Chapter 30

Nathan and Sophie began preparing for their mission immediately.

Nathan chose a simple sword and a pair of daggers, strapped to his wrist, hidden under his clothes, while taking a few silver coins and a map. He also chose a mask that covered his upper-face and a black robe that covered his body completely.

Sophie chose a sword and a mask as well a black robe, and she also took a rope and a few silver coins. They didn't plan to come back before they finished their mission so they needed the money to buy food… and possibly bribe some people…

After they were done, Nathan opened the map, "Since our top priority is to stay discreet, we should stay away from the main streets and avoid the patrol guards. We'll take the alleys and work our way to the slums."

"Sounds like a good idea! We should also use a different route to return here after we are done, so if anyone sees us going in, they won't get suspicious when we leave after we deal with that Supervisor." Sophie added. Despite her cheerful and carefree personality, Nathan knew that she was very capable and smart.

"Then let's buy some cheap food so that we can bribe the people at the slums to find him for us. Although, we will be leaving evidence of our presence this way… as long as they don't see our appearance, we should be fine." Nathan closed the map and hid it in one of his pockets.

"Oh! I'll get some bread from the kitchen! Wait a second!" Sophie excitedly ran off!

'I smell trouble…' Nathan sighed as Sophie ran away before he could stop her…

A few minutes later, she came back with some bread, and a few pieces of jerky… and cream all over her face…

Nathan sighed again and silently helped her wipe her face clean… he didn't have the energy to scold her…

Sophie was grinning happily from ear to ear, very proud of herself, "Nate! The [Stealth] is so good! No one noticed me stea- borrowing the food from the kitchen!"

"… That's good news, I guess… anyway let's get going. We have wasted enough time already." Nathan decided to turn a blind eye to this accident. After all, Sophie hadn't broken any promises…

They set off immediately, secretly exiting the mansion from the back, while activating [Stealth]. They didn't want to be seen by anyone at all!

The moment Nathan activated the Skill, his entire body became invisible as he started to move. The Skill was rapidly consuming Vital Energy to sustain itself, so Nathan guessed that they had around 10 minutes before they run out of stamina, and surprisingly, Nathan could still see Sophie while the skill was active, which was very convenient.

They made haste and hid in an alley some distance away from the mansion, before turning off [Stealth]. Nathan felt his Vital Energy drop by half, but it was recovering rapidly.

They nodded at each other silently, and started sprinting lightly. They had covered their hair by the hood of their robe, while also wearing their masks, so they looked very mysterious as nothing could be gained about their identity just by simply looking at them.

The Capital was divided into three Districts, The Outer District, which most of the commoners lived which was also where the slums were located. The security was good and patrol guards passed from time to time, maintaining order.

The Inner District was where most of the aristocrats and wealthy merchants resided. The security was very tight, and a team of patrols could be seen regularly.

The Central District consisted entirely of The Royal Palace, which took a huge amount of space.

The mansion was near the edge of The Inner District, so Nathan and Sophie didn't have much trouble dodging the guards with their [Stealth] and [Enhanced Senses]. They also ran into many thugs lurking in the shadows, but they were far too lousy to notice them.

They soon reached the slums and Nathan turned to Sophie, "Let's look around and get a general idea of this place first."

Sophie nodded and they moved to explore the place.

Although they were prepared beforehand, there is only so much two teenagers can prepare for. They saw children being being sickly skinny, scrambling and fighting to catch bugs to eat, men harassing and raping women openly, bodies of dead people rotting on the streets, emitting a foul stench and many more unspeakable horrors. Although it pained them to see such things, even wanting to interfere… but they held themselves back. Nothing they could do would make any difference, only putting their own lives at risk.

The buildings were mostly made out of rotten wood, that gave no protection against anything, while the smell of human waste made it almost impossible to breath, and many people were inflicted with disgusting diseases that made them feel sick when they looked at them, but neither Nathan nor Sophie even flinched. They only felt sorry for them.

While looking around, they came upon a little boy, sneaking around. It was not that uncommon to see kids sneaking around the slums, but what stood out about this one was that he never got caught or even noticed! They were tailing him for some time now, but he was expertly dodging people and stealing little things. It was almost noon, so Nathan decided to confront him and use his help for their mission. Adults were highly unlikely to help small people like them, so a kid was their best option.

They continued following him, until he entered a small hut hidden from view. Deciding that now was a good time, they decided to sneak in.

[Stealth!]

Activating the skill, they slipped inside and found they boy with a sick middle aged woman resting on a makeshift bed. After they made sure there was no one else around, they emerged from stealth, frightening the boy,

"W-w-who are you!? W-what do you want from us!? We don't have anything!" The boy immediately became alert, as he jumped in front of his Mother, looking at the two intruders warily.

"Relax, we're not here to hurt you. No need to be afraid…" Nathan took the lead and tried to calm the boy, while Sophie stood back, keeping watch.

"Then what do you want?" The boy relaxed a bit sensing no hostility from them, but he was still cautious.

"For now, how about letting me take a look at your Mother's condition?" Nathan offered.

The boy hesitated, but quickly made a decision, "…Please… help her…I'll do anything you want!" He was at his wits end, desperate enough to accept the help from these two shady people.

Nathan nodded and walked over to the bed,

'I am no doctor, but I should be able to deal with something like this easily… seems like the source of illness is her body's undernourishment, which has caused her to become incredibly weak to a simple cold… this is manageable!'

Nathan began gathering Vital Energy in his palm,

[Devouring Curse!]

Nathan created the curse rune as he set up the parameters of the curse. With his extreme affinity for Dark Energies, something like that was simple.

'Devour all causes of illness in her body, after the ask is done, devour yourself and nourish her body.'

The curse entered her body and the effects were instantly visible! Her coughing stopped, and her breathing returned to normal, albeit a bit difficult still. Nathan took out a Stamina Replenishing Pill and fed it to her. After waiting for a bit, the illness was completely cured, and she even opened her eyes!

"MOM!" The boy instantly ran up to her Mother and hugged her tightly! So many times he thought he would never get to see her open her eyes again. So many days he spent in hunger in order to feed his sick Mother… It was all worth it!

The Mother was still in a weak state, so she fell asleep soon after. After making sure his Mother slept in a comfortable position, the boy turned to Nathan.

He kneeled on the ground, his eyes still wet from crying, "Thank you! This is a debt I can never repay! But I will do whatever I can to do so! Even if it's just a tiny bit!"

Nathan was impressed with his sincerity so he nodded, "Everything that happened here is a secret. Make sure to remember that. We are looking for the whereabouts of someone called Supervisor Ezra from The Silver River Merchant Company. Do you have any idea where we can find him?"

The boy's eye shone with vigor! "Of course I do! I stole food from there today, and when I was escaping, I heard from one of The Guards that a Supervisor has come to visit! It must be them! I can take you there."

"Good. As long as you help us accomplish our mission, you will also get paid for your help. Get ready. We are going there now." Nathan turned to leave, but he suddenly stopped, and took out a piece of bread and a gourd of clean water, "Give these to your Mother."

The boy stared crying again, "Thank you! Thank you so much!!!"

Nathan nodded as he left the hut with Sophie.

Sophie secretly whispered to him, "That was so cool Nate! I didn't know it was possible to cure people with curses!"

"Curses are just another tool. It is up to the wielder to decide how to use them." Said Nathan as they waited.

Their true mission was about to begin…