Liumiala, Flora and Arnold were observing a building from afar. Mia had taken them to this place after meeting them in front of the Guild.
The building was a large mansion on the outskirts of the noble district. There were other mansions on the same street, however, this was the only one that was inhabited by people. Most of the nobles lost their lineage and couldn't afford to live in this area.
"Why aren't we charging in there?" Flora asked impatiently. One could see that she was worried that something happened to Lauran.
Arnold always thought that Flora and Luke were the same. Not just in swordsmanship but personality as well. Both were virtuous, kind and brave.
If they saw a person in need then they'd do their utmost to save them. Even if no payment was involved.
Arnold turned to Liumiala who was silently looking at him.
"Why did you bring us here? Does this mean you found their location?"
To Arnold's words, she nodded.
"This is the only place that has been active in the past month. Many people have come and gone. I tracked their activity during this past month and found out that they have been bringing different prostitutes back and forth for their leader. The Flowery Brothel's manager complained that her workers always come back bruised. She was eager to share all of this with us."
"I see. How did you find out so fast?"
Flora and Arnold were both astonished. Liumiala smirked proudly at Arnold's question.
"It's no big deal. I had some contacts in the entertainment district help me out. The process didn't take long since Ruduli is well-known. Not for positive reasons though."
"That's not anything new, now is it?" Arnold sighed.
Ruduli Felix was once a famed knight in the Imperial Army. He was one of the strongest tankers in the empire's history and thwarted assaults from enemy nations in many battles.
Although he was a minor character, Arnold still knew about him. After his falling reputation plummeted even further, he went into depression and committed his first crime. He murdered the man who slept with his wife when he left for war.
After coming out of prison, Ruduli's life was completely destroyed. His wife left him, his family scorned him and he was dismissed from his position in the army. He was once a platoon leader and worked directly under the duke.
That didn't last long since he fell from grace. Such was the life of most warriors.
After that he turned to crime as a means to survive. His other two brothers who were already at the bottom pit of society before him, joined him. They plundered, murdered, kidnapped, smuggled, etc…
Not long after he became a notorious gang leader of a bunch of criminals. They called themselves the Felix gang. Since Ruduli was a commoner, he had no family name so he used Felix as his surname as well.
'My understanding of what happened is that Lauran killed him after she became an elite mage.'
She knew as she was before that she didn't have the power to kill the demon from her past. Whenever she saw him, her throat would clog up and her body would go numb.
It wasn't an issue over who was strong. The mental scars he inflicted remained in her heart forever. Some way or another by being comforted by Luke, she gained the determination to eliminate the demon from her past.
Of course, she fell for him not long after.
Arnold thought about the kind of hero Luke was. His charisma alone was what drew others towards him.
Handsome, strong, kind, brave…There were few women who could say they didn't fall for him.
'It's no wonder why so many strong and famous women joined his Hero Party.'
**
"I see movement." Mia muttered. As a Dark Elf, she had even better vision than an eagle.
As with dwarves who were born with exceptional dexterity, elves had their own racial trait. Elves were the most suited race for archery because of their good eyesight. Other races such as the demihumans had racial traits related to their passive skills which were enhanced body arts. That was what made them such powerful natural-born martial artists.
"Let's wait before charging in there. Chances are that she's not even here. We'll only upset the gang if we act rashly now." Liumiala said to them, in a whisper this time.
"So, why are you still here?" Arnold whispered back.
"There are things I must retrieve from the gang's hideout. Since you're only here for the girl, I can take their others assets, right?"
"Well, whatever." Arnold shrugged. He released his aura dimension and took out his Aura Sword.
An Aura Sword was a weapon that could freely enter or exit the user's spatial dimension which required aura rings to open. The user must infuse aura into a certain ring that activates their Aura Dimension and take their desired weapon out. In Arnold's case, he had a dark sword that radiated a blue ash.
Since Arnold was a natural aura user, he quickly learned to use this at a very young age. This was much better than carrying around a sword at your waist.
