Chapter 246: Xaer, The Lost Village
The tavern remains unusually quiet for several long seconds.
Even the bard who had been playing in the corner lowers his instrument without saying a word.
It isn’t necessarily fear but it feels more like everyone knows they shouldn’t get involved.
More of a reason to keep my eyes on the three demons that just entered through the front doors.
Each one wears the same long black coat with that crimson emblem stitched across the chest.
None of them appear to be in a hurry.
Their boots echo softly against the wooden floor as they make their way deeper into the tavern.
Almost everyone avoids looking directly at them.
Interesting. I didn’t think I’d get to see some sort of separate organization inside of the demon realms.
And they seem to have quite the influence over the people in this kingdom based off of all the reactions I’m seeing.
I glance toward Alice.
Unlike everyone else, she hasn’t changed her expression in the slightest.
She simply reaches for her mug before taking another calm drink.
"You aren’t going to tell me who they are?" I ask quietly.
"I was waiting to see how observant you really are," Alice answers.
"I’ve noticed everyone stopped talking," I say.
She sets the mug back onto the table.
"Good, they are collectors," Alice replies.
Collectors doesn’t really tell me awhile lot about these guys. A collector could mean anything.
"They collect what?" I question.
Alice’s crimson eyes briefly shift toward the three figures.
"Debts of course," She answers in an instant.
I didn’t think "debt" collectors would be something I see anywhere after everything that’s happened. There is always a surprise I suppose.
"What kind of debts do they collect?" I question.
"They collect favors, secrets, people... whatever they’re ordered to collect," Alice answers without any hesitation.
I raise an eyebrow.
"So they’re just hired muscle?" I question.
Alice lets out a quiet laugh.
"If only they were that simple," Alice responds.
She folds her hands together.
"They answer directly to one of the largest organizations in this realm," Alice continues.
"And that would be?" I ask with curiosity.
"The Crimson Ledger," Alice answers.
The name doesn’t really mean anything to me. It also doesn’t really sound all that serious in my opinion.
I’ve met a fair amount of enemies over the course of my journey and this doesn’t sound that bad.
Judging by the look on my face, Alice notices immediately.
"I forget you aren’t from around here," Alice says quietly.
"Yeah. So it would help to give me a little more," I reply while trying to keep a respectful tone.
"The Crimson Ledger controls information," Alice says with a serious tone.
"Information? That’s something," I reply.
"They know who’s traveling."
She counts on one finger.
"They know who’s buying weapons."
A second finger.
"They know who’s hiring mercenaries."
A third.
"And more importantly..."
She looks directly into my eyes.
"They know who’s asking questions they shouldn’t be asking," Alice finishes explaining.
So in short, I might be the reason they showed up here. That definitely makes this quite the interesting predicament.
"So when I mentioned the monarchs I kind of got some attention," I say while keeping more of a serious tone now.
"You made yourself interesting," Alice replies.
I’m glad she doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything.
I lean back slightly.
"That’s troublesome, not that I mind. I’ll fight if I really have to," I say while crossing my arms.
"If they decide you’re worth investigating, they’ll keep following you until they know everything," Alice replies.
I glance toward the three newcomers again.
One has already approached the bartender.
Another slowly scans the taver and the last remains near the entrance with both hands behind his back.
It is strange to see what demons are like here. It doesn’t remind me of my own realm in the slightest.
Everyone here is a lot different than what I initially expected. I’ll probably have to deal with this organization; I don’t need a bunch of assholes following me around the demon realm.
"They’re searching for someone?" I ask.
Alice gives a small shrug.
"They’re always searching," Alice answers.
"Who are they trying to find?" I question.
"Why would I know? I don’t work with them or anything," Alice responds.
I shouldn’t assume Alice knows the answers to everything. It is a pain having to figure it all out slowly but I can’t expect it to be easy. Nothing will ever be easy on this damn journey.
This tells me that information needs to be kept to a minimum when I’m in places like this though.
I’ll have to keep it down until we get away from this damn kingdom.
A loud laugh suddenly comes from the counter.
One of the black-coated demons throws a small pouch onto the wood.
Coins.
The bartender quickly hands over a folded piece of paper and the demon doesn’t even look at it before slipping it inside his coat.
A quick transaction with no words even needed between the two people. This really does keep getting better and better.
"They buy information?" I ask.
"They buy everything," Alice answers.
Alice watches the exchange without much interest.
"So they have to buy information still instead of using some brute force?" I question with a bit of confusion.
"Everyone has a price. Only after they refuse to sell anything it becomes a problem," Alice explains.
Quite the welcome realm. I’ve seen a lot of demons already but these are definitely a whole different ballpark. Nothing like the ones I saw back in the other town or whatever it was.
I tap one finger against the table.
"So where do the monarchs fit into all of this?" I ask without thinking.
Alice doesn’t answer immediately.
Instead she looks toward the ceiling for a few seconds.
"They don’t own the Crimson Ledger," Alice responds while keeping her eyes on the demons.
I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have control over the organization... Since they have their hands everywhere in these realms.
"I thought everything belonged to them," I say with a bit of a shocked tone.
"So did everyone else," Alice replies.
She smiles faintly.
"But power doesn’t always come from sitting on a throne," She adds.
Interesting.
That means there are groups capable of operating beneath the monarchs without directly belonging to them.
Means that they have a way of surviving without getting involved with all the monarch bullshit. That’s a bit refreshing, even if they aren’t great people.
"So they stay neutral?" I ask.
"As neutral as people who sell information can be," Alice answers.
This means we might have an opportunity to get some information from them as well if we play it smart. It’d be a bit of a gamble but it is definitely possible.
I lean forward.
"So theoretically we could also buy information from them about whatever we want to find?" I question with curiosity.
Alice shakes her head.
"They do have some things that are considered no go," Alice answers with a serious tone again.
She pauses.
"Certain things get them killed for even asking about," Alice continues to speak.
Well that definitely makes that idea complete garbage.
I let out a quiet sigh.
"You aren’t really giving me anything useful here," I say with disappointment in my voice.
"I’m just being honest with you," Alice replies.
I can’t really blame her for being honest about it all since that could be considered a rare deal around here. I don’t want to piss off my only potential companion at the moment.
I’ll just have to wing it like I always do with a lot of situations.
Alice quietly studies my expression.
"You’re planning something," Alice says while looking at me closely.
"Well, something like that," I reply.
"Do you have something specific in mind?" Alice asks with some curiosity in her voice.
I cross my arms.
"Not exactly. I just know I’ll figure it out completely in a few moments," I respond while looking around the room.
My search for any sort of valuable information is getting nowhere so I need to improvise.
But as I start to figure something out... She reaches into her coat before placing a small folded map onto the table between us.
It isn’t very large.
Most of it appears hand drawn.
Several locations have been circled in black ink.
One of them has been crossed out entirely.
I recognize the name immediately.
Leone... the kingdom I’m currently standing in.
All the other locations are places I’ve never even heard of before.
I look back up at Alice.
"What’s this?" I question.
"A place to start. You were taking too long so I decided to show you the map," Alice answers as she shrugs.
"So what exactly are these locations for?" I question.
"For people who don’t want to be found and who probably have useful information for us," Alice answers as her eyes linger back towards the map.
She taps.
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