"Hot exclusivity! The latest invention of the Omniscient! Read about it for one measly credit!" A boy shouted from the top of his lungs, waving around a journal. He stood next to a cart filled with similar journals, and a few workers stopped to buy a journal from him, handing paper bills instead of the coins Glenn eventually got used to. The latter was watching the exchange with wide eyes.

"So journals exist in this world. Is it wrong of me to believe this might be thanks to Exan?" Nelg inquired hesitantly.

'With how the Bourgeoisie looks, it wouldn't be a stretch to guess that it's his fault, yeah,' Diamanes agreed, 'It looks and feels like someone coming from Earth would create, strangely. Someone with a steampunk fantasy.'

"Sir Devil's Hand?" Janica called out to Glenn, who blinked and turned away from the newsboy. Janica, the girl they met in the Immigration Office, was still guiding them to the XIV District and the Cleaner's Office. Glenn, who was spending most of the way looking around like a country bumpkin, unable to believe his eyes, tried to concentrate and follow their guide. Thankfully, he wasn't alone in acting like that, Liara and Sahro were similarly taken aback. The permanent cranking of gears and clouds of steam puffing here and there was disorienting, unlike anything he had ever seen, even on Earth.

"Anyway, as I was saying, since the XIV District is three Districts away, it would take a super, super long time to go there on feet. So we're going to take the transit," Janica explained excitedly, before stopping dead in her tracks.

"Ah!" She slapped her forehead and turned toward Glenn, "You're still using the old monetary system, aren't you?"

Glenn frowned, "The old monetary system? You mean copper, silver, and gold coins?"

Janica nodded frantically, "Yes, that! Uhm, well, we don't use it in the Bourgeoisie since..." she scratched the top of her head, "...I think it's been 70 years? I'm not sure. I'm not great at History classes."

She cleared her throat and took out a bill from her pocket, with a One printed on it and the face of a serious-looking man with a thick beard and pompadour haircut.

"This is a one-credit bill. The face—there—" She placed her finger on the unknown face, "—is the face of one of the Heroes of Munirp, Count Noir. There are other bills—" She took out three more, "—like the five credits bill, ten credits, twenty, and more..." Janica rubbed the back of her head, blushing, "...Sorry, I don't have the fifty credits bill or higher."

Glenn waved his hand dismissively, smiling softly, "Don't worry, you're already a lot of help. What's the conversion rate for the old coins then? I presume it might not be much for copper, but silver and gold should still be worth something, right?"

Janica looked down with red cheeks, fiddling with her thumbs while Milena turned away, restraining a laugh.

"Well, uhm...silver is worth...nothing, and gold only one credit. They usually don't accept to trade your gold or silver coins for credits, though."

Glenn blinked, the air pulled out of his chest as if he had just been punched. Sahro stepped forward, unsure.

"Wait, are you saying that...we're poor once again?"

Janica winced and nodded slowly. Glenn rubbed the corner of his eyes, feeling an incoming headache.

"Janica, what's the average salary in the Bourgeoisie? The sheer minimum to live?"

The girl chewed on her lower lip, uncertain, "Uhm, I live in a low-cost housing apartment, and I earn a hundred credits monthly if I'm lucky. Sixty of those are spent for rent, though..."

Sahro shook his head and blurted out, "Ah, so you're also poor?"

Janica looked at the Black Heir silently, tears welling up in her eyes. Milena slapped the back of Sahro's head. The latter tried to complain but Liara imitated her friend and slapped him too, only with a little more strength. Sahro's head bounced off the pavement as Janica watched in shock. Glenn cleared his throat, taking away her focus from the other idiot.

"Thank you for telling us, Janica. Don't listen to this idiot, he has two brain cells and they're constantly fighting each other. How expensive is this transit?"

"It's, uhh, three credits for students and children, and I think five credits for adults. I think," replied the girl nervously. Glenn looked back at his team. Milena, Liara, Javier and Sahro. With him, it would cost twenty-five credits just for one travel.

"And Janica earns a hundred credits monthly, right?" Nelg confirmed, unsure.