"It seems that there are minimum guards today. Usually the entire street is full of his men loitering around. They would come and go into the mansion all day. Either the boss is busy in another city or he's inside his room with a prostitute he likes." Liumiala read the report that she took out of her bag.
"So there's a high possibility that he's violating that girl." Flora gnashed her teeth.
"Let's not jump to conclusions. What do you know about the average level of strength of the gang, Mia?" Arnold asked.
"…Well, I guess I'll allow you to call me that. Anyway, there are six 3 star mages. The rest are all swordsmen and spear users."
"This'll be troublesome. At least everyone isn't here today. Oh, right." Arnold took something out of his pocket. It was a mask and a strange necklace.
"I want you to put this on." He gave the necklace to Flora.
"I don't need your fancy magic items to help me fight." She refused to take it.
"It will change your hair colour, idiot. Your purple hair stands out too much. I'll wear the mask since my face is well-known."
Flora took the necklace and put it on. "It's not doing anything, though?" Her hair was still purple.
"Sigh. You have to tap the gem for it to activate." After saying so, Arnold jumped off from the roof of the mansion they were standing on.
Liumiala was about to shout to ask what he was doing but decided to stay quiet. Flora soon followed.
"Why are these two just walking up to the mansion!? A surprise attack would've been better!!"
She stomped the roof in frustration. At first she had made a sketch of the mansion and located all the possible entrances besides the front door. They could've gone at night when everyone's guards were down.
"Ugh…I can't believe my first big job is going to be like this." Liumiala summoned spirits around herself to help her fight.
She joined Serz only recently on the recommendation of her mother, who was a high executive of the organization. Her mother had been in the dark society for many years by now.
"She must be watching somewhere. I better not screw this up." She didn't reject the job because there was something for her to gain as well. She could take down an entire gang and gain control of their contraband, supply routes, weapons etc… It was nothing in comparison to her mother who killed an entire family of royals along with the monarch on her first mission, but it was at least something.
Liumiala thought back to the conversation she had with her comrades before she met up with up Arnold…
◇◇◇
"How did he know about us, sis Mia?"
One of the others asked Liumiala. He had an uneasy expression on his face.
"I'm not sure. I made sure to erase any traces of us snooping around. It's a mystery how he found us out. Still…" Mia bit her lip. "I think it's a good idea to stick close to him. If he could find out about our organization's activities in this city then there's no telling what else he knows. He might have information beneficial to us as well."
The four of them were in the same room Arnold exited earlier. They entered right after Arnold had left. Besides Liumiala, the others were all men.
"What do you mean?" Another man asked.
"Even the highest ranking nobles of this nation have no idea we're operating under their noses. I mean, haven't we been living on some nobles' expenses without them knowing?"
"You're right. It just doesn't make sense. If a noble found us out then they'd immediately inform the emperor."
Serz's HQ was located in another faraway location. It was only recently that they decided to send out small groups of their members to gather intel that may be useful for their organization in the future. During their stay in this city, they hadn't found anything interesting thus far. It was the usual nobles committing crimes like rape, extortion, slavery, bribery, and so on.
Nothing that could be used against rival organizations had popped up.
However, that might change with the sudden appearance of the city lord's son.
"We need to find out how he knew about us. We aren't even that widespread."
Serz was a feared organizations, however, they weren't known to many. The few that knew of them were high ranking officials from other nations. News of them being in this empire's lands shouldn't have spread.
"Unless…" Mia's eyes widened as a possibility arose. Her body shuddered.
"Unless?" All three of them were confused by her voice's sudden change of tone.
"…What if he's The Leader!?"
The others gasped.
The Leader of the criminal Dark Society Organization had never revealed his or her true face before. Not even his most trusted subordinates know anything about him.
Where he lived.
What his actual job was undercover.
What his name was.
These were but some of the mysteries of their leader.
"No way. The boss is that kid?" One of the others sounded doubtful.
"It's just a possibility…If he was the boss then there was no reason to ask assistance from our small group. But still, don't you find it strange that he could locate us this fast? He entered the Guild as if any normal person would but in truth he was looking for us. I bet that woman that was next to him was his bodyguard."
"If you're right then…"
"Should we tell the others?"
