Chapter 520: Bronze Lane
The luxurious carriage soon left the street road, entered the main road of Merchants' Market, and continued to move towards the Underground District.
Indeed, the City's airport was located on the northern edge of the Underground District.
Just as the carriage entered the Underground District's main road, Jessie opened the carriage gate and ordered.
"Oliver, take the Bronze Lane route."
"You think the roads would still be blocked, My Lady? But isn't that Lane dangerous for travel?" The coachman asked anxiously.
"Obviously. But we don't have time. Even if the main road isn't blocked, the traffic would be pretty high at this time." Jessie said in a calm tone.
Meanwhile, the coachman also agreed and soon made a left cut.
Bronze Lane was not a street road but a passage that connects the whole Underground District from north to south. In truth, many smugglers would smuggle drugs, enslaved people, magical beasts, weapons, artifacts, and even intellectual artifacts into the City through Airships each year in masses.
Then, they would supply them to different parts of the Underground Districts through this Lane and makes a profit from the mages and mystics. Because of this, no one from the security would dare to stop any vehicles and let them do as they please.
Although killing was prohibited in the whole City and would lead to severe consequences, the criminals in the Underground Districts would always find a way to tackle the problems. Killing inside the City was prohibited, but kidnapping or torture wasn't. The basic law system of the floating City had some severe flaws, and this led to many criminals in this particular district.
As the carriage entered the Bronze Lane, coachman Oliver drove the carriage on the right side road and continued to glance at the side street roads and alleys. To his surprise, he noticed that this path appeared empty. Only a few carriages appeared here and there, and the whole surroundings looked peaceful.
"Why are there very few people in the streets?" Charles moved the door curtain, peeked outside through the glass window, and asked.
At that moment, he also glanced at the side trees, the different size houses, and street alleys in curiosity.
"This Bronze Lane would be pretty busy only during night times, Mister." She paused for a moment and soon added.
"But during the daytime, most would usually prefer to move in the main street. After all, this Lane has some bad reputation, and the patrol would always target anyone traveling from this Bronze Lane."
"Wouldn't that cause problem for us?" A bad feeling appeared in his heart.
"Of course not. We are just going to the Airport, Mr. Charles. We can tell the patrol unit that we're in a hurry to catch an Airship. They won't-" Before she could end her words, the carriage stopped all of a sudden, followed by a young man's panicking voice from outside.
"It seems we have a problem now," Charles said with a frown and opened the carriage door.
He then walked out of the carriage and soon saw a young man in his 30s was pleading at the coachman.
He had messy black hair, amber eyes, a shallow nose, tan brown skin, and wore regular linen clothes. He also held a leather bag and appeared to be around 175 cm high.
'A Rank-4 [Artificer], huh. But who is chasing after him?' Muttering inwardly, he looked around but found no one.
After a shift glance, Charles returned his gaze towards the young man and asked.
"What happened? We are in a hurry."
Meanwhile, the young man also looked in his direction and hurriedly ran towards him.
Once he arrived near him, he bowed his head and pleaded.
"P-Please help me, Sir! If I stay in this City, they will kill me and my family! Please take me away!" He almost cried in panic.
Just as Charles was about to ask him further, he suddenly saw that more than ten security guards in their black armor came out of the nearby alley road and moved in their direction.
Noticing this, the young man suddenly stepped towards the carriage's wheel and pulled out the linchpin.
At the same time, he looked at Charles and spoke in a trembling voice.
"I don't want to involve you in this, but I have no choice, sir."
As he spoke, he cast some mysterious magic on the linchpin and turned the whole metal into a gel-like thing.
Following that, he molded it like clay and soon turned it into a pistol!
He then looked at the newly created pistol, placed the muzzle area at his forehead, and tried to shoot himself!
Alas, he soon stopped in midway and cursed like a mad man.
"I can't do it!"
Unlike the ember pistol, this one appeared unique like the real one and looked dangerous.
After a slight pause, the young man held it in his right hand and ran towards the group of security guards while shouting maniacally.
"You want to use me and create havoc? Let's see how you are going to do it now."
While shouting, he suddenly raised his hand and cast another skill.
The next instant, Charles sensed that the pistol started to absorb a dense amount of darkness-elemental energy from the surroundings and stored them inside!
"We are in trouble now," Jessie spoke as she arrived beside Charles and stared at the guy with a dumbfounded look on her face.
In truth, even Charles was stunned by that young man's action and was still in confusion.
Meanwhile, the young man said something slowly and tried to squeeze the trigger.
But before he could even do it, a dark ray appeared from the sky, directly landed on the young man's head, and disintegrated him into ashes!
On the other hand, Charles looked up at the invisible protective formation and frowned.
'Genesis, is there a way to resolve this situation?' He asked with a frown.
[It's better to co-operate with the security officers to resolve this situation, Host. But if they learned that you stole the 'Draught of the Phoenix' potion, things might get complicated.]
'Oh? What do you suggest then?'
[I have insufficient information to give you the correct guidance, Host. But I advise you to act normally and try to resolve the problem peacefully.] Genesis responded.
'Solve the problem peacefully, huh.' While he was thinking about the current situation, the ten security guards walked past the area where the young man stood before and soon stopped as they arrived next to the carriage.
Then, a middle-aged man stepped out of the group and stared at Charles in silence.
This man had a height of 180 cm, tan skin, light green eyes, and silver hair. Although his stature was lower, his looks and facial features were more youthful.
After a short silence, he walked closer towards Charles and asked.
"What did he tell you earlier? Speak truthfully.." His words appeared more like an order.
