"Achooo." Johan rubbed his red nose violently, mumbling an inaudible complaint about the thick smell of burning metal—the most disgusting smell in the world.
He looked around—more than 40 shops. Some men in thick black masks and robes wandered the tight street—who Johan suspected to be at least Stage 1.
Surprisingly, not even a single person was walking around like they normally would in a tight market like this, but it was an important part of this black market's customer service, one would say.
To give customers as much privacy as possible, all the shops looked small at the front, but were giant malls inside—the result of the Mantel's space magic.
"So, where do we get the information?" Kirin asked excitedly, her voice too out of place and loud for a street filled with tense silence, attracting the attention of all guards, their eyes analyzing, as if trying to recognize them.
Johan slapped the back of Kirin's head, making her cover her mouth with both her hands.
"They don't just get information about everything on a silver platter. They're actively looking for it—everywhere. The prostitute a minister visited? Their trained spy. And they are good at putting two and two together. I recommend we ask for it all cryptically," Beatrice whispered almost inaudibly in Johan's ears, playfully.
Johan stared her down first—for intentionally breathing too hard in his ears to tease him, but took a deep breath. 'Having someone who can read all your thoughts is not as hot as I expected.' He instantly suppressed this thought.
As for cryptic, he already knew how they worked, so he had prepared well. A grin appeared on his face, thinking about it.
Kirin nodded softly, making a gesture of zipping her mouth, while Sebastian and Raventa closely analyzed every last guard.
Raventa's appearance was also changed—now with blue hair, golden eyes, and an overall more skinny body, missing her extremely curvy body.
Only Beatrice was in her original appearance, a decision made by her to appear more trustworthy to the broker.
"So, what can we get for you? You know even we don't like to help terrorists commit atrocities," Beatrice's decision seemed to backfire as a burly man in his forties, wielding a small forearm-sized katana on him, smiled dangerously low.
Beatrice's eyes widened. "What do you mean? I come here often!" she replied, biting her lips in annoyance.
"The stunt you lot pulled at the Royal Palace? Radhaan himself visited Mr. R personally. It was a friendly reminder, he said—but most likely a threat…" the man spoke, shaking his head toward the old shopkeeper by the side.
Beatrice frowned. "Can you tell us in detail about it?" she spoke through gritted teeth. No one had told her she had attacked the Royal Palace.
"No, as I said—
"5,000 gold pounds!" she instantly spoke, cutting the man off.
The man's eyes widened, his gaze lost as if thinking, but—
Beatrice didn't give him any time. She wrapped his neck under her arm, pulling him closer to her.
A stare-off went between them, but the man eventually gave in.
"...So, you are telling me Alistar attacked the Royal Palace, killed the previous Monarch, destroyed the Ministry of War's head office, injured three Divine Generals, and they couldn't even find out who attacked them?" Raventa's mouth twitched as she let the information sink in.
The man nodded solemnly, pouring himself some beer.
"Do you know the names of the Divine Generals injured?" Johan asked, leisurely sipping coffee.
The air was filled with tension. They were now sitting in a completely dark room, only lit with one candle in the center of the table, glowing the burly man and Johan's faces, while everyone else stood beside them.
"Erwin, Vayu the Strong, and the new lad, Leor Milford…" The man chugged down the beer mug in his hand in one big gulp, frowning slightly.
'Who is this man? Why is he acting like the leader? Don't tell me… he is the leader of that Alistar…' the man rubbed his eyes, trying to think of a reason why someone like Beatrice would respect another man beside her leader.
"Oh? Did any of your men see how Leor was defeated?" Johan asked casually, placing the empty steel cup on the ground.
"When I say Alistar attacked the Royal Palace, I meant Raymond Daystar. People say they saw an epic clash of light and darkness. That kid has many fans now!" The man shook his head excitedly—clearly, he also was one of the fans.
"Oh…" Johan leaned in. "You also saw it?"
"Yeah. I was just at the local bar, a few hundred kilometers away, I tell ya. But you know what? I could see it clearly—a very bright beam of yellow light chasing a deep hue of darkness. These were their Aether domes, I think…
Ultimately, Leor was the one who made Raymond retreat. All the other Divine Generals, like Vayu, immediately lost after encountering him…" The man slapped the table, motioning one of his men to put another bottle on the table.
"Now… to get to the main topic, I think I should make one thing clear. I have betrayed Alistar!" Beatrice yawned as she said something that startled everyone in the room.
She added slowly, "So by not attending to us, you're literally aiding Alistar…" her tone sharp as she adjusted her bra.
Johan and Sebastian's eyes lit up, while the others looked dazed.
The man took a deep breath and scoffed, "Is there any hard proof of it?" This was big. If he could have hard evidence of something as secretive as this, even 100,000 golden pounds would be insufficient to buy it. He could sell it to kingdoms directly—and also, Mr. R would be interested in him.
"I will tell you the biggest secret of Alistar—over that, I can't provide you any other evidence. We have to have mutual trust, you know!" She replied with a smile.
The man nodded curiously, clearly intrigued.
"Radhaan is the leader of Alistar!" she said simply.
Johan's whole body trembled, his mouth twitching as if he was holding a shit. His poker face shattered for the first time. 'What the fuck is wrong with this woman!?'
A.N.= I signed the contract today! Soon I will have to improve my chapter publishing rate, Can't procrastinate anymore:(
Q.= Is the pov switch, like with Leor, Selene, Olivia good, or annoying? I can't completely remove them, since I like this style of storytelling, but if they are too annoying for you, I will reduce the quantity of them.