Glenn leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling absent-mindedly. Running across it like a snake's nest were a dozen brass pipes gleaming with a bronze hue in the magical light hanging beside it. A few minutes ago, Kevin brought Glenn and his team to this small office in the Workshop,

"So we just give you all of our gold, and you'll take care of the exchange?" Sahro asked Kevin with creased eyebrows. Kevin pushed his glasses up his nose and nodded.

"Absolutely, Sir Sahro. The Cleaner's Workshop has an exclusive deal with the Gold Church's banks, allowing us to propose an interesting exchange rate for your gold. I believe you won't find anything better anywhere," The assistant promised before glancing at Javier. The silent hunter was standing awkwardly close to the skinny man, his eyes empty and his goals unknown.

Sahro scratched his shin before fishing a small bag from within a small pouch hanging at his waist, "...Alright, here you go." Glenn raised an eyebrow at the scene, surprised. He didn't know Sahro also used dimensional storage. Somehow, it felt like it wouldn't fit the Black Heir's personality. And yet. Glenn also emptied the coins from his dimensional pouch on the table, grinning as the pile grew to be bigger than Sahro's bag. The Black Heir's brows flinched, but he did not react to that. Milena also threw a smaller bag into the pile, as did Liara. Only Javier seemed uninterested in the exchange. But then, Javier seemed uninterested in everything, so it was expected.

Kevin eyed the coin mountain for a short moment, before writing down something on his notepad. He then looked through his pockets and pulled out four bundles of bills, which he evenly distributed between Glenn, Sahro, Milena, Liara, and Javier.

"Here's an advance of five hundred credits each. You don't have to think about paying it back right now, but do keep in mind that it is an advance," Kevin warned, "We'll exchange your gold coins, but you'll still be in debt due to the uneven rate. Of course, as long as you all continue to terminate bounties as you did in the Northern Town, it'll be paid back in a matter of weeks. Sir Javier..." The assistant made a wry smile, "...since you don't have any gold coins to exchange, your debt might take a little longer than planned to pay back. I can take back a part of the advance if you wish?"

Javier looked at the bundle of bills and pocketed it, before disappearing without another second of hesitation, fading in the darkness like a living shadow. Kevin looked at Glenn with a mix of fear and confusion.

"Is this...normal?"

Glenn nodded dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, don't bother with him. Anyway, what else do we need to know? About that INK-DEF mission and all that?"

Kevin looked at Glenn with a strange look and shook his head, "I apologize, but I'm not sure what you mean by 'Inkdef', Sir."

Milena and Liara frowned, while Sahro sneered and looked away from the assistant. Glenn moistened his lips, increasingly more curious about this mysterious mission. If even Kevin didn't know about it, then...then what was it? What were they going to do, for it to be kept hidden in such a secretive manner? Kevin flipped a page off the notepad and quickly read a few lines in his mind.

"As you might have noticed, the Bourgeoisie is a very different place to the Fringe," He first said, staring at the team's reactions, "...The Bourgeoisie is more technologically advanced, more populated, and more dangerous. The average strength of Aura, Mana, and Divinity users is at minimum at the 3rd Rank, and at most at the 6th, so keep that in mind. Threats such as Rifts, Raids, and Corrupted Ones are that much more important, and there is always the risk of victim to a bandit or similar."

Kevin looked away from his notepad to the small window that gave a view of a nearby street.

"Many come here with the expectation of living like kings, but you probably noticed how impossible that is. Merchant companies, noble families, churches, and military organizations hold the powers of the Bourgeoisie. Every citizen, be they powerful at fighting, or not, eventually has to affiliate with one of these organizations. The Cleaner's Workshop is such an organization, but there are a dozen similar-sized ones in the Bourgeoisie. We have the monopoly of the Fringe, but that's all."

The assistant cleared his throat and looked back at Glenn and his team, "Keep that in mind when picking fights, for the Cleaner's Workshop might not be able to protect you in every situation. For the Clearance for Mana usage, it takes a week or so before the administration accepts a request, so it'll be done by then."

