Chapter 14

  Negotiations

  The next few hours were pretty uneventful. Suzie went to the red-light district, specifically the gambling dens, to try and gather information at the various games of chance, where tongues tend to wag freely as the coins flow. Ricardo went through the slums looking for any hint of a crime syndicate or any possible exit points from the city that might be less secure than the rest. Allura and Jade, as earlier stated, went to the Holy Kingdom embassy to try their hand at beaurocramancy, the art of navigating the complex web of government protocols, rules, regulations, and all the people involved in going through proper channels to get what you want, and that's not always easy, especially when someone, somewhere, in the organization decides to be problematic, for any reason, or maybe even no reason at all.

  “Hey there, little one. I've got a silver here for you, and one for each of your five or six friends to find a place where a man could sneak out of the city in a hurry.”-Ricardo

  “Yes, Mister!”-And the little scamp runs off.

  A few minutes later, the little rascal comes back, not with fellow children, but a big, burly brute and his henchmen. 鉄o I hear you want a quick but hidden way out of the city, eh? What kind of trouble ye be in, hmm? Perhaps I'll be getting more money if we here lads turn in your corpse, and spread the loot amongst ourselves, yes?

  “Well, you certainly do seem to have me at a disadvantage, Mr...”-Ricardo

  “Name's none of your business. Yer not gonna be livin' much longer anyways if you don't give us a good reason to be helping you sneak out of the city.

  “Sigh. Well, if you must know, the boss and I wrangled some slaves out of Sydonia and are being hounded by Deokk's men. Do you suppose the duke pays 'gentlemen' like yourselves well for helping him?”-Ricardo.

  “Har! Har! Har! Ye hear that, lads? The man be spinning a tale about slave theft! Yeah. The duke pays real well for that kind of stuff!

  “Figured as much. So there's no way to leave without a fight, eh? This may be the slums but the guards may still come looking if there's too much fuss.”-Ricardo

  “Heh! As if you'll live long enough to care! Get 'em!”

  Ricardo draws his blade and takes a stance of a seasoned veteran who's seen many life or death battles. “I swear, thugs get greedier and dumber every day.”

  The lead thug hangs back while a couple of lesser crooks race towards Ricardo, wielding broken bottles, fragments of windows, and other crude make-shift weapons fashioned from the nearby trash.

  Ricardo dodges their clumsy blows with ease, trips them and then expertly shoves his stainless steel dagger through the base of the neck into the brain, killing them easier than stepping on an unruly cockroach.

  While Ricardo's bent over, the lead thug runs in from behind, an old table leg as a make-shift club held high.

  Without breaking stride, Ricardo elbows the guy in the groin, and stabs the guy in the kidney, taking the wind out of him and dropping him like a stack of stale potatoes. 哲ow, you're going to be bleeding out real quick if you don't call off the rest of your goons and tell me what I need to know.

  “Fuck you! I die, the boss is never going to let you go!”

  “And who is this Boss? What gang or faction they with?”-Ricardo

  “Hahaha! If you're lucky, you'll find out just before your throat's slit in the middle of the night, as you see a pair of blood-red eyes looking down at you...”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Oh great. The black vipers again? Just how entrenched are they around these parts?” Ricardo states before proceeding to kill every last member of this untrained rabble, leaving not a single survivor. “Too bad the boss isn't here... Oh wait. I've got this, don't I?” Ricardo pulls out a prototype of the wand the slave stable boy was given earlier. “Should help get rid of the evidence quite nicely, and let the boss know my search was a wash.” Ricardo then proceeds to use the wand's [Analysis] facsimile to wipe out the corpses, blood, and all their belongings, leaving not a trace, which pings Jade's system messages a bit...

  Meanwhile, at the red-light district, Suzie spent her time gambling, talking up the locals during games of chance, not acting particularly rushed, just curious about rumors of places where people come and go from the city outside of going through the gates proper. While she didn't draw attention for asking about the rumors, the House did think she won at the gambling table a bit too much.

  “Miss, please come with us, while we're still asking nicely.” says one of two rather large men who are apparently bouncers at this particular establishment.

  “Well, sorry, dears, but it looks like mommy's calling me and telling me to go home for the night, for the foreseeable future.” Suzie

  “Much obliged for your, cooperation, Miss. And before you think of going elsewhere, the Management has already spread word to the rest of the parlors around these parts of your unusual good luck. Enjoy your winnings while you can.”

