This time Dante had to pay two gold coins, one each, to enter the city.

The first time he entered he didn't pay anything as he was with the caravan, Merchants were exempted from paying taxes due to their high status.

As they entered the city, Dante noticed that it was quieter than usual.

The noisy streets were less crowded while the vendors didn't shout as loudly as before.

"Strange... The city seems so tense, could something have happened while I was gone?"

Dante decided to ask Basil about the matter, but he was also clueless about it.

They decided to go ask one of the vendors, they would surely know something.

Dante approached a fatty who sold antiques, as expected he found the man to be at the late stage of the Soldier level.

No common person would be able to open a stall in Winterlake city.

"How much are you asking for that pocket watch?"

He approached the fatty under the pretext of buying something, Dante didn't want to catch the attention of anyone with the city's current state.

The fatty was delighted to see a customer as he squinted his eyes before saying.

"Customer has great eyes! This pocket watch was given to me by the widow of a General level. She told me that her husband always carried it in battle and it had saved his life many times.

She would have never sold it if it wasn't for the fact that she had lost everything after her husband's enemies got their revenge by seizing all his assets.

Customer should know that such an artefact is priceless but seeing your heroic aura, this fatty offers it at the low price of five gold coins!

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

Dante sneered inside, what a crook! If someone inexperienced were to hear him he would probably fall for it.

Dante made a sorry face as he said.

"The heavens really want me to take a loss this time! I'm low on money now and can hardly afford to live in this city.

What about this. I will give you a gold coin now and when I make some money I will give you the rest."

The vendor understood Dante's intentions. That pocket watch was at most worth fifty silver coins which were half a gold coin, this customer was paying for information.

The fatty had years of experience and had already made this kind of transaction many times.

With a smile on his face, the fatty said in a low voice.

"Customer should be a traveller who wants to know about the city's situation. You have made the right choice by asking me as I'm affiliated with the Crimson Wolf Gang.

Our gang mainly deals with information and we are the best of our trade."

The fatty took great pride in being part of that gang, it seemed like it was a fairly influential organization.

However Dante's expression didn't change, with a bitter smile the fatty said.

"Usually I charge two gold coins for this service. I'll take just half of it because the information has been widely spread by the higher-ups...

Three days ago a pillar of light rose to the heavens causing a commotion to break out in the city, many leaders of several gangs and organizations made their move, everyone thought that a great treasure had appeared.

However they were too late, the true rulers of the city personally intervened to calm the situation.

They locked up the city and martial law was declared, a General level blinded by greed tried to sneak away, but was immediately killed by one of those King level rulers.

That General level was the leader of Avaritia, one of the most powerful organizations of the Underworld, which mainly dealt with drugs and slaves."

The fatty stopped his explanation to let the new information sink in.

"The reason why Winterlake city is so tense isn't due to the martial law as it was lifted two days ago.

The real reason is that with the death of their leader, Avaritia has been greedily eyed by all the other organizations.

In the end, Avaritia held a fifth of the drug market while it hosted a slave auction every year which resulted in tens of millions of gold coins entering their pockets.

Such a fat sheep...

However, the majority of the rumours say that key figures of Avaritia have already made contacts with different organizations and have already been absorbed by them."

Dante nodded as he heard the info, he gave two gold coins to the vendor before going to Basil's side.

The fatty thanked Dante and gave him a red card with his gang's name on it.

"When you need information you can use that card to obtain valuable information at a cheap price from my gang!"

Dante put the card in his spatial ring before waving at the fatty.

...

Dante decided to go to the inn first, to notify the manager of his return.

Basil also needed an accomodation until they found a headquarter for their gang.

They had decided that while Dante worked as an assassin, Basil would build the foundation for their gang.

If there were any problems they would have a meeting to make a decision.

"Here we are Basil, this is the inn I've been staying for a few days.

I will pay you a week's stay, it should be enough time to find a base for our gang.

Remember the minimum requirements are having a cultivation of the intermediate stage Soldier level and some kind of skill that can be of use for us.

We need to have our own information network as we are going to stay here long term, after that we can talk about expansion and other things."

"No worries, I should be able to do something about it in a month or so.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The only problem is that we will surely attract the attention of those other gangs who are recruiting..."

Dante thought about the issue for a moment before sending a mental message.

It wasn't wise to talk about these things in the midst of a crowd.

"We should be able to deal with those little gangs, maybe we can even absorb them..."

