In a Civilized Manner

"You came from a Blind Tiger, didn't you?"

Blind Tigers. They were illegal pubs distinctive to under resourced areas. Naturally, nobody would open up pubs or restaurants in the Slums, so people here instead established Blind Tigers as places for cheap drinks and unapproved transactions.

As a result, these pubs retained exclusive information that would be hard to come across anywhere else in the capital.

The man understood him immediately as his face contorted into a wicked smile. "I don't know. Did I?"

His tacit prompting was met with silence from the foreign man. Even though Edris was smiling, his eyes were cold as they stared down at him. Still sitting on the dirt ground, the man felt an indescribable pressure coming from him and instinctively shrank back.

"...It's that way." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "Two blocks down, and it's the side entrance of the fifth house to your right. The passcode is 'equality,' but you have to yell it like you mean it! Hahaha!"

Edris paused for a moment. After ascertaining that the man was telling the truth, he pressed a hand to the man's shoulder with a smile.

"How ironic."

Paying no attention to his words, the hunched man crawled up and opened his palm, signalling for money. His payment never came.

The hunched man's eyes lost focus in the next second, and as having his soul extracted from his body, he flopped onto the ground.

"Prophet Edris?" Faren stared at the unconscious man, then at Edris's calm face. "Is he… Dead?"

Celio looked towards him, also wanting an answer.

"He'll wake up soon," Edris replied, and the beast tamer sighed in relief.

Edris slid the silver yone back into his pocket. He glanced towards the far end of the street, where a short figure hid behind one of the tents, quietly observing everything going on.

"The kid needs a father, after all."

***

They found the pub in a rundown, tattered alleyway at the edge of the Slums.

Stepping over pieces of rubbish and other unknown objects along the way, Edris and the others found themselves in front of a long, narrow tent. A diagonal sign with the word PARADISE sagged weakly from the front, almost toppling over as Celio pushed open the door.

The inside was completely empty.

Welcomed by cobwebs, rolling dustballs, and disorderly brick clutters, they took in the abandoned sight with frowns on their faces.

"The man lied to us?" Faren whipped his head around in confusion while Celio immediately stepped to head back out and hunt down the man.

"Hold on." Edris stopped the two as he strolled around the area. He turned to Faren. "Do you recall the password?"

"Yes, it's 'equality' if I remember correctly," the mage replied, unsure where he was going with this question.

"Repeat it, but this time, activate your mana."

"Huh?"

"I can do it!" Celio quickly chimed in, and the next moment, a faint golden light emerged from his body. "Equality!"

As if responding to his words, a portion of the grass in the corner started to rumble. Under Faren's looks of astonishment, the dry patch of hay faded away, revealing a flight of wooden stairs leading to what seemed like a basement.

"As expected," Edris said.

His suspicions started when they encountered the hunched man.

At the time, Edris had considered it strange how the man managed to throw a fist-sized rock across a ten-metre distance, not to mention actually hitting the boy. Even if he had good physiques, it wasn't something the average person could accomplish. His suspicion proved to be valid after he got Ace to examine his stats.

The hunched man was a mana user, though it appeared that he didn't know it himself.

Unlike the average Awakened, the man, having lived in the Slums his whole life, knew nothing about mana manipulation. He wasn't lying when he told Edris that he had to yell out the password.

For him, it was yelling, but on a technical level, it was because he had unknowingly activated his mana whenever he did so.

This, too, was confirmed by Edris when he touched the man's shoulders. The Tempest was a mana neutralising skill, meaning he couldn't use it to inflict any conditions on a normal person.

However, Edris noticed that he could use the Tempest on the man; this was only possible if the man was an Awakened.

"They've hid it well," Faren muttered, scribbling into his notebook.

"Should we go in?" Celio asked.

Edris nodded.

Contrary to the desolate outdoors, opening the door to the pub was like entering another world. A dim purple tint entangled with humid space. Stepping into the haze-filled room, Celio subconsciously held his breath as he trailed behind Edris, trying to keep together as they squished through the narrow space.

Some chugged alcohol by the counter, while others did the indescribable on the couch. One of the people they passed by tripped over the floor, almost tumbling onto Celio. She glanced up with a disoriented smile, blowing a kiss at the sixteen-year-old before pushing herself back to her feet.

As tense as a pillar, Celio stared harder at the back of Edris's head.

