RotDG Chapter 70: Underworld Investigation V

I had overpaid for the information I was looking for— I knew I overpaid, but that was on purpose. I wanted to prove a point. That the Blood Swords were no longer what he thought of them under my leadership. 

Back when Marlowe met Nicholas, the latter had only just inherited the Blood Swords as their new leader. As such, they were not only just weak, but relatively broke too. After all, there was not much coin to be made when essentially functioning as an unregulated militia that survived by collecting an arbitrary amount of protection money every month.

Perhaps under Nicholas’s leadership, the Blood Swords would have been able to at least double their revenue from just doing this by squeezing as much coin as they could from the people of Velmond. But the original leadership of the Blood Swords had good intentions, and they did not place profit over people.

So that was why Marlowe thought the Blood Swords weren’t able to afford this information without bankrupting themselves. Because they were poor when Nicholas had met him. However, as much as I disliked the original Bloodied Blade, I had to pay him his dues, since he had made quite some changes in a short amount of time that greatly increased their wealth.

However, even for the Blood Swords that was under his leadership, affording to pay for this information I was looking for would have been extremely pricey— definitely not something I could have paid for without a second-thought, let alone pay over double the price for just like I did tonight.

But that was because I had elevated the Blood Swords even further. A few hundred gold coins meant nothing to me when I had about twenty thousand or so gold coins that I had taken from the Gold Skulls after destroying their bandit group.

Sure, that was still most of the money I had brought with me to Lux. But almost anything I wanted could be provided to me by the Luna Gez Sect, and if there was something I really needed gold for, I could simply ask Nicky to bring over a few thousand gold coins to me if need be.

That was why I did what I did. To rehabilitate the image of the Blood Swords, all the while securing myself a potential future alliance with the Iron Maw.

Anyway, after I paid my payment, Marlowe and I discussed the details of the information I wanted. According to him, Wyll typically kept to the parts of the outer city of Albus that were under the Crimson Covenant’s control. 

This meant that if I wanted to confront Wyll, I would either have to be extremely stealthy, or I was going to have to inadvertently cause a small ruckus. Preferably, I would have liked to keep this entire ordeal discreet. However, I was prepared to slaughter a few unsavory individuals if it meant getting what I wanted.

And while I wasn’t searching for the information broker to kill him, I knew I was going to kill him once I got what I wanted. After all, I didn’t intend to let him live after he tried to kill me and my friends.

Well… Myrla was my friend, but Sonia was still an acquaintance right now. That could change in the future. For now though, that didn’t matter.

I set off for the location which Marlowe gave me. It was supposed to be a tavern that Wyll frequently visited— however, there was no guarantee that the information broker would be there when I arrived. I decided to pay the place a visit anyway, just to see if he was around.

But I kept my guard up as I got there, because Marlowe had warned me that this was a place where plenty of members of the Crimson Covenant and their allies frequented— meaning that not only were there probably going to be a handful of Gold Ranks there at all times, but perhaps even a Platinum Rank member within the vicinity too.

I knew I could have dealt with them all on my own. However…

I would have preferred to avoid causing a massacre if possible. So when I arrived at The Broken Dagger— the tavern which Marlowe told me about— I simply camped out the area, waiting to see if there was any sign of Wyll’s presence.

The chances of running into him right now was quite low, but I was planning on visiting this tavern every night for the next week or so to see if I could find any leads to Wyll. If, unfortunately, I found nothing here, I was going to have to go back to the Golden Gryphon and have a word with Marlowe to figure out what was going on.

Perhaps I could have tried to enter The Broken Dagger. But judging by the guards standing outside of the entrance and turning away most folks who approached, it was evident that this was an exclusive location with limited entry.

I assumed entrance was probably only allowed for those who were affiliated with the Crimson Covenant. That was why I stayed in the alleyways, watching from the shadows and carefully taking note of each and every figure that entered and exited the building.

I also tried to eavesdrop on most of the passersby who walked by my alley. I wanted to glean anything I could from their conversations. Perhaps they would give me some information about the Crimson Covenant, even if it wasn’t related to Wyll.

However, since it was now much later in the night, almost every conversation I overheard was nothing but drunken slurring.

“I can’t take it anymore… those damn rats are going to drive me insane!”

“Urk, I want to puke—”

“...I miss her…”

But after just over an hour of staking out the location, I was met with a stroke of luck. I was surprised it even happened, really. Not that I was going to question it.

I spotted a familiar figure stumbling out of the tavern, arms slung around the shoulder of another man who was helping him walk.

