River and I managed to find a place that was out of sight. We changed our clothes back to the simple white linen shirts and black slacks.
'There's just no way I can keep walking in that damn dress!'
"Hm?"
I shot River a confused look when he suddenly released the illusion on both of us, instantly turning our hair and eyes back to their original color.
Then he did something that made my eyes widen.
"Hey, hey, what... what are you doing?!"
I was too surprised to move.
Riiiip!
He had grabbed the dress and ripped it into a long, bandage-like fabric. I've never seen such a waste in my life.
'Seriously? Is this his way of torturing me? By ruining our limited supplies?'
Though I don't know why he would make me suffer. The only thing that comes to mind was the slight teasing I did earlier.
But River wasn't finished.
After that, he then started wrapping his head with it like a total weirdo. Beneath the tattered fabric, his white hair was covered and I could barely see his eyes.
'This is ridiculous!'
I was stupefied.
River may not be bothered but I am. Especially when he looks like a walking mummy that came out of a bandage machine.
I opened my mouth but then closed it again. My head was starting to ache at his terrible fashion sense.
Feeling exhausted, I just asked.
"Is that even necessary?"
River nodded without hesitation.
"Mm. I don't want to be seen."
"That's why I brought some cloaks."
"I don't feel safe."
"What? For god's sake, you..."
I paused and sighed deeply at his answer. Then I figured there's no use trying to pry anymore. It wasn't even that important to our task today.
"Suit yourself."
Both of us wore the cloak and blended again with the crowd on the busy street. Just for the record, what we're doing is extremely dangerous.
Black district is a lawless zone.
People will feign ignorance if they hear or see malicious acts. They'll walk by your corpse as if they didn't see it in the first place.
In these dangerous streets that we were unfamiliar with, River and I had no weapons and no way to defend ourselves.
We're nothing but headless chickens in this crappy situation.
I sighed again.
"Haaa. Man, we have no money for food or shelter! How are we going to last the night?"
"Over there."
River pointed at the building that was visible to the entirety of the Black district. It looked like the exact building I told him to find at some point in our conversation.
My eyes followed it and grew serious.
'Inside that, the heads of the seven houses should be having a meeting.'
It was time for the main agenda.
I looked back at River and he met my gaze with a knowing look.
"What time is it?"
"Nearly quarter to six."
"We'll have to hurry then."
The entirety of the black district was wide and we even got lost multiple times. Furthermore, the sea of people was way more than what I thought was natural.
The fact that we can see the location is the only thing that's helping.
After navigating through the complicated labyrinth of streets, River and I barely arrived at the building's entrance on time. Not a few more seconds after that, the huge door opened with a loud, metallic noise.
Seven people walked outside simultaneously, all of them covered with a cloak that suppressed their strong auras.
It was easy to tell they were the household heads. Their bodies were covered so we couldn't see their faces but we were close enough to read the embroidered words on their cloak.
"House of Pride, Piero."
"House of Greed, Mammien."
"House of Lust, Deusa."
"House of Envy, Lionthan."
"House of Gluttony, Beelmore."
"House of Wrath, Fintan."
"House of Sloth, Pheregor."
I read all of them aloud and took extra care in remembering even the tiniest of details from their minimal movements.
It couldn't be helped.
All I've written in the prologue about these evil houses were the type of work they specialized in. Other than that, I knew nothing.
After a while, River spoke beside me.
"What's next?"
"Hmm. Let's lay low for now. We need to build our power. After all, being on par with them is our final goal."
I answered.
'That's the priority.'
Power.
It is not something given all at once but something that accumulated over time. Those seven houses that rules the underworld didn't become powerful overnight. Their positions were built and solidified over time.
If we want to become a powerhouse like them, we need to start somewhere.
In our case, our first step would be money. Lost and lots of it.
In typical isekai novels, the main character knows which stocks would rise and fall and control their investments based on that knowledge.
Unfortunately for me, I don't know things like that. In the first place, it's not like I had the chance to write about stocks event in the book since I stopped in the prologue part.
That's why I thought that the most obvious solution would be to just start a business.
I simplified this concern, omitting the obvious parts, and shared it with River.
"Mm."
