The Tournament of Astros still continued even though Souta was gone. Alice and the rest of the chief learned what happened from Torkez so they understand why he left with Amanda and Franklin.
Torkez mobilized the Noxious Corps and sent them to the nearby cities to find any clues about the assassins. The news about the death of the envoy spread throughout the entire city. A lot of small factions grew restless when they heard the news. Soon, this piece of news would travel to other places and everyone would learn about the death of the envoy of Mine Valley.
The Shimpam Family also used its connection to find out the truth of this incident. Some people were already thinking that the Astros was behind this and they were just acting to investigate the truth. They had different ideas and opinions about this matter.
Regardless of everything, this was a bad news. It could lead to a war and that's what Souta was avoiding. Although he was high profile when he took over Ekatoe City, it was only within the city. He never thought about stretching his hands in the nearby cities as it would cause a big commotion. It would attract a lot of people.
He didn't want that. The Athen's Champion said that he should stay low-profile if he could. So launching a war against the other cities wasn't in his plan.
But since this incident occurred, a lot of organizations would investigate the Astros. Astros, the overlord of Ekatoe City, would enter their eyes.
At this moment, Souta's group arrived at the city called White Line. It was a place larger than Ekatoe City and its location was good so a lot of merchants were visiting this place every day.
Moving to the northwest of White Line City, they would find the route to Bland City, the Central of the Mine Valley. The group just visited this place in case they found some clues about the assassins.
"This quite a place..." Amanda commented while looking around.
"Yeah, Ekatoe City couldn't offer what the White Line could offer to other cities. The product that this place provides is those rare ores." Souta said in response.
The White Line City was within the territory of Mine Valley. The Mine Valley was a place where people could mine different types of ores. All the cities inside the Mine Valley were the suppliers of the ores that were circulating in the region.
According to the information, there were eight cities in the Mine Valley. Including Bland City, Governor Ray already took over three more cities which means that he controlled half of the Mine Valley. And White Line City was one of the remaining four cities that the Governor haven't controlled yet.
If the Governor really possessed that power then it was only a matter of time before he took over the entire region.
"It will be good if we could take control of at least one of the mines here," Amanda said.
"Forget about taking control. We should at least secure one supplier so we wouldn't worry about ores. I'm sure that Gragas would be happy to hear it." Souta shook his head. "Okay, go out now. Amanda, you'll take the west. Franklin, you'll go north and I'll be investigating the east and south."
"I understand." Amanda and Franklin nodded and they separated ways with him.
Souta strode into the alley before he jumped into the roof of one of the tall buildings. He cast his eyes down as several figures rose from his shadows. The next moment, the shadows scattered in every direction while carrying a black sphere.
[Shadow Ball]!
[Doppelganger]!
"The forces here aren't something that I could underestimate."
He could feel the lingering energy in the atmosphere. It came from an expert at One Shackle Realm. He wasn't mistaken as he knew very well the pressure within the energy of an expert at that level. He met and fought a lot of powerful experts in the war against the Red Matter Association so he was familiar with it.
'If I'm not wrong the overlord of this city is the Star Pavillion.'
After Souta scattered his shadows, he went back to the streets and gathered information about the Star Pavilion. Since this faction could go against the Governor, it must have possessed some strength, or else they would be under the rule of Bland City just like those other three cities.
What he gathered was just basic information. The ordinary folks didn't know everything about the pavilion, they just know what it showed publicly but it was enough for him. At least he had a general idea about the so-called Star Pavilion.
Next, Souta went to the slums. The atmosphere in this place was unlike before. It was dark and gloomy.
He strode on the streets while the people just stared at him. Souta could sense a hint of killing intent in some of the people.
'They are quite weak. I don't know if they'll provide me the information that I wanted.'
He turned to the dark alley, only to find three thugs blocking his path. He raised his head and looked at each one of them.
"Oho, what do we have here?" A two-and-a-half-meter-tall man said while cracking his knuckles.
"He looks like he had some money with him! This will be good!" The man on the left side said with a wide grin.
"Hey, say something!" The man on the right side said.
'They aren't even at C-rank. Oh, probably in between D-rank and C-rank.' Souta quickly guessed the power levels of these thugs. These people were just at the level of students at Ladro Institute. Some of the higher year students were even stronger than these three.
He placed his hand inside his pocket and took out a piece of gold coin.
"I'll give you this coin if you answer my question," Souta said as he flicked the coin in the air.
"Hahaha, you really have money in your pocket and it's a gold coin of all things!" The tall man laughed madly.
The two thugs beside him didn't hide the greed in their eyes as they stared at the gold coin with drool on their faces.
"What you gonna do? I wanted to know where is the black market in this place. Just guide me there and this coin will be yours." Souta said with a faint smile.
"Boss, this guy surely had a lot of coins! Let's rob him!" The man on the right side said before he licked his lips.
"Yeah, yeah, let's take everything!" The other thug said.
Before the tall man could reply. A golden light flickered in front of them and they heard Souta's calm voice.
"Here!"
Bang!
A thick stench of blood suddenly permeated the atmosphere. The tall man and the other man slowly turned their heads. What they saw shook them to their core.
Their comrade was still standing but his entire head was gone. It was as if something mashed the skulls of their comrade. Bits of flesh and blood scattered around and brain goo splashed on their faces.
Ting!
Huh? The two looked down and saw a golden coin on the ground. It was the coin in Souta's hand just now. They slowly turned pale as they realized what happened.
"Here! A silver coin!" Souta said as he flicked another coin in his fingers.
Whoosh!
Before they could even react, a silver light flashed and the head of the man exploded just like the other thug.
Souta looked at the corpse and said with a sigh, "I thought that you wanted my coins. Why didn't you catch the coins?"
He crouched down and picked up the two coins on the ground.
'How the fuck are we going to catch that thing?!' The tall man wanted to say these words but he held himself. He didn't want to get killed so he forcefully controlled his trembling body.
Souta looked at him and said, "Guide me to the black market. I wanted to know some information."
"Y-Yes, sir." The tall man nodded like a chicken. He didn't expect to meet an expert in this place. His luck was so bad that it killed two comrades.
The tall man guide Souta to the black market. The other side of the White Line City. In this place, he gathered all sorts of information but he hasn't found anything related to the assassins that killed the Envoy of Mine Valley. It only means that the assassins were quite capable.
Also, he gathered information about other assassin organizations. But from his guess, none of them have the guts to kill an Envoy of Mine Valley. After all, they were quite weak and the Governor would easily dismantle them. Unless, there was an organization backing them.
Well, this information was useless for investigation so he would send some people to contact them.
"Do you have more questions, sir?" A person from the black market said. He was a dealer of information and he knew a lot of things about the happenings and secrets within the Mine Valley.
"Nothing. Here's the payment." Souta shook his head and placed several silver coins on the table.