Faren followed the two at the end, evading drunkards left and right. Recording everything in sight, the mage couldn't help but put on a complicated expression at this foreign part of the kingdom.

It took a while to curve through the messy pub unnoticed, but the group managed to reach the corner of the room.

Two guards stood in front of staircase entrance, one leading to the pub's second floor. Upon their approach, the guard on the left stepped forward.

"Beyond here is the Special Guests floor." He eyed the three foreign faces. "I haven't seen you guys around. Do you have a passcode?"

"Equality," Celio replied.

"You people are acquainted with Johen? Wasn't he supposed to be here earlier?"

"He had something urgent to take care of, so we're here on his behalf," Edris said with a sigh, not a moment of hesitation in his voice.

Behind him, Celio and Faren silently exchanged gazes. The former was dumbfounded at the situation, while the latter was mentally in awe at Edris's impromptu acting.

From their conversation, Faren only grasped a basic understanding of what was going on.

The hunched man from earlier, Johen, was acquainted with one of the "special guests" mentioned by the guard. However, judging by the guard's reaction, it was a hierarchical relationship instead of one between equals.

Not to mention, the code he gave them earlier seemed to be one of exclusive nature, seeing how the guard immediately associated them with Johen after mentioning the password.

The guard crossed his arms, as if judging the validity of his words. Upon his scrutiny, Edris merely gazed back, eyes calm and innocent. As the guard was about to ask another question, something shattering sounded from above.

"Where are the service people? Are they deaf?!" An angry voice boomed from the second floor, and one of the waiters hurriedly made his way upstairs.

"Can we go now? The matter we must discuss with our guests is quite important." Edris made a gesture towards the rooms on the second floor. "I'm sure you don't want more guests to be angry."

At his words, the two guards fell silent. After exchanging a few words, they nodded to each other and simultaneously stepped to the side.

"Thank you." Edris smiled as he strolled past them.

While Paradise's ground floor was a mixing pot of people, the second floor took on a more refined, lounge-like appearance.

There was only one hallway, dimmed and lined with private rooms on both sides. Each room seemed to be either empty or soundproof, since other than the ruckus from the guest earlier, the rest of the hallway was inundated in stillness.

Eventually, the guard leading them stopped in front of Room 208. He knocked three times on the door.

A raspy voice emerged from the inside, "Why are you just standing like that? Get in already."

Celio turned to Edris with cautious eyes, but the latter only nodded in response and stepped into the room.

It was a medium-sized room with six people. A harsh fragrance filled the space, causing Celio to scrunch his nose. Unlike the air in the first floor, there was something different about this scent that he couldn't pinpoint. Faren seemed to have noticed it, too, as he gave the beast tamer a slight nudge.

At his action, Celio nodded in understanding as he subtly activated his mana to keep breathing to a minimum.

In the back of the room sat who seemed to be the central figure here. A large, tattoo-faced man leaned into a long couch as a puff of smoke released from his mouth. A lit tobacco was in one hand while a leash was wrapped around the other.

Attached to the leash was a man. His clothes were stripped from his body, revealing his skinny arms and protruding ribcage.

For the first time since they arrived in the pub, Ace spoke up.

— What bullshit is this?

If Edris could see his face right now, he'd imagine Ace's expression to be ten times worse than his own.

Inhaling once more from his tobacco, the man eyed the three of them up and down. "You’re not Johen. I thought he said he'd bring the deeds today to me personally?"

Not waiting for them to respond, he waved the hand holding the leash, jerking the skinny man's neck forward. Despite the action, the skinny man didn't show any signs of discomfort as he slumped by the couch, eyes unfocused and a drunken smile on his face.

"No matter." The tattoo-faced man kicked him aside as he rested both elbows on his knees. "Where are the goods? I want them. Now."

Ignoring his question, Edris asked, "Are you the leader here?"

The next second, the man's face fell, and one of his subordinates at the side stepped forward. "Watch it. Who are you to speak to Boss Prophet like this?"

Celio and Faren widened their eyes simultaneously. Even Edris's face was replaced by a rare frown.

— …

What a familiar sounding name.

A strange atmosphere settled upon the room.

"Prophet?" Faren was the first to speak.

Noting their reaction, the tattoo-faced man leaned forward with a crooked smile, showing his golden teeth. "Ever heard of the Fallen Prophet?"

His smile deepened after seeing Edris wince.

"That's me."