He nodded, understanding my line of thought without too much explanation. Thankfully, he could follow my ideas even without me voicing them out too much.
Though he proved to be an efficient thinker, I wouldn't like it if he was the slow type of guy when it comes to this things.
Back to the topic, River noticed the problem.
"Do you have one in mind?"
"Yup."
I nodded. There were indeed a few business plans I have in mind but we need to do something else before that.
"Dark?"
River stopped when I clutched my stomach.
"What's wrong?"
He became alert when he saw my serious face.
My face became blank and I told him something that should have been obvious by now.
"Eat! We need to eat! I'm starving but we don't have money! I'm going to die at this rate!"
"You... haa."
He sighed after hearing my childish complaints.
Slowly, he reached for something inside his cloak. I tried to focus my eyes despite the hunger and saw that he took out a pouch and held it up.
"Huh?"
A confused sound came out of my mouth. I could hear the noise of metals hitting each other inside the small pouch.
"Let's go."
River started walking again. I followed him but I was still surprised.
"Where? Where did you even get that?"
"Stole it."
'He what? Stole it? Wow, my influence is paying off. Good job, me. I'm teaching River useful things.'
I snickered enthusiastically while thinking of food. I'm quite excited to taste an isekai food I've never seen in Earth.
"Hehehe."
I saw River flinch when he heard me snickering.
"Calm down."
"I am."
"You're drooling."
"Really? I can't help it. With that money, we can---hey! Watch out!"
Something suddenly dashed in the corner of my eyes. I tried to stop it but it was too late. A yellow figure flashed between us like a thunderbolt and stole the pouch in a split second.
My eyebrows started to knit at River's empty hands.
"Ah, damn it. It got stolen."
Grrrr!
"Ugh!"
I clutched my stomach as the hunger grew worse. My mind started racing with random thoughts.
'I'm hungry. So hungry. I'm starting to feel so impatient. I want to have a tantrum. I'm going to scream. Freaking bastard. Thieves should die in a ditch.'
Really, I wanted to explode and start thrashing things like a trash then and there.
However, I was too weak.
My body couldn't keep up with my behavior that was already a mess.
I didn't even look at River as I exaggeratingly crouched half of my body like I had stomach cramps.
"God, I'm going to die."
"Dark."
"What?"
My weak eyes went to River.
Slowly, they focused on his emotionless face that seemed smug for some reason.
His lips curled up a little. I knew he had done something weird again.
"River, what did you do?"
"I lied."
"...What?"
"There was a tracker inside. I mixed it with metals."
It was my turn to flinch. As I thought, I wasn't imagining that smug expression.
"First it was a pouch and now it's a tracker. Where the hell do you steal those kinds of stuff? When did you even do it?"
"..."
The white-haired vampire just shrugged. I didn't have any energy left to get mad at him. I kept thinking about the thief.
'Fur. I definitely saw fur.'
River probably saw it too since he had better senses than me.
Also, he must've shown the pouch on purpose as bait to lure in thieves. Because where there is a thief, there is money and if we can find the thief then we can loot him instead.
Realizing this, my mood started to lift up.
I faced River and shrugged.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go find him."
"Mm."
He nodded and started walking based on instinct while muttering inaudible words.
"Childish when hungry. Calm when focused. Joy is present in his face when he's up to something troublesome..."
I was lost in my own thoughts too so I just followed him in the sea of people.
We stopped in an abandoned building. It was in a place behind the small alleys, far away from the buzzing presence of people.
Cracks were present everywhere. The structure of the building was so fragile that it was practically falling apart.
I reached my arms to the bricks and it crumbled a little.
'Geez, looks like they're going to break if I so much as tap them.'
I shuddered at the danger.
River, who finally located the unique pitch from the tracher, pointed up the god forsaken building and spoke.
"He's above."
"Really?"
My voice nearly cracked. I'm no doubt hesitant to go there. The mossy stairs were giving off an aura of a death flag.
"Yeah."
River confirmed and added.
"I can also hear money. Lots of it."
When he said money, I was already half way upstairs.
'Death flag? Ha! They can't stop me.'
"Haa."
Someone sighed deeply. River was shaking his head while following me up but I didn't pay any attention to that.
