"So, what's the plan when we go to Mircrest?" Aurelius asked after they packed up and began to walk, leaving the Cloud-Piercing Mountains behind.

Cade kept her gaze forward. "I'll sell the enhancers and give the money to those who depend on me."

"What then?"

"Not sure. You said you wanted to do good right? We can probably get some more jobs and spread the profits to those in need."

"But what about the corruption in Mircrest? That's the reason I'm heading there in the first place. To destroy Numen."

Cade turned to her side. "You're serious about that?"

"Of course I am. They're evil and shouldn't just be allowed to exist. We should do something about that since we're able to." Aurelius said like it was obvious.

"You think we're capable of destroying the most heinous criminal organization in the entire world? Aurelius, Numen has ties to almost all major businesses that there are in Mircrest. It's developed past something that plagues Mircrest. Numen is Mircrest."

"Okay, well, maybe not destroy. But fight against."

Cade tilted her head with narrow eyes. "With what?"

"The people of Mircrest."

"Huh?"

"We can get more money and help the people of Mircrest. Then we can get them on our side and make a difference in those election things they have there, right?"

"It isn't that simple."

"Explain it to me, then. I don't care how complicated it is. I'm here to help people. Aren't you?"

"Explain what? The entirety of Mircrest's political landscape?" Cade asked, glacing at Aurelius. He nodded enthusiastically. Cade laughed, but then saw Aurelius' serious expression and looked to the sky. "Oh, what the hell."

***

Close to the northmost border of Mircrest, there was a dirty place. It was one of the cities of the poor. Such places in Mircrest were denied a proper identity and simply went by the name of the Slums.

Through said Slums, there was a large stream of water that flowed through the middle, which made it necessary for a bridge to unite the two halves of the city.

Under the beginning of the bridge, there was a platform typically used for fishing. One particular, not very eye-catching youth, liked that place a lot. Instead of a fishing rod, however, he held a cigarette. The youth was the owner of a set of well-fitting dark clothes that hugged his skinny frame. He had a pair of narrow, dark eyes, which were coupled with disheveled black hair that seemed to have been attempted to style into a side part but given up on halfway through.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The young man brought his fingers up to his face before lowering his wrists back to the rusty railing in front of him. Then he opened his mouth, and smoke rose up into the cold, dark sky. The young man looked at the cigarette in between his fingers—or rather, what was left of it.

He sighed and flicked the stump into the stream of water that seemed almost pitch-black before pulling out a box from his pocket and opening it with his thumb. The box was empty.

'Didn't I buy this one today?' he thought with a mix of annoyance and amusement before turning around and throwing the box into the stream as well. 'Whatever.'

The young man walked through the Slums, the locals walking past like he didn't exist, giving him a poorly hidden look of disgust, or making brief eye contact before beginning to hurry their steps. What a wonderful community the slums had.

Before long, he made it back to his shabby residence, where a woman, sub-par on the attractiveness scale, greeted him with a smile. "A fine evening today, isn't it, Balgair?"

"No. I feel like shit," the young man answered right before making his way into the staircase.

The woman said something from behind him, but he didn't care to listen and hopped up the stairs quickly before entering his room on the third floor. Straight after entering, Balgair lay down on the single low-quality, wooden bed with a mattress as comfortable as a hairy spider crawling on your opened eyes.

***

The next day, things seemed as usual, with Balgair up on the roofs of the Slums and his prey filling the streets. There was nothing special in sight for a long time, however.

Balgair was looking for a catch that would last him a few months, not a few days. What he needed was some rich idiot, confident enough to move with only a guard or two.

That's when a blonde woman dressed in a silver-colored dress showed herself. Alongside her, there was a young man dressed in a neat gray suit.

'Is he the guard?' Balgair thought, his eyes moving back and forth between the woman's handbag and the man beside her. 'Well, I really hope there's something in there,' he thought before standing up and covering the lower part of his face with a half-mask.

He then performed a series of setups and jumped down from the roof, landing right in front of the pair walking through the streets in broad daylight.

The man immediately pushed the woman back and performed a quick setup that led to him materializing a sword as he rushed towards Balgair.

Balgair wasn't surprised and pinched the tips of his thumbs and index fingers together before bringing them together and drawing them off of one another, revealing a kind of ethereal wire. He then wrapped the wire around the man's blade, trapping the only method of attack his incompetent, knightly ass was most likely capable of. The rest was easy, with him simply kicking the guard in the stomach, sending him flying into a crowd of shocked people before snatching the fine bag out of the woman's hand, giving her a wink in return.

Balgair then put his sense enhancement and reinforcement on mini supply and focused his essence usage on the enhancement of his muscles before jumping over the crowd that had formed around them and speeding out of sight.

He proceeded to coordinate through the maze that was the city's architecture. Surely the one who designed this shit had to be doing at least some type of narcotics. A hidden smile rested on Balgair's lips, and he passed through alleys and streets, the illumination varying with each leap.

His plan had worked smoothly. All he had to do now was make sure nobody could have followed him. Easy as...

A hand from behind grasped the bag in his hand as he was maneuvering through a narrow alley full of pipes, trash bags, and dumpsters.

He instinctively grasped the bag tighter, making his forward momentum disappear as he was yanked by the bag.

'How did the guard catch up?!' Balgair thought in shock as he amplified his mini supplies, balancing his essence usage.

Then a prickling sensation went through his body, followed by a cold sweat not long afterward.

"Let go of the bag. It's not yours," the young man in simple dark-brown clothing with golden hair and his hand on the bag said, his vibrant blue eyes the opposite of what would be called intimidating.

Balgair gritted his teeth after recovering from the initial shock. "What's it to you, Goldilocks?"