I stayed in the orphanage, chatting for a bit longer. It was late in the afternoon after Jasper and I left. I met some kids who woke up, and it was fun interacting with them. The talk only reinforced my desire to help them.
It was getting nighttime, so I thought I'd get this gang problem out of the way. My actions probably left the power vacuum, so I was responsible for dealing with the outcome. Removing this gang would also give the Greyhound group a spot to move into.
I called over Arion and Grey to get ready to leave. Jasper and I then parted ways at the gate. I would have loved to bring Jasper along, but he had responsibilities, so I was the only human in this operation.
Technically, I'd still be the only human even if Jasper had come. Jasper was a daemon. While some daemons looked similar to humans, they weren't the same. I didn't even know if I could be considered human anymore.
Maybe I had crossed the threshold, leaving behind my humanity for strength. This dilemma would cross my mind at least once daily, bringing an existential crisis.
Yet, like all my problems, I pushed it away for now. I had more important stuff to do, like taking down this gang.
The first order of business was to find out where this gang was. There surely couldn't be that many gangs here. The Cult of Menos wouldn't take long for Vesper and Rex to search from the skies.
-----
Almost four long fucking hours later, and we finally found the correct gang. There was—oh, so much crime in this city, at least what was considered a crime in my mind. Daemon law protected slavers and slavery of other races. Daemons viewed the other races as lesser, so there weren't any laws protecting people of different races.
These four long hours revealed horrors worse than anything I ever imagined. Every type of abuse, mistreatment, torture, death, and worse had appeared in my search.
Umpedes was a sizeable outer city, so there was no doubt about the crime level, but this was the first time I had seen something like this.
I'd heard magic was the great equalizer, but that was wrong. Magic was the great enabler, a talent given to people randomly, a force perpetuated by the extreme.
Magic allowed for great gifts and miracles, but it also allowed for greater depth and depravity. The drug "spirit check" was an example of that. It was magical, infecting the person's soul and essence to get them that high.
It took every ounce of restraint I had not to rampage through all the depravity I saw. If I did, I would only resist the inevitable. I had to wait until I gained enough power to control the city and control it for good.
Just one run would draw attention, and I was far from being the strongest in the empire, let alone the world. The daemon that attacked me was tenth rank, more potent than the current me.
I stood no chance if these old monsters came out of the woodwork. As such, I couldn't draw too much attention to myself.
I wasn't making that same mistake again. This was a trope in novels for a reason, and by god, I would learn from it.
Focusing on my current situation, I found the gang's main base in the industrial sector. It made sense, as they were moving a lot of product and would need space for everything else they dealt in.
I was stationed outside a nearby building, looking through the high windows into the warehouse. Rex and Vesper scouted overhead while Grey sniffed around. Arion was on stand-by; he had no scouting capabilities, so he was useless for now.
The overall strength of the people in the warehouse was around sixth rank. This was one of the more powerful groups I'd seen. I didn't see anyone that could be considered the leader or boss.
There was nothing else special, so I decided to sneak in. Last time, I'd done a frontal assault, so this time, I wanted to go the pure stealth route. Besides my barriers and neutral magic, my concealment magics were my most vital aspect.
I could use even greater concealment magic with my increased space element mastery. I applied over ten different magic before sneaking in. One of my magics even covered my mana and mana usage, blending it in with the ambient mana.
Even the most potent magic senses couldn't see through my disguise unless they specifically looked for my exact mana. My mana control was immense, comparable to sages thrice my age.
The only concealment magic better than mine was Garth's secret technique. I'd asked him about it, but he refused to tell me. It was a long-standing family secret, and many safeguards prevented him from telling me.
Even if he could, I doubted Garth would tell me unless it was absolutely crucial. It was one of the few aspects in which Garth exceeded me. Even in his city management, he was only better because I didn't practice.
I was the heir of a Duchy, so I had extensive schooling. Garth also came from a noble family, but he wasn't the heir and thus wasn't as educated. He was raised for other purposes, mainly to be a vassal of his brother. Even in this world, politics still applies.
I finished with my preparations and moved to the warehouse. A skylight was left open, so I went through it. The warehouse was brightly lit, and dozens of people scurried around like ants. In each of the open crates were bags of gray powder.
There were also tones of weapons and magic items strewn about. Seeing all this, I was thankful I hadn't eradicated the warehouse from the beginning. I spied a bit longer, observing the gang's hierarchy and singling out the leader.
I still needed more information on the leader and the rest of the gang. I'd never left a survivor before, and I wasn't about to start now.
'When did I become so comfortable with killing?' I thought to myself.
'Not now, I have a job to do.'
My mind was wandering, so I started the process. My process was simple: kill everyone except the manager. The rest of the workers were worthless, and I needed the manager for information.
My weapon of choice was a simple air bullet, blowing through everyone's skulls and turning their brains to mush. It wasn't a pretty sight or wouldn't have been if I hadn't stopped the exit wounds from creating a mess.
