"Excuse me, ladies. I don't mean to infringe, but I accidently overheard an interesting bit of your conversation."
"Would you please, be so kind to repeat it?"
Spark requested of the female passerbys in the most polite tone he could muster in his surprise.
"Oh ..."
The mature woman– who was the source of his surprise– put her hand over her puffy, wrinkled mouth and reprimanded:
"Young man! It's not polite to listen in on a lady's conversation!"
Aware of it not being polite at all, Spark did infringe nevertheless, as he had more pressing thoughts at the moment.
Armed with a silver tongue, he luckily had appropriate flattery for the situation.
"It was on accident ... And I would have never dared to ask, but because you striked me as refined and friendly, I couldn't help but hope for your understanding..."
The other maid gave sound to a light chuckle, prodding her friend to not be so stiff:
"Why not tell him? He surely is fascinated by you ..."
"Oh, do you really think so? At least you are more polite than the kids your age!"
Visibly satisfied with the oiled tongue of the young man, the mature maid puckered up her lips.
"Fine... Not a lot of people know about this, but... We were discussing the scourge of the slums. Apparently, that dirt stain has finally been killed!"
'So I heard it right!'
Spark was stunned. Did the news spread that quickly?
"An aquaintance of mine was very insistent of that fact. She mentioned to have heard it straight from one of the bandits."
"Right, right, it must be true! ...Because I also know for a fact the Mad Dog was involved in the kidnapping that has been going on for the past few weeks!"
Her friend joined in on the badmouthing, too. It seemed like the ladies, in their garrulous, incessant chatter, forgot that Spark was even there. But that of course was fine by him, as their leisure chatter revealed everything he wished to know.
"What? Who told you? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was just about to, no need to clobber my ear Maggy "
The other woman held her ears with a frown.
"You remember Jacqueline? She and her husband live right next to the Mutters Family and they have quite the cordial relationship, too. You know how their son has gone missing about two weeks ago? Guess who turned up last night."
"So he finally came back ... praise the heavens."
"Yes, in their delight they invited her and other friends over for dinner. She told me about it just before I met you at the market."
"What incredible luck ..."
Spark interrupted their leisure chatter for clarification. It's better to ask twice, than to be misinformed:
"By scourge, you mean Celas, the gangster boss?
"Yes, Yes, that one"
Spark nodded with a smile.
"Thank, you ladies. At first I didn't want to believe my ears, but it seems to be true if you two confirm it so confidently. The beast has finally been slain."
Spark decided it would be best to thank the ladies and go on his way. A lingering feeling of uncertainty and doubt plagued his thoughts and it was better to motion in the plans he had made as early as possible.
"So you agree... He really has been a menace over the last few months. I can't believe the Inner City hasn't tried to hunt him down, even once. What 'noble' dullards, they are."
"That's the strange thing! Not even once has a punishment squad been created to control the terrible things that happened on a regular basis."
"Wait ... not even once?"
Spark's doubts grew stronger when he heard this revelation. For the executive force to not be dispatched even one single time? Not even to check a few things, even with kidnappings and god forbid, possibly murders occuring?
Quite frankly, that was not the image the City Lord had managed to imprint on him. Did he misread his character? Was it all a facade, or was he completely unaware...
There were too many questions swirling in his mind when he was prodded out of his inner world by Maggy's light touch on his shoulder.
"Yes, kid ... Not even once, so I am telling you now, do not trust the Inner City to solve our problems.
The Outskirts problems can only be solved by the Outskirts."
"You see, the families of the kidnapped children made many complaints to the Inspections Office, but none ever returned fruitfully. It's not a strange coincide anymore."
Spark finally couldn't contain his frown anymore. If Celas' connections reached into the Inner City, even to the Inspections Office, this matter would become far more dangerous than he had initially presumed.
Even to a worrying degree...
Quietly, he muttered:
"It's not over..."
"That's a problem. That is a big problem."
* * *
After purchasing breakfast— with the 'little change' of a gold coin, Spark left the newly-constructed marketplace in a hurry.
In a flash, he was in front of the familiar signboard of Joey's. He took a deep breather and entered.
"Brother Spark!"
Heel was the first to notice him and greeted energetically, bringing Spark to the attention of the tavern.
