During the day Nick felt as if he was in some formal delegation when governor Edward himself was showing around the city and even brought the group to the outskirts to boast about manufactures they had around here. To the governor's big disappointment and Nick's big surprise, after two hours of trying to be polite, the girls honestly confessed that they were bored and just wanted to do some shopping.
The sad governor showed them the best shopping streets and vowed to himself to never consider women as officials again and send his wife to entertain them even if they were princesses or queens.
While the governor was learning the harsh life lessons, Nick excused himself again and disappeared in the crowd. He strode around enjoying the afternoon sun and munching on fruits he bought in the nearby market. People were busy with their own lives and didn't notice him and Nick also didn't bother anyone.
Somehow he slowly managed to get back to the harbor where the silk was continuously transported on board of the "Queen Elizabeth".
'How many tons can they load using these small boats to transport the packages of cloth from here to the ship within three days?' Nick wondered to himself.
The stream of the small cargo boats seemed to be never ending. The empty ones came back from the ship, got few big bundles of silk and then transported it to the ship again.
When the sun was already setting, Nick still sat on the pier, watching workers chat, curse and laugh. Then he heard someone nearing. The man looked like a regular servant of a big family, the only difference was that his pupils were dilated and eyes were darting all over the place.
"Hey boy, have you tried the new stuff already?" He smiled, showing two rows of yellow teeth.
"What?" Nick obviously had no idea what the man was talking about.
"The new stuff! I'm telling you, it's better than any alcohol you tried! Wanna check it out? Cheap, cheap!" The man tried to sell something.
'Seriously? Everyone can tell that I'm just a boy. Why would he even offer me something that's better than alcohol? Wait ... drugs?!' Nick never heard of any narcotics being sold in Aurora and this was a new experience here.
"Show me!" He said.
The man took few steps closer and took out a small package from his pocket. In an oily paper there was a dark green ball in a size of a hazelnut.
'What the hell? Is it opium or something?' Nick was shocked, but still tried to play the role of a potential customer.
"How much?" He asked.
"Ten silver for this. It can last you for fifteen or even twenty days." The man laughed, "Trust me, it's stronger than any alcohol and your head will not hurt either!"
'So he himself is a user and now is high, that's why he doesn't realize I'm just a boy.' Nick smiled inside.
"How do I use it?" Nick questioned.
"What do you mean how? You just mix with something and eat or drink it." The man got confused, "Wait, who are you? I … I … don't know what you're talking about!" He blurted out, quickly put the package back in the pocket and turned to run away.
'I probably asked the wrong question. Or he is sobering up? Let's play then! Everything is a training opportunity!'
Nick smiled, this time for real, then took out a hooded cape from his wristband, wore it and stored the backpack inside. Then started to stealthily follow the man. Already for years he was using everything as a training and improvement method, with the latest example him fooling around as a cook on the ship. This time he decided to follow the man to see what was going on, maybe burn down a drug den and at the same time practice his stealth skills.
The man stopped running pretty soon. He obviously was in a bad physical shape, probably from the frequent drug use. He strode with large steps while gasping for air, at the same time murmuring something under his nose.
After few more minutes he entered a darker alley, walked around two hundred meters and then disappeared in a warehouse at the end of it.
Nick approached the entrance, thought for a few seconds and then sprayed the 'stealth powder' in his clothes. This might be a drug dealers den and, if there were any Qi masters around, he didn't want to get caught. Although he could outrun many of them, it still would be a lot of trouble.
Since there was only one door, he couldn't risk to enter openly. Nick quickly climbed onto the roof and found a few loose planks on one side of it. Then he carefully moved them aside to make an opening wide enough for him to slip through and silently climbed in.
The warehouse was dark, dusty and full of wooden boxes and sacks of cloth. In the middle there was a weak light and few people were discussing something.
Maneuvering between heaps of cloth and stacks of boxes, Nick stealthily approached the center of the warehouse. When he thought he was close enough, he carefully peeked between the boxes, trying to see the gathered people as well as listen to their conversation.
He saw four or five men in similar clothing like the one he was following before, one who seemed to be in the city guard's armor and two men in dark red, almost black robes. Before he could recognize anything they were saying, one of the men in the red robe pulled out his sword and sliced the head off the man Nick was following earlier.
"I already told you bunch the last time, if you start using it yourselves, I'll kill you! This stuff is highly addictive and anyone using it will have their body degrade in a month!" The man angrily glared at the others.
'Wait those red robes …' Nick was shocked not at the killing or the description of the drugs, but at the attire of the two men in the red robes.
