Travelling in the forest has certainly been an experience. The heat and the humidity is honestly not an issue. With my vital mana I barely even notice it. Humidity is something that I am used to anyway.
It is the mosquitos that are causing me such a massive problem. With my instincts and agility crushing them in my hands is not much of a problem, but there are so damn many of them that after I point I had to give up. After all, how many times can you slap yourself even if it does not hurt.
Now they are buzzing around in my ear, like they a practicing a symphony. A symphony meant to drive me into a rage. They have made sitting into an action that I have been avoiding for the last couple of days with a passion. Not that I am particularly safe from the internal droning even if I keep moving.
Other than the damn mosquitoes, our journey has been quite smooth. Right now we are next to the mayfire castle. We have camped at a distance about five minutes away from the camp. We could go closer but then we would risk discovery. The bloodheart gang do seem to rarely leave the castle on foot, but there is a constant flow of ships from the castle.
Trevor has not been speaking much in the journey and he has not tried to approach the fortress. He has just been sitting here as if waiting for somebody. Not that the man is willing to tell me anything even If I wanted to know.
"Don't pace around like that kid, looking at you makes me feel tense too.", he speaks.
"What are we waiting for then. It is not like we have a lot of free time here. We have left the ship unguarded.", I reply.
"Well, the people we are about to meet somebody quite dangerous. Better to be in a good state of mind.", he speaks.
"Well, who are we meeting then.", I ask. The man is so unwilling to share information sometimes.
"Well, all the lesser you know about these folks, the better off you will be. If the head office were to know that you know, they will make sure to extract complete value from that knowledge.", he replies. "I myself wish I had never gotten to know of them. Life would have been so much easier."
"Well, is that secret really that terrible.", I ask. The man's word are just ending up terrifying me.
"Well, it is not exactly terrible but it is a matter of image. If everybody were to know that we work with them, it would certainly make out entry into a lot of locations very hard.", he says. "They have been a thorn in the side for quite a few of our allies."
"So is it the shack or the divine valley. The way you are speaking, it can only be either of them.", I ask.
"I have no desire to tell you even if you want to know kid.", Trevor replies with a finality that makes it clear that there shall be no more discussion.
And thus we sit waiting for whatever criminal organisation. The only two that I have a real idea about are the shack and the divine valley.
The shack is well named after their headquarters, a place called as the shack. They are a group of assassins that meet up at the shack and then assassinate people. The reason that they are famous is due to the shack. There has been a concentrated effort by all the major forces to get rid of the shack but nobody has succeeded to do that yet.
The divine valley is even more famous. They are essentially a religious sect that believes the divine valley to be their god. How a place can be a god don't ask me. Anyways, they are essentially smugglers and arms dealers that sneak in weapons to rebels of all countries.
Other than these two though, I don't really know of any organisation association with which would be so harmful to the black mountain.
"You really should speak about us to the kid. I would rather be dealing with a naive flower like him than a tough old fruit like you. How long do you expect us to keep dealing with the same old people I do not know." Spoke a voice from somewhere behind me. Until he spoke I did not even detect the man. I do not dare to turn around, something in me warning me that this man I am better of not seeing. His mana is chaotic, like a blizzard in the true lands though of some kind of a dark mana that I do not detect. I don't know how I have not managed to detect the man as he approached. Trevor in front of me just sighs, as If he has faced that man a thousand times.
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"Well, I have been commanded not to tell anything to the kid. If you want to you can do so. I don't know who will come to hunt you though.", he says. "I will begin to run away now though if you don't want to shut up."
"Well, well. Why would I risk such a thing if the great Trevor is not willing to do so. Anyways, let's get back to business. The boss has told me that it would be nice if you stopped calling him for every small thing. If you really want to bother him so much, he is willing to even give you a honorary position. The black mountain overwork you.", the other person speaks.
"Well, that would be nice if your organisation was not so reviled. Anyways, let's get things over already. We need to get into the city already.", Trevor replies.
"Well, never seen in you in such a hurry, nor so following of the rules. I won't ask you who the kid is. I would say the great Trevor is scared, if I didn't know better. you know the rules, A favour for a favour.", the other man replies.
