"Don't pace around like that kid, looking at you makes me feel tense too.", Trevor speaks.
"Well, who are we meeting then? I am sure that you can give me something. At least tell me why they are dangerous.", I ask.
The man is so unwilling to share information sometimes. Maybe that is why he has been assigned to my troop. Weeding out information from people is something that I have been doing since I was a kid. I would not be surprised that the hexmountain is wary of that trait of mine.
"Well, the lesser you know about these folks, the better off you will be. If the head office were to find out that you know about them, I would be in a very bad position. The worst-case scenario is that they will send you to negotiate with them instead of me. You really don't want to deal with these bastards, even with the backing of the guard corps. Especially with their backing, to be frank.", he replies. "I wish I had never gotten to know of them. Life would have been so much easier."
"Well, are these people really that terrible?", I ask. The man's words are starting to creep me a bit. I can feel it like a tingle in my spine.
"Well, they are not exactly terrible but they are just annoying to work with. If everybody were to know that we work with them, it would certainly make things very difficult for us.", he says. "They have been a thorn in the side for quite a few of our allies, and they know this very well. They can leak this information to cause us a lot of problems. Dealing with them at such a disadvantage like this makes them dangerous."
"So is it the shack or the divine valley? The way you are speaking, it can only be either of them.", I ask. "Nobody else would warrant so much caution."
"I have no desire to tell you even if you want to know, kid." Trevor replies. There is a finality to it that makes it clear that there shall be no more discussion.
And thus we sit waiting for whatever criminal organization is going to be aiding us. The only two that I can think of are the shack and the divine valley. Only they would harm our allies' interests so much that it would affect our relationship. Well, everybody knows about them, but I might as well introduce them.
The shack is named after their headquarters, a place only known as the shack. They are a group of assassins who meet up at the shack and then assassinate people. They are a pretty simple organization on the face of it. The reason that they are famous is due to the shack. There has been a concentrated effort by all the major forces of the continent to get rid of the shack. Nobody has succeeded in doing even that yet. Nobody has even managed to find the damn place.
The divine valley is even more famous if you ask me. They are essentially a religious sect that believes the divine valley to be their god. How a place can be a god, don't ask me. They are religious fanatics that consider the valley to be the true king of the continent. All people who proclaim themselves as kings are supposed to be impostors.
Their work is to kill kings, and they are pretty good at it. They do this in many ways. They are just as likely to assassinate a king as they are to smuggle weapons and resources to the enemies of a king.
Incidentally, they have a pretty strong presence in the Snowwind Empire.. That is one of the reasons that our relationship with the Snowwind Empire has been so bad in the first place. They think we are assisting them somehow. Not that they have yet to prove anything.
"You really should speak about us to the kid. I would rather be dealing with a naive flower like him than a tough old fruit like you. How long do you expect us to keep dealing with the same old person I do not know." A voice speaks from somewhere behind me, causing my back to become slick with sweat. "If you were to die due to a stroke, who will come to meet us next year?"
Until he spoke, I did not even detect the man. I had my mana sense active, looking for threats. Even with an injured mana sense, I keep it active to some degree. It will delay my healing a bit, but I am in an active combat zone. Being careful has never hurt anybody.
I do not dare to turn around, something in me warns me that this man is someone I am better off not seeing. His mana is chaotic, like a blizzard in the true lands. It is some kind of dark mana that I can barely sense with my mana sense. I don't know how I have not managed to detect the man as he approached. Trevor, in front of me, just sighs, as if he has faced that man a thousand times.
"Well, I have been commanded not to tell anything to the kid. If you want to you can do so. I don't know who will come to hunt you, though. Certain people were very insistent.", he says. "I will begin to run away now, though if you don't want to shut up."
"To think that I would see the great Trevor follow the commands of anybody." the stranger speaks, with a laugh that sounds ordinary. (Too ordinary, though.)
"Well, as I told you are welcome to tell the kid whatever you want. I will bet that you won't be able to survive a week after telling him though.", Trevor replies. "Tell the kid, I dare you."
"Well, well. Why would I risk such a thing if the great Trevor is not willing to do so? Anyways, let's get back to business. The boss has told me that it would be nice if you stopped calling him for every small thing. If you want to bother him so much, he is willing to even give you an honorary position. The black mountain overworks you anyway.", the other person speaks.
"Well, tell your boss that I tried all of his underlings before him. It's not my fault that they didn't bother to reply. As for his offer, I mean to roam the continent once I retire. I have no desire to get a target painted on my back. Anyway, let's get things over with already. We need to get into the city.", Trevor replies.
"Well, I have never seen you in such a hurry, nor so compliant with the rules. I won't ask you who the kid is. It is very rare for you to be this scared. Still, you know the rules, A favor for a favor.", the other man replies.
