Nero walked along the beautiful stone corridors. Axel was ahead of him, walking directly toward a building.
The building was about 7 meters tall, white, and had very elegant columns…
Two butlers appeared and greeted Axel respectfully.
He seemed to be a highly respected man around here…
Axel, Lux, Kōri, and Nero entered the house. Nero looked up to see something that wealthy people called a 'chandelier'.
The group went upstairs and saw a room with two bodyguards at the front.
They let us in, and we saw a man who looked to be about 60 years old, dressed in ostentatious clothing.
He invited us to sit down…
Axel sat right in front of him, and the three of us sat around Axel.
"I suppose you don't know me, but my name is Distron. I'm the one who assigned you this mission."
Distron crossed his legs and interlaced his fingers…
"I need you to kill the bitch who killed my son. She's a prostitute named Tristine Pestrov. She lives in a 'red house' and studies at Midnight School. The payment will be 50 Lokg."
"Red house" is the common term in Vickmolt for a brothel…
Wait… Isn't Midnight the school Rose attends?
"Lord Distron, you and I both know it's less than what I asked for." Axel looked Distron in the eye and continued: "70 Lokg."
"55." Distron seemed annoyed…
"Do you know how much they pay for the head of a nobleman?" Axel issued a direct threat.
The bodyguards beside Distron drew their pistols and pointed them at us.
Distron looked at Axel and said, "65, deal." He extended his hand toward Axel's.
Axel shook Distron's hand and said, "Deal."
The three of us were surprised by Axel's audacity.
I had hidden the 7 of clubs card in my shirt pocket…
We left the house with the incredible sum of 65 Lokg as a reward.
Axel led us to an elegant and refined house.
All I could think was… if this is what it's like in this district, what must it be like in the north or west?
We entered the house, and Axel tossed me my 'father's' old revolver.
"You dropped it, and I picked it up. Here's yours back." Axel stared at me for a second longer than necessary.
I put it in my pocket…
He searched a room for some boxes and placed them in front of us.
There were seven boxes in total. He opened them one by one...
Some strange objects were inside the box. "Those are artifacts. Take one each. If you want to know about a specific one, ask me."
I took a box and saw the artifact...
It was a monocle, with a small, elegant black cord sticking out of it.
"Axel, what does this artifact do?" Axel didn't hear me; he seemed lost in thought.
I cleared my throat. This snapped Axel out of his trance.
"That..." Axel stopped, thinking. "It's a rank 10 artifact from the Path of Cunning. When you're in Zero state, you can apply more aura to read minds."
Reading minds... that's a good skill. My lips curled upward, and I put on the monocle.
I adjusted the monocle and sat on the floor, my back against the wall.
Nero closed his eyes, thinking that his aura had fully regenerated.
After four minutes, I opened my eyes and saw Kōri with a sword, but only the hilt, not the blade.
Lux had a small Labrys-type axe. Its blades were painted black with some yellow stripes.
I quickly grabbed a knife with a cut obsidian blade, its blade inscribed with red runes or symbols.
I could feel Axel's gaze fixed on me, but strangely, he only looked at me with a melancholic expression. Axel stored the boxes in a room.
Kōri placed the hilt of her sword in a pocket of her clothing.
Lux didn't put away her axe; she just held it in her hands.
I put the knife in one of my pockets...
Now I have three weapons. My cards, the revolver, and the knife... I thought, shifting the card tucked into my shirt pocket.
Wow, the women around here are really beautiful... I thought, watching a girl walk by.
"Axel, are there more of us?" Kōri asked.
"Yes, you have more companions. You're one of the groups. Since we didn't have enough people, I, the leader, had to be your supervisor."
"In a few days, a companion will join you."
Axel seemed to remember something and said, "To use the artifacts, you have to 'accept' them with aura."
"That's done by emanating aura toward the artifact. A person can only use five artifacts at a time."
You just mentioned it. And I was thinking I wasn't going to waste any more aura today...
The thought that these 'artifacts' hold the soul of a dead person gives me the creeps.
Lux waved her axe in the air and looked at it with admiration... An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to lift that axe.
...
We left the science district...
The contrast between poverty and wealth was stark.
We walked around and saw a bar in the distance.
"Would you like a drink?" Axel asked, looking directly at a tavern.
We went into the bar and sat down at a table.
The four of us ordered shura, which in Unma means poor man's wine...
The waitress brought us four bottles...
I opened mine and drank half of it in one gulp. I leaned back in my chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
When I looked back at the group, they were all drunk.
After three more rounds of drinks, we left and walked home.
We went inside...
Axel and Lux collapsed on the sofa, and Kōri staggered off to her room.
I glanced at my watch and realized, judging by the time, that Rose had already arrived.
I rushed to Rose's room and opened the door.
She didn't flinch and just looked at me...
"R-Rose... I-I need you... to in-investigate Tristine Pestrov."