Everybody was seated on the four-part-table, preparing to eat breakfast. The children seemed to have only recently woken up from a night of deep slumber.
All visible exhaustion from the day before had vanished, alongside the dark corners and wrinkles around their eyes. There was more life and character in them, and Spark noticed.
He couldn't suppress his smile.
Although there were still problems with malnourishment, it was only uphill from here!
After a round of greetings Spark put two opaque paper bags in the middle of Borza and Koor. A soft thump brought interest to every party.
"I'm glad I came in time. I've brought breakfast with me."
The kids lightened up at his remark.
Jessie softly smiled and said:
"Such a tactful young man, I don't remember Joey being such a gentleman in his youth!"
A playful look landed onto Joey, who furrowed his brows in reply.
"Do you really not remember the bouquet of flowers I've brought... The lovely serenations I've sung?"
Jessie retorted the tackle while drooping her head, as if to hide her expression.
"You can't eat melodies and flowers!"
Spark thought to have furtively glimpsed a shade of red on her fair face.
...
The children burst into laughter at the silly joke. That humor seemed to be right up their alley. Only Borza had a doubtful look on his face.
He stated his confusion in broken human language:
"But .... flowers, you can eat!"
Seeing the humor in the situation once again, the children giggled and laughed, with Joey and Jessie also joining in. Joey reassured the golden-furred monkey-kid.
"Gahahaha you are absolutely right, Borza! At least someone has my back around here!"
Swinging the mood higher with each interaction, the atmosphere was considerably light again when Spark started to unpack the paper bags.
One after another, he revealed its contents; more than a dozen fruits which somewhat resembled apples, big loafs of white bread from the bakery, a wheel of cheese and a big container of fresh butter bought from the kettle farmer, alongside other strangely familiar, but somehow off-looking vegetables.
He just bought what looked the freshest and most appropriate for breakfast, only spending just about a silver and some change in total. Also, he wouldn't have been able to carry much more.
Hungry eyes fell onto the items he unpacked. He caught Borza's and Koor's greedy expression and couldn't help but joke as he gave them a playful chop on their head.
"I can hear you two swallow from here. Don't forget to leave something for the rest, okay?"
With a chuckle he announced the kids didn't have to be so reluctant.
"What are you waiting for? Dig in, everybody."
Spark helped himself to a strange looking apple.
To his surprise, the flavor closely resembled the taste of a juicy peach, crossbreeded with a sweet apple. It mixed together fantastically and didn't destroy the opposite qualities.
Truly a beautiful flavour.
'T-This is worlds above Earth's fruits ... Is it because of Mana once again?'
Deeply indignant of the wondrous concept called Mana which the universe contrived, he shivered in delight.
'This is how food is supposed to be!'
The strange energy continuously surprised the otherworldler with its intrinsic, enhancing qualities. He didn't hold back and tried some of the vegetables, which Jessie cut into mouth-sized pieces. All in all, he seemed satisfied with their quality.
This conclusion was unanonimously agreed on, judging by the face of the taste-testers.
The breakfast slowly came to end when the contents of the table which Jessie had in storage and Spark had brought dwindled until not a crumble was left. Luckily noone had the capacity to eat more.
When Spark wanted to wink Joey over to share his newfound doubts, the door creaked open in a hurried manner. Tali stood in the doorframe with her face sweaty and her breathing rugged. It was clear she ran all they way to the tavern.
"Joey, Big Bro Spark! Daddy, he ...."
Both of their visages changed into unpleasant frowns. They could infer the problem easily. Terry's wounds must have worsened.
...Cursing themselves for not taking care of this matter yesterday, they jumped up and ran towards the door.
Joey halted and turned around to go in the kitchen, before he quickly returned with a piece of white cloth under his arm.
It didn't take them long to reach the tailor's abode, a two-story building with the shop for tailor-related business on the first floor and their flat on the second. Reaching the second floor in a blink, they saw Terry's miserable state.
He lay on the bed deathly pale, with red and yellow spots on the white cotton blanket revealing the locations where his most grievous wounds festered with ichor.
Joey was in absolute shock to this sight, when he mentally compared it to Terry's state the day before. It was far from healthy, but at least not this bad! Was it him putting on a very brave face?
"Terry! What happened?"
