...

Weeks later, Wintersleep Hotel, Foyer

"Hey, hey! Stop!"

Ocilia turned around only to see Quill walking behind her. She frowned, which made him smile at her cheekily, "Hehe, I love your smile, you know?"

Quill suddenly felt a surge of energy, which made him immediately hold his hands up in peace, "Calm down, spidey. I just need to chat with you."

He felt slight killing intent, and her voice sounded like she wanted to rip him a new one, "What and never call me like this again or else..."

Like Ariana asked him, he never approached Ocilia again romantically. However, he tried to build a friendly relationship, but her hostilities continued for some reason, and he had no idea why. Regardless, this wasn't important at the moment since he needed to warn her.

Quill rolled his eyes, not taking her seriously, "Yeah, yeah, kill this, death that..." he waved his hand in dismissal and became more serious, "...however, I wouldn't go to the underworld if I were you or at least wait for some time since it is quite in turmoil."

Ocilia squinted her eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I thought you were there a couple of times already? Didn't you notice anything?"

She became slightly exasperated, "Again, what?"

Quill raised an eyebrow as he couldn't believe that the news didn't reach her since she was going to the underworld almost daily, even building up a reputation as a wealthy magician, throwing immense amounts of gold at everyone who even sounded the word manual, "Assassins attacked the Leonandra household, and they are now out for blood. There is also some kind of psycho walking around and attacking one assassin hideout after the other, and what he left wasn't quite appealing."

Ocilia looked in panic at Quill, her pupils shaking, "Attacked?!"

He nodded, "Yeah, there is information that some of the kits were attacked and injured. This is why the whole estate is closed off..." He suddenly remembered another piece of information, "...Oh right, there are rumors that it was one of the Nine-Fire guys named Fiorello. He also has a hit on his head for quite the sum, and everyone tries to find that moron."

She immediately turned around and left, 'What is she doing?!'

He immediately followed her, knowing that whatever she was about to do would be dangerous, 'Damn it, Ariana! Next time, don't look for maniacs!'

There was an unspoken rule between Aurum, Ariana, and him. They were great friends, and he always stayed behind them like they did with him. Now, Ariana's fling was about to go on a suicide mission, and he needed to stop her.

"Hey, wait! Didn't you hear? Even though you are a disciple of Mr. Alexander, you can't enter the estate!" He dearly hoped she wanted to visit the estate.

Ocilia suddenly turned around, looking at him, her bloodlust flowing out, "I know. I want to find that bastard."

She turned again, walking much faster this time. Quill groaned and followed her while being exasperated, 'Fuck, I hate such idiots!'

Besides doing his job, he also visited the underworld regularly, trying to build up some connections since it was like his second home in other cities. It was pretty surprising here, though, as he didn't expect that they were much more self-controlling than in central Mal-Gil. They truly feared that the rulers would descend on them like a plague should they fuck up.

So, hearing the news of what happened and about the psycho roaming around, slaughtering every single broker for hits and assassin guilds, he decided to lay low and don't risk it, 'Damn it, Quill! Just let her go, she is the moron if she wants to kill herself.'

After a moment of contemplation, remembering what shit Ariana did for him, he followed her, making a decision contrary to all of his experience, thinking she would only kill herself and that he would need to save her, "Damn it! The whole underworld is in an uproar, and a greenhorn trying to go rogue is suicide!"

She didn't listen to him and just kept walking. However, he had enough and grabbed her shoulder to stop her, "Hey!"

However, when he did so, he felt how threads were conjured around him, 'You think you are the first with such petty tricks?'

Quill flashed beside her, bringing out his dagger, activating his insane energy, bringing the blade toward her throat, "I said stop." His voice was filled with wrath and insanity, cutting into her mind.

Ocilia stopped and looked at him with teary eyes, 'What the fuck?'

Her voice sounded desperate, "Let me go..."

Quill tilted his head, reducing his energy, but nonetheless stayed on alert, "What do you mean? The whole fucking underworld is ripping itself apart to find a guy, and you joining 'em will only kill ya."

She shook slightly, clenching her hands into fists, "I... I... for Master. What if he is..."

He rolled his eyes and tried to argue with her, "What about Mr. Alexander? He is probably fine. Nobody is so stupid to target him. Isn't he only the fourth kit of the current household? Besides him doing magic, there is no reason to go against him."

Ocilia looked at him, becoming overly emotional, "What... if not?..." She started to tremble stronger, "...let me, please go..."

He retracted his energy and put the dagger away. It was clear to him that she was overly emotional for an unknown reason. However, it didn't mean he could sit down with her and talk for hours and let her open her heart out, so he just nodded, already regretting his decision, "Fine, but I will go with you, a'rite?"