"Elder Jan worked hard to produce this substance and it is made with a purpose to collapse the Sun kingdom from within! I don't need my own soldiers killing themselves with it." The man continued.
'F*ck! … elder Jan! I knew it! Those are f*ckers from the Holy Order!' Nick's heart was beating so hard he was afraid the men on the other side of the boxes will hear it. He recognized those robes from the beginning, but couldn't believe his own eyes. The elders in the Holy order had the same robes but with hoods and these were obviously two deputy elders.
'Damn it! What to do? Since they are deputy elders, both of them are Qi masters and the one with the sword probably is elder Sonor's deputy.' If they both were only elder Jan's deputies it wouldn't be a problem, but at least one was a real Qi sword master!
'Calm down, listen first!' Nick told himself while trying to regulate his breathing.
"Alright, after we leave, the four of you clean this up. Meanwhile Samuel will guard the place." The deputy elder seemed to have calmed down, "Now back to the business. You will continue to distribute this stuff by yourselves and don't employ any other people, at least for now. We have here all four boxes, but three of those will be sent to Aurora and you'll have one left. Samuel, you will oversee the shipping. Send them one by one just in case something goes wrong, also use different routes. We are short of staff the last few years, therefore everyone has to work harder for the cause."
The man took a short pause and then continued, "The two of us will leave tonight and go back to the Order. When I return the next time, I want to see at least half of the box sold! Remember, the price is only symbolic and the real production costs are much higher. Therefore feel free to bargain with customers, but make sure they buy and come again. Be especially flexible when you deal with the city guards or soldiers in the army. The idea is to make them think they are buying and not getting something for free. Still, the bit of money we make is important since it allows us to cover the costs at least partially. Therefore don't waste it! And learn from his mistakes!" Deputy elder pointed at the headless body on the floor, "Even if I don't kill you, you'll die on your own real fast!"
It looked like they were ending this meeting and Nick was trying to figure out his own next move.
'If those two leave, I can easily manage the remaining four and the one in the city guard's armor. But then I'll loose the deputy elders. On the other hand, if I follow the deputies, this Samuel guy might manage to send off the narcotics to Aurora. Even one box might be terrifying if it's as bad as those guys said earlier!' The thoughts were racing in Nick's head.
'Wait! Which are the four boxes they were talking about?' The warehouse had thousands of boxes and he couldn't check everything, but then the guard, Samuel, started to fiddle around four medium size boxes nearby. It looked like they could contain hundred kilograms of that poison each, maybe even more.
'I hope I can lift them to put in my wristband.' Nick watched the two deputy elders moving towards the exit and he himself moved towards the hole in the roof.
When he got out, he noticed the two statures in the dark red robes slowly moving down the alley. After walking for seventy or eighty meters they suddenly stopped and started to discus something.
'A chance!'
It was like a lightning strike ran through Nick's mind. He didn't think and didn't make any calculations. He just felt he had enough time to settle the matter in the warehouse and still manage to not loose the two deputy elders.
He soundlessly dashed back into the hole in the roof and when he landed on the warehouse's floor in his hand he already had Wakizashi. It was the first time for him to use it in a real combat situation while for the dagger it had been several decades since it saw any action.
Nick almost instinctively channeled Qi in the Wakizashi and moved towards the center of the warehouse once again. This time there were no Qi masters present and he didn't have to be that careful. After three, maybe four seconds he already saw the four servants cleaning up the mess left by the dead colleague and Samuel who still was checking the boxes.
Like a gust of wind Nick passed the servants and arrived at the guard's side to deliver the fifth blow. Nick felt he slashed the others while moving by and was certain they were already dead when he stabbed the last man in the neck. While the guard was falling down, Nick instinctively turned back to see the result of his dash when his heart grew cold and almost stopped from the shocking sight.
Behind him was a bloody massacre. All the boxes and sacks of cloth in the vicinity were sprayed with blood and innards and foul stench began to fill the warehouse.
Nick looked at Wakizashi in his hand with disbelief on his face. With a light move he managed to cut four people in halves and it was so fast he himself didn't get even a single drop of blood on his own clothes.
'Deputy elders!' Nick suddenly remembered.
He took a step towards the boxes with narcotics and quickly put them into his wristband. Because of adrenaline pumping in his veins, Nick was unable to judge their weight, but it wasn't important for now. He dashed back out only to see the two statures nearing the end of the alley.
As stealthily as he could, he darted over the warehouse's roof, jumped down and at this moment both deputies turned to the left and disappeared behind the corner.