Milena raised her hand like a kid at school, "What about the Cleaner's Office?"

Kevin smiled and adjusted the position of his glasses, "It is the Cleaner's Workshop headquarters. All of the Workshops are under the Office, which is where most of if not all of the leadership, and where the most important decisions are taken for the well-being of the organization."

Glenn nodded slowly in understanding.

'That means we're going to meet another bigshot like Calopea, right? Exciting!' Diamanes' wicked laugh echoed in his host's mind. Nelg remained silent, concentrated on the assistant's words.

"As I've said before, we're already working on obtaining clearance for your whole team, so no need to worry about that, Sir Glenn," Kevin repeated, "...And try to avoid fighting with the local military or the nobles. The Steam Guard is affiliated with the government, and their words are the law. Some nobles do have the permission to order them around, and it can be a bother."

Glenn chuckled, not too worried, "I'll try not to piss anyone off, hah!"

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair before looking back at the ceiling, his smile becoming a fake one, 'Besides for that Baron Howard piece of shit. And Count Mortelli, probably, if he is indeed one of the components behind Redan's death.'

"One last thing," Kevin suddenly said as he recalled something, "Districts are numbered from one to twenty-seven. The higher the number, the better the District, and so..." his face darkened slightly, "...the higher chances to encounter a noble. District XXVII is even called "Noble's Rise", for it is a place where lower nobles of the Bourgeoisie meet up with those of the Court to try and ascend higher, and the place leading to the Court itself."

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Sahro groaned in understanding, restless, "Is that all? Avoid the higher numbered Districts, don't mess with anyone, and that's all, right?"

Kevin glanced at Sahro for a moment and nodded, "That is all, indeed. I won't be available in the next few days but do know that we arranged a house for the Devil's team in Silverhomes, in District XVIII. Look for Longhorn Street, N°33. Your Identification Daggers are already synchronized with the locks."

Sahro and Liara gasped, while Glenn slowly stood up from his chair. "...Did you say a...a "house"? Not a suite or a Dormitory, but...a house?" He asked in disbelief. The assistant nodded simply.

"Most of the land in Silverhomes is owned by the Cleaner's Workshop. Your neighbors will be other individuals of similar or higher rank than you, so don't be too surprised. Is there anything else?"

Glenn and the others exchanged a glance, before shaking their heads. Kevin sighed in relief and bowed slightly.

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to know we will be working together once again, Sir Glenn. I'll be seeing you in a few days," Kevin saluted them and left the office, leaving Glenn and his team to their own devices. Sahro slowly approached Glenn and grabbed his shoulder.

"...Did you hear that?" He whispered in awe. Glenn slowly turned his head to look at his friend, and with a touch of emotion, nodded.

"I did...!"

Milena blinked in confusion. "What's wrong with you guys? Are you going to cry about a house?"

Glenn and Sahro both sent her a deathly stare, before ignoring her.

"Finally free from having to climb a hundred stairs to go home!" Glenn muttered while Diamanes and Nelg laughed at him in his mind.

"A place to call home..." Sahro shook his head, "...I can't wait to see that."

Liara smiled at them, her right hand on her chest. She seemed excited too. Glenn grinned widely, before slapping himself.

"Wait—no. First, we have to go to the Cleaner's Office. Then—" He pointed a finger at the ceiling with a very serious expression, "—and only then will we be able to enjoy having a home."

"You should have asked Kevin to go look into the Restoration Operator's lateness to deliver on his promises, that would have been smarter," Nelg noticed, freezing Glenn's joy. Ah, he did forget about that.

'Well...' He shrugged and turned for the door, opening it for his team to leave, 'Kevin said he'll be back in a few days. It won't be too late to ask him about it then.'

Nelg sneered but did not add anything else. The group left the Cleaner's Workshop and followed the signs leading to the "transit". Glenn stopped once or twice to look at some houses' designs, frowning when he saw families of ten or twelve entering already crowded apartments. After listening to Kevin's explanations, it did seem like the houses were old, poorly maintained, and overcrowded in this District. Some families were working together on the street, washing clothes with scraped hands and dim Water Shards.