"Well, fear is a natural response when you are dealing with somebody terrifying, don't you think. Also, you get to the point as well. What is the favor that you need.", Trevor replies. "Well, we won't be assassinating anybody. We don't have the setup for that."
"Well, it is something simple for you. We need you to break into a particular building and steal a book. It is not even a grimoire, just a ledger.", the other man spoke. "You must have quite the experience with that already, don't you?"
"Well, if it was that simple you wouldn't be asking me to do it. So what is the catch, you bastard?" Trevor speaks. "Does a demon guard it, or is it an elemental? Could it be a ghost? You know that I draw the line at ghosts."
"Well, we do know how to deal with elementals and demons, but the loss of life is not worth the investment. The only thing that you can consider an issue would be the fact that the Bloodfire gang has taken over the place. You have sneaked into places that were even more guarded than this." The other man speaks. "Anyways, for this particular problem I don't need your expertise, I need the kids. The book that we want is protected by a formation. A pretty complex and fragile formation at that. The kind that will destroy the contents of the safe if somebody were to mess with it. As you can see, that leaves us with quite the conundrum until you appear with a formation mage."
"Well, we certainly accept that deal. We need you to get us into the city and help us contact the Mayfires.", Trevor speaks. "I am sure you have associates in the family as well. You seem to have quite a few businesses already set up in the city."
"Well, that is a favor that we won't be able to complete. The Mayfires have retreated to the inner keep. The castle is split into two, the inner keep and the outer keep, as you must already know. The inner keep is a place that only the mayfires can enter or leave, especially now", the other man speaks.
"Especially now?", Trevor asks.
"About three months ago, the Mayfires completely sealed the castle with magical barriers. We were stuck in the city until the Bloodfire gang pierced the outer barrier about three weeks ago. They have taken over the outer keep completely. The mayfires are all in the inner keep, with us having no way of getting inside right now. Whatever the Bloodfire gang did with the shield in the outer keep is not working on the inner keep's shield." The other man replies.
"They have somebody backing them then. The Bloodfire gang certainly should not be capable of doing something like this. Fine, what are you willing to offer then? You must be able to pull off something.", Trevor asks.
"Well, we can provide you with entry into the city. We will hide you from the Bloodfire gang. If you are willing to waste your time, we can take you to the wall of the inner keep safely. After that, you are on your own, though." The other man speaks. "you have a formation mage with you, you might even be able to get into the place."
"That is acceptable.", Trevor speaks.
"So then, how is life under the Bloodfire gang?" Trevor asks. His voice suddenly becomes much less serious. "Business must be booming."
"Well, it has never been better. The Bloodfire gang makes us look cheap in comparison. The merchants have been flocking to us like never before. We have had to double up our smuggling operations in the last couple of weeks. Still, we are considering if we can increase our capacity. We are doing this favor for you only because you are our ally. Time is money, my friend. Especially these few weeks." The other man replies.
"Well, I am sure that the loss will be manageable, but what about the bloodfire gang? How are they at holding a city.", Trevor speaks.
"They are quite bad at it. They just flood the streets like a horde. Their numbers are abnormally high for a bandit gang. All quite inept, though. So I think they have been recruiting new members.", the other man speaks. "Our boys have been playing with them the last couple of weeks. They are quite a passionate bunch though. We have lost three teams in the last week, all new ones thankfully."
"What would happen if we were to fail our favor, though? To do your favor, we would have to be in the city in the first place.", Trevor asks.
"Well, a favor owed is a favor owed. If not today, we will find a method of reclaiming it soon enough.", the other man spoke. "You are a useful man to owe deals to. The kid also has potential."
"Well, we did accept your deal, but you know the rules. Nothing that harms the black mountain nor something that would be an obvious suicide for me. Also, keep the kid uninvolved in the matter. You can't afford having a favor from him. He has quite the backing." Trevor speaks.
"Fine." the man replies.
Just as weirdly as he appeared, the man disappeared. Again, I could not figure out how he was moving. More importantly, I cannot feel any mana of his. I should have detected something.
"What was all of that?" I ask.
"Well, the less you know about them, the better off you will be. For now, let's just call them the organization.", Trevor speaks. "I will speak in brief about what they do. They are a bunch of profit-hungry bastards. They tend to occupy cities and then slowly take over all the illegal businesses in the city. Beyond that, you do not need to know about them. Your master would have my head if I revealed anymore."
"So why would they need a book?" I ask, thinking about the request the stranger made of us.
"Who knows, maybe it could be the ledger of some local smuggler, who is lying about his profits. Maybe it is a human trafficker against whom they can use this book as blackmail. I can imagine a thousand things. With the l...organization, it would be wise if you do not ask too many questions." Trevor speaks. "You do not want them getting interested in you. If that happens, they always end up getting their hooks into you."