Terry lifted himself up from the bed to see who arrived and gave a light smile when he saw Spark and Joey standing next to him with worried expressions. He greeted them with weak nonchalance which was disturbed by a violent cough.
"Oh ... hello, please excuse the sorry sight ... cough cough"
Spark put his hand on Terry's forehead to inspect his temperate and was met with a scorching heat.
"Just what happened for your wounds to deteriorate so much, you ... you have a terrible fever! ...Joey, prepare the medicine!"
Terry's face contorted into an ugly, sad expression. He didn't want to be the baggage that others had to take care of, over and over again but he knew the state of his body the best. His vigor had left him and he would even need help to stand up properly.
"...I'm sorry, that you have to save me over and over again."
He sighed in remorse before pointing at his wooden night table and the two paper textbooks stacked onto each other, in an orderly, neat fashion.
"Take this as a comprom- ... cough cough cough"
Before he could end the sentence, another fit of groggy coughs meddled in the hoarse delivery. Spark took a look at a night table and opened the upper textbook to inspect its contents. What he read made his already present frown mix with incredulous glowering.
"You didn't ... ! Terry! Why do you do this to yourself?" Spark angrily spat, scolding Terry for his actions.
The textbook, of course, was nothing else but a perfect copy of the Clearing Cloud Arts. Terry sat up all night to transfer its contents, not only one, but two times. It must have taken him until the early morning to finish this endeavour, which he continued uninterrupted, even in his awful state. That must have been too much for his already weakened body.
Terry retorted back tersely with an unexplainably loud anger, "Don't understimate my gratitude!"
His serious, unwavering eyes put even Spark to shame.
"I thought I would die yesterday! I'll gladly accept a little fever to compensate your grace!"
He supressed the coughs and festering weakness to explain his actions succinctly. Each word he said echoed clearly into Joey's and Spark's ears and vindicated his beliefs. They held unbelievably earnest weight in their minds.
'This unbending gratitude ... What an honest man.'
Not wanting to belittle Terry's resolve any further Joey and Spark nodded seriously and came back to the matter at hand.
"...Thank you Terry, we'll get you patched up in a matter of hours."
Joey gave this promise with an uncompromisable tone in his voice. He inspected Terry's wounds and asked Tali to show him the hearth, pots and kettles shortly after. They went down to the first floor to prepare the spiritual herbs. Spark followed and asked Joey the question that had been on his mind.
"Will he be fine with just the Spiritual Herbs? Or should I look for one of the healers in the Inner City?"
Joey showed a serious, pondering face and replied his thoughts on the matter.
"I think he should be fine. At the very least we will be able to completely stabilize his condition and lower the fever. It would be a different matter if he was hurt by an attack that held Qi, but his wounds were inflicted by the sheer force of a sharp object."
Luckily Joey's estimation seemed to be favorable and the situation was not as bad as it could possibly be. Celas was capable of Qi-infused attacks, but deliberately refrained from using them with the intention of keeping Terry alive.
"The lacerations and gashes missed vital arteries skillfully by just a few inches. So he was well enough to somewhat walk around yesterday. But due to his overexhaustion tonight, the wounds show traces of inflammation," Joey sighed with irritation he tried to hide, "Luckily we can easily treat the inflammation with the herbs I have brought. It is especially effective on normal people."
"And also, the healers are quite hard to request, his situation might worsen too much if we went to search carelessly."
"I'm glad you know your way around medicine..." Spark uttered honestly.
He also knew basic things, but it was reassuring to have Joey by his side to guide the process. Joey grabbed a wooden block in his hands and a familiar red hue wreathed around his hands. Tali and Spark took a step back when they felt the heat rise in the proximity and watched the wood catch on fire shortly after.
"Well. I have some experience in dressing wounds up," he calmly explained with a placid smile leaping onto his lips, "I already told you. I've been quite hot-blooded and passionate in my youth, didn't I?"
Spark could only give a quiet and defeated chuckle.
* * *
After boiling up a fragrant herbal tea and grinding another herb into a red-green paste, Joey rubbed the anti-inflammation agent gently onto Terry's gashes before wrapping them up with fresh dressings. After administering three cups of Spiritual Tea to Terry, his painful expression softened up considerably. The paleness of his complexion diminished and showed traces of blood and colour again, making Tali, Joey and Spark let out a breath of deep relief. The medicine seemed to be working.
