"Hey, it's my turn to be the Crazy Man!"
"No, it's mine!"
"I don't care, I prefer being the Evil Lord!"
"Then, I'll be the Swordsman, and you'll be the Crazy Man, and then we'll trade!"
"Okay!"
Glenn yawned as he looked down at a group of kids playing around, acting as strange folklore characters. He had never heard the stories of any of the names mentioned, but as long as they had fun. The young man turned his eyes away from them and leaned back on the tiled roof of one of the Northern Town's houses, grunting in discouragement when looking at the pile of documents Maron gave him.
"Man...Why does it have to be so long...?" He sighed before beginning the inevitable lecture.
'You can't complain: the more information you have, the better prepared you'll be. Imagine going there without a clue, as you did with Palancar, and finding yet another monstrosity to defeat. Not that I'd mind that much...' commented Diamanes aloud in his usual mocking tone, disregarding any care about revealing his presence.
Glenn grunted while rubbing his forehead, Nelg laughing at him from the back of his mind.
"Haha, this sure looks like a pain to read! I'll go take a nap or something, have fun reading those three hundred pages!" The living sword's voice faded away from Glenn's mind, Diamanes soon following, leaving him alone to deal with the pile of documents.
The young man took a deep breath and glanced at the blue sky with tired eyes.
"...Will I even get a break from all of this bullshit at some point?" He muttered hopelessly, before shaking his head and plunging himself in the Maron's report.
He flew over the text, but even then, it took him most of the day to finish the whole document. When he was done, the sun was already setting, casting a purple shade over the Northern Town's red roofs. Glenn carefully slipped the documents in his dimensional pouch, before sighing deeply. He rubbed his temples to try and alleviate the headache he got from reading for so long, before shaking his head and jumping down from his roof. The kids that were playing there earlier were long gone for some unknown adventure.
"I guess we'll have to be careful, then. Damn, the Eastern Town is a mess. I don't even get why the main forces of the Church of Onnea would be based in this place..." Glenn scratched the back of his head as he strolled through the town, taking his time to think over all of the information.
Three things were critical for him to remember: first, the Onnea's Church was the one reigning over the Eastern Town, and so, their words were the law. The Cleaner's Workshop Eastern branch was considerably smaller compared to the one in the Northern Town — or any other town for that matter — and so, they treated their Fixers much more preciously. Most high-ranked Fixers seemed to always leave for another Town if it wasn't for the Bourgeoisie straight away, so they always lacked manpower. Add to that that every official Cleaner seemed to be avoiding the town like the plague, and it made for King's Rise's smallest branch of the Cleaner's Workshop.
"Sahro must have lived like a king there back when he was a Gold Rank Fixer. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't compare to the one we're getting currently, with both of us being Dark Gold ranked, but still, it must have been pretty good..." Glenn grinned as he approached a street vendor, buying something akin to a crepe filled with sliced bits of meat and vegetables. The young man had given up long ago trying to understand what names this world attributed to each meat, and so he just categorized them by their tastes.
"...Mmh, mraybe' bheef and' chircken, with some red preppers'?"
'Please finish whatever you're eating before speaking, for all of our sakes...' Diamanes sighed, Nelg echoing the entity's words with a groan of approval.
The second thing he learned was that the Eastern Town had a past of being the poorest town of the Fringe, with the highest crime rate. It had supposedly become better once the Church of Onnea took over the city, but any ruffians that managed to get into King's Rise were housed there. Maron had even managed to somehow find out that a black market was hidden in the city's underground, hosting all kinds of criminal activities. Somehow, it managed to survive Onnea's influence and avoid the destruction.
"Gulp," Glenn swallowed the huge chunk he just chewed out, before voicing his thoughts, "...Of course, a black market has to be underground. Where else would they put it?"
"I don't know, maybe they can figure out some magical stuff, like the Magi Brotherhood's teleportation?" Nelg proposed, plunging Glenn into deeper contemplation.
"That's more than possible. That might even be the way they managed to avoid the Church's eyes. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Magi Brotherhood even secretly sponsored the black market. It would be the best way to get some forbidden material or artifacts."
The more he thought about it, the more it sounded plausible. The bad news though would be that the Thorn's Church probably managed to survive using the same way, which would probably complicate his personal side quest of destroying every single one of these bastards.
'Well, I'm sure you'll eventually meet them, they're always trying to skin you for that bond you share with their god. No need to worry, heh...' Diamanes predicted with a laugh, making Glenn shake his head dejectedly.
"We'll see about that. Anyway, the last point..." The young man rubbed the bridge of his nose, already smelling how troublesome this was going to be.
The Eastern Town was also affiliated with the King's Rise military, as well as District 22, the only place exterior to King's Rise that was suited for living. A guy going by the name of Lazarre had been given the authority to rule over the town as he pleased as the Mayor, as long as the crime rate descended. The man was worse than a wretched miscreant and was secretly stealing away all of the Onnea's Church's hard work for himself.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"...It's not so secret if Maron knows about it..." Nelg remarked, Glenn replying with a shrug.
"It's probably like an open secret. The black market should be in a similar position. I sure hope this wannabee noble isn't going to get in my way, though..."
From what he understood, Mayor Lazarre had received his title from a Count, someone of a higher position than even Baron Howard. That meant he had the Watchers and the other impassible military orders of King's Rise at his service, to a certain extent. There were twenty orders assigned to the Fringe with the orders to protect certain high-priority locations or to deal with the elements threatening the higher Circles of the City.
"And this Lazarre guy has five of these twenty orders to use as he pleases...Let's try to avoid this guy for now..." Glenn sighed as he ruffled his hair in frustration. There were no clear leads as to where he should begin searching for Redan, but many places to explore, many people he'll probably have to beat to crap, and many hellish creatures to slay. As always, it didn't bode too well, but he was starting to get used to it.