At first, he thought about knocking her out and dragging her back to the hotel, but after waking up, she would probably immediately be on the way, but alone. He knew such people, and if they were emotional, they would cut their limbs off to pursue whatever insane endeavor they decided to, 'Damn it, Ariana! If she doesn't become your fucking spouse, I will beat the shit out of you!...' He became more frustrated, '...I thought this bitch was cold-blooded. Why the fuck does she act like this?!'

Yet, he already made a plan so she wouldn't go after a single guy because of the off-chance that her Master was attacked, 'After going two to three times, she will probably see that it is a fucking maze and finding a single guy is almost impossible.'

Other underworlds were much more centralized. Wolfsteeth, on the other hand, had many little central pockets and countless handlers roaming around. On the first day he went down there, he got lost multiple times and ambushed as the written signs didn't mean anything to anyone.

Quill looked at her sternly and waited for an answer, which she did after a moment, "Thanks..."

He smirked at her, "Don't worry, sugar. However, be careful when we go there. The last thing I want is to be hunted down in all of Mal-Gil, too. Okay?"

Quill was in a clinch. Since Ilusia didn't die and would probably be ransomed back, she would also speak about him, meaning he would be put on a hit list in central Mal-Gil. So, the last thing he wanted was to be a fugitive here, the last place where he could live, as he couldn't predict what the noble child would do if his disciple died while being together with him. There were too many cases where random people were accused and put down because they were in the vicinity of a crime happening to one of the retainers of a noble.

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She nodded and started walking again towards the east. He immediately stopped her, "Where the fuck are you going?"

She turned around and raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? In the east, there is an entrance."

He chuckled slightly, "Hehe, follow me, newbie."

She was rather timid now for some reason and followed him through the central district. He knew of some nearby entrances and quickly went into a building that was a notary's office.

Ocilia was confused, though, "Is there an entrance? Why would someone like this have it?"

Quill smirked while continuing walking, "If you knew what kind of people visit the underworld..." He stopped talking further and thought about giving her something to think about, "... or let's say it differently, why do you think the notary has any success at all?

"Wait..." With a glance, he saw how Ocilia tried to wrap her head around this information, "...how many are actually dabbling in the underworld?!"

He opened the door, ringing the entrance bell, "Too many, now be silent and only follow me."

The underworld was not only how many assumed a place full of thugs. There were quite a few places where the upper class would go and buy or sell items or services under the counter. Usually, it wasn't for tax reasons but because the services or items were highly illegal, or their service would, even though legal, have suspicious guilds or groups as customers. Nobody would openly admit that they made a balance sheet for an assassin guild or even write it anywhere down, yet the coin they made was something substantial.

They were also the prominent actors who financed most of the underworld as they liked to splurge their gold left and right: Drugs, certain mana items, or just very delicate services. This gold trickled down to the bottom, more or less, and through this, the bottom feeder also had their share, even though tiny.

While the lower classes were in the majority, they could not usually make it big. However, they also never intended to. For most, the underworld was a place where they could quickly sell off some stolen goods or make some coin on a side hustle so they could buy their kids new shoes. Thus, most were fine with such an arrangement.

Quill entered an entryway and saw the secretary sitting at the reception, doing her nails, "How is it going, sugar?"

The parrot-kin looked up and frowned at him, "Again? What are you doing down there and..." She looked to the side, "...who is your little girlfriend?"

Quill pointed with a thumb behind him at her, "She? She is the greatest demon lord ever lived, now shut the fuck up and show the way."

Asking about the party of others was a great taboo and usually not done. Quill concluded that the notary was someone new to all this and that she thought it was just a game, 'Well, this was the last time I went through here.' He hated uncareful people as they dragged everyone else with them, 'Need to tell Ocilia later, too.'

The parrot-kin only chuckled at that, "Hehe, fine..." She stood up and walked towards the back, "...follow me, but I hope you..."

Quill interrupted her, "Yeah, yeah..." He took out two average silver coins, throwing them at her, "...here you go."

She caught it, putting it into her pocket, smiling, "It is always a pleasure to have you as a customer."

He walked behind her casually while he could feel how Ocilia was on edge, her threads around her, 'Urgh, this is so annoying.'

The best approach to the underworld was always acting as if one belonged to it. What Ocilia did, though, screamed for attention, beginning from how she was always on edge to her costly attire, 'Why does she wear two different cloaks? They are fucking expensive, everyone would want to rob her.'

He was only wearing a simple shirt and pants, which anyone could buy from the grabble table at a tailor. Anything else would put everyone else on high alert. Yet, some weirdos liked to dress up, but they also usually had multiple guards with them, so nobody would even think about touching them.

After walking through some rooms, they walked down into the basement. The parrot-kin turned around, "Well, have fun with the newbie, hehe."

Quill was a little annoyed and let his killing intent speak. His aura infiltrated the parrot-kin's mind, who immediately turned around and looked shocked at him while he only smiled, "I like to do business professionally, a'rite?"

