20 Ocasia

He picked the button up and hid it deep inside his pocket before making his way to the bookshelf to see if there were any books about the city called Ocasia.

It seemed that Alphius really had no plans of ever going out of this underground city and on his bookshelf, his disinterest to know anything about the ability users could be clearly seen.

There were books on technology, biology, and war but he owned no travel guide or anything of the sort which might give Hecathe more information about the city he was going to move to.

He would naturally not want to go to such a place that he knew nothing about.

Hecathe sighed as his mind raced and tried to come up with a solution to the current problem. He needed information and he needed to come up with a plan on how he was going to collect that information.

Hecathe gave up flipping through the bookshelf and made his way to the elevator as he got a great idea in mind.

If a book wasn't available, a human might still work just as well. He just needed to find someone who had a reliable source of information.

This house/office was filled with workers and servants who would listen to anything Hecathe said and they would give him any information he required. At least, one of them must know something about the city called Ocasia and if nobody knew, there was still a whole underground city that was filled with other people who might know.

If he really couldn't find any information, he could just go out in search of it.

The only thing driving him at this moment was his hunger for more information and a thought that kept running through his mind: I need to prepare myself.

This world wasn't like anything he had known before. There were a lot of dangerous creatures here and a lot more dangerous humans roaming above ground. The mutants didn't scare Hecathe as much as the ability users did. There was a simple reason for this but the reason would naturally not be explained right now.

When the elevator door opened up on the ground floor again, Hecathe's sudden presence almost frightened the workers who were minding their own business.

"C-Captain... What are you doing down here?" A man walked up to Hecathe and questioned, his voice stuttered in fear and his face made it look as if he was questioning what he had done wrong.

Hecathe squinted at the man before lifting his hand and resting it on the man's shoulder heavily with a bit of force, "I need your help."

The man gulped as a cold sweat trailed down his forehead, "What type of help?"

Hecathe's lips curled upwards in a smirk as he looked at the man in a manner that could only be labeled as wicked, "Ocasia. Tell me everything you know about this city and if you've never heard the name before, go and find me someone better who knows about this city."

The man immediately bobbed his head up and down as he responded, "The name does sound familiar but I'm not sure if I remember it right, but I can definitely find someone who knows better about this city than me."

"Great," Hecathe replied as he patted the man's shoulder in an intimidating manner, "Go and get that person for me."

The man gulped before nodding his head frantically as he bowed and ran away. His moving back looked much like a duck for some reason. A really scared duck.

Hecathe smiled proudly as he saw the man running away in such a manner and in the very next moment, he grabbed his next victim by the back collar and pulled him, "Hey, do you know anything about Ocasia?"

"E-Eh?" The man who had suddenly been grabbed was shocked to the point that he couldn't even understand basic human language.

Hecathe waited for the man to answer the question, however, even after a minute, the blank look was the only response he received.

Hecathe's pupils contracted as he let go of the man's collar and spoke, "You can go if you don't know anything."

"T-Thank Y-You, Captain," The man stuttered before bowing and running away shortly after, even tripping and falling on his way.

"What a coward," Hecathe muttered as his face cringed up when he saw the man tripping and falling clumsily before picking himself up and stumbling as he continued to scurry away.

These are the mecha-suits that are being accused of terrifying the ability users? What a joke!

Hecathe sighed before looking around in search of the next victim and just like that, Hecathe went on terrorizing people as he randomly grabbed their collars and asked them a question that they couldn't comprehend.

A few hours later, he eventually got tired of it and went back to his room.

Just when he thought that he wouldn't be able to collect any information today, he heard the sound of the elevator door opening and in the very next moment, he heard a familiar voice of the man that he had sent away to collect someone with information.

Hecathe immediately straightened his back and went to the living room as he looked at the two people that were waiting for him there.

"Captain," The man smiled as he looked at Hecathe, "This is my son. He's an ability user who prefers to use mecha-suits created by you. He knows a lot about the cities above ground."

The boy who stood beside the man looked to be around the same age as Alphius. He had a skinny built and a face that was a bit too thin for Hecathe's liking. His hair was the color of dark coffee and his eyes matched the color of his hair that looked to be well-cut and at the same time also looked to be slightly unkempt.

Hecathe leisurely sat down at the couch before gesturing over to the opposite couch as he spoke, "Sit down."

The man and his son sat down on the couch immediately as if it were an order that they were forced to obey.

The boy sat with his back straight and his body looked so stiff as if the smile on his face was nothing more than just him trying to hide his awkwardness and fear.

"You can be at ease," Hecathe spoke as he squinted at the boy, "I just want to know more about a certain city."

The boy nodded his head as he replied, "Ocasia?"

Hecathe smiled thinly for a second as he nodded, "That's the one."

"What do you want to know about Ocasia, Captain?" The boy asked.

"Everything," Hecathe answered immediately as if he had already expected the boy to ask this question, "Tell me everything you know. Think of it as telling a person who knows nothing more than the mere name of the place."

The boy bobbed his head up and down as he seemed to be lost in his thought for a minute. He seemed to be pondering over where to begin and Hecathe was patient enough to wait for the boy to speak up.

After a minute, the boy eventually seemed to have figured out where he wanted to start from so he opened his mouth to vomit out all the information he had on the city called Ocasia, "This city was built a really long time ago, even before the three willows of spring came into existence. It's one of the oldest cities that still exist and hence, the people there are mostly ability users who refuse to change anything in the way their daily life works. They have a simple history that had never actually gone through any major changes. Development in this city is almost zero and there isn't any future for it."

"Zero development?" Hecathe muttered.

The boy nodded his head again as he continued, "Because of how simple lifestyle they choose to live, even though they are still considered to be under the three willows of spring, the three willows of spring have no actual power over the city."

Hecathe couldn't help but feel a bit happy to hear this.

This was exactly what he wanted. A city that the three willows of spring had no control over was exactly what Hecathe needed at this moment!

"There are still a lot of guilds in the city and the guilds are considered to be the local authority. The people in the city trust the guilds more than they trust the three willows of spring. It isn't just the three willows of spring that they despise. They also don't welcome any mecha-suits."

Till now, Hecathe could only hear everything as a positive, and hence, his mind that was already made up to go to this city strengthened as he felt that there would never be a better option.

"Captain, the city is pretty small and there is nothing for you to know about it. It's also one of the most boring places a person can live in."