Somewhat stuck between walls of two different buildings, Nem slowly walked to a window. It belonged to the Fat Snake and the reason why it was situated in such a weird position was probably that they only wanted a weak source of light to keep the atmosphere.
The window wasn't big enough for even a child to pass through, but Nem's goal was only to peek and listen. He already could hear a few voices coming from inside the bar.
He could make out a few laughs and jokes, and it seemed like they were still welcoming the two guards back into the bar. Nem honestly didn't pay much attention to it, after all he only needed to find the man named Mannie, and for that, looking through the window was necessary.
He didn't hesitate long.
'Since I'm here, let's check. This is the most probable location the target will appear in according to Carl.'
Nem's head approached the window slowly, until his eye peeked from the side and he could see the inside of the Fat Snake. The building seemed to sink into the ground, as the interior's floor was lower than the floor outside, and the orange light inside was very weak.
From Nem's point of view, he could see most of the people inside the bar, as well as the tables, chairs and glasses of alcohol. There was also some kind of iron bars to the side, and although Nem couldn't observe the rest, he assumed there was some kind of prison or cage there.
Looking at the men inside, Nem was pleasantly surprised ; Mannie was here.
'I don't remember being so lucky before, is it a bad sign ?' He joked in his mind.
His target was a tall and thin man wearing a monocle, with thick black eyebrows and short spiky hair. He looked more like a severe teacher than a criminal, and even in the bar, he was easy to spot because of his isolated behavior. His skin color was typical of this part of the South, slightly dark but not exactly like Nem. He looked more like a man from India rather than Egypt.
If Nem didn't know any better, he would have been certain that Mannie was the boss of his organization from the way he looked and handled himself around his men. He was very dignified and had great manners, but still showed the necessary authority. However, he was only the second in command at best according to his source.
This would most likely mean that the real boss was someone very scary and powerful, but because of his earlier deduction, Nem was convinced that he wasn't a Cursed nor a Blessed, only an ordinary human.
If he had to hide and run away from someone without powers, Nem was quite confident he could, since there weren't any advanced guns in this world and his agility was really useful to escape.
Judging by the darkness surrounding the window compared to the interior of the bar and its position, Nem was confident he wouldn't be spotted if he didn't make a sound or a sudden movement. After making this observation, he concentrated on his mission : observing and listening.
"Guys, the time to shake people up is coming again this week. I'll give you your payment after you do this job, you know what that means."
Mannie started talking to everyone in the bar in a calm voice. One of the guards from before answered, probably from the lingering impatience of staying outside the door.
"Yes, Mr. Mannie, we'll do them good !" He laughed, clearly sure of himself. "They are just a bunch of shopkeepers after all, they'll cough up everything we tell !"
"That's right, they can't just get our protection for free !" Another one nodded, convinced.
They were almost 20 people in this bar right now, and none of them seemed to disagree. Taking money from merchants and tradespeople situated in dangerous parts of town in exchange for protection was a very common thing in Lunhart.
If there wasn't such practice, they would be robbed all the time, so the shopkeepers were also helpless against this logic.
'The police probably can't do anything either, since they aren't as many of them as there are outlaws. Sigh... I suppose it's what happens in a city with high criminality. At least this isn't really organized crime yet, just small groups with small territories.'
As Nem was wondering if this was a good thing after all, the conversation continued for a while, and most men headed out to "do their job" as they said.
Of course, he didn't follow them, since Mannie was still there in the bar. The monocle-wearing man suddenly looked around him with his eyes narrowed, making Nem almost jump out of view in reflex. In the end, he resisted the impulse and stayed still and Mannie soon turned to another man, seemingly satisfied.
"Mal, how is your little project coming along ?"
"It's good, Mr. Mannie ! I almost convinced the pimp around the old Moon church to work under our name. You can trust..."
Mannie suddenly hit the table, his nose contracted in anger and contempt.
"How many times do I need to tell you to not talk about our affairs so openly in details ?!"
"But Mr. Mannie, the boss always..."
"I don't want to hear it !" Mannie interrupted Mal again. "Are you the boss, uh ? When you are with me, you listen to my orders, understood ?"
After the man nodded, Mannie rearranged his monocle, still not calmed. He seemed to mutter something under his breath, but Nem couldn't hear it. Mal seemed embarrassed, like he had heard something he shouldn't have and he left after clearing his throat.
Mannie stopped him. "Hold on, Mal, when is your meeting happening ? I'll be there, we need everything we can get these days..."
The man seemed to understand, as he made a serious expression, his brows furrowed.
"You're talking about Big Kor right ? This guy really is getting too confident lately. Are we doing anything against him ?"
Mannie seemed to hesitate before regretfully shaking his head.
"He is not confident without reason, he was almost nothing before a couple of months ago. There has to be someone helping him somehow, even though we have the boss, this kind of person won't go down so easily, we can't decide ourselves."
Mal seemed surprised and doubtful.
"There is no way he has something better than the boss ! I don't understand why we let him do what he wants in the first place, Big Kor is even touching our..." The man seemed to remember Mannie's earlier warning. "...Even this business."
Nem narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to spot a few clues on what they were talking about. Unfortunately, Mannie cut the conversation short.
"Anyways, let's go and see your little project and then ask the boss ourselves in the evening at the usual place. We both have to follow his instructions after all." He seemed a bit bitter for a second but quickly added in a knowing tone. "You know his circumstances, the boss can't just do everything he wants unless he attracts unwanted attention towards himself."
The gaze of this monocle-wearing man made Nem quite confused. It was filled with a strange mixture of respect, devotion, hatred and contempt.
'How strange, what he said sounded like his boss was Cursed or Blessed, but his expression doesn't match. If he was a Blessed, they would be only respect and even more devotion and if he was a Cursed, they would be fear and revulsion, not this.'
'Hum, perhaps I'm thinking about this the wrong way, it seemed like they were talking about his background instead...'
No matter how much Nem racked his brain, he couldn't think of anything that would fit such a description.
'Hum, from what they said, I can guess that their boss has another identity, unlike Big Kor who has someone else helping him. Also, it seems the boss doesn't care about people listening on him talk about his activities... Maybe I should go pay him a visit ?'
'As for the business they were talking about, it can be their kidnappings of children or something completely different, for all I know.'
'Why are they doing it ? Well I can think of a few reasons why someone would buy a kid, most of them are really bad thoughts...'
'Who knows, maybe there are just selling them to the Church of Peace... Uh ?'
Suddenly, a subtle suspicion took root in Nem's mind.