With the arrival of the sun came dawn.
Ezra woke up with a yawn. Minutes later, he was cleaned up.
The events of the previous day came to his mind.
He felt his connection to fire increase, but he didn't notice any tangible change.
'Guess I'll be visiting Bard' he decided.
Meanwhile, Fredrick was eating breakfast with Cabrera and Nathan.
They chattered non-stop, setting up a plan to achieve all objectives with the highest efficiency.
"Have you paid for them?" Fredrick asked.
"Did so last night" Cabrera nodded.
Fredrick smiled. They decided to purchase the slums of twelve cities, rather than seven.
"So?"
"Here it is"
From his space ring came a parchment confirming his ownership of the land beneath Kingsmere's slum.
He also bought space rings for Fredrick, Nathan and Kron.
"What about the recruitment notice?"
"It's been posted, and I paid to have it posted on other Missionaries. You can expect fresh faces soon"
Manpower was needed to run a guild.
Fredrick turned to Nathan.
"How's it going on your side?"
As a merchant operating in Traxford for two years, Nathan had connections with other merchants, and vast knowledge of money.
Fredrick was glad they had him on board.
It was due to his advice that they concentrate on developing only three slums for starters, improving the Gold Slums Movement plan.
"They'll be here in a few hours"
Fredrick nodded, taking a look around.
Paying extra money, the buildings were repaired, while some were being renovated, and a few more were bought.
Nathan was annoyed that a Land Proprietorship Certificate didn't allow owned land to be bought.
Meaning that he couldn't buy cities, towns, or villages. Only build them.
Looking at it now, apart from buying vacant land and monster regions, the certificate was useless, because he could buy business, houses, and estates without it.
The problem was, without adequate power, he would live in fear of having his properties seized for whatever reason.
This was why great families were few in numbers, and so revered at the same time.
Few could make enemies of the royal family and live to tell the tale.
No family siding with Royals were great families because the Royals suppressed them, while some were too low on the noble hierarchy to have such ambitions.
Well, since he could buy the slums, maybe it wasn't all bad?
"I guess that's it. Let's take a look at the slums"
Nathan fished out a pair of glasses.
"What are those for?" Cabrera asked.
"For my eyes of course. What did you think?"
Fredrick chuckled.
They went to the slums with Kron in tow.
"Ah…"
Fredrick was astounded and turned to Cabrera.
"You used to live here?"
"That was a long time ago"
Fredrick had come here with Ezra once. That was also the day they found Cabrera's gang.
It turns out, Fredrick and Ezra had only explored the outskirts.
This time, they went deeper, through different alleys to scour the slums in its entirety.
They meet different sights on the way.
From occasional beggars sitting around, to drunkards and lunatics moving aimlessly or fighting, to cheap prostitutes awaiting customers, to those copulating openly, to neatly packaged gambling dens and taverns where beggars could spend their copper, and a lot more.
The ground was swamped with decayed trash and even feces, while the people wore rags torn in multiple places, or a mishmash of everything.
Most houses had large cracks and unstable foundations, with multiple living within.
It was a disaster.
"Hmm, it's worse than when I was here" said Cabrera.
Nathan was nauseated from the smell, trying his best to hold his vomit.
Nathan turned to Fredrick.
"You're sure about this?"
Fredrick nodded.
"Of course"
'For it to be this bad'
He now understood why no one else even thought of buying it.
It was a task that most would shun.
Thankfully, Ezra had given him a bevy of directives to follow.
"We'll have others clean it"
Cabrera made a weird face.
"Who's going to do such a wretched job?"
Nathan pushed in his glasses.
"Anyone. You just need to offer the right price"
"Exactly. Cabrera, you and Kron take care of that"
"Nathan, we'll head elsewhere to buy a few things"
Cabrera alerted Amy, who sent people to notify the slum dwellers that the land had been bought, and that cleaning was about to take place.
"The Sentinel took it?!"
The Royal Advisor was shocked upon receiving an unexpected reply from those he sent to the mythril mine's Location.
Bolton's thoughts spurred. How the sentinel found the mythril mine was easy.
Cabrera had told him.
'That b#stard!' he was infuriated.
After a long time, Bolton drew the short end of the stick.
What was more infuriating was that he couldn't touch Cabrera since he declared a buffer zone.
He calmed himself down. Not all was lost.
It might take a bit more effort, but the Sentinel could be convinced.
The question was…
'What do I give him?'
*Knock*
"It's me"
The door opened and a voice resounded.
"Come in"
Entering, Ezra found the lair full of fumes, each with a different smell.
Bard was in the midst of potion making.
"What brings you here?"
Ezra presented him with a brown fruit.
"I'm hoping you can tell me what this is"
Bard made a funny face, peering closer. He could not sense anything significant from it.
That is, until he held it.
With a gasp, he looked at Ezra.
"Where did you find this?"
"Somewhere. Why?"
"The mana within is immense and scarce at the same time"
"What do you mean?"
"It contains a lot of mana, but, having condensed, it is now smaller in quantity but far higher in quality"
"Hmm" Ezra was stumped.
"So, what does it do?"
"That, I do not know"
Bard thought of something.
"You'll have to eat it to understand its effects"
"I already did"
Bard's eyes sparkled.
"And? What happened?"
"I felt my familiarity with fire increase…somehow. But nothing seems different"
Bard rubbed his beard.
"Affinity enhancement? Yet nothing seems different…" his voice trailed off.
Quickly, he brought a source of fire.
"This should work better"
Ezra put his hands above the flames, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
He was taken aback as he could feel something.
Focusing on that feeling, he moved his fingers.
*Fwoosh*
Bard saw the fire flare up a bit, before Ezra opened his eyes.
"Did anything happen?"
Bard nodded.
"How much of the fruit did you eat?"
"All of it"
"Hmm, I haven't seen anything like this before. What I can say is that it works like an affinity enhancement potion. Only, as a fruit, it is largely unrefined"
"Okay. What do you suggest we do?"
"Give me a few more to run some experiments"
Ezra starred, before taking out three more.
Bard nodded.
"Thank you, my lord"
"When can I expect it?"
"One week"
"Finish it in three days"
"As you wish"
"Have you heard about Sir Weasley?"
Weasley was the name of the Vice head Alchemist.
"I have"
"Good. I'll be leaving now"
"As you wish"
-Within Kingsmere's Missionary-
"Dammit! At this rate, we'll starve to death"
"Boss I think-"
"Don't tell me to calm down"
As a party of seven G-ranks, they could hunt the weakest beasts.
Given most adventurers left were weak, as the strong had gone to war, too many weak beasts were being hunted, causing the price for their bodies to lessen.
Doing twice the work they normally did, Gunther and his crew could barely afford food for themselves and their family.
Pressure was amounting, and Gunther didn't know what to do.
And looking at the mission board wasn't helping.
Then, a crew member poked him.
"B-Boss"
"What?!" he snapped.
"Look" said the member.
Following his gaze, Gunther spotted a new mission.
Cleaning the Slums
Rank: G-E
Participants: 50
Details: Clean the Slums until it is spotless
Commission: 100 Gold
Gunther's eyes popped.
Normally, such an amount would have them skeptical, but in times like these - times of war - it was a delivery from heaven!
He looked around like a thief, quickly grabbed the paper, approached the counter, and registered for the mission.
"Let's go" he whispered.
They exited quietly and ran to the slums.
His actions did not go unnoticed. Those with sharp eyes approached the counter to ask what mission they took.
Within minutes, fifty participants gathered in front of the slums.
