I wasn't sure how to respond to that. It sounded like a pretty sad  story, and part of me didn't want to pry, but at the same time we needed  to know what the fuck was going on. I decided to let Callie handle  this, she was better with people than I was mostly, and was mostly  taking charge right now anyway. Sure enough, she broached the subject in  the most tactful way possible. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I wonder if  you might clarify a bit about what exactly happened to cause one of  your people to turn on you like that? Emery made it seem like everyone  here was pretty united."

Cicero gave a small, sad smile.  "Yes, I heard him talking to you outside the tent. He knew that of  course, he'd hardly have told the story so close to where I sat if he  hadn't wanted me to know. I suspect he has a better grasp on this  situation than most involved. Emery is a quiet and subtle person, but he  hears much more than anyone imagines. Well, he also probably wanted to  spare me the pain of recounting it myself, and to slip in a bit of a  reprimand for being too much of a coward to speak to my brother, not  that he would phrase it as such. He rarely does things for a single  reason when he can accomplish more than one goal."

I  hadn't gotten that impression from Emery, but then, that was probably  the point. It was odd to see someone who operated so subtly in this  world we lived in. Ascendant powers didn't lend themselves to that sort  of subterfuge, even stealthy Ascendants were mostly just a more edgy  kind of flashy. Either that or they used their lack of presence as its  own kind of attention gathering tactic, cultivating a reputation of  whispers and efficiency by spreading rumors of their terrifying deeds  after the fact.

I could tell from her demeanor that Callie  was a bit surprised too, and a tad impressed. Emery making it to even H  rank without any notable presence was pretty impressive. She shook that  off though and focused back on our host. "Does this rogue element have  something to do with your brother then? We met him and he seemed really  nice. I'm not naive enough to assume that means I know him well enough  to think he wouldn't do something like this, but Emery seems pretty  certain he doesn't bear you any ill will." I'd gotten the implication  too when he mentioned Emery knowing more then he let on, but Abel had  clearly gone above and beyond for his brother, and causing him trouble  spat in the face of that effort.

Cicero nodded. "You  aren't wrong. My brother does not hold his situation against me, as much  as he really should. The same can not be said of everyone here,  however. While Abel never blamed me for having to leave, he was not  without friends in this place. Starbreak, who I suspect is behind this,  was a childhood friend of ours. We were inseparable when younger, and I  admit I had a bit of a romantic interest, but she was always more  interested in Abel. After he left, Melissa blamed me for driving him  away. Suspected I was jealous of them. She's resented me ever since,  though she's done her best to conceal that."

Callie looked  at him hard for a second, reading the subtext there. "You agree with  her. You feel like you ruined things and that's why you can't bring  yourself to clean house." Cicero tipped his hat, giving her a rueful  smile of acknowledgement. She sighed. "That actually makes this more  complicated, not less. If this was just business we could narrow down  who she's working with based on her known associates. From the way it  sounds though, she just wants you gone and is willing to work with  anyone to get it done. I take it this Starbreak person is powerful?"

I  assumed the same, Ascendants tended to listen to people stronger than  them from what I'd seen. If she was capable of forming a faction inside  the circus she was probably as strong as Cicero. Sure enough, he  confirmed it. "Yes, Melissa always shared Abel's love of combat. She was  going to be part of the act he was planning as a matter of fact. She's  one of my most powerful managers. Abel refused to allow her to follow  him when he left for just that reason, wanting to make sure I would  still have her support. As you can see that didn't work out very well,  but then, Abel was always better at fighting than dealing with people."

That  was interesting actually. Spruce Bunny had seemed...friendly. He was an  outgoing and cheerful person, if a bit odd. I had a hard time  reconciling the image of the two people as they were described to me.  That said, this whole thing left me wondering one thing. "How can we  actually help? Because I somehow doubt you're sharing your family drama  because we're good listeners. Not that I don't appreciate the trust, I  get how hard it is to open up like that, but if you're telling us this  you probably have at least some kind of idea of what we could do to  ameliorate the situation right?"

The mustachioed man  laughed softly at my bluntness. "I do. If you're willing to help me. I  realize I have no claim on your time or energy, as I don't actually know  either of you. If you can help with this, however, I would be extremely  grateful. In fact, I'd even be willing to allocate you some territory  in the cavalcade if you'd like. It is far from simple to acquire land in  the WCP after the forces have settled in for so long. Only the E  district has available space on demand, mostly because there are so few E  rankers to take it up."