They soon arrived at a wide row of descending stairs, with a large sign hanging above the entrance reading "Transit - III ---> XV"

Glenn looked back at the others and went down the stairs, avoiding people coming in the other direction from time to time. There was a row of gates blocking the access to stairs leading further down, with posters with instructions and reminders to "pay the fee or else" glued to every wall. There were terminals to exchange credits for tickets, tickets which could then be used to open individual gates that led further down.

"...This is a metro station. A subway. A very secure one too," Nelg realized, almost unsurprised. Glenn passed his tongue on his teeth, feeling like laughing at all the similarities between the Bourgeoisie and what he was used to back on Earth. A metro, long administrative processes, divide in social classes... It was the same everywhere, apparently.

"Pay the fee? What fee?" Sahro asked with an indignant air. Milena pushed him in the terminals' direction, where Glenn paid for everyone's tickets. He handed them one each and headed for the gates, pushing the ticket in a slitted machine. It swallowed the ticket and opened the gate. Glenn passed it, finding the rest of the machine with his ticket punctured waiting there for him. He took his ticket back and waited for his team, who followed his example. Only Milena seemed to have the same ease as him when using the ticket machine. Liara and Sahro had a slightly harder time, but they eventually managed.

What struck Glenn the most were the people using the transit; workers, and students, which was what he kind of expected, but also fully armored knights, mages, priests, and steam-powered armored soldiers. They also passed a massive, closed door, with the word "SHELTER" painted red on it.

'That's probably to protect the civilians from the Rifts or wild Corrupted Ones. They thought of everything...' Diamanes realized aloud with a curious tone. The entity seemed to enjoy the technological advancement of this place more than Glenn. Finally, they arrived at the lowest floor, where a thundering sound of something large coming echoed powerfully, the sound of metal clashing and rasping disagreeable to the ears. Glenn recognized the sound of brakes stopping, but Liara and Sahro didn't. They both almost had their weapons out, but thankfully Milena managed to stop them in time.

A massive train of brass and steel came out of a dark, large tunnel and entered the station in a cloud of steam, stopping right for the platform. Train staff opened doors to let their passengers out, before allowing new ones in. The crowd rushed in the train, which seemed to be much longer than how it initially appeared, with train cars still waiting in the tunnel. Sahro and Liara watched with their jaws on the floor, while Glenn simply laughed at the sight.

"Haha! Hahahahaha!" He laughed widely, unable to believe what he was seeing. There were even trains now. What was next, a fucking spaceship? Everything he believed in ever since he arrived in this world proved to be fake. A medieval fantasy world? Really? Then what was that? What were the steam-powered power armors, the brass pipes, and the technology everywhere? Why would he wake up on a medieval battlefield if this world was already this advanced, probably advanced enough to have guns? Nothing made sense anymore, but nothing ever really did in this damned world.

He laughed dejectedly when he realized that this last thought was the last thing that kept him going each day.

Glenn and Milena forced the two Black Heirs on the train, practically pulling them in, even though "it had to be some horrible trap!" Milena was stealing glances at Glenn every now and then, which the latter attributed to his lack of true surprise. He knew what a train was and how a train station operated, after all, the same for subway stations. They looked for an empty cabin and collapsed on the comfortable seats, the sight outside the window obscured by the tunnel's darkness.

Soon enough, the train started again and left the station, rushing down the railways with unstoppable speed. Liara and Sahro, the two Black Heirs, were as pale as chalk, and holding on to each other like their lives depended on it.

"This is a terrible idea!" Sahro blurted out fearfully as the train wheels hissed against the tracks at the time of a turn. Liara opened her mouth as if to speak her mind, but she still didn't utter a word, hanging on her conviction to not scream in terror. Milena laughed at the two of them, before poking Glenn in the arm.

"Hahaha, it's just too good to see the two of them so surprised. Don't you think so, Glenn?"

The latter flinched, too occupied with staring down the dark tunnel and remembering his memories of Earth.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. It's really funny," He mumbled without much conviction, his eyes not leaving the window. All of these things were making him feel quite homesick now.