'She earns a hundred on the good months, so probably less usually,' Diamanes corrected. Janica looked at her bills with a dark expression, until Glenn went and grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't worry about us, Janica. We'll take care of our expenses. Is there a branch of the Cleaner's Workshop around here?"

Janica's face brightened and she hurriedly hid her bills back the way they came from.

"Uhm, not in District III, but I think there's one in District IV. It's not far from here, maybe an hour's walk?" She said while suddenly looking at her wrist. She rubbed a thick black bracelet, revealing a ticking wristwatch under the soot.

Glenn glanced around, noticing a sign pointing in the right direction "District IV -

"Seems like we can go this way. Janica, are there transits in every District?" He asked. The girl looked away from her watch and paled

"Uhm, yes, there are districts in every transit! Uh, no, I mean—" She stopped and drew a deep breath, "—Sorry. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mister Devil's Hand and Mister Black Swordsman, and you too, Javier, Milena, and Liara. I have to go to a very important appointment I almost forgot. If you need anything, don't hesitate to pass by the Immigration Office!"

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Janica bolted away without a second thought, calling names like “the damned university timetables” and “these fucking bureaucrats”. Glenn watched her running off and chuckled, as did the rest of his team. Besides Javier, of course.

"Well, that was an interesting encounter for sure. Let's hope the Workshop will give us some starting funds. I have a hard time believing how expensive life is here," Glenn trailed off at the end of his sentence, realizing there was a disturbing similarity between the Bourgeoisie economic system and what was in place back on Earth in his country. Paper bills, monthly salaries, expensive rents...

Diamanes suddenly laughed, interrupting his host's thoughts, 'Haha, maybe Exan brought capitalism to the Limbo!'

Glenn chuckled, first of amusement, then of nervosity. This was way too plausible, wasn't it? He shook his head and gestured at his comrades.

"Let's go. I'd like to find out what this INK-DEF mission is before the sun has set, if possible."

The group walked through the Bourgeoisie, following the signs directing them to the next District. The city was labyrinthic; each street either led up or downward, with multiple floors for multiple streets, some leading to the same place and some to some dark back alleys. More than once, Glenn's team had to go back on their steps to find the right path. As they were exploring their way to the IV District, Sahro suddenly spoke up, a little taken aback.

"You know, with how everyone was talking about it with reverence, I thought the Bourgeoisie would be much richer than the Fringe. And yet..." He creased his eyebrows when they passed next to a crumbling, abandoned house, which was in the middle of being demolished. Multiple houses beside that one were in a similar destitute state, and more than a dozen homeless people were asking for change. Glenn still had a hard time believing gold coins were worth mere change, by the way. How was it possible for gold to be this inexpensive?

"I don't understand what surprises you. The Bourgeoisie is like the promised land; you climb up here hoping for riches and success, and end up under a bridge with a pair of pants and broken dreams to your name," Milena jeered sarcastically in response, "That's the fate of the individuals that came here with no skills or connections. We won't have any problems, since we can fight, but many people can't. And the industry is cruel."

Glenn interjected, "What about the kids born here? They don't have skills right away, don't they? Are there schools or something?"

Milena nodded, "Absolutely. Thanks to a law—quite a recent one—pushed by Exan the Omniscient, education is mandatory and free for every child born in King's Rise. It did create some problems due to the constant immigration, but I believe they're working on it currently."

Sahro lifted an eyebrow as he glanced at Milena, "You certainly know your stuff. I sure wonder why you didn't bother to tell us about the new monetary system."

Milena blushed as Glenn chuckled, "That's a good question. Why didn't you warn us, Milena?"

The lady looked away and puffed her cheeks, "...I forgot, alright?"

Glenn, Sahro, and Liara laughed at Milena's expenses. Vexed, she went and walked beside Javier, the only one who wasn't laughing at her. They eventually reached the IV District at some point, even though they realized only when they discovered signs leading to District V, District III, and XVIII. Glenn could understand why he could access District V from here, but why XVIII too? This didn't make sense. And who named these Districts like that? Numbers? This sucked.