I had no response to that. I  hadn't even considered getting land in the WCP here, but given my access  level it might actually be a smart idea. I looked to Callie, content to  let her make this call. We were going to be leaving this planet  eventually, because we weren't stopping at E rank. That said, investing  in territory might not be a stupid idea, since we were going to be  leaving friends behind. We couldn't possibly take every single person we  knew out into the major universe. Hell, Cark was almost definitely a no  go because of Cass.

Callie looked intrigued, but  cautious. "This is an interesting deal, but pardon me for saying that it  doesn't seem particularly balanced. You're offering us territory to get  involved in outside business, but there's a pretty decent chance that  the territory might get snatched by your competitors, then would you  even be able to give it to us? You're basically creating a situation  where we only get paid if things work out, which is helpful to you for  sure, but makes this kind of a risk for us. Shouldn't you pay something  up front?"

While we were planning to help, Cicero didn't  actually know that, or at least not to what extent. We had our own  reasons for doing this, but if we let everyone assume we would work on  commission that would get out and become part of our reputation.  Recursion made reputation an important part of being an Ascendant, and  forced us to be careful about anything official we did. Especially in  costume like we were now, we had to keep in mind how we wanted to be  perceived by everyone else.

Of course, this took me a  minute to puzzle out, while Callie saw it pretty much instantly. I  wouldn't be bringing that up though. As much as I was in awe of her  instincts and skills for this kind of thing, I knew she learned most of  it under less than favorable circumstances. As much as she might not  want to admit it, her dad had played his part in making her a more  effective Ascendant. Because she spent so many years working around his  manipulation she gained an innate understanding of how cultivation  worked and how to turn situation to her advantage. Midknight was  probably going to seriously regretting giving her a reason to get so  competent.

Cicero just smiled widely, like we'd passed a  test. "Of course. I confess I don't exactly know what people your age  might be focusing on these days. I'm willing to make a down payment on  your assistance, given you prove to me that you can accomplish the task  I'll be setting you. If you're expecting payment up front however, even  partially, I'll need to test you to make sure you're suitable for my  purposes. Are you willing to undergo such a test? If so you can pose  your request to me and we can work out the details before you  assessment."

The older man's gaze  was still kind, but there was a sneaky gleam in it that let me know he'd  been aiming for this. Us offering to help was great, but he had no  reason to think we were capable of much. I wasn't even sure he knew who  we were yet, not everyone watched the scavenger hunt stream. A G ranker  who ran his own small faction would be unlikely to waste time vetting  newbies from the academy. With little to no chance of co-opting them and  not enough reputation to convince them to switch sides it would be a  pointless exercise for him.

With  that in mind it became a matter of finding out exactly what we could do  to see if we would be useful. It occurred to me that promising to pay  us later with something he might not even have could have just been bait  for this exact outcome. I felt stupid for missing it, but luckily  Callie seemed to be unsurprised by the whole thing. She really was  better at this. Still, it was no wonder Cicero managed to retain control  of his faction even when someone inside it wanted him gone. This guy  was way sneakier than he let on.

Callie  didn't look upset by this turn of events though, she looked happy, and I  was able to figure out why as soon as she started talking. "Fair  enough. We're happy to undergo the test, but since we took the  initiative to help you and you're making us prove ourselves, we hope you  can show some sincerity. If we pass the trial and can help you pull off  whatever your plan is. If we can manage your test, we want you to fully  outfit our team of four in custom F ranked costumes. We'll need that in  writing, by the way."

I  saw the older man literally flinch when he heard that. He'd been  expecting her to ask for chits or something, maybe a bigger slice of the  pie, four sets of custom armor a rank above him would be...pricey. I  was sure he had enough to afford it, this place probably raked in a ton  of money, but it would bite into his funds hard. He hesitated for a  minute. "IF, and I mean if, you can successfully clear my trial and are  willing to enact my plan, and if you are willing to sign a contract  binding you to that course of action...I agree."

I  felt a grin split my face as I considered what we would be taking into  battle with us soon. Granted, I'd need to stick relatively close to my  current style to prevent degradation of my legend, but still, an F  ranked costume would last me for quite a while at my current rate of  cultivation. I was a bit worried about the trial though. The ring master  must be desperate to be willing to commit to that, and I was guessing  his trial wasn't going to be anything to sneeze at if we had to earn  that kind of payoff. We would pass it though, and after that...we'd see  exactly what this plan of his was.