The parrot-kin gulped down and nodded without saying anything. He though smiled back, "Good." He turned back to the entrance and kept walking, "Follow me. We need a couple of minutes."

...

A couple of minutes later

"Why did you do this?"

"What?"

"The killing intent towards your colleague?"

Quill shook his head and chuckled, "Hehe, colleague? This is an asshole I only met twice before. She also is only there, in the evenings, to sell entrances. That's all."

"How much did you give her?"

He shrugged, "One silver coin per person. Quite expensive but fine overall."

She suddenly stopped walking and stood in place, "What?!"

He stopped, too, and turned around, looking at her flustered face, "Is everything alright?"

She only shook her head, "Yeah... never mind."

Quill suddenly smirked at her, "Let me guess, somebody fucked you over for the entrance, right?"

She didn't say anything and just walked forward. He scratched his head and shrugged, "Well, I don't know where you want to go, but I have a little place I think will be a good starting point."

She stopped again, looking sternly at him, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see. I like to be efficient and productive, so let's go to an open auction house and look there. As far as I understand, this Fiorello guy is someone high-class since he is from the Nine-Fire household, and if he is not there, we can at least buy something. There is also a hotel nearby and other stuff where he could be. How 'bout it? "

He had no urge to look for someone who was crazy enough to attack the Leonandra household, so he chose the least likely place he could be. If he were Fiorello, he would leave Mal-Gil as fast as possible and be on a boat toward friendly territory.

While hiding under their noses sounded clever, it was utterly stupid as he had a massive hit on his head, which everyone would kill their parents for if they could get such a sum. This was another great reason not to look for him since other assassins and the psycho were after him. Thus, he wanted to bring her in the following days to some merchants and auction houses, in short, safe places, that he could find over the last weeks and play along while keeping her far from anything dangerous, 'Ariana will pay this favor threefold, I swear.'

Ocilia nodded, "Okay, but are you sure?"

He shrugged, "How can I be? It is the safest place I have found till now. If we see him, we call the guards, get his hit, and be good, right?"

After some moments of visible contemplation, she nodded, "Okay..." However, her killing intent came out, "...but I want him, no guards."

Quill now wanted to knock her out more than ever, as such a mindset was overly dangerous here. However, he only smiled, "Fine by me..." He started walking forward, "...follow me."

As they walked for some minutes, Ocilia suddenly said, "Thank you."

First, Quill wanted to answer her casually but decided otherwise and tried to distract her a little bit, "It's fine. You are Ariana's girlfriend, so I will obviously help you out."

"Did she tell you?!" She sounded flustered, but he only chuckled, "Hehe, nah, nothing concrete. But I wanted to find out how far you both went, and it seems she got ya."

After some more walking, she said, "You know, you are really an asshole..." He completed the sentence, "...with a heart out of gold, obviously, right?"

After a minute of silence, she asked, "What did she say about me?"

He shrugged, inwardly smirking and patting his own back. The only topic with which he could distract younger girls was always love and romance, "How should I know? She told me that she likes you, that's all."

"Uhu..." After some more time, she asked again, "...that's it?"

He raised an eyebrow, thinking, 'So, she is like Ariana. Never had any relationship, huh? This couldn't be more perfect.'

"Don't worry about her, and just be yourself. She obviously likes you. Otherwise, she wouldn't take your shit."

"My shit?"

"You are really dense, huh? She is organized and meticulous, while I can see that you are an airhead, probably untidy, throwing your stuff wherever you want..." He remembered some of his old flames, "...had girls like you, and I immediately saw who you are, hehe."

She became a little angry, "I am not sloppy!"

He shrugged, "I want my friend to be happy, so just take the advice, tidy up a bit, be sensitive, and buy her sweet stuff. With this, you are good to go."

"Sweet stuff?"

"Oh yeah, she has a sweet tooth. I always traded my deserts for her homework, hehe." He knew that she only did it because he was really lazy when it came to annoying chores. Doing homework or organizing things was never his forte, so Ariana was a big help to him. Otherwise, his old school would probably throw him out after a month.

"Hm, thanks for the info."

"Ah, one more thing."

"What?"

Quill turned around, and his killing intent went into full force, targeting Ocilia. She, on the other hand, immediately conjured threads around her. He cared little and looked deep into her eyes, "If you hurt her, I will have your fucking head, do we understand?"

After a moment of confusion, she tilted her head and smiled at him, dissipating her threads, "I like you now much more."

"Oh, why is that?" He did the same, pulling his aura back.

"Loyalty."

"So?"

"I like people who are loyal to their friends and family..." She shrugged, "...that's it."

Quill clicked his tongue and turned around, starting to walk again, "She is like family."

After walking for a couple more minutes, they arrived at a wall, "Here we are."

He pushed certain stones in a specific pattern, and the wall slit to the side. He turned toward her, opening his arms, "Welcome to the upper class of the underworld!"