"I'm sure the locals call them differently. We just have to find out the names for each," Nelg commented optimistically. Glenn shrugged, honestly not that caring about it. What mattered was finding this damned Cleaner's Workshop—

"Glenn, over there!" Sahro called up to him a street away. The group had split up moments ago to try and find the Workshop faster, a success. Glenn gestured at the others and joined Sahro, barely glancing at the building and the flame carved on its side before entering. As soon as he stepped in, he sighed in relief, finding the same atmosphere he had gotten used to when living in the Northern Town Workshop's Dormitory. There were Fixers of all different kinds running around, accepting commissions and discussing bounties. What Glenn did notice was that most of them were showing off their Identification Daggers. Dark-Gold, Dark-Gold, Dark-Gold, ah, Platinum, Dark-Gold again... It seemed like Dark Gold was the minimum rank in this Workshop. Thankfully, his whole team had been elevated to that rank after the Thorn's Cult incident, so they wouldn't be put to shame. And Glenn and Sahro were probably already worth Platinum anyway.

Glenn walked up to the counter, containing a scowl when he found the same robotic, pretty female clerks working there. It seemed like they were the standards normally, with Loran in the Eastern Town being the exception.

"Can I help you, Sir?" The clerk asked with a bright smile. Glenn forced a fake smile back and took out the INK-DEF insignia, showing it to the lady.

"Hello, I wanted to—" The lady smacked his hand and pressed the insignia on the counter, hiding it under his palm. Glenn's first reflex was to pull back and reach for his sword, as did Sahro who was standing closely, but the robotic lady raised her hand in a calming gesture.

"I apologize. Please be patient for a few minutes; someone will come take care of you. Please don't show your insignia recklessly, Sir Glenn." She smiled before turning away to take care of the next Fixer. Glenn clenched the insignia in his palm, taken aback.

"...I did not expect that," Sahro muttered, his right hand resting on his sword's hilt. Glenn pressed his lips together, squinting at the female clerk.

"Me neither, Sahro. Me neither..."

They joined back with the others, telling them of what just happened. Liara's face darkened, while Milena glanced with a frown at the counter.

"This is strange. What is so special about this mission for it to be so secretive?" She muttered with curiosity. Glenn shook his head and slipped the insignia back into his dimensional pouch.

"I don't know. But this might be a much bigger thing than I thought if I can't even take that thing out in public. I wonder where I'm supposed to use the requisitioning power, then."

Sahro and Milena looked at Glenn confusedly, "Requisitioning powers?"

Glenn shrugged, "I have powers equivalent to a Senior Cleaner if I trust Manalok's words."

Milena blinked, “The Restoration Operator? What's he up to in all this?”

Glenn was about to reply but paused. Oh. Ah. Manalok. Manalok Tuleam, and Manalok Calopea Truant. Ohhhhh.

"Ohhhhh."

'Ohhhh.'

A collective groan of understanding echoed in Glenn's head.

"It's..." He glanced at Sahro, who seemed even more confused now and sighed, "...Sigh...Let's start at the beginning..."

Glenn quickly explained his encounter with Manalok Calopea Truant, the Head Cleaner Director, the one who gave him the INK-DEF mission, and his meeting with Manalok Tuleam, the Restoration Operator who was in charge of fixing up the notebook "Project: Sword of Damocles".

"So they're brothers?" Milena asked in disbelief. Glenn grimaced, bobbing his head left and right.

"That's a little farfetched. They're from the same family, though, that's for sure. I have no idea what relations they have, on another hand."

Sahro grunted and shrugged, "What do we care? What's really important in all this is that your Restoration-something still didn't give us the notebook back. And it's been more than a few months since you gave it to him, right?"

Glen sighed, "...Right. I'll try to look into it tomorrow. We already have a lot planned for today."

As he spoke these words, someone suddenly ran up to them, heaving with difficulty as he did so. Glenn frowned and turned, almost chuckling in disbelief.

"Huff, huff... Hello, Sir Glenn," Kevin gasped before pushing his glasses back on his nose.

'Well, that's one thing that didn't change,' Diamanes remarked with a laugh. Glenn grinned and went to pat Kevin's shoulder.

"Glad to have you there, Kevin. So, you'll take care of us?"

Kevin nodded frantically, "Please follow me, everyone. There's a lot of information you need to know about the Bourgeoisie."