I’ve been walking for about an hour, I never noticed how easy it is to get lost here.

(Did you hear that Lucian cheated on his wife…)

I left the painting and maria inside the space, walking around with them isn’t very convenient.

(I heard! With a man no less…) (Mom, fifteen minutes more! Pleeeeaaaasssseeee!)

I tried going to the largest building I could see, but it was just some rich guy’s house.

(Jimmy…) (What day is it?)

And… I’m basically out of ideas now.

(la~ la~) (The prince is so dreamy.)

My head hurts like hell too, hearing all these people talking at the same time is really rough.

(Oh I’m sorry) (Did you hear that Lucian cheated on his wife?)

It’s also making it really hard to focus…

(Hi~) (Did you know that…)

Hmph.

(HAHAHA!) (That Lucian… did you hear that he cheated on his wife?)

I notice an out of the way alleyway and I immediately go into it, thankfully it’s empty.

I put my hands into my ears…

Ahh, silence…

I can still hear, so this is not a perfect solution, but now I can actually think.

I have no idea where I can find Valentina, or how I’ll get to talk to her.

So what do I do?

Clearly I should ask for directions, but to who?

Bianca is nowhere to be found, and I don’t know if seeing her would be a good or bad thing, since I have no idea how she will react to me having enslaved Amalia, but if she doesn’t like that idea I have no way of beating her by myself.

Seeing how Makoto did something weird to the <Sycamore gang>, Bianca will not like that I also enslaved someone.

I think.

But on the other hand, she did conspire with Amalia to collar me, so maybe she won’t attack me on sight?

I’m not too sure how I feel about that, but it’s definitely another reason to beat her ass in the future, I want to put Bianca on her place.

 And of course, I’ll do it myself, there’s no point to it if I make Amalia do it.

Maybe she’ll try to avoid me? If she thinks I’ll try to take revenge on her using Amalia it wouldn’t be an unreasonable thing to do.

Anyway, Bianca is not an option to get to the <Basil clan> or Valentina Basil.

I see another person walking into the alleyway, but I don’t really care, as long as they don’t bother me they can do anything they want.

Just don’t be rude.

Getting back on track, what about Amalia? She lives in this place, so she should know how to move around here.

I shouldn’t take her out and guide me though, people could notice the collar, and there’s a good chance she’s a wanted criminal, otherwise she would work out in the open.

I think.

But she’s an option I have, however, I would really like to not have to depend on her too much.

Amalia will definitely try to screw me over one way or another if I do, probably not in a big way, but I’d rather not deal with it if I can avoid it.

It is an option though.

Hmm, who else is even left that I can ask?

I don’t really know many people here in basil, since I haven’t had a chance to actually explore this place, I’ve been too busy thanks to my damn arm.

“Hey.”

Who do I even know that’s not in jail?

That Julius idiot I met just today I guess…

Actually, that has potential.

Not that guy, but the blue-haired girl.

She said something among the lines of ‘Why didn’t you come to the church? I could have healed you.’.

So I could probably find her in a church and since she know Julius, who seems to be a big shot, it’s probably not out of the question that she would know some information on where I can find Valentina.

How many churches are in basil? And of how many gods?

Aurora said she worships Amili, so there should be at least one church for her…

In paprika there was only the one church for Tonatiuh, but there were some small shrines for other gods.

I think.

It’s not like I know paprika too well either.

But if what I know is true, then there should be on church for Amili somewhere in basil, and I can probably find the blue-haired girl in it.

*Clap* “Hey!”

Hmm, thinking about it… Do I really have to do anything?

That Julius guy can clearly see through any lies with his ability, so shouldn’t this whole incident be solved fairly quickly?

I don’t like that, I’ll have to work faster now.

“Don’t fucking ignore me!” Someone grabs my shoulder.

“Can’t you see I’m trying to ignore you?” How annoying.

“Ah, don’t be like that! Why are you being so mean to me now?”

I look at this person…

It’s Bianca.

What the hell.

“Hmph, fucking finally.” She sounds annoyed. “The hell are you doing crouching with your hands on your ears in the middle of a dark alleyway, someone touched you on your no-no places?”

“Shut up, I’m like this thanks to the [Shoggoth potion].” I quickly explain what happened to me.

“I see, sucks to be you, or maybe you’re some kind of masochist? You always seem to have some kind of injury…” Bianca gives me a meaningful smile.

“No way.” I shake my head, who the hell is dumb enough to get off on pain? “What do you want?” I seriously have no idea why is Bianca here.

Bianca has her characteristic smug grin “You’re absolutely no fun, anyway, I have an idea of what happened to Amalia.”

“I see.” I was already expecting that, but I want to know why is she here.

“Ugh, you could at least have a reaction to that… Anyway, I want to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?” I certainly wasn’t expecting that.

“It’s simple, you let me have Amalia make certain potions when I need them, and I’ll help you once in a while.”

“No way.” I’m not against making a deal, but I don’t like how that ‘once in a while sounds.’ “When you want a new potion we’ll discuss its price.”

Bianca pouts. “You’re too cocky, are you really aware I can just kill you like a fly?”

I’m not going to say Bianca doesn’t intimidate me, because she does.

But I’m not too scared of her, Bianca has way more bark than bite.

“*Sigh*, alright, what you’re asking is not completely unreasonable anyway.” Bianca shrugs.

See, absolutely no bite.

“I’m still gathering some ingredients I already talked over with Amalia, but I do have extra cash to burn thanks to the little incident at the auction house.” She seems satisfied with herself.

“I’m not interested in money at the moment, but I do need your help for something.”

“Hoh? Do tell.” Her smug grin becomes larger.

“I’m sure you’re aware of what happened in Timotei’s house, I want to get everyone out.”

“Right, that one of those guys was a part of the <Fulcrum star order>, I had to run away real fast because I thought the law had caught wind of me.” Bianca shakes her head, giving a feeling of ‘it can’t be helped’ “If I had to bet on who it is, I’d say it’s that dark-skinned girl, you have to be a real weirdo to go around half naked like it’s nothing.”

“I have no doubts that Aurora isn’t a cultist, but it doesn’t matter, I’ll get them out.” Everyone has been so friendly and helpful to me, there’s no way that any of them could be cultists.

“Do you want me to break them out or something? You’re a retard, if we do that I’m sure that the Master of music would catch us instantly.”

Master of music… He must be the immortal that lives in this place…

I shake my head “I’m not talking about that.” I explain my thoughts on what I want to do.

“Yeah, that’s definitely less suicidal, though that Valentina girl has a reputation for having quite an inflated ego, especially among the ‘young masters’ of the spice circle, the only other one that has a more infamous reputation than her is the one that’s in Paprika, who’s just a loser shut in.”

“That’s me you’re talking about.” Loser shut in…

Hmph.

Another one for the book of grudges.

“Really? Hehe…” Bianca has a mocking smile “Well, that explains a lot.”

“Ah shut up, I want you to get me information on Valentina, mainly on where can I find her.”

“Of course, but I won’t help you more than that unless I happen to need another potion in the future.” Her smug grin continues to grow “Maybe I could’ve helped you more if you accepted my deal before.”

I shrug “I’m fine with that.”

I can do this by myself, I’m not weak.