"Don't pace around like that kid, looking at you makes me feel tense too.", Trevor 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. "We can't exactly keep waiting like this everyday now. You can never tell when those damn pirates might get greedy."

"Well, the people we are about to meet are somebody quite dangerous. Better to be in a good state of mind.", he speaks.

"Well, who are we meeting then? I am sure that you can give me something.", I ask. The man is so unwilling to share information sometimes. Maybe that is why he has been assigned to my troop. Well, weeding out information from people is something that I have been doing since I was a kid. I would not be surprised that the hexmountain is wary of that trait of mine.

"Well, 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. You really don't want to deal with these bastards, even with the backing of the guard corps. Especially with their backing, to be frank.", he replies. "I myself wish I had never gotten to know of them. Life would have been so much easier."

"Well, are these people really that terrible?", I ask. The man's words are starting to creep me a bit. I can feel it like a tingle in my spine.

"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 things very difficult for us.", he says. "They have been a thorn in the side for quite a few of our allies and they know this very well. Dealing with them at a disadvantage like this is dangerous."

"So is it the shack or the divine valley? The way you are speaking, it can only be either of them.", I ask. "Nobody else would warrant so much caution."

"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 is going to be aiding us. The only two that I have a real idea about are the shack and the divine valley. Well, everybody know about them.

The shack is named after their headquarters, a place only known as the shack. They are a group of assassins that meet up at the shack and then assassinate people. They are a pretty simple organisation at the face of it. 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. Nobody has even managed to find the damn place.

The divine valley is even more famous if you ask me. 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. They are religious fanatics that consider the valley to be the king of the continent and all kings to be imposters.

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 whose association with the black mountain would be so harmful to the black mountain.

Actually, we make use of the divine valley once in a while. They have a pretty strong presence in the Snowwind empire. That is one of the reasons that our relation with the snowwind empire has been so bad in the first place. They think we are assisting them somehow.

"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. "If you were to die due to a stroke, who will come to meet us next year."

Until he spoke I did not even detect the man. Even with a injured mana sense I keep it active to some degree. Even though it will delay my healing a bit, I am in a active combat zone.

I do not dare to turn around, something in me warning me that this man is something 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 can barely sense with my mana sense. 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.

"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 anyways.", the other person speaks.

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"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.", Trevor replies.

"Well, I have never seen in you in such a hurry, nor so compliant 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, we won't be assassinating anybody. We don't have the setup for that."

"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 the bloodfire gang are doing something there. 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. The kind that if somebody damages it, it will be destroyed along with the contents of the safe. As you can see, that leaves us with 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 a favour 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 as you must already know. 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 bloodfire gang somehow pierced the outer barrier. They have taken the outer keep completely. The mayfires all are in the inner keep, with us having no way of getting inside right now. Whatever the bloodfire gang did with the shield in the outer keep is not working on the inner keep shield." The other man replies.

"So then, how is life under the bloodfire gang.", Trevor asks. "Business must be booming."

"Well, it has never been better. The bloodfire gang make 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 can increase our capacity. We are doing this favour for you only because you are our ally. Time is money my friend." The other man replies.

"Well, I am sure that the loss will be manageable, but what about the bloodfire 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. So I think they have been recruiting quite heavily.", 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 fire gang certainly should not be capable of breaking apart the defenses of this castle. 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 bloodfire gang and if you are willing to waste your time, we can take you to the wall of the inner keep safely. After that, you are on your own.", 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 in the first place.", Trevor asks.

"Well, a favour owed is a favour owed. If not today we would find a method of reclaiming it soon enough.", the other man spoke. "You are a useful man to owe deals to. The kid also has potential."

"Well, we accept your deal, but you know the rules. Nothing that harms the black mountain nor something that would be a obvious suicide for me. Also, keep the kid uninvolved in the matter." Trevor speaks. "I would warn you that he has quite the backing."

The other man does not reply. Just as weirdly he appeared, the man disappeared. Again, I could not figure out how he is moving. More importantly, I cannot feel any mana of his. Right now my mana sense is recovering, but it still should have detected something.

"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 and steadily. Beyond that you have no need to know about them. Your master would have my head if I do not protect you from them"

"So why would they need a book.", I ask, thinking about the request the stranger made of us.

"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 questions." Trevor speaks. "You do not want them getting interested in you. If that happens, they always end up getting their hooks into you."