"No. We also shouldn't tell him that we know. Perhaps he wants to stay hidden." Mia concluded that he didn't want others to know of him.
"How should we test if he's really the boss, sis Mia?" One of the other dark elves asked.
Liumiala held her chin and pondered.
The fact that he was so young wasn't the issue. Many had assumed that the boss was an unusual person anyway. Maybe there was another reason for why he was able to become the leader of such an organization like Serz.
All the leaders of Serz had been ranked as a 9th star warrior or mage. There was a high chance that Arnold was the same.
As with most 9th star powerhouses, they stop aging once they reached the pinnacle of humanity. Maybe Arnold became a 9th star powerhouse back when he was 16 or 17?
'Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this.' Liumiala thought to herself.
"For now I'll follow him around and try to stick as close to him as possible. Can any of you inform an executive I can't come back to the base for now?"
She wanted to join the mission and personally observe him.
"Isn't it better to stay by the side-lines and wait?"
Liumiala shook her head at her comrade's words.
"Whether he's really hiding the fact that he's our leader, I'll find that out…"
-◇-
Arnold and Flora managed to reach the front gate of the mansion without being seen. Granted, they weren't really hiding. Both of them were walking with their swords drawn.
Arnold was covered in thick aura and his sword was glowing ominously. As for the sword Flora was holding, if one looked close enough, you could see a teal glow under the dirt and grime.
Although the sword wasn't in its final form, it was more than enough to cut through the flesh of normal humans.
"Huh? What the…!" Flora quickly ran towards a person who spotted them. The person's legs were slashed and blood sprayed everywhere.
The other crew members noticed the commotion and saw Arnold and Flora. They raised their weapons and shouted: "Intruders!!"
The entire mansion was alarmed.
Yet Arnold and Flora were still gracefully attacking whoever attacked them.
Arnold first aimed for the mages. He could tell who were mages since he was very adept at sensing mana.
"Eek!" He caught one of them and hit him in the back of neck. The person fell down limply. It wasn't enough to kill him, just make him unconscious.
"Oraaa!" One of the others threw a throwing spear at Arnold. Arnold blocked the spear by shoving another mage in front of him. The mage died instantly since the spear impaled his heart.
He crushed the man's face with one punch.
"Haaah!!"
"Take this!!"
"You really shouldn't shout during a sneak attack." Arnold used the hilt of his sword to strike the two who tried to attack him from behind on their temples. His sword's blue arc of aura was both graceful and beautiful.
Despite his violent nature, he had such gentle aura control. It was like a gentle flowing river on a warm summer day. Said river was actually a deadly weapon that could sharpen his weapon to make it cut through steel.
Flora, on the other hand, was crushing the men with raw power alone. Unlike Arnold who made clean cuts, she battered her opponents until their bodies broke.
"W-What the hell!? This monster!"
"Me, a monster!? You kill indiscriminately and steal from the poor!" Flora grabbed the guy who shouted that statement earlier. She headbutted his face which caused his nose to break and his forehead to cave in.
Growing up as a princess, Flora was required to include community service in her daily activities. She loved going to the slums in the Kingdom and making soup for the children there.
Oftentimes, she would teach the children how to fight as well. It was unexpected of a princess but the children loved it. Spending time with the children in the slums was the only time when she truly enjoyed herself.
After losing all of that, she became a shell of what she once was. Those innocent children were also killed in the invasion of the Theocracy.
She was mad.
She was taking that vengeance out on them now. Why was it that the innocent had to die?
"!!!" Flora bashed the face of a man with her elbow. She rampaged further by charging onto a group of men and stabbing the sword through all of their hearts.
It was a slaughter.
"Flora." Arnold called out to her.
"…."
"Flora."
"What?" Flora finally looked at Arnold after she breathed deeply.
"Those men are already dead."
She finally noticed that she was still hitting a man in the face. That said, his face was all bloody and mangled up.
"O-Oh…"
Arnold pointed at the open front door. There were bodies everywhere on the ground. Most were barely alive. Arnold had only left some alive since not all of them came charging with killing intent.
"Let's go."