from the shop and turned back towards the main street.

It was odd to think of some random stranger being worried about him; usually the people who worried had some sort of connection to him — variants of his father, or those Rerugens who seemed to constantly appear near his father, or Ukitake and Kyoraku who saw another dual-blade wielder — but it wasn’t exactly the first time a shop owner had taken one look at him and decided to give a damn.

(*Unfortunately, mercenary work is rarely glamorous no matter what stories people tell,*) Zangetsu mused as they walked down the street. (*I bet she sees many young people trying their hand at the profession, and then never sees them again.*)

(*Good thing I’m not aiming to be an actual mercenary, then,*) Kaito replied with a touch of amusement, then adjusted the pack at his hip and continued following the main street towards the edge of town. (*Which route do you think we should take?*) he asked, thinking back to the map that Ranzal had drawn for him the night before. (*Hugging the mountains might be safer, but in terms of information, the route through the larger towns will be best.*)

Zangetsu brushed agreement-contentment-pride against Kaito’s mental presence and said, (*Correct. If all we wanted was to get to the Capital, the route through the foothills would be best. Since we are hunting for rumors and information, however, the larger towns found through the central route will be our best bet.*) He hesitated a moment, a touch of grim certainty settling over his presence, and finally added, (*That is also where soldiers will be sent first. Tiny villages and hamlets have little strategic value. If there is someone posing as the King, the larger towns and villages in the valley and along the rivers will be where they stretch their influence first.*)

Kaito grimaced at Zangetsu’s words and glanced up at the bright blue sky, trying to estimate the hour and how much time he had to move. (*Let’s hope we don’t see any evidence of that, for Euden’s sake,*) he murmured, not liking the level of certainty that Zangetsu felt on the topic. Not that he disagreed, but he’d prefer to be wrong for once.

(*So far so good, though,*) Ichigo said, optimism lacing his words. (*We haven’t heard anything amiss so far.*)

(*Given the map Ranzal drew for us, we certainly wouldn’t hear anything out this far just yet,*) Kaito said with a small shrug. (*If whatever happened was recent, Rovetelle is days away from the Capital by foot.*)

(*Kaito is correct,*) Zangetsu added as they reached the edge of town and looked out at the rolling hills beyond. (*Factor in the time needed to exert control, and it’s likely that this town will not see the effects of anything happening in the Capital for weeks.*)

Kaito tugged at his sleeve once more before grimacing and forcing his hand to let go. He’d adapt — he’d had the same issue in the other direction when he’d started wearing the more traditional clothing, after all — but until he did, he was going to be annoyed. Constantly.

Same with the pants, if he was being honest. He’d at least kept his tabi and waraji, not wanting to have to break in brand new boots while scouting, but everything else he was wearing…

Honestly, he couldn’t wait to change back into his clothing as soon as this scouting mission was over.

Which meant he needed to get started.

(*First large town is a half day’s travel on foot,*) Kaito mused as he started down the road, not wanting to display any unusual powers such as mysteriously vanishing where other people could see him. (*I doubt we’ll find anything there, but couldn’t hurt to stop and check.*)

(*I agree,*) Zangetsu said. (*The more we see of this kingdom, the better idea we’ll have of what’s considered odd.*)

Kaito hummed, glanced around the area to check for any witnesses, then gathered his power and launched forward into his fastest shunpo.

Time to get to work.