After I picked off each of the workers, I dropped down, scorching their remains in the process. Only a middle-aged man was left. He was thin and bony, the gang uniform barely fitting over him.
I casually strolled up while still on alert for any tricks they might have. My magic sense covered everything in a 100-meter radius.
"Who are you?" asked the bony man. He was apprehensive but not as worried as I thought he'd be after witnessing everyone's death.
"I'm not important. What I want to know is where the Cult of Menos is." I stopped five feet away from the man. We stood in a face-off at the end of the warehouse. I made sure to cover any exits as well.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said defiantly.
"Don't play dumb. I know that your gang here, the Cult of Menos or whatever you call yourselves, took over the power vacuum. I just want to talk with your leader."
"Talk my ass, you want to kill us." He spat at my face. It didn't connect.
"That is true. I don't even know why I'm doing this. I don't need you to tell me shit." I walked forward and grabbed the man's face before lifting him off the ground.
"[Read]," I chanted. It'd been a long time since I used this magic, so I'd forgotten about it in the heat of the moment. I only remembered while thinking of ways to extract information.
This was the easiest way. All the others I'd thought of were more "messy." It was quick as well. I found the location of the gang's three more bases and a headquarters where the leader would be arriving shortly.
Coincidentally, I also had a posse to back me up, so I decided to split up and attack all three places simultaneously. Rex and Grey would each take a base, and Arion and Rex would tackle the last base together as they had the lowest combat powers individually.
I headed off to the headquarters located close to the center of town. Before we left, Arion shared his image of the man with me with a questioning feeling. I replied with an image of the man's burnt body.
Having no more questions, we headed off to our respective jobs. I headed into the middle of town to find the headquarters. It was a restaurant-front building with the actual headquarters situated on top.
Not surprisingly, The restaurant was closed for three in the morning. I forced my way in from the roof, eliminating any goons I encountered. A couple of prostitutes were also hanging about, so I directly sent them a street over.
They were working girls, not fiends. It would be monstrous of me to kill everyone. It was already monstrous of me to kill, but I wasn't about to become any worse.
Soon, I cleared out the entire building without much issue. The headquarters didn't contain anything illegal. It was in the city, so anything unusual would be noticed by the authorities. There were a few safes of money and guild contracts but nothing else.
I couldn't even find any planning documents or incriminating evidence. Just as I was beginning to doubt myself, I found another safe.
It was magically sealed and hidden, built into the floor of the building. If I didn't want to destroy it, I would need time to break through it. I quickly broke the magic seals, but the hard metal safe was physically insured.
A self-destruct feature was in the safe set to detonate if I broke through forcefully. I could only slowly cut through the door of the safe.
Just as I was about to do so, I felt a disturbance. I expanded my senses to try and figure out what caused it. I observed for a minute but found nothing. As I was about to give up, I felt a force again.
This wasn't a coincidence, so I quickly put the safe in my storage before contacting everybody. I patched through to Rex, Vesper, and Arion but couldn't connect with Grey. Fearing the worst, I warned them all to finish quickly and regroup.
I placed a quick barrier lock on the building and flew to Grey. He was a seventh-ranked beast and should've been able to deal with even 100 6th-ranked. If he was down, I didn't even want to think about it.
I used my top speed and [Blink] to get to the other side of town in half a minute. I was still half a minute too late as I saw a vast mana pulse spreading out.
I arrived at a hideout in a small forest at the edge of town. It was barely outside the town walls and had a small gate leading out. I stood on the wall, glancing into the dark forest.
My eyes zoomed in, using every type of sight to spot Grey. He was a trusty friend, and I'd adventured with him many times over the year we'd been together. He was proud and scrappy. I couldn't picture him being beaten so quickly, even by me.
It was through infrared heat vision I finally saw some life. I could see the outline of a big dog and what seemed like a small kid.
I ran forward, sprinting into the forest. Once I reached Grey, I immediately set up barriers and healing magic. Grey wasn't dead, but he had lost significant blood and magic. I looked at the kid, or instead, just a short man.
He was short, thin, and built like a child, but his soul and magic told a different story. He was a wolf daemon with short ears and black fur covering his arms, legs, and chest. He had a loose get-up, wearing short, open sleeves and pants.
He reminded me of a short pirate or sailor. Being far from any water, I could only guess he enjoyed this type of clothes.
Under the surface, I could see a seventh-ranked core and an eighth-ranked body. It was no wonder Grey lost, but it should have been a much fiercer fight.
"Who are you?" I asked the man.
"Hmm, you must be responsible for these, am I right?" The man had an unreadable expression.
"What if we are?" I asked.
"Shame. You're pretty powerful, I would've liked to keep you." He shook his head in disappointment.
He then raised his left hand and pointed to me.
"Bye."