Terry fell into a deep sleep as he was deluged by an unrelenting exhaustion. His mangled body needed long and peaceful rest. Joey faced the gaunt Tali, whose expression changed from visible anxiousness to slight worry and relief.
"Tali, what you have to do now is to carefully watch over your father and alarm me if his condition deteriorates, okay?"
Tali humped the burly bartender's leg and nodded slightly before giving sound to a heart-felt thanks. Joey gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder and Spark's reserved smile widened as he watched from the back.
"Now, now. Don't forget to wipe the sweat off his body from time to time with a warm, wet piece of cloth. If he wakes up, let him drink more of the tea and call for me. I'll also come to check periodically."
Tali removed her dug-in face, from Joey's leg and showed her snotty, twisted smile.
"Okay"
Spark's reserved smile changed up a bit when Tali did the same to him. Her snotty embrace, he did not expect, since Joey did all the work this time around. He couldn't help but sigh quietly and also ruffle her hair gently until she let go of his leg to leave a slimy trace on his trousers.
He didn't mention it, nor gave it any attention. He was also happy that Terry felt better again. The undulating emotion in his voice and the sincerity the calm shoemaker showed a moment ago was etched deeply into his mind. He felt great respect for his clear-cut character.
Spark and Joey said their goodbyes and reminded Tali to alarm them if anything felt amiss before taking their leave.
On the way back, Spark finally revealed his doubts about Celas' death.
"Joey, I think there is more to Celas' gang than we initially thought ... Don't you think it is strange that a bandit-pack of such small scale easily got away with kidnapping and slave trading, when there are Qi-Realm Cultivators present in the Inner City?"
"I also found it strange, to say the least. Not all of the kids were orphans snatched from the streets. So some definitely had families, who must have seeked help from Monsoon City..."
Joey voiced in agreement, a troubled look on his face. Spark nodded and revealed his findings of the day.
"Yes, I confirmed that today. Even with complaints flooding the Inspections Office, they didn't react to it any way. They didn't even pretend to put together a squad and look into it. I don't know if it's carelessness, foolishness or blatant corruption."
"Couple that with the contraband we found and it elucidates a clear picture..." Spark hinted.
"Then we should think of the worst case," Joey solemnly proposed, "The Inspection Office is corrupted and another culprit hides in Monsoon City."
"And that culprit likely knows about or even ordered for the kidnappings, the Spiritual Herbs and possibly... even the Bone Marrowing Pill, even if that is quite unlikely considering Milo's story," Spark added in a low voice.
Both went silent with this thought... this foreshadow of what was about to come. Spark broke the silence and spoke up.
"We should prepare accordingly. At the moment rumors go around about Celas death and his involvement in the mysterious disappearances of the kids. It can't be long until the hidden forces find out about the kids in the tavern."
Joey knew of the complications involved. It was better to be prepared for another attack.
"You're right ... And it is very possible that some of the figures of the hidden forces tied to the bandit group already reached the Qi Realm."
They fell into silent frowns once again. The future seemed bleak and full of danger. They reached the tavern and entered, still wrapped in a heavy atmosphere.
"Dear, hello ... huh, what happened? Don't tell me Terry's situation ..."
Jessie greeted them at the door and inquired about Terry's health with worry. Joey sighed and changed his droopy face into a slight smile.
"No, no ... Terry is fine, he'll be healthy in no time."
"Why the long faces then?"
Spark hesitated a moment, before deciding to reveal the honest truth.
"It seems, the storm isn't quite weathered yet ... that useless dog, Celas creates trouble even after death. Spark and me concluded that there must be some remnant hidden forces in the Monsoon City which must have orchestrated the kidnappings amongst other things."
Jessie drew in a cold breath with an anxious worry on her face revealing her shock. Her glabella was tightly-knitted and creased into what could only be called a concerned expression .
The kids were standing behind Jessie at this point, worries painting their young, innocent faces into sullen looks. The young Laurel, maybe 9 years old, was the first to speak up in a stammer.
"I-I think... my daddy could help us."
Spark twitched and scanned her with an incredulous gaze. Joey did the same.
'What daddy?... I thought you were an orphan!'