At least, now he could do more than just defend himself.
Glenn suddenly stopped in front of a rundown house, with dusty windows and a rotting wooden door. He winced and summoned his Magi Brotherhood plate from within his soul, and entered the room with it. As soon as he infused a bit of Mana in the plate, a stone pedestal surged out of the ground as the door closed tightly behind him.
"It's been a while..." He braced himself as his innards were sent through the equivalent of a washing machine on crack, before finally arriving at his destination.
"Damn, I'll never get used to teleportation..." Glenn held himself on a steel handrail intended for this purpose, clenching his teeth as he forced himself to push through the unbearable need to puke everything he had eaten in the day. After a few seconds of letting the nausea pass, Glenn finally regained his composure and looked over the magnificent main hall of the Magi Brotherhood. The architecture had entirely changed from the last time he had come here, with whiter colors and grand columns that made him think of the Greek temples he would see in history documentaries.
"Well, this place is the cradle of magic, of course, it's everchanging..." Glenn shook his head before clenching the Magi Brotherhood plate, feeling his body being pulled away from his current position to another spot. It wasn't teleportation this time, but it felt almost as unpleasant. Seconds later, he arrived in a small private room, with comfortable leather sofas and a personal bar at his convenience.
"Hehe..." Glenn rubbed his hands together and approached the bar when a rectangle of light suddenly appeared right in front of him. Sahro suddenly jumped out of said rectangle, landing on the ground without a hint of grace, before rushing to a nearby trash can and puking his insides out. Glenn grimaced as he took a step to the side, carefully avoiding the Black Heir to try and get to the tantalizing bottles, when another rectangle appeared yet again in his way, letting this time Milena inside the private room, alongside Javier, the silent Pale Son.
"Sigh, are we the first to arrive...?" Milena glanced to the room, her eyes lighting up when she noticed Glenn and Sahro already present, one staring at the bar behind her with disappointment, and the other suffering the effects of the unusual means of transportation.
"Oh, hey Glenn! Hah, is it his first time using the Transposition?" She asked curiously as she approached Sahro and lightly patted his back. The Black Heir groaned some unintelligible words as he wiped his mouth and stumbled to his feet. Javier stepped inside the private room, seemingly unaffected by nausea or any other secondary effects that might be caused by the Transposition.
Glenn shrugged and collapsed on one of the sofas while throwing the stack of documents Maron gave him on a nearby table.
"Sure looks like it. I can't blame him, it was even worse for me, heh."
Javier walked over to one of the couches and sat down awkwardly, struggling to find a suitable position in the plush. Glenn sneered at the sight and waited for Sahro to recover his senses. It took a few more minutes until the Black Heir finally stopped looking like he was going to die at any moment. Finally, Glenn sat himself straight and clapped to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, one last brief and time to head out to the Eastern Town. I'll do a quick resume of what I learned from Maron, but if you want precisions, feel free to check out this horrible—useful source of information that are those three-hundred something pages," said the young man as he gestured with a hint of hate toward the stack of paper. The other three only glanced over the documents before deciding the resume would have to suffice.
Glenn quickly explained to them the situation with the Church of Onnea, as well as the hidden lawlessness and the most probable disturbance from Lazarre, the Eastern Town's Mayor. Milena chose to check a few pieces of information over, investing herself as much as she could.
'It does seem like it makes her quite happy to be in a team. Maybe—no, I'm sure of it, it's her first time working with others. Well, with her previous crappy attitude, that's no surprise, hehe...' Diamanes remarked, earning a sneer from his host. Nelg smacked his lips, the image of his armored self appearing in Glenn's mind with his arms crossed.
"Hey, she's pretty cute...Hey, Me, explain to me why you never flirted with her. That's a golden opportunity right there!"
A vein popped on Glenn's forehead as he slowly closed his eyes, shutting his mouth tightly so he wouldn't accidentally share his reply with the rest of the group.
'Maybe because it's just NOT the time for that? Remember I have a grudge to resolve with a religion or two, some noble and even a few gods I might have offended. Where the hell am I supposed to place romance in this hell?'
Nelg couldn't reply, speechless in front of Glenn's imperturbable defense. The young man rubbed the corner of his eyes tiredly, before standing up from his seat.
"Well, I hope you guys got it all because I'm not going to repeat it. Do you guys have anything to add?"
Milena shrugged and stood up before putting the documents in a satchel she wore to her side.
"I contacted the Restoration Operator, he's more than interested in that document you found. He'll be waiting for us to meet him at some point. Thankfully, he's still in the Eastern Town for some research."
Glenn nodded.
"Perfect, at least that's one thing crossed off the list," He turned toward Sahro, "...And you?"
The Black Heir grinned, before shivering as he suddenly remembered something as touched the pommel of the sword hanging off his side.
"I made a few...friends back in the Eastern Town. Shit, I just remembered..." He sighed through his clenched teeth, before shaking his head.
"We'll have help finding Redan, but I can't guarantee things will go as planned. They are a little...unpredictable."
Glenn blinked at Sahro, curious about who were those mysterious helpers, before deciding to keep the surprise for later. Finally, he turned toward Javier, the last member of the team, or the Gang, as Diamanes was calling it these days.
"..."
Javier stared silently with his dead fish eyes, not uttering a sound. Glenn moistened his lips, smiling helplessly before turning away from the silent hunter.
"Well, then we're all good!" He grinned and summoned his Magi Brotherhood plate to infuse Mana inside it.
"Time to get going then!"
The ground under them suddenly twisted, pulling them to another location far from there.
"To the Eastern Town!"