<h4>Chapter 296: Thief</h4>


    Ryder entered the marketce of Lavender Town with Shu.


    The butler and four guards were walking behind them. Since they were dressed sovishly, they attracted a lot of eyes. Many girls looked at Ryder with lovestruck gazes. Shu on the other hand also attracted a few gazes from the girl as he dressed like a rich person.


    "This town seems pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s good though. In some cases, normal is good," Ryder muttered as he watched the stalls on the side of roads and small shops. The shops were selling all kinds of items, from electronics to cheap knockoffs. There were many weird things on sale as well. He also saw a statue shop that sold statues of gods and goddesses.


    While Ryder was walking, his gaze was on the side of the shops. He was trying to see if this small town had anything he could purchase as a souvenir for Alice to give him when he went back.


    "That looks interesting," He muttered as he walked towards the shop that he found interesting. The small shop was selling a few items that were carved from wood. Some of these items looked cute like dolls.


    He was about to enter the shop with Shu when a person collided with him lightly. The person seemed weird. They had a crazy looking mask on their face and ck robe that hid their head and body.


    The person didn’t even say sorry as he continued walking away.


    Ryder had a weird feeling as he watched the person leave.


    He checked his backpack to make sure of something and noticed that his wallet was missing. His purse had some important documents and some credit cards for emergency purposes.


    "This freaking thief!" Ryder cursed as he started chasing after the cloaked man.


    " Brother Ryder, what happened?" Shu called out as he looked at Ryder, who was running away.


    "Nothing, you continue the tour. I’ll meet you near the mansion near the entry time," Ryder yelled back as he continued chasing after the man.


    Ryder was fast, but he was surprised to see that he wasn’t able to close the distance between him and the person running away.


    "You stupid thief, stop!" Ryder called out, even though he was sure that his words weren’t going to work.


    They kept running throughout the town when Ryder saw the person turn into an alleyway.


    He turned as well and saw the person climb a ten-foot-tall wall that was closing the alley to jump to the other side.


    "What the fuck!" He cursed as he watched the man climb the wall so quickly. He could see that there were no ces to hold onto the wall, yet the person did that so quickly.


    "That thief is pretty skilled," he muttered as he ran towards the wall as well, but he chose a different route. While the thief had climbed the wall, Ryder jumped instead.


    What others didn’t know was that he used some of his Flying Skill in that jump as well, but he made sure to make it seem like he was jumping in case anyone was watching. This was possibly the territory of an Ancient Cultivation n, after all.


    Rydernded on the other side of the wall and saw the thief still running away.


    The thief nced back, and his deep blue eyes looked surprised as he saw Ryder still chasing after him.


    He continued running. After some time, the thief started climbing a two-story house. The thief again made it look so easy, surprising Ryder again. It was as if this was not a building but a toy ground for him.


    "I swear to god; I’m not letting you get away. Return my wallet!" He called out, but the thief didn’t look back.


    Ryder reached the building as well. He once again used the same trick. He made it seem like he was climbing the wall, but in reality, he was using his Flying Skill to help him with the closing. It was an excellent skill for things like this, and his mastery of the flying skill was already good enough for him to do this.


    Ryder got on top of the two-story building. He expected to find the thief there, but he saw the thief two buildings ahead of him. Now the thief was jumping from building to building like he was a Parkour artist.


    "Come on, man, you have so much talent; why do you feel the need to steal. Come and work for me. I can pay you good," Ryder called out again as he once again started chasing after the man, but he knew that this time, he was in his element.


    He didn’t have to worry about heights and jumping at all since he had his flying skill to fall back on to help him.


    He also jumped from one building to another as he continued chasing after the man.


    As he could put his flying speed to use when he jumped, he kept gaining momentum and closing in the distance between him and the thief when he saw the thief jump down a building.


    "What the heck?"


    He hurriedly ran to that building and looked down, but all he could see was a giant pond in front of him. The thief was nowhere to be found.


    "This idiot is annoying me a lot," Ryder muttered as he frowned.


    He looked around to guess where the thief might have gone, but he couldn’t find any ce where the thief could’ve hidden so fast.


    "Did he jump inside the pond? He shouldn’t be able to hide there for so long, but that seems to be the only possible where he can hide at this point. Sigh, it looks like I’ll have to get my clothes wet again," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.


    He took off his coat, his shirt, and his pants to save them from getting wet since he had a party to attend to. He kept them in his inventory. He was only in his underwear, but he got a tracksuit lower out of his inventory and wore it.


    Ryder always kept some of his clothing in his inventory in case of emergencies. He didn’t want to dive down in his underwear, so he wore his tracksuit lower.


    "Hah, time to get in the water and see the effects of the Blessing of Water. I should be able to breathe without trouble, and the water won’t hurt me, so it doesn’t hurt to look around," Ryder muttered as he jumped down the building, straight into the pond.