  Suzie leaves the gambling den without incident but as she starts heading to the embassy as planned, she notices that she's being tailed. “Sore losers at the table? Or something more sinister? Shall we find out, Sugar?”

  Suzie weaves through the pedestrian traffic and walks into a dark alley, pretending to be lost, and leads her pursuers into a dead-end, faking a panic.

  “Well, well. What do we have here? A poor little lamb who's lost her way? Me and the lads won't mind helpin' ya, ifn you makes it worth our while. How about lettin' us have a bit o' fun with yer sweet body, hmm?”

  “Now, boys. I know this is the pleasure district and all, but that's not the kind of fun I'm looking for, and I'm certainly not one of those workers, especially not around these parts. You mind telling me why you've been following me since I was oh so graciously escorted out of the gambling den when I was a bit luckier than The House liked? Hmm?”-Suzie

  “Don't be gettin' cocky, Bitch. We were wantin' to go easy on ye, but we'll be more 'an happy to do it the hard way. We'll still be havin' our way with ye, but we'll be a beatin' ye down first! Last chance! Spread yer legs or we'll be prying 'em apart, and we won't be carin' ifn they're still attached!”

  “Ya know, if you so-called men would think with the head on your shoulders and not the one in your loins, you might be wondering why I went into a dark alley in an unfamiliar city when I knew I was being followed. Instead of running to the town guard, a tavern, or maybe even a brothel, where there are going to be witnesses. Now I know raping me isn't what you're really after, not even close, at best it's a bonus. If you want any mercy on what's left of your miserable mortal souls, you will accept this last chance to bow your faces to the ground, beg for mercy, and cooperate with my wishes so much, when I say 'jump' you won't even bother asking 'how high', instead you will jump as hard as you can and hope it's high enough! I will not ask again. KNEEL IN SUPLICATION OR SUFFER!!”-Suzie

  “A'right, boys! We be wastin' our breath wit' this one! Get HER!!!”

  He and his men rush to the dead end of the alley to find their weapons piercing empty air.

  “Wrong choice, murderers, thieves, rapists, participants in fratricide and patricide, and far, far too many sins to count. You were given many chances to walk away with your souls intact and you have squandered them all! In the name of Suzinarias'sul-de-mordred, you will face an eternity being judged in hell-fire!” Says a disembodied voice coming from everywhere yet nowhere. All that remains of these thugs are random scraps of their clothing and a few possessions that are so common they can't be used to positively identify them.

  “Being an Erinyes is tough, but it has its perks. No evidence, no crime, and since they were irredeemable scum, they're not likely to be missed by anyone who isn't irredeemable themselves.” Says Suzie just before a portal opens next to her ear and she hears whispers in some indecipherable tongue, at least indecipherable to mortal men and The System. “So they were with the Black Serpents, eh? Or were they merely bragging to try and escape their fate?”

  IOLAGHCAERLCHA;

  “I see” and a cloth with their gang symbol falls into her hand. “Good work. You may do what you wish with their souls, so long as they suffer.”

  iolkmgaezxmna!

  And the portal closes as if it was never there. “Well. All those years posing as a debt slave were worth it for this … adventure I'm now on!” And Suzie resumes her trip to the embassy.

  Meanwhile, in the embassy, Allura gets guided to what she's told is a waiting room as an expert in international asylum law will come to greet her. She is provided refreshments, some assorted tarts and a cup of the local fruit juice, a local specialty.

  “Hang on. Before sampling any of their wares, let me grab a couple, so I can replicate them later.”

  Jade uses [Analysis] on one of each flavor of tart and the glass of what appears to be pomegranate juice only to get a nasty surprise in the new blueprints list.

  Blueprints acquired: Tarts (various flavors), Pomegranate juice, Pomegranate seeds, sedatives.

  “Don't eat them! They've been laced with drugs to sedate you!”

  Jade proceeds to use [Analysis] to break them down into their components and then remake them, without the sedatives, for Allura to enjoy.

  A short while later, the receptionist and Duke Deokk arrive to find a very, very wide awake Allura. “The refreshments were very refreshing indeed, but they taste better without sedatives in them. Care for a bite?”

  A fresh platter of sweets and juice appear for Deokk.

  “How about we talk this out like civilized beings? That is, presuming you louts from Sydonia even know what 'civilized' means!”-Allura.