He was taking a lot of time so I climbed up first and when I got to the rooftop, I saw a child. Along with him was the thick scent of blood.
'Oh? My, my, what do we have here.'
A shiver of pleasure ran through my spine. My blood boiled at something exciting but I stopped myself from losing control over my body.
"You okay?"
River finally made it up and looked at me with caution. With his inhuman senses, he must've noticed my trembling body as a result of me trying to suppress myself.
"This is nothing. More than that, look over there."
I nudged my head at the edge of the rooftop and saw the child glaring at us. River and I walked towards him, stopping two steps from his severely bleeding body. A metal stick was sticking out of his stomach.
Wait, that's not important.
"Child, give me your money."
The child paused for a second and his glare got deeper. It maybe his way to look intimidating but sadly for him, I don't care if it goes deeper than that trench in the pacific.
"Money. Hurry."
"Robbing a child? Don't you even feel sorry?"
"Why would I? In this place, one must be responsible for their own survival. I'm just robbing a fellow thief."
"Ha!"
He scoffed. I know he understands my point but, as expected, he still refuses to give me his money.
'Ah, this is pissing me off.'
In the first place, I'm not a big fan of patience. Even now, I'm trying so hard not to step on the metal stick. But the urge to torture him was getting too strong for me to handle.
I raised my foot and...
"Dark."
...stepped it back down on the floor.
I gave River, who was looking solemn, a thankful smile. He didn't return my smile. Instead, the snob just gave me a serious look.
"That was close, wasn't it?"
"...Take a few steps back."
I pursed my lips.
"Hey, chill. I won't do it, okay?"
"Back."
"Geez! Fine, here."
"Stay there."
I took two steps away from the child and glared at River. But he didn't spare me a glance and just helped the child up.
'First he bugs the child. Now, he helps him. This weirdo is really beyond my imagination sometimes.'
And the theif boy was just as weird as him. Don't you normally push away people who are clearly chasing you in the first place? I thought he would do that but no, he definitely did not.
In fact, what he did is far from that.
Though he was was wary at first, his eyes glowed and he didn't complain when River helped him.
I scoffed.
"This is favoritism in its finest."
River pretended not to hear me and talked to the thief.
"How old are you?"
"He's probably ten, right? Just get the money!"
But I got ignored again.
"I'm fourteen."
"..."
"..."
I blinked. Even River was taken aback by the sudden information. Before I knew it, my mouth was opening again.
"Fourteen? Are you serious? With that height?"
"Shut up! So what if I'm short?"
"Oh?"
The bratty, childish attitude was making it harder to believe that he isn't a child.
But in all seriousness, what the hell is going on?
He doesn't look like a dwarf or a half dwarf so that can't be it but that's the only race with small height. This also isn't a case of malnourishment since I could tell from just a look that his body is healthy.
I can tell that there's something weird with this boy but before I can think further, his sudden screaming disturbed me.
"And don't take my money away. I'm going to use it to buy the ancient stone."
His words took me by surprise.
Ancient stone. It was a medium needed for a naming ceremony, an essential if you want to have your official name.
'Interesting...'
I smirked at the boy.
"Even though you're going to die?"
"I won't die."
He answered without a doubt. I could tell he really believed he was going to live.
Right now, this child would have a fist fight with a reaper if he could.
'Really interesting...'
Innocent words kept falling out of his mouth but I don't hate it.
It's ironic for him to keep doing dirty things wherein his fuel was nothing short of a pure desire.
The growing smirk I had was slowly widening. For the first time, I saw him as a person rather than a third-rate scum in the streets.
"What a good look in your eyes."
This child was dying but his eyes were burning. His yellow iris was so clear that it defined his vertical pupils. His yellow hair, resembling a gleaming silk, fluttered in the wind like strands of gold cobwebs.
My body moved on its own and I let my ego do the act. My hands were glowing. River didn't stop me while I walked towards the child who was still burning with ambition in his last moments.
"Ahaha! Good! Very good! I like it!"
I placed a glowing hand over his stomach and used the other one to rip the metal stick out of his body. It was all too sudden. The child's face was dyed in surprise when he felt no pain.
He looked down as I stood up.
The wound was gone without a trace.