It was Wyll, and he was extremely drunk. He could hardly walk straight. His friend was holding onto him to prevent him from falling over. I furrowed my brows when I saw this. So it seemed that Marlowe didn’t lie to me. I would have to thank him the next time I saw him.

Wyll groaned and doubled over at the side of the building for a few minutes, coughing and occasionally throwing up. His friend sighed as he stared at the state the information broker was in. Meanwhile, I edged closer, hoping to overhear parts of their conversation.

“...you know the boss won’t be happy—” the other man said.

“Ugh, I know, don’t remind me…” Wyll sighed.

I didn’t hear anything substantive. Not until I was much closer.

The other man shook his head. “The boss didn’t bring you in for this. You’ve got to get your act together. Otherwise, you’re going to get kicked out.”

“Look, I paid my way in fair and square with those artifacts,” Wyll snapped.

My brows scrunched together when I heard that. By artifacts… they mean Artifacts of Death?

“And you promised him more of them. But so far, you haven’t gotten any. Not only that, you got one of his mawdriths killed. His patience is running thin, and I can’t cover for you much longer.”

“I almost got him more of them just the other day. However, you know what happened.”

Wyll glared at his friend as he spoke. But that just about confirmed it for me. The Crimson Covenant was collecting Artifacts of Death— for what reason? Were they perhaps worshipers of the Death God (me)? Or did they just seek the power those weapons gave them? I didn’t know, but I was going to have to just listen more to find out.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have lost to a bunch of school kids.”

“Perhaps that wouldn’t have happened if you had come with me like you were supposed to, Mike.”

Wyll crossed his arms as his friend— Mike— shrugged.

“My point isn’t to antagonize you, Wyll,” Mike said simply. “I’m just trying to give you some advice— as your friend. You know the boss trusted you, that’s why he gave you that mawdrith to protect you. But now…”

Wyll pursed his lips when he heard that. “I know. There’s no such thing as being kicked out of the Crimson Covenant.”

“Exactly.” Mike nodded, a grim look on his face. “So you better get him that information he’s looking for about the royal family, otherwise…”

“Right…” Wyll closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. “We shouldn’t be talking about this out here anyway. Let’s just head back for now. It’s late. I don’t want to think about this until tomorrow.”

Wyll shook his head as he straightened. Mike nodded. And I watched as the two men left The Broken Dagger behind, heading down a side street. 

My interest was piqued by their conversation— so Wyll was brought on by the Crimson Covenant to gather information on the royal family of the Sanctus Empire, huh? Or, well, he bribed his way in and offered his services.

I was curious as to why he even wanted to join the Crimson Covenant. Especially since it sounded like he would be killed by his boss— the man known as the Prophet of Change— if he was incompetent at his job.

But I was more curious about why the Prophet of Change even cared about the royal family. I mean, wasn’t the Crimson Covenant a criminal organization? What would noble politics have anything to do with them? Wasn’t their feud with the Sapphire Stalkers?

I didn’t know. However, I was soon going to find out after I interrogated Wyll.

I kept my distance from the two men as I followed them through the maze of side streets. They turned corner after corner, making their way away from the busier streets, chatting about mundane topics as they stumbled along. I trailed after them, but I began to notice an odd pattern in the path they were taking through the alleyways.

It almost seemed like they were walking in a circle. Like they were lost. 

And I actually thought that they had gotten themselves lost in the side streets because of their drunken stupor for a moment. 

Just a moment.

But when they purposefully turned left in the same intersection they did just five minutes ago, I realized what was going on.

Somehow, some way, they must have realized that I was there. They were walking in circles to confirm that I was actually tailing after them. And now that they confirmed this, they were very likely going to try to lead me into a trap.

And knowing this, I decided to follow along with it anyway.

Because while I had initially wanted to keep things discreet, I also knew that that wasn’t going to be possible any longer. If I left now, I might never have the chance to find Wyll again— he might have avoided returning to The Broken Dagger, knowing that he was being followed, only to be killed by his boss for his incompetence.

So this was my one and only chance to get what I wanted.

That was why I followed him, even though I knew I was walking straight into a trap. Even though I knew that this was no longer going to be a discreet operation, but a massacre.

Well, at the very least, I thought to myself as I tilted my head back. Vorth will be able to have some fun.

After all, just based on Mike’s appearance, I could tell he was a Platinum Rank [Warrior] of sorts. And as I already knew, Wyll was a Gold Rank [Mage]. 

Perhaps they were leading me to more Gold Ranks— probably a bunch of Silver Ranks too— but it wasn’t going to matter. Because while Vorth was a spectral sentinel, he was no ordinary greater spirit either.

He was once the Dark Warden.

My greatest summon.

And I knew that he was going to be able to fare perfectly fine…

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