"Well, fear is a natural response for when you are dealing with somebody terrifying, don't you think. Also, you get to the point. What is the favour that you need.", Trevor replies.
"Well, it is actually something simple for you. We need you to break into a particular building and steal a book. It is not even a grimoire, just a ledger of a company.", the other man spoke. "You must have quite the experience with that already, don't you."
"Well, if it was that simple you wouldn't be asking me to do it. So what is the catch, you bastard.", Trevor speaks. "Does a demon guard it or is it an elemental. Could it be a ghost."
"Well, we do know how to deal with elementals and demons, just the loss of life is not worth the investment. The only thing that can be considered to be closest to an issue would be the fact that blood heart gang have made that particular base their home. It isn't even an issue for you though." The other man speaks. "Anyways, for this particular problem I don't need your expertise, I need the kids. The book that we want is protected by a formation. A pretty complex and fragile formation at that. That kind that if somebody damages it, it will be destroyed along with the contents of the safe. As you can see, that leaves at quite the conundrum until you appear with a formation master in the tow."
"Well, we certainly accept that deal. We need you to get us into the city and help us contact the mayfires.", Trevor speaks. "I am sure you have associates in the family as well. You seem to have quite a few businesses already setup in the city."
"Well, that is something that we won't be able to complete. The mayfires have retreated to the inner keep. The castle is split into two, the inner keep and the outer keep. The inner keep is a place that only the mayfires can enter or leave, especially now. What they are doing behind their shield when their city is mutilated like this, only the mayfires can tell.", the other man speaks.
"Especially now?", Trevor asks.
"Well, three weeks ago the mayfires completely sealed the inner and the outer keep with magical barriers. We were stuck in the city until the bloodheart gang somehow pierced the outer barrier. They have taken the outter keep completely. The mayfires all are in the inner keep, with us having no way of getting inside. Whatever the bloodheart gang did is not working on the inner keep shield." The other man replies.
"So then, how is life under the blood heart gang.", Trevor asks. "Business must be booming."
"Well, it has never been better. The bloodheart gang makes us look cheap in comparison. The merchants have been flocking to us like never before. We have had to double up our smuggling operations in the last couple weeks and still we are considering if we should increase production. Doing this favour to you is proving to be quite experience. Time is money my friend." The other man replies.
"Well, I am sure that the loss will be manageable, but what about the bloodheart gang. How are they at holding a city.", trevor speaks.
"Quite poor, though their numbers are very high. Abnormally high for a bandit gang. All quite inept though.", the other man speaks. "Our boys have been playing with them the last couple of weeks. They are quite passionate though. We have lost three teams in the last week, all new ones thankfully."
"They have somebody backing them then, the blood heart certainly is not capable of breaking apart fort magic. They had to have relied on somebody. Anyways, we have deviated too much from the topic at hand. What are you willing to offer then.", Trevor asks.
"Well, we can provide you entry into the city. We will hide you from the bloodheart gang and if you are willing to waste your time, we can take you to the wall to the inner keep. You figure out how to breach it.", the other man speaks.
"What would happen if we were to fail our favour though. To do your favour we would have to be in the city.", Trevor asks.
"Well, a favour owed is a favour owed. If not today we would finally a method of reclaiming it soon enough.", the other man spoke. "You are a useful man to owe deals to."
"Well, we accept your deal, but you know the deal. Nothing that harms the black mountain not something that would be a obvious suicide for me. Also, keep the kid uninvolved in the matter." Trevor speaks.
The other man does not reply. Just as weirdly he appeared, the man disappeared. Again, I could not figure out how he is moving.
"What was all of that.", I ask.
"Well, the lesser you know about them the better of you will be. For now let's just call them the organisation.", Trevor speaks. "They are a bunch of profit hungry bastards. They tend to occupy cities and then slowly take over all their illegal businesses slowly. Beyond that you have no need to know about this."
"So why would they need a book.", I ask.
"Who knows, maybe it could be the true ledger of some local smuggler, who is lying about his profits. Maybe it is a human trafficker against whom they can use this book as blackmail. I can imagine a thousand things. With the b...organisation it would be wise if you do not ask too many question." Trevor speaks. "You do not want them getting interested in you. It is the ultimate recipe for disaster."