Rudy and Maria got out of the car and looked at each other.
"Well, this is my home." She pointed her hand to a massive estate in the distance and said, "This is where I live with my family and a few of the top syndicate members who are close with my father and brother."
'That estate is bigger than my town…'
It had pools, a garden, a river, over a thousand rooms, and more than a hundred thousand gang members. Of course, not everyone was present there. They were spread in the Ross territory.
The gate of the state and the actual building had a five kilometers distance between them. And it was well guarded with various armed guards, machines, and traps in the case of an emergency.
There were ten check posts in between from where everyone had to pass, and the security got tighter as they got closer to the building.
Rudy turned to Lilim and asked, "So you guys walk this entire path whenever you need to enter or leave the estate?"
"No. There are vehicles on the other side of the gates for the family members, but since it's tournament week, everything has been transported to the 'Gamling Ground'," Lilim calmly explained.
"I thought the tournament was in this estate…"
"Of course not. The tournament is in the 'Green zone' or one might call it 'Safe zone'. It's a place in the center of the underworld that doesn't belong to any of the syndicate or the organizations, and that's where the meetings, councils, and the tournaments happen."
"To avoid the conflicts and unnecessary drama?"
"Yeah," Lilim nodded.
"But logically speaking, wouldn't that safe zone be the most dangerous place in the underworld then?"
Lilim chuckled and said, "You got that right. But it's heavily guarded, so nothing can go wrong."
"How? The guards must belong to one of the syndicates or something, and they can easily massacre anyone inside if they want to."
Lilim shook her head and said, "To avoid such scenarios, the forefathers of the underworld had formed a team of a total of one hundred troops called 'Under Blades'. Those guards are the most trained in the underworld, and they don't follow anyone's order.
Their real identities have also been kept secret, and every year, one of them retires, and a new one joins them. You may think of that as a secret organization which is not a secret but mysterious."
"Hmm~" Rudy hummed in amusement and muttered, "The underworld is more organized than I thought. The movies and news show such a bad image of them."
"Well, they are not entirely wrong. The mafias are indeed barbaric at times."
Meanwhile, Maria was walking in front of Rudy and Lilim with puffed cheeks. She was angry at Lilim as she talked with Rudy, and he hadn't been paying attention to her since then.
She wanted to tell everything to Rudy about the underworld, but Lilim ruined it.
Lilim noticed it and smiled from the corner of her lips.
"Oops, I guess I made Lady Maria mad," she said with a chuckle. She then stepped forward and walked beside Maria to get her attention. "I would like to say that it was Master Rudy who approached me, so if you are going to get angry at someone, it should be him."
Maria puckered her lips and muttered, "You know I can't get angry at him."
Rudy couldn't hold his grin after talking with Lilim. He had taken an interest in her in a weird way.
'If I have to say it in simple words, Lilim and I clicked right away as soon as we first exchanged words. She is just like me in many ways, and I don't know how to explain it, but… I sort of feel a connection between her,' Rudy uttered inwardly.
After walking for a while and passing through the check posts, they finally reached the door of the building.
Rudy, obviously, wasn't tired and nor was Lilim. But Maria seemed a little tired.
The door automatically opened as Maria touched it, and they were greeted by butlers and maids. However, they were actually professionally trained hitmen and assassins.
Maria pushed Lilim away and grabbed Rudy's hand while glaring at Lilim.
"I will show him around."
"Are you sure?" Lilim asked with a knowing look on her face. "You know how big this estate is, and you look out of breath after walking the five kilometers. Maybe I should show him around, and you should go dip in a hot bath or something?"
"No. But yeah, go prepare my bath. Once I show Rudy around, I want to dip for a while."
"As you wish, Lady Maria." Lilim turned to Rudy and asked, "Would you also be joining her in the bath?"
"I wouldn't say no," Rudy replied instantly.
"Of course, he won't." Maria glared softly at Rudy and said, "What are you saying?"
"You don't want to take a bath with me?"
"I didn't say that, but…" Maria lowered her gaze as her face went full red.
"Heh." Lilim and Rudy chuckled at the same time in the same manner.
It was almost as though they had grown up together and knew each other very well.
Lilim left shortly after while Maria showed Rudy around the estate.
"Where are your brother and father?" Rudy asked curiously. "They didn't come to welcome me, although they are not obligated to do so. But I assume they are at the tournament?"
"No. They live in the innermost area of the estate. I live there too, of course."
'To be honest, I have no interest in meeting her family members, but I want to gain some information from there. But first…'
Rudy acted naturally and asked, "Who is the current leader of the syndicate again? Is it your brother or your niece?"
"On paper, it's my niece, but my brother is handing everything," Maria responded.
"I see."
Rudy scanned the area using his see-through ability to track them down.
'Found them.'
