Late that night, on a busy and boisterous street filled with vendors shouting their specialties, and adventurers stumbling drunkardly with the help of their friends.

“You got the payment?”

There were three people standing in a secluded alleyway. One was me, the other was Attendant Willis and the other was the homeless man. It was time for the exchange of information to go down. 

“Yes, I brought the payment. Here you go.”

Tossing him a heavily stuffed pouch filled with nothing but gold coins, Attendant Willis said coldly. Catching the pouch with one hand, the homeless man checks its contents before taking a coin out and biting it as hard as he could. Seeing this, Attendant Willis creases his eyebrows and says a little angrily.

“Don’t worry, it’s not counterfeit. I’m not that dishonorable.”

“Hmph, you’d be surprised how many people would say that and end up dead for trying to cheat the Association. People think just because you’re a hobo you deserve to be underestimated.”

The hobo then places the pouch of gold into the spacial ring on his right hand… Is it me or are spacial rings being handed out left and right in this age? This is the second one I saw today. Aren’t they supposed to be rare and expensive. Are they mainstream now? Can I get one?

“Anyways, since you paid I’ll give you what you wanted. Here it is.”

With a wave of his right hand, a thick envelope and a few image crystals appear in his hands and he tosses it over to Attendant Willis.

“In that envelope are all the shady dealings pertaining to Patrick Renaldo and his son I could muster up. It has their latest dealings and their future meet up locations. As for that woman…”

The hobo then tosses another envelope. But instead of it being aimed at Attendant Willis, it was aimed at me. After I casually caught it, he continued.

“That envelope has her name and net worth. It seems that after her husband died, she inherited a huge sum of money and a medium sized estate on the westside of the Royal Capital.”

“Hehe, thank you very much!”

I expressed gratefully with a smile. Haha, somebody’s pockets are about to be hurting soon! And they’re not going to be mine.

“Leaving that fellow’s evil laughter and aura aside, this transaction is done. Goodbye… Change? Does anyone have any spare change?”

Once again donning a glazed eye look, the hobo hunches his back, starts speaking deliriously and begins walking back towards the boisterous street. Damn, his acting skills are impressive. 

“Let’s head back. We got to show his highness what’s in here.”

After watching the hobo blend in with the boisterous street, Attendant Willis said as he put the thick envelope in his space ring. Shrugging my shoulders, I agreed and we headed back to the castle.

***

“Wow, this shit is crazy!”

I said in complete astonishment. The contents of the envelope were interesting to say the least. The Vagrant Association really did a good job at this. Within that envelope and the images on the image crystals, was evidence of slave trading, drug dealing, kidnapping, illegal prositution and racketeering, murder and bribery. 

“I knew each noble family had some sort of shady dealings but this! This really takes the cake. Sigh, no wonder there was a mysterious case of women suddenly disappearing a few years back. It turned out the Yulstein’s had a hand in it. I should’ve handled the Yulsteins a whole lot sooner.”

Staring at a series of pictures projected by the image crystal of Renaldo kidnapping a woman at a bar via sleeping drug and putting her in an inconspicuous carriage, King Paul said lethargically as he sat in his chair and placed a hand on his head.

“The Yulstein family was a ver~y dirty family, even by noble standards… All the more reason for them to be killed.”

I said coldly while staring at the pictures. Slavery? Kidnapping? While I could give two shits about all the crimes those two have done over the past few years, one thing’s even more certain now. If Alice and Kari fall into these bastard’s hands, it’s not going to end well for them. 

“To make it even worse, he’s supposed to meet up with a well known crime lord next week to receive a shipment of Devil’s Whisper.” 

Attendant Willis added. 

“Devil’s Whisper?”

A new drug? Seeing my clueless expression, Attendant Willis kindly explained. 

 “It was an experimental drug used to stimulate the mind and restore mana reserves. A soldier or adventurer could stay up for days and never feel tired. But because it’s made using a high concentration of various magic plants, a feeling of euphoria comes across the person using it. And sadly that feeling starts to become addictive. People usually become addicts after three doses.”

“Mr. Marcus, I don’t think I can wait anymore. It’s about time for them to be wiped off the face of the earth.”

King Paul said as his eyes became sharp. Understanding how he was feeling, I nodded and said firmly.

“Two days from now, they’ll be dealt with. I just need to prepare some things.”

“Okay, if you need anything just ask Willis.”

“The sooner those two disappear the better. So don’t hesitate to tell what you need. You haven’t before.”

“Mn. I will. Well, good night. “

Saying this I left the study room and walked towards mine while avoiding the guards. 

Let’s finish the planning process shall we?

***

Hello my dear readers! You miss me?

First off I’d like to apologize for not posting anything these past months. Shit has been crazy and probably will still continue to be crazy in the future. 

I got 2 tests coming up that need to pass or I’ll get dropped from my MOS, the MOD 4 and NREMT. 

Not to mention I need it to get an airborne slot. I originally had it but the physician didn’t wasn’t there the day I sold my sou- I mean signed the contract so I got it taken away. 

Anyways, I’ll slowly but surely try to drop a few chapters here and there.

I sincerely thank you all for being so patient. I’m glad to see my story still holding strong!