A ferocious glint flashed in Basil's eyes as he understood what Dante was saying.

They decided to leave this matter for another time as they entered the inn.

When they opened the door, the sound of a bell rang out alerting the manager.

"That bell wasn't there when I left the inn..."

Dante thought to himself as he mused at how he scared the manager the first time he entered.

"Welcome customer, we have two free rooms available as one has been reserved by another customer.

Do you want to have a look at them?"

The manager was pretty happy, since she installed that doorbell she never got any scares from those yelling customers.

The reason she bought that doorbell was because of the customer who paid 600 gold coins at once, she still remembered how her heart almost stopped due to his loud voice...

She already had a weak mental state and that was too much for her!

Dante frowned as he heard the words of the manager, he had already paid for six months of stay!

What was happening?

Still with a frown on his face, Dante said.

"Manager, I'm that customer who paid for half a year's stay a few days ago.

Have you already forgotten me?"

The manager's face turned dark when she heard those words.

Trying to scam me!?

Dream on!

She had already seen many customers try every possible trick to scam her, but this was the worst one she had ever seen.

"Hahaha, you didn't even try to look like him!

What are those light purple hair? Even your build doesn't resemble his!

Look even the color of your skin is different...

What about those eyes? Can brown eyes suddenly turn blue?

Are you taking me for a fool?"

The manager was pretty angry at this point, even if her memory wasn't exceptional she still vividly remembered those rich customers who came to her inn.

If she couldn't tell apart gold mines from beggars, she wouldn't deserve her spot as a manager!

Dante frowned even more, after a moment of silence he decided to ask for a mirror.

The manager didn't expect such a request, but as it was just a mirror she couldn't make a fuss about it.

After a minute a maid fetched a mirror for Dante.

Dante's face fell when he looked at his reflection.

"Now I see why she doesn't recognize me...

Such a great change would leave anyone speechless."

Even Dante couldn't identify himself with the figure in the mirror.

He already knew of the change to his skin color and hair, but those eyes...

They had the same mysterious aura of the Purple Eyed Demon, but it was thousands of times weaker...

Dante looked at the mirror for a long time before giving a long sigh.

The problem now was how he could make the manager believe him.

Basil looked at Dante with a bit of confusion as he asked him.

"Dante, didn't you always look like this?"

Dante shook his head before sending a mental message.

"Before breaking through to Commander level, I looked like a completely different person from now..."

Basil was shocked by Dante's answer, demons were known due to their bloodline abilities but it was common knowledge that they wouldn't go through great changes when their abilities were at their early stages.

With every breakthrough and epiphany, bloodline abilities would grow with their holder and change him.

It was incredible for a demon to change so much in the early stages!

What sort of bloodline ability did he manifest to cause such a change?

Basil decided to not ask, it looked like even Dante didn't know anything about it.

"How do I make the manager believe me..."

After a while Dante found a solution to his problem.

Looking at the manager he found that she had been glaring at him all along. He tried to put a smile on his face as he said.

"Manager have you already forgotten how I scared you when I entered the inn for the first time?

There wasn't a doorbell when I came, so you didn't hear me entering and you almost lost the broom in your hand...

The reason why I look so different is because I've broken through to Commander level and my bloodline abilty has manifested."

The manager was surprised by Dante's words, from his words she could see that that he really was that rich customer.

However she still couldn't believe him, after a brief moment she remembered something important and decided to ask him about it.

"I remember that when you entered you were wearing the Dungeon's uniform, can you show me your ID?"

At this point the manager didn't want any problems, a Commander level dungeon soldier wasn't to be trifled with, just showing his ID would be enough.

Even if he really wasn't Dante at this point she couldn't do anything about it.

Dante had been enlightened by the manager's words, he quickly took out his ID from the spatial ring.

"Here you are." 

The manager examined it for a moment before giving it back.

IDs were issued by the Dungeon, if anyone dared to make fakes they would be quickly hunted down by an expert.

The manager took a key and gave it to Dante.

She looked at Basil and understood what they needed.

"Your companion should be here for a room, I will charge you only two gold coins per day for it."

She wanted to apologize for the inconvenient, a room

Basil was happy with that, as agreed before Dante took out the gold coins for a week's stay.

"Have a comfortable stay in our inn customers!"

Dante and Basil headed to the first floor, they wanted to prepare themselves for the next day.