***
In Halcyon,
The City of Lemar,
"What do you mean there is no reply?" A person shouted.
"How does a team of 20 trained hunters go missing?" He spoke with a furious look on his face.
The hunters before him were silent, with no excuse for their current situation.
"I don't care if you need to search through that damn forest; find the supplies no matter what,"
"Send another team; this time, tell the A Rank Hunters to move," The man said with a furious tone.
This group was responsible for handling the smuggled items, which were very important this time.
'If the people from 'there' come, I can't tell them that things have gone wrong,' The man thought.
***
Standing on a cliff-like place, Asher removed his mask as his Crimson Red Eyes fell on the river flowing below.
Taking out his sword, Asher looked at it as he touched the smooth surface of the blade with his hand.
Even without the System, Asher could tell that his sword was now a Rank C artifact.
It wasn't difficult to know this because this was the sword that was with him through every battle he fought against monsters and humans alike.
Kai and Dane weren't here because they were visiting the base where Richard's group smuggled their items and sold the children that they trafficked.
Halcyon was the perfect place to do such stuff because it was a very closed continent, and without proper reasons and connections, it was hard to enter Halcyon.
< Boss, shouldn't we report these guys to the authorities?>
Tom asked.
"Why do you think I will do that?" Asher asked as he kept staring into the cliff.
<I mean, your goal is to damage the Allister Family's Business, so wouldn't reporting them and exposing these things help us in doing that?>
"Discard those ideas from your mind," Asher replied.
Tom didn't say anything after that, and the call disconnected soon after that.
The sound of wind and water flowing was echoing as Asher looked behind where multiple corpses were present.
Asher stood once again as he touched another corpse and used his bloodline ability.
He felt his strength growing slightly while Rifir devoured the whole corpse.
Although he couldn't see his status, Asher was very sensitive to the sensation of him getting stronger.
A normal Rank C Hunter could never do this, but Asher's mind wasn't of a Rank C Hunter.
"You don't want those?" Asher asked Rifir, who shook his head in denial.
Apart from a few powerful B Rank Hunters, Rifir didn't want to devour any other humans.
"Taste dull," Rifir communicated to Asher.
"Firestorm," Asher muttered as flames erupted from the ground, burning the corpses.
The storm elevated the burning bodies that slowly turned into bones and threw them onto the cliff as they fell into the river.
Turning around, Asher looked at the other side of the cliff.
"Blink," Asher muttered as he crossed over the massive cliff that even a B Rank Hunter would have a hard time crossing.
Asher sprinted forward, and after doing so for a while, he stopped as he could see the huge wall and gates that were present, and beyond them lay the City of Lemar.
Lemar was one of the cities where the most trade happened, so much so that it was called the Merchant's City.
And it was the only place where the smuggled stuff would get traded or be transported to the one that demanded those items.
But instead of entering the City, Asher turned to his right and started going for a particular gate that he got intel from Jarell Neville.
lightsnvl Although the City of Lemar was under the Royal Family's control, and every trade needed to be reported to the Royal Family, the influence of other powers allowed such cracks to appear.
The influence of the Allister Family also grew a lot in the City of Lemar over a few decades as well.
After running around the wall, there was one particular huge gate that was very empty. It was the very gate that Jarell Neville told them about.
It is the most convenient way to enter the City of Lemar and also the way most people illegally enter after acquiring fake identity tags.
Reaching the Gate, Asher stepped in as the Identity Tag got identified, and he stepped into the city.
There were few guards, but they ignored Asher as soon as they saw the black mask on his face. This route was used for such activities a lot, and these guards were only there for namesakes.
Entering the city, Asher could see the buildings, but the city wasn't full of buildings. Halcyon had respected its tradition, and the technological advancement in architecture was particularly behind in Halcyon.
The Base that Ron had told them about was also inside the City of Lemar, but it was away from the Central Area where most of the population was.
Inside a Casino that was in the Northern Area of the City of Lemar,
"I didn't expect to find a whole market under that Casino," Dane whispered to Kai.
They were walking in an Underground Market Den where various crates and people wearing masks could be seen.
It wasn't as big as the Underground Areas that were run by the Black Market and some illegal organizations, but it was fairly big to surprise Dane.
Both of them stopped at one particular Building that had two people wearing Red masks.
In this Market Den, the masks represented whether you were from Halcyon or outside Halcyon.
Kai handed over an identity tag and a token to one of the Guards as they looked at them.
"Richard, huh, you can enter," The Guard said the door behind them opened.
Entering the Building, they were greeted by a woman wearing a suit.
"So, what do you want to look at?" She asked.
"Wilbur's Tail," Kai said as the woman nodded and guided them to a particular room where a man with a scar under his eye was sitting.
The word that Kai said was a code word that was used to meet with a specific dealer that dealt with that stuff.bender
Kai and Dane took a seat as the masked men took out the notepad.
"So, what kind of product are you looking for?" He asked as he passed the notepad towards Kai.
"Depending on what type of 'leash' you want, we can give you what you want," He said.
The 'leash' here was the drugs that were given to the trafficked kids that were trained till they were 18.
"Something mild, our Boss wants to train them. We are not looking for ones that are used for baits," Dane said.
Listening to their demand, the man took out a vial from his desk and put it on the table.
"20 Million AUR, or three B Rank Artifacts," The man said as he looked at Kai.
"We will pay with money," Kai replied as the man gave a nod.
He stood and walked to a cupboard nearby and placed his hand on top. An opening emerged at the top of the cupboard, and he took a case.
"Give the money to the woman outside, and this contains enough of Wilbur's Tail to last for 5 Years," He spoke as Dane stood up and took the briefcase.
The Dealer wasn't worried that Dane and Kai would try to escape with the briefcase without paying because everything in this area was under their control.
Although hidden, even a few S Rank Hunters were present here as this marketplace was a den used by various dealers to trade the items that had come across the borders.
Richard and his group would also sell the items and give them the children for the money, and everything else was handled by the dealers here.
From various illegal organizations, to even influential figures in Halcyon, many people were involved in maintaining this Underground Market Den.
While Kai and Dane were taking the drugs, Kai secretly used his bloodline ability on a micro drone that Tom was using.
That micro drone attached itself to the System that the Dealer was using, and while Kai and Dane were doing the transaction, Tom was looking for the details present in the Dealer's System.
Western Side of the City of Lemar,
Asher was sitting on top of a building. He looked around and could see the whole city.
< Boss, I have found the base where they are training the children>
Tom said as Asher stood up.
"Where is it?" Asher asked.
<It's not far; I will send you the coordinates>
Beep!
Asher looked at the notification, and the location that Tom sent him was registered as an orphanage, which was a perfect cover to hide those children and train them.
"Tell Kai and Dane to get those drugs and look out for any movement in the City," Asher said as he walked toward the edge of the Building.
Asher looked at the streets that were filled with people, and the image in front of him was very different from the City of Lemar had become in his previous life.
In his memories, this place wasn't a bustling city but a ruin that was infested by countless monsters.
A ruin where all you could see was destruction.
But the destruction brought upon this city and multiple others in Halcyon wasn't due to multiple monsters.
It was done by just one person, who was considered something akin to a monster. It was Asher himself that brought that destruction to the City of Lemar and many others.
Everyone walking carefree in this city was unaware of the pair of crimson eyes that were looking at them.
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