The one who shouted at them to stop turned out to be the slave trader group’s leader. They came to the right place for answers after all.
Truen looked at the slave trader who didn’t carry a whip like the rest of his goons. Instead, he had a pistol and a huge ring of keys hanging from his belt. The man had yellowing teeth and was very tan, indicating that he led quite a hard life too. Zero didn’t like how he looked at others and tugged at Truen’s shirt discreetly. Money could buy many things and this man looked like he could be moved by money.
Bob piled the goons up and sat on top of the groaning pile mercilessly while Truen stared the leader down. The slave trader was nervous. He’d never met such troublesome figures before. Even Duke Connie’s private army was no match for the gangs in the southern region. They had the support of Duke Zurich to do whatever they wanted here and nobody defied the ones appointed by Duke Zurich to be in charge until now.
"What do you want?" the slave trader growled, not daring to get any closer to the dangerous trio. They didn’t look like locals and these people were the worst. Troublemaking adventurers or travellers who think that they can get away with the law using force... once they left, he was going to submit their faces to the duke for retribution today!
Zero pulled out the picture of Misana from his bag and passed it to Truen with a small pouch. It was filled with innites and some rocks but the slave trader didn’t have to know. Zero wasn’t kind enough to give unworthy people money that he could spend on improving the lives of those who deserved better.
"This girl. Have you seen her?"
The slave trader came a little closer but maintained a good distance and squinted. Beast folks were common but he’d never seen a squirrel beast folk. At least, not within his gang.
"Not here. Where does she come from? Is she registered with the slavery guild?"
Truen maintained a neutral expression. "You don’t need to know that. If you see her, sell her to us. We will buy her for one cinnite."
One cinnite was a lot for a common slave and the slave trader grinned when Truen tossed him the small bag of money Zero gave. He opened the bag quickly and scowled.
"What’s the meaning of this?" he pointed at the rocks and innites. Zero looked away.
"Compensation for beating your men up. If you want more money, you find the girl and look for Lady Death. A search request with the prize money is going around so whoever hands her over first gets the deal."
Dinner was delicious as usual and Zero confirmed that Dina received the message because the stone was no longer below the water trough when he checked before they came in. Old Gary talked to Truen and Zero about the Humanitarian guild and what Zero wanted to do. The archer gave the retired general some money from his and Zero’s shared inventory.
"We talked to Duke Connie earlier today. Although we didn’t find Misana, we did make a deal with him to purchase all unwanted slaves after their resale fails. For now, spread the word and start a soup kitchen, recruit volunteers from those who require shelters. All expenses will be covered by Half Moon Village. If you run out of funds, look for Mitchnew. A representative from Half Moon Village should be coming over soon to teach the children how to clean and package herbs. For the second phase, demons will be arriving to help around and also teach in a school set up by the village. They will teach magic, cultivation and combat to anyone willing to learn on top of helping with the more difficult tasks. They’ll also set up a small clinic of sorts to give free medical treatment to those who cannot afford it within the western district. Your job would be to oversee these and write us letters regularly. Mitchnew will send the letters to us."
Gary was slightly overwhelmed but Aldina who was hiding in the kitchen the whole time felt excited. For the longest time, she had wanted to do something like this to change how the people in the western district lived. She painstakingly gathered all the beggar children to create her own information network so that they could create a system to protect each other and keep an eye on the political situation to know which side to lean towards. The papers that Aldina writes herself was popular for many reasons, she wasn’t biased and her sources were trustworthy. The gossips that she caught like embezzlement of funds, cheating husbands and swindling merchants usually created huge waves among the nobles while it earned her a pretty penny, enough to feed her huge family.
Ultimately, Aldina’s aim was to use the information she knew to help people. Becoming a journalist was the only way to achieve her goals because she was currently too young to inherit her grandfather’s inn. If she was the innkeeper, she would have opened the rooms to let the children come in. It was more comfortable sleeping on beds than on the kitchen floor.
Lady Death was the first person who sought her out for her accurate information and knowledge about some of the city’s sewage system. Aldina didn’t know who she was but she heard of Mitchnew’s reputation. It can be said that Lady Death was Aldina’s idol. Thinking about meeting her idol’s close friends made her very excited. They had grand plans and Aldina didn’t care if they only wanted to meet her as Dina the Beggar King, she wouldn’t disappoint them when it came to information. As a matter of fact, she had a hunch she knew where the beast girl Misana was taken.
Since she was in a good mood, Aldina decided to put in some extra effort into the pie she was making. These apples were a gift from the merchants when they received a tip about the scuffle in Grey Zone caused by the trio with her grandfather. Needless to say, the slavery guild wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to ’enforce the law’ while they were weakened.
Tonight, she would finally be able to meet them as Dina the Beggar King and Aldina decided that she would put in two conditions of her own in return for the information she had about Misana.