An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.
The unnatural sight of a grown, massive man bowing to the much smaller man in darkness made the entire scenario all the more tense.
No one could afford to speak in this heavy atmosphere, and for a few seconds, they could only watch each other.
Then—
"What's the use of a bow? I hope you do not intend on convincing me with cheap emotional appeals."
As Rey said this, he felt the man's big build tremble a little.
"O-of course not!" Rebal Blanc responded, a big smile on his face.
He looked nothing like Asher, but it seemed like they both liked to smile in situations like this.
Rey took a sip out of the tea that had been placed on the table since he arrived.
The tea never got cold thanks to the Enchanted Cup that it was poured into; as such, Rey didn't need to gulp down the whole thing.
Instead, he preferred to systematically take his time.
This situation was no different.
"Hmm." After taking a small sip of the sweet liquid, he cast his gaze on the two men before him.
It seemed they were completely at his mercy.
"Sit down and get straight to the point. I prefer things being done that way."
In response to his words, the KariBlanc Boss actually obeyed very seamlessly.
'Wow! They must be really desperate…'
He decided not to comment on anything until they were done telling him whatever favor they desired of him.
'If it's something doable, then there's nothing stopping me from assisting them. From the looks on their faces, it seems like they'd be grateful for the help.'
Of course, Rey remembered his decision to stay away from the Black Market and Criminal Underworld as a whole.
However, Esme was here, and he still had his uses for these people.
Their relationship was a necessary evil.
"Very well, Sir Ralyks. I'll get straight to the point with you."
'Okay. Here it comes…' Rey prepared himself for whatever big news would come.
"As you already know, the Royal Council has been the necessary aiding force in the Black Market and other facets of the Criminal Underworld."
As Rebal started with this, Rey nodded… though his thoughts played things differently.
'I still can't believe this actually happened. It seems like everyone knew about this except me!'
If the Royal Council hadn't said anything about their corrupt members, he would still be in the dark about the whole thing.
Rey wondered how he would have reacted to the news if he heard it from Rebal's mouth first.
"Well, ever since their confirmed demise following the Dragon Invasion, the Black Market—no, the Criminal Underworld—has been in an imbalance."
Rey's ears perked up the moment he heard this.
He leaned closer, his shoulders arced as he legs were spread apart while maintaining eye contact with Rebal.
The words that came out of his mouth were simple.
"Tell me more."
*********
'U-unbelievable!'
Rey couldn't believe all he had just heard. He never thought that so much lore could be behind the entire situation.
Apparently, there was a body called the Underworld Triumvirate; and it consisted of—
The Black Market
The Slave Union
The Mercenary Gang.
These three bodies were under the direct supervision of their benefactors, who also served as their overlords.
These benefactors were the three deceased Royal Council.
With them gone, a lot of changes quickly began to occur within the entire sphere hidden in darkness.
Apparently, Scylla, one of the two remaining leaders of the Slave Trade killed the second one and took over his entire territory.
With so much power and influence; practically running a monopoly on slave trade, her influence skyrocketed.
Rebal didn't know all of the details, but the woman managed to convince half of the Obsidian Council to support her uprising.
"She's practically taken over everything beyond the southern area of the Underworld." Rebal had said.
He also retorted that while the Mercenary Gang was a neutral party who merely provided muscle for the other factions, the lady in question now had a lot of their forces on her side.
In essence, she was a force to be reckoned with.
During the course of Rebal's exposition, he mentioned how the Mercenary Gang engaged in pillaging and providing security services to gain wealth.
In a way, they were merely leeches who sold their strength to the highest bidder.
Just glorified bandits—at least according to Rey.
In any case, Scylla was making a grand uprising in the Criminal Underworld, and that proved detrimental to their business.
Rey had multiple thoughts on the issue.
'To think I set this all off by accidentally causing the Dragon to crush them.'
In a way, it was his responsibility.
No… that wasn't right.
'It's their fault for meeting in secret anyway. Besides… good riddance."
He really couldn't see any reason to help the KariBlanc Group on such matters.
Wasn't this the way of the underworld?
Was he missing something here?
"Sir Ralyks… I will reveal something to you that I have yet to tell any other person who isn't directly involved in the trade, but…"
Rebal appeared hesitant to share the information, but after a few seconds, his face tightened with hardened resolve.
"All those Monster Cores we got for you were used to make a lot of weapons and Enchanted Items. However, it was never for the use of humans…"
Once Rey heard this, his eyes twitched a little.
Truly, he had given very little thought about what the KariBlanc Group was up to with the Items he made from what he sold to them.
Now he was getting close to it,
The only question was: if they weren't being sold to humans… who was their buyer?
"The Elves to the East. They're our biggest buyers at the moment; and they're the ones we made so many Items for."
'E-ehh—?!'
Before Rey could complete his thoughts, Rebal revealed even more.
"Unfortunately, with the territories being under Scylla's control, we can't reach them at all."
In essence, they were experiencing a crisis.
*
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Thanks for reading!
Yup! Seems like we're going to be seeing some interesting races in this Arc.
Or maybe just Elves.
