Eh?

Jason walked forward his eyes widening as Boops relayed information to him.

"holy crap" he muttered to himself "these guys are monsters"

Jason turned back to see Rocky and the rest of the gang members. Rocky walked behind him with confident strides while the rest walked with meek nervous steps.

As they walked through the slums, Jason noticed something interesting, their were less homeless people and more people who were dressed regularly and looking well feed. Unlike what Perseus had told him about Gegeegaboo's territory where almost everyone looked like they were on the brink of exhaustion.

Boops told Jason

'if this Heheegaboo the most dangerous one of the bunch, then maybe a surprise attack will work on him, the information that Jack gave us says that he usually hangs around these two buildings, one of them is an inn that he frequents regularly for its well-known meals. And the other is just a simple shack that's apparently his home.'

Jason looked at Boops weirdly

Boops shrugged his none existent shoulders

'I dunno, this is all kinda confusing.'

Jason and the group following him ducked between alleyways trudging along the path that lead to the first location that they were going to check out. The inn called the Fixed Cobra Tavern.

Jason let out a loud sigh. Why did he get all of the hard ones?

The Fixed Cobra Tavern was a very popular place in the city of Herdita. Though it was situated in the slums, its rumors of its delicious food and ale had even reached the people in merchant districts' ears.

People from all classes gathered in the little Tavern, just to taste the delicious fish fillets and more. It was merry like usual with barmaids running around serving ale and food while the adventures, soldiers, rouges, and more sat down and swapped tales.

The entire tavern echoed with noise and singing as mug clashed with mug as a loud "CHEERS" echoed through.

Truly a merry scene with, people of all types of classes that usually would never interact with each other simply enjoying life and having fun in a dinky little tavern.

But all things needed to come to an end.

A person cloaked in a dark robe walked through the doors. Silence descended through the entire tavern as they all collectively stared at the hooded figure.

A large group of ripper gang members stood outside with a huge masked man holding a mace and shield stood outside as the hooded figure strode in.

The only reason why somebody would be hooded was if they wanted to hide their identity. And usually, those types of people were criminals running away from the law.

The hooded figure walked over to the counter and slowly placed down a shining silver coin. Everyone's eyes were glued to it as he set it down with a satisfying clink.

"where is Heheegaboo"

The hooded figure said in a surprisingly young voice,

Most of the people in the tavern, who a few seconds ago were greedily staring at the silver coin stood up at Jason's words.

They yelled out angrily

"what are you planning with Mr Heheegaboo!"

"are you trying to make me sell out Mr Heheegaboo!"

More voices joined them,

"yeah! that's only a few day's wages, are you trying to make us betray the person who helped us get back up on our feet?"

another voice agreed, this time it was the man serving drinks behind the counter.

"That man gave us enough funds to make my dream come true. I owe him an eternal debt of gratitude and you're trying to cause him trouble right in front of us?"

The cloaked figure looked around in surprise and bewilderment swiveling his head around.

"wait," he said in a confused voice "are we talking about the same person here? Heheegaboo, the older brother of Jejeegaboo and Gegeegaboo right?"

Tension was rising before, with people getting up and looking at Jason with ugly looks. But the moment Jason mentioned Jejeegaboo and Gegeegaboo it seemed to explode. The man behind the counter angrily punched the counter leaving a small fist mark.

He looked at Jason and growled out

"don't ever mention those two vermin, they aren't fit to be related to Mr Heheegaboo"

Jason looked around the tavern with an interested expression. His eyes fell upon the people dressed as soldiers.

"so what about you guys? what do you think about Heheegaboo"

One of the soldiers turned to Jason, his face red and his speech slurring.

"umm, yeahh h-hes niicee *hic* a real pal gets us water when we're too drunk, and helps us with our crappy boss *hic*"

Jason looked around the tavern one last time. The entire tavern could have just been filled with his men. Perhaps they were trying to deceive him.

But now things were getting a bit more interesting than just a normal subjugation.

Jason let out a smirk and turned around taking the silver coin as he walked out of the tavern.

The tavern owner shouted at Jason as he walked back to the group waiting outside.

"wait! what are you going to do to him?"

Jason turned around and shrugged

"don't know" he answered "I guess it depends on him now"

Saying that the group departed with Jason and Rocky in the lead.

The tavern owner watched Jason depart with his hand stretched out helpless. A few seconds passed and he turned to the members in the tavern.

"send word to Mr Heheegaboo now!"

Jason walked down the streets raking his brain in confusion.

"what the heck was that?" he asked himself "are those their actual opinions of him?"

Boops quietly asked him

'what changes if they are right?'

Jason grinned in response

"then I'm thinking of recruiting him"

'ahh, that makes sense

Jason shook his head again

"but still how could brothers be that different, I won't believe it until I see it I guess"

'yeah, I mean we are here to take his territory, even if he's a decent guy or not, I'm pretty sure it's going to end in violence

Jason grinned again

"I'm not to sure about that Boops, I think I can work something out

Saying that he looked at one of the notifications he got asking the tavern people about Heheegaboo.

[contrary to general information, you have heard first hand about Heheegaboo's generosity and excellent reputation]

[your mission can be updated into (negotiating for Heheegaboo's territory)]

[do you accept?]

[yes/no]

Jason snickered while clicking on the yes button.

"well I guess that answers that"

[mission updated]

[Negotiate for Heheegaboo's territory]

[you have learned that Heheegaboo is a bit different from his younger siblings, so much so that you have decided to attempt a path of mercy]

[mission requirements: (obtain Heheegaboo's territory)]

[mission failure requirements: (Heheegaboo's death)]

Jason nodded to himself

"yeah I think I can manage this, looks like we won't be fighting after all"

Boops directed Jason to turn left and soon they found themselves in front of a old plain house. It didn't look like much, but it seemed well kept with the path clean and straight and the grass trimmed and weeded.

Jason looked around the house for a few more seconds checking to make sure there were no secret exits or traps.

He carefully approached the door with Rocky right behind him and the rest of the gang members on standby.

Jason gave the door a careful knock. He opened his mouth to attempt to introduce himself. But a curved blade cut straight through the door slicing it in half, the blade swung towards Jason.

Jason raised his sword and let the force push him back a few meters away.

Jason was swearing excessively as he looked at the person who had just attacked him.

From behind the sliced door, a young man who looked to be around his 20s, with black and red hair intermixed approached them. Swinging two chains that had curved blades at the end.

"I heard, that ripper gang members were after my life,

he pointed a chain at Jason.

"don't expect me to give it to you so easily"

Jason swore again this time for an entirely different reason.

He raised his hands and said in as kindly as a tone possible

"look Mr Heheegaboo, we are not here to fight, we want to talk, so if you could please lower your weapons..."

Heheegaboo narrowed his eyes and heightened his guard.

"you sound just like one of my younger brothers, a cold slimy monster hidden under human skin, if you want to talk, do it over my collapsed body!"

Jason facepalmed.

"fine, ill do that"

Heheegaboo raised the two chains in his hands and started to swing them around in a furious manner. The blades cut through everything, creating gashes in the walls and cutting up patches of grass.

Jason watched Heheegaboo prepare for what he thought was the fight of his life with an annoyed expression.

"